The Importance of body language

The importance of body language

        Good morning everybody, I volunteered to be the first one to do the speech because I believe that my topic concerns everybody in this classroom and hopefully will help you to get better grades. Today I will talk about the importance of body language and what are the effects of the well use or misuse of it. Research says that our communication consists of 35% verbal communication and 65% non-verbal communication. Body language is a type of non-verbal communication, in other words way of communication expressed by the body without the need of using words. We as Public speakers have to know how to use our bodies to support what we are saying. We all agree that body language is important, but not everyone know how to use it. In fact, the wrong body language can make the audience feel that you are nervous, stressed such as when you are turning your back to the audience or hiding behind the desk. So today we will focus on three types of body language that you must pay attention to and use effectively: the facial expressions, the hand gestures, the body posture.

        Using the right body language during a speech is crucial if the speaker wants to maintain the attention of the audience. When speaking to an audience your main objective is to deliver a message, so if you use the wrong body language people might lose their attention focusing on your posture.

        Having a very expressive face can both be positive and negative. It’s positive if you make it work for you, if you use it to help get your message across. However, it’s a negative if you can’t control what your face says. Your face says so much about you. In fact, your face literally says it all. While speaking in public, know that every single member of your audience can identify six “basic” emotions. These emotions are ‘universal’ in nature. These emotions are anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise. When it comes to presentations, experts say that fear often shows up on many a presenter’s face. even the professionals still get stage fright from time to time! While the fear of public speaking is relatively commonplace, it doesn’t mean that you should let your fear get the better of you. Conquer your fear and if necessary, use your poker face to hide it. Cover it up with another universally recognized facial expression, this time a positive one. Look happy for your audience. Make them think you’re really excited and happy that they all showed up for your presentation. Did you know happiness is contagious? When your face shows you’re happy, then you’re basically influencing your audience to be happy as well. It’s not just going to show in your face, it’s also going to show up in your gestures, your posture and even the way you speak.

        The facial expressions are not enough to truly support the speaker claims, the hand gestures are also so important in delivering the message. Some people like to move their hands a lot, while others keep their hands still. Vanessa Van Edwards, the most popular TED speakers are those who used their hands a lot. This is because the correct hand gestures basically complement or reinforce the verbal message, so it’s like you’re getting two explanations instead of just one. Let’s say you’re outlining a few points in your presentation. For each point, you’ll say something like, “So, on to the first point” or “The second point I want to make is…” When you say “first point,” you hold up one finger. When you get to your second point, you hold up two fingers, and so on. This is a simple example, but I hope you can see how doing this makes it easier for people to follow what you’re saying. In other words, your hand gestures make it easy for people to remember your point.

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