BODY LANGUGAE
Position of the body, spacing of the legs, mimics and facial expressions, hand gestures, eye
contact
Body awareness
Exercise:
Do a little audit of your body - How do you sit? What is your position? Are you making
yourself smaller, hunching? Crossing legs? Wrapping ankles? Holding on to your hands?
Our non-verbal language determine (govern) how and what OTHERS think and feel about
us.
Our non-verbal language determine (govern) how and what WE think and feel about
OURSELVES!
Our body changes our mind! Our mind changes our behaviour!
Roles we are playing can change our mind as well. We tend to complement the non-verbal
language of others - not mirror! The way people sit, raise hands etc
NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE
BODY POSTURE
POWERLESS positions - closing up, wracking up, making ourselves small/er, touching the
neck (protecting ourselves), crossing legs, arms; head down, leaning on/over table
Crossing your legs, moving from side to side, dancing - Could symbolise INSTABILITY,
UNEASINESS, CLUMSINESS, BOREDEOM
Exercise:
POWER & DOMINANCE (Pride) - Make yourself bigger!
Take up space, open up, stretch out, open the chest > animals do it as well.
Spread arms, hands, put legs on the table.
Try to BE well-centered, in strong stable position - imagine someone is pulling a string/thread
right from your head Upwards >> ENERGY, CONFIDENCE
-FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT!Brain
cannot recognise what is reality and what we are pretending
Powerful people doing powerful positions are more assertive, more confident, more
optimistic, think more abstractly, take more risk.
Their testosterone level is high, but cortisol level low - almost no stress is present (high
cortisol level presents the stress)
WALKING
Could symbolise DISTRACTION, NERVOUSITY
Do not walk senseless, always make sure you have a DESTINATION you want to achieve
• Walk with purpose - changing topics in speech? > change sides - walk from one side
to another
• Watch your speed – do not walk too fast, rather slower, do not loose eye contact
HAND GESTURES
DOs
• Hands should be facing up, towards the audience
• You can be making full round gestures, but NOT CLOSED ones
• Arms and hands should not touch the body, they should be at least a few centimetres
from the body
• Movement should be full, but not exaggerated
• You can hold your hands in the level of underbelly; in the level of belly
• One hands´ fist in another hands´ palm; palm on palm (as a self-handshake)
DONT´S
• Put your hands in front of your face
• Fold arms in front - BOREDOME, LACK OF CONFIDENCE
• Put arms behind the back- BOREDOME, LACK OF CONFIDENCE
• Lean on table- BOREDOME, LACK OF CONFIDENCE
• Play with objects (though you can hold some - a pen e.g.) > IRITATES, DISTRACT
audience
EYE CONTACT
DONT´S
Do not look at just 1 person, or very few you might like – He/She/they may feel overwhelmed
with your attention and therefore uncomfortable
DOs
- If your audience is bigger (dozens of people) use the W pattern, coming with your
look from one corner of W to the other one, slowly, putting your attention on different
people and sometimes pausing on some faces.
- You can also use the Horseshoe (reversed U pattern) coming with your look from
one corner of the horseshoe to the other one and coming BACK.
- Use the strategy - Look > Speak > Look again > Speak again (or sometimes
simultaneously)
Do not forget to SMILE! - both with your mouth and more importantly with your eyes
Interesting fact from online world >> Emoticons ☹ 😊 :/ :O :* used well in online
negotiations can lead you to be more valuable, to improve the communication; used badly
can make more problems
VOICE and SPEECH
Preparation is the key! > Exercise: Voice exercises – (they can take you up to 20 minutes)
- There are many things to focus on in the voice/speech - Intonation/melody (rhythm),
Pitch, Pauses (silence), Pace (speed), Articulation
- Rhythm of your speech should be the same
- Speak briefly, loudly, articulate clearly
LINGUISTIC (VERBAL) TICS
WORDS - Like, Basically, Actually, So, And, And then,
SOUNDS - Weel, Eeeer, Ehhmmm, aaaaa
How to minimize them?
• 1st you have to become aware of them > this way you will learn to hear them > and
after you can change them.
DOs
• feedback is very helpful.
o From others
o From yourself as well > Film yourself presenting/speaking about a random
subject without previous preparation
How to replace the tics?
Exercise:
WORDS > prepare synonyms for the tics; SOUNDs > breathe, make silent pauses
How to improve articulation?
Exercise:
Bite your tongue and say the first sentence of your speech. After say the sentence again
normally.
The better you prepare your content, the less tics appear!
STAGE FRIGHT
• Stress, nerves, anxiety, butterflies in stomach
• It is kind of a motor that gives us energy, without these it would not work that well!
Excercises:
• Before presentation > prepare > find silent place and > stretch your muscles, stand in
power position for a while, make voice practices, warm up
• Before coming to the “stage” repeat your first sentence more times in your head. If the
first sentence stays there the other will follow automatically
• If you have a memory relapse, do not freak out > breath; audience does not
recognise anything and any pause till 3 seconds looks very natural
Body language VIDEOS – TED Talk, Stanford Talk