Make Body Language Your Superpower

 foreign !! what makes one an exceptional presenter

is it flashy visuals

is it the tone of voice

is it the actual message or content

or does it have something to do with

body language or gestures and our stance

today we want to talk to you about this

latter Point how do we use our body

effectively to communicate our message

because we have so many great ideas here

but if they remain in our head don't

actually link up with the audience

our message will not derived it won't be

our red message will not have resonated

with the audience so body language plays

a powerful role in how we communicate

and unfortunately

body language can also distract

we've seen this clip before of Michael

Bay

right he speaks the teleprompter he

loses sight of what's happening the

telephone doesn't sync up and he

struggles and all you see is his body

moving around and he's nervous he's

exuding it so I want to give some color

commentary as we watch as a class what

is happening

so it stands at the beginning it's okay

but his hands he's meshing them and now

he's starting to turn from the audience

again his hands are clasped he's looking

a bit down not at all of you the

audience and he spins he shows his back

audience and he can't regain composure

he's swaying back and forth he's looking

down he's avoiding the audience his

nerves are coming out

again his hands

and now I think he's looking at the back

of the stage that's the exact opposite

place and where did you want to actually

live

he's incredibly nervous and now we exit

stage

we all want to avoid our own Michael Bay

moments when we communicate the last

thing we want at a startup pitch or

meeting is to have that happen is to

have the body language take over from

the message if we lose sight of what our

body is doing all people can pay

attention to is the body itself right

it'll take over

so that comes down to not only can It

distract but the body language can it is

your superhero right that it can change

it's your superpower sorry not a

superhero you're the superhero but it's

your superpower in the sense that we can

utilize it to enhance and communicate 

with every person in the audience we

want to talk about that today from three

Vantage points Colin is going to get us

started in talking about how posture

breeds success

Jung Joon is going to talk about how

gestures to strengthen your message

finally Jennifer is going to close us

out with how we think about the body

posture of you the audience and how to

interact with that Colin take us away

communication begins before you even

open your mouth to speak

your audience's first impression of you

is your posture and your position and so

it's important to know both how to stand

as well as where to stand

and perhaps it's fairly obvious but you

should stand facing the people you're

talking to don't stand facing your

visuals and turning your back to the

audience that's not what we want to do

we can't communicate that way

it's also important to know where you're

standing in the room a position of

strength in this room is somewhere in

this Center box as long as you're moving

around in the center you're doing pretty

well where you don't want to be as often

the corner cowering or especially

in front of any distractions and this

this room is pretty good it doesn't have

that many distractions but there is a

window

and outside this window there are cars

there are buses there are bikers

and when I was standing over there

probably about half of you could see in

your peripheral vision outside the

window and if a car were to drive by

your instinct your reaction would be to

look out the window and that would break

your concentration and our conversation

and we don't want that either

and now that you know where to stand

it's important to know how to stand so

we're going to demonstrate a few

positions a few bad positions that we've

seen from us and some of you guys and

even from the presentations earlier

today that you shouldn't do

the first one is hands in your pockets

this comes off as nonchalant your

shoulders tend to roll forwards and it's

very difficult to convey a strong

message from this position

the second one is hands on your hips

when your hands are on your hips you

tend to look overbearing and Powerful

and the third one is the Fig Leaf this

is where you're protecting your family

jewels with your hands

and while it also looks timid it's

especially bad when you decide to

gesture from this position

I want to show you something

you look like you're flashing the

audience and that's not a good thing so

how should you stand and if I could

actually get all of you to stand I'll

lead you through a short demonstration

on how to find your face posture

so once you've stood be mindful of the

people next to you and place your feet

hip width apart

close your eyes and look up towards the

ceiling and lift your hands above your

head get a good stretch underneath your

shoulders

and let your arms drop to the side

when you open your eyes look down this

is your base posture

thank you very much for participating

you guys can sit down now

found your base posture this is where

you should gesture from

and it's where you should return to when

you're finished gesturing

it may not feel the most comfortable but

it looks the most comfortable to your

audience

