True, but sad, since so many speakers perpetuate these communication barrier habits. I invited the video’s creator — Stacey Hanke — to share it with Six Minutes readers, and here is her article for you.

Most individuals are unaware of the static they create when they communicate. What do I mean by static? Static is created when what you say is inconsistent with how you say it.

For example, suppose you’re having a conversation and the other person says, in a boring, monotone voice, “I’m so excited to have this opportunity to work with you.” Their facial expressions are lifeless. They never look you in the eye while they’re fidgeting with a pen. Most likely you’d question their credibility and knowledge, and not take action on what they have to say.

This article will increase your awareness of the static you are creating for your listeners, and give you practical, immediate tips to have more impact and influence.

Video: Stop Communicating Ineffectively

Take a couple minutes to view the video below, and then continue with the rest of the article which builds upon it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Communication Barrier #1
Lack of Enthusiasm

Do you really believe your product is better than the competition’s? Do you look as confident as you say you are? The benefits of your product will not be believable if you don’t communicate your passion, enthusiasm, and commitment through your facial expressions.

How to Avoid This Barrier: Show Some Enthusiasm

• Begin paying attention to the type of facial expressions you use and when you use them. You may not be aware of when you frown, roll your eyes, or scowl.
• Make sure your facial expressions are appropriate based on your topic, listeners and objective. When you’re smiling while communicating a serious or negative message, you create a discrepancy between your facial expression and your message. The same discrepancy applies when you’re communicating a positive message without facial expressions.
• Once you have increased your awareness of facial expressions, practice the skill of incorporating them into your message, matching the appropriate expression to each situation. You wouldn’t want to have a stone-cold look on your face when you are expressing your passion for your company’s products.

Communication Barrier #2
Distracting Gestures

The majority of individuals I work with fidget with their fingers, rings, pen — the list goes on. If they don’t fidget, then they unconsciously talk with their hands. Their elbows get locked at their sides and every gesture looks the same. Or they’ve been told they talk with their hands so they hold their hands and do nothing.

Throughout the day, notice how you and others use gestures.

• Do you talk with your hands or gesture too often? If you’re constantly using gestures, you’re not able to think on your feet and you’re creating static.
• Do your gestures have purpose?
• Ask for constructive feedback from friends, family and co-workers: “When I gesture do I look like I’m talking with my hands?” “Do I use gestures too often or not enough?”

How to Avoid This Barrier: Use Gestures for Emphasis

Confident speakers use gestures to add emphasis to their words. To gesture with purpose, avoid locking your elbows at your sides or creating the same repetitious gestures. Instead, expand your gestures from your sides and let your hands emphasize and describe your message.

Add variety to your gestures by relaxing your arms back to your sides after you complete a gesture.

Benefits include:

• When your gestures create a visual for your listeners, they’ll remember more information and will remember your message longer.
• Gestures will grab your listener’s attention.
• Gestures add energy and inflection to your voice and channel your adrenaline and nervous energy.

Communication Barrier #3
Lack of Focus

The more you add information that isn’t necessary, the greater the risk your listeners will misinterpret your point.

How to Avoid This Barrier: Stay Focused

1. When you begin to say too much and feel like a train about to derail, put the brakes on and get yourself back on track … PAUSE!
2. Keep your objective in mind. Think in terms of what your listener needs to know about what you want them to do, not what you want to tell them.
3. Put thought into your words.
4. Focus your message on three significant points.
5. Pay attention to your listener. Are they hanging on your every word or are they dazed? Are they attentive or fidgeting?

Communication Barrier #4
Using PowerPoint as a Crutch

PowerPoint isn’t designed to serve as your notes. The purpose of visual aids is to enhance and support your message through pictures and illustrations.

How to Avoid This Barrier: Design Visual Aids, not Wordy Slides

How you design your visual aids will determine your ability to stay connected with your listener.

• Create PowerPoint slides with more pictures and fewer words.
• Ask yourself, “Why am I using this PowerPoint slide?”
• Identify how your PowerPoint slide best supports your message based on the following criteria:
• Listener expectations and needs.
• Listener experience and knowledge level.
• Objectives.
• Time frame.
• Number of participants.
• Save details for handouts. Your listeners will appreciate a conversational approach with interaction accompanied by take-aways they may use as a resource.
• Stay away from software overkill. If you’re clicking the mouse every few seconds, your visual aids are the message and you are the backup.
• If you’ve been using the same PowerPoint design for more than six months, it’s time to make a change!
• Stop disconnecting with your listener by talking to your visual aids. Only speak when you see eyes! Pause when you refer to your visual aids and stay connected with your listener.

Communication Barrier #5
Verbal Static

Um… what perception… like… do you create… you know… when you hear… um… a speaker using… uh… words that clutter… you know… their language? Knowledgeable, credible and confident are labels which probably don’t come to mind.

As I travel the country, the number one challenge individuals need to overcome to increase their influence is the ability to replace non-words with a pause. We use non-words to buy ourselves time to think about what we want to say. These words are distracting and your listener misses your message.

