There is not one pat answer to this since the amount of movement depends largely on what comes naturally for you.
If you are a person who tends to be more dry and straightforward, you are usually better off with minimal body language and movement. If you are a person who tends to be more dramatic and high energy, then moving strategically, stopping to pause in that spot, and using hand gestures while talking is very effective.
In general, casual movement of your hands and a slow leisurely walk while presenting is usually seen as very confident.
If your presentation is straightforward, has clarity, and is of value to the audience, you will find they rarely lose interest.
But if they do lose interest, here are a few techniques you can use to rally the troops:
1. Ask a question that you wish them to explore with a few other people near them. This can be a question such as, “Looking at what we have covered so far, what are the top two ideas you’re excited to implement?”
2. If you are covering complex data, find ways to anchor the data in everyday examples or metaphors, simplify the data, or pull them back in by saying, “So what this means to you is…”
If you find you often lose the audience’s interest, it means you are not relating the information enough to them, speaking in a monotone, or not simplifying your data to relate directly to your goal.
If your audience is pulled away from you with crossed arms, pursed lips, and glaring eyes, they’re telling you that they don’t like what they’re hearing or that they don’t want to be there.
If your audience is leaning forward but firmly planted in the chair, they are letting you know they’re eager to hear what you have to say. If they are leaning forward but slightly moving, they are telling you they are eager to leave.
If the audience is hostile to what you are saying, you will hear it in their clipped tone of voice and raised volume. If they’re confused about what you are saying they will have an upward lilt to their voice, with hesitancy and pauses in their questions.
If you want to get really good at reading body language, we have a DVD video available that goes through the positive and negative body signs and how to beat them. Just go to www.imp.us.com, Online, Store to order the Communicating More Effectively Body Language DVD.
Focus on the main points you want to make and why they are important to your audience.
Put these on a piece of paper in front of you so you stay focused on what you are there to talk about. Then look at what details you need to share to support your main points. If you share too many details, your audience will shut down.
I recommend you give someone the basic outline of your speech and allow them to put checkmarks where they find you tend to go off on a tangent. Then after the speech, debrief with that person so you can better understand what details are not relevant to your audience.
If all else fails, simply stop speaking, look down to the right, and then resume by going back to one of your key points. This will help you stop rambling and sidelining.
Could we have a more public example of losing your spot when speaking then the recent example from Perry at his debate?
Here is was ranting about three agencies of government he would close and then he couldn’t even name them.
At the time he stumbled and then said, “oops, I’m Sorry.” So the question is what else could he have done?
I would have loved to see him look in to the camera and say, “see they are non-relevant that they slip your mind. We need government that is relevant and applicable to us all today and that is what I intend to do. I want to streamline what we do and how we do it so that each area is applicable, important and impacts all of us proactively.”
1. Start being an astute asker of questions. Way too many leaders focus on having the right answers when they really should be asking the right questions. Well-placed questions show you as thoughtful, insightful, and wise.
2. Look at your dress. Do you dress in background colors (navy, taupe) that cause people’s eyes to slide over you but not land on you? Just changing your dress to more upbeat bright colors can make people gravitate to you.
3. Don’t confuse speaking up with being a know-it-all. If your brain feels that people who speak up must have the correct answer, then it will always put pressure on you to remain quiet. Instead, teach your brain that it is more arrogant to sit quietly and not contribute your valuable input to the group.
Body language is an essential part to how people hear your message.
According to Ray Birdwhistell, noted anthropologist, 60% to 90% of a conversation is interpreted through body language.
The easiest way to make sure your facial expressions, posture, and body language enhance your presentation is to videotape your presentation so you can see it from your audience’s perspective.
One thing I will mention here is that if you become overly theatrical with your presentation, your body language will not be as believable to your audience. You need to make sure that you remain authentic. In other words, are you the same person in front of the audience as you would be if they ran into you at the gas station?
Your body language will always match your beliefs and thoughts. Therefore, if you are giving a presentation that is hard for you to deliver because it contains bad news or news you feel people won’t agree with, you absolutely need to practice it in front of a video camera to see what your body language as saying.
In the Outcome Focus® Approach to presentations, we actually spend in-depth time shattering traditional beliefs about presentations so you can be assured that your body language proactively matches your message.
There is not one pat answer to this since the amount of movement depends largely on what comes naturally for you.