remember that your posture and position

are the audience's first impression of

you but now that you know how to stand

still it's time to learn how to move

gestures are important because it helps

you communicate there

for example if you use dress juice the

audience remembers twice as much

it also helps you with future speakers

too because it helps your memory when

you speak

also

beside the transition your hand and arm

movement is the biggest movement that

the audience can see

you can either use it wisely or waste it

on random and distracting gestures

I'm going to show you three types of

gestures

the gift

the show

and the top

here's an example

this quarter at the GSP I went to this

communications class it was so great

I mean you could feel that your skills

are improved I think this was the best

class I've ever taken

let's rewind and see what happened

the give

this quote at the GSP I went to this

communications class

so this gesture is used to give the

audience the facts or the options

remember to have your palms up not down

we'll get to that in a minute

the show

I mean you could feel

that's your skills I'm proving

this kind of gesture has the largest

variety and your imagination is the

limit

just remember that the gesture and the

message has to match for example you can

say profits are rising to the just

collect

so congruency and creativity

the chop

I think this was the best class I've

ever taken

so this gesture is used to deliver

strong opinion

you can either use it one hand or you

can use both hands you can use both

hands and do a larger job which will

deliver a stronger message

so next time when you do gestures think

about these three types and plan ahead

three types is they give

the show

and the chop

I bet everyone in the room is going to

remember this

dress just work that's the message uh

another subject is about having your

palms up

so

I'll give you an example

people on the right please rise and move

to the left

I'll do a slightly different this time

people on the left right

please rise and move to the left one

more time

people on the right please rise and move

to the left

you see the difference

which one do you think would make more

people move

the first one yes according to study if

you have your palms up 84 percent of the

audience complied if you have your palms

down 52 percent if you have your fingers

28 percent

never use your fingers at your audience

it looks just arrogant and only

politicians use that Clinton used it I

did not have sexual relations

it looks bad

back then looks bad now

and last but not least

avoid the terrorist gestures

for example

people on the right please rise and move

to the left

no matter what you do right I mean it

looks silly so loosen up everybody

always remember that gestures are there

for you and the audience to make a

deeper connection

so far we've talked about the audience

now it's time to focus on you

the audience

as Jung Joon and Colin and Matt

described we've been focusing on the

body language of the speaker

but let's not forget who's the real hero

here as we learned in our first week of

class it's not me the speaker it's you

the audience

but what happens when the audience

doesn't realize that they are on this

hero's journey

have you ever seen an audience that

looks like this

have you ever been that audience it's

okay we all have whether we're playing

on our phones falling asleep and nodding

off

looking at the clock and calculating can

we make an escape from this room

we've all done it

but the thing is it's the speaker's

responsibility to understand what's

going on with their audience and body

language is a powerful way to assess

that

as a speaker we can be so focused on our

own body language that we never even

notice what the audience is doing

and it's important to change that

so I want to share three strategies for

how you can engage with your audience

better by developing more observational

skills

so first of all absolutely be using the

gestures and Body Language tools that

we've talked about today and over the

course of the quarter

but the second thing is to notice

of course you're going to be looking for

eye contact but look Beyond it look at

how your Bot how your audience members

are sitting are they fidgeting are they

moving are they leaning forward looking

engaged and taking notes or are they

zoning out

if your body language your eye contact

and your efforts at being compelling are

not working then you can go deeper

you can try to surprise the audience

with a question or use some humor or you

can disrupt the audience as students we

hate being cold called but we know it's

effective right Jason what's your

favorite color

okay very good you got that one

as we all know it's the fastest way to

re-engage with the conversation with the

speaker so don't be afraid to use it

it's so important to keep your audience

on track because they're the hero and

it's their Journey remember how Nancy

Duarte told us that we are the Yoda to

the Luke Skywalker and our job as a

speaker is to keep the hero on their

Journey

with that in mind I think we've talked

about three concepts that really remind

each of us about how body language is

your superpower use it become that

superpower tell that superhero and we

welcome any questions you have on how to

stand strong gesture effectively and

engage the audience thank you