Hi, this is Anne Warfield with Impression Management Professionals. Today we're gonna
look at the hand-off. How to have your hands, add to --and not distract -- from your presentation.
Do your arm and hand gestures add to your conversation? Or do you feel like they distract
from it? Is there an answer to what you should do with hand gestures so you appear more confident,
relaxed, and trustworthy.
You know, finding the right amount of hand gestures can be really tough during a presentation.
The reason is that once your brain feels like it needs to get people onto your side, or
it feels nervous as to whether people will accept what you're saying, it begins to send
messages to your neurons and your muscles to act accordingly. So literally, you can
have no idea how much your hands are doing while you're trying to talk. It'd be so nice
wouldn't it, if we could just unscrew our arms, put 'em off to the side, until we're
done presenting, and then re-attach them? But unfortunately, that's not possible.
So I'm gonna share with you, what you can do in order to make sure that the impression
that your hand gestures give is the one that matches what you want, all the while so you're
exuding high executive presence. So let's see what some things mean. Open palms, are
seen by the audience as a sign that you're open and honest. So when you're talking about
controversial topics, keep your hands out in front. That's very important. If you put
your hands behind your back or into your pockets, your audience will feel as though you're withholding
information, or you're detached from them. Matter of fact, just go down to a courtroom,
and watch how people plead. People who are guilty often put their hands behind their
back when they stand and state their plea.
Now if you put your hands down in front of you and clasp them together, it's what's called
the "fig leaf position", and you appear submissive. Now this is because your shoulders naturally
stoop downward, and they give you that submissive look. So watch my shoulders, and look at the
difference when I bring my hands up to my waist, versus when I drop them down into the
fig leaf gesture. Notice how they remain more square, and strong when my hands are up. So
what should you do with your hands during a presentation? Your hands should either be
naturally down at your side, up near your waist, clasped loosely in front of you at
the waist level, or you can have one hand at your waist level and one more loosely at
your side.
The most important thing is to have your hands appear natural to you and the audience. So
if you're a person who's very expressive and you use your hands a lot while talking, then
do the same while you're presenting. I watched one woman who was a very expressive person
try to keep her hands below to her side, her poor little hands flopped around on the end
of her arm which was completely stiff. To the audience, it looked like a little fish,
flopping on the end of a pole. When I asked her what she was doing, she said she'd been
told that she used too many hand movements and so she was trying to stop it. I said,
"Let it go, your hands wanna move".
So here's my point, when you're in front of an audience you want them to see and feel
your character and integrity. This means that you need to be authentic, and that the person
they see on the platform is the same person they meet if they run into at the grocery
store, or at the gas station. So if you're an expressive person, use your hands. If you
don't, it will appear to the audience as though you're uncomfortable speaking with them. And
if you're a non-expressive person, don't worry about it, don't use your hands, just occasionally
gesture so that your hands don't lie limp at your side the whole time your talking.
Most importantly, make sure you're grounded in the value you're offering your audience.
Don't try to wow them, dazzle them, or show them how brilliant you are. All of those thoughts
will cause your brain to send extra energy to your neurons and cause you to become too
expressive with your hands. Just be grounded that you're there to add value to them, and
your strength will come through in your relaxed manner as you communicate with them. May you
go forth and have a great outcome focus day filled with fabulous results.