Many people find public speaking terrifying, but having the ability to hold an audience’s attention and communicate is crucial in both personal and professional life. Body language is an essential component of public speaking that is sometimes disregarded.
A public speaking course can help you understand that your body language greatly influences how your message is understood. Learning how to improve public speaking skills through body language can significantly elevate your impact as a speaker.
Let’s explore how body language can enhance your public speaking skills and discuss some tips for improving your performance on stage.
Table of contents:
- The Importance of Body Language in Public Speaking
- Tips to Improve Public Speaking Skills
- Conclusion
The Importance of Body Language in Public Speaking
Posture means body position while gesturing, using the hand and other body parts to convey a message through words. These tips can support what you’re telling someone or can misalign when there’s a contrary gesture or motion.
It was demonstrated that various nonverbal factors influence how a specific message is received. According to Dr Albert Mehrabian, it is calculated that 55% of communication comes from body language, 38 % from the tone of voice, and only 7 % from what we say.
The lesson is obvious—how you say something often matters as much as what you say, even though those numbers may be contested in specific situations. Body language has the power to:
- Convey confidence and authority
- Show engagement and enthusiasm
- Help illustrate points and ideas
- Build rapport with the audience
- Reduce audience distractions
You can significantly elevate your public speaking skills by learning to control and enhance your body language.
Tips to Improve Public Speaking Skills
Improving public speaking skills involves a combination of practice, self-awareness, and adopting specific techniques. Here are some effective tips to improve public speaking skills by maintaining effective communication:
1) Maintain Good Posture
One of the first things the audience notices when you enter the stage is your posture. Leaning, slouching, or fidgeting are ways to express unease, doubt, or disinterest. Conversely, having a proper posture conveys professionalism, authority, and self-assurance.
You can follow these points to maintain good posture:
- Stand tall: To stand tall, maintain a straight back, relaxed shoulders, and a shoulder-width distance between your feet. This posture conveys steadiness and confidence.
- Avoid shifting weight: It might be annoying to constantly change your balance or sway from foot to foot. Unless you are moving deliberately, firmly plant your feet and remain motionless.
- Stay grounded: Maintaining a steady posture will help you feel more grounded mentally, reducing your anxiety.
2) Use Hand Gestures
Hand gestures are an effective tool for public speaking. They can strengthen important points, provide examples of concepts, and increase the impact of your message. However, gestures must be utilized carefully; otherwise, they could be uncomfortable or distracting.
You can follow these points to use hand gestures effectively:
- Be natural: Make movements that come naturally to you. Exaggerated or forced gestures may come across as fake. Allow your hands to move organically as if conversing with a buddy.
- Avoid over-gesturing: While excessive hand gestures can become overpowering or distracting, they can also add emphasis. Make sure your movements emphasize your point rather than detracting from it.
- Emphasize key points: When you want to draw attention to crucial information, make open, thoughtful motions. For example, opening your hands wide can indicate transparency, yet clenching your fist might emphasize a point.
- Mirror content: How you move your hands should correspond with your words. Point to the number three with your fingers if discussing three important things. Extend your arms wide to symbolically convey the magnitude of the topic you are discussing.
3) Make Eye Contact
Maintaining eye contact is one of the most crucial parts of body language when speaking in public.
It establishes rapport with them, fosters trust, and demonstrates your active engagement. You risk coming across as uneasy or uninterested when you don’t look someone in the eye and lose the chance to build a connection.
You can follow these points to make effective eye contact:
- Engage the whole audience: Engage the entire audience rather than concentrating on a single person or a small room area. Look around the room and try to look at several people in different directions frequently. This fosters a more welcoming environment.
- Hold eye contact: Making quick eye contact is OK, but maintaining eye contact for a short while with various audience members helps strengthen the relationship. Before moving to another room area, maintain eye contact for three to five seconds.
- Avoid staring: It is important not to stare at the person you are talking to because doing so might make both of you
4) Master Facial Expressions
You have a very expressive face, and your facial expressions will convey your feelings to the viewer.
A passionate and engaged expression can draw people in, but a neutral or negative one can turn them off. When giving a public speech, use your facial expressions to support the tone and content of your speech.
You can follow these points to master facial expressions:
- Smile when appropriate: When the situation calls for it, smile. It can help break the ice, humanize you, and reassure your audience when you introduce yourself, make a playful remark, or smile.
- Show emotion: Allow your face to convey your feelings while talking passionately about something. When presenting a surprising argument, raise your eyebrows and demonstrate interest by widening your gaze.
- Avoid monotony: Steer clear of monotony by avoiding maintaining a constant, expressionless face during your speech. Diverse facial expressions strengthen your message and keep the audience interested.
Conclusion
Understanding body language is important to becoming a better public speaker. Good posture, gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions can enhance your message, engage your audience, and project confidence.
These nonverbal cues will become second nature with practice, making you a more effective speaker. You can also explore public speaking free resources offered by The Knowledge Academy to improve your skills further.