How to Avoid This Barrier: Eliminate Filler Words

Benefits for you:

• Think on your feet.
• Get to the point and avoid rambling.
• Take a relaxing breath.
• Hold your listener’s attention.
• Gain control over your message.

Benefits for listener:

• Hear, understand and respond.
• Act on what you say.

Communication Barrier #6
Lack of Eye Connection

The only way to build a relationship is through trust. When you forget what to say, you will look at the ceiling, floor, PowerPoint slides or anywhere away from your listener. When you disconnect you’ll say: “uh” “um” “so” “and”, etc.

How to Avoid This Barrier: Keep Your Eyes On Your Audience

When speaking to more than two individuals, connect with one individual for a complete sentence or thought. Take a moment to pause as you transition your eyes from one individual to another.

When rehearsing, ask your listener to immediately give you feedback when you look away from them while you’re speaking.

Similar Articles You May Like... Are Your Speech Gestures Too Small, Too Big, or Just Right? Toastmasters Speech 5: Your Body Speaks How to Make Reading a Speech Not Like Reading a Speech How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) Boost Your Speaking Confidence Through Improv

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Stacey Hanke is co-author of Yes You Can! Everything You Need From A To Z To Influence Others To Take Action and founder of 1st Impression Consulting, Inc. She helps individuals eliminate the static that plagues communicative delivery - to persuade, sell, influence and communicate face-to-face with a clear message. She has trained over 15,000 people to rid themselves of bad body language habits and choose words wisely.

It is a touching performance. Even though I have seen it numerous times – I use it as part of one of the courses that I teach on public speaking – I never tire of it. Although there is room for improvement, the positive aspects of Gilbert’s talk make it moving and memorable.

This is the latest in a series of speech critiques here on Six Minutes.

I encourage you to:

1. Watch the video;
2. Read the analysis in this speech critique; and
3. Share your thoughts on this presentation in the comment section.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There is a lot that can we learn about public speaking from Gilbert’s talk. For the purposes of this post, I have chosen three things that I liked and three areas where I see room for improvement.

First the positives:

She speaks with sincere passion.

Garr Reynolds, the author of Presentation Zen, has said that if he only had one tip to give to speakers, it would be to be passionate about the topic and let that enthusiasm come out.

“The biggest item that separates mediocre presenters from world class ones is the ability to connect with an audience in an honest and exciting way. Don’t hold back. Be confident. And let your passion for your topic come out for all to see.”

Gilbert is certainly passionate. It is easy to see that she truly cares about the subject matter and that she wants the audience to understand what she is saying and why. Her passion builds to a crescendo as her talk progresses. Note, for example, her description of the moonlight dances in North Africa (15:53) and her encouragement to the audience to “do your job” (18:27).

For me, the passion with which Gilbert speaks is the biggest strength of her talk. It more than compensates for any shortcomings. When you show your emotions like Gilbert did, it’s true that you are taking a risk. You are going out on a limb. But that’s where the best fruit is.

She tells stories.

Stories help us connect with our audiences in a way that all the charts, graphs, statistics and bullet points in the world will never be able to do. They help to make our messages resonate in people’s minds long after the telling.

Gilbert uses the power of stories to great effect. Going through the transcript of her talk, I found five personal stories from her life and five stories about other people. The stories reinforce her points in a powerful way.

Psychologists who have studied the power of storytelling have concluded that people are hardwired for stories. It is perhaps the oldest method of communication. So be sure to incorporate stories in your presentations. You have stories too, and telling them will bring your presentation to life in a way that bullet points never can.

She engages the audience.

As Gilbert’s speech progresses, it seems less like a speech and more like a conversation that she is having with a close friend over a cup of coffee. She engages the audience throughout and that makes her very easy to listen to.

Gilbert does not put on airs. Her voice is natural. She smiles. She makes good eye contact with the audience. She laces her talk with humor at appropriate points. All of these things help to “shrink the distance” between Gilbert and her audience. They make her likable and being liked is very important for a speaker. (Just ask anyone who has ever spoken to a hostile audience.)

Now the areas for improvement:

She needs to slow down and pause more often.

Gilbert makes many important points and backs them up with wonderful stories and anecdotes. However, she often runs her ideas together quickly. Furthermore, often when she comes to a point where it would be good to pause, she fills the space with words like “you know”, “right?” and “OK”. These “filler words” eat away at the fabric of our speeches and make them weaker.

Pausing serves us well in many ways:

1. It allows our audiences to absorb and digest what we have said.
2. It can be used to signal that something important is about to come, and thus focus our audience’s attention.
3. It helps rid us of the bad habit of feeling compelled to fill the silence with awkward filler words.
4. It makes us look thoughtful, confident, and credible.

Pauses need only last a second or two, but the effect can be profound. It’s been said that music is what happens between the notes. I believe that a great speech happens between the words, during those moments when the audience internalizes our words. Always remember to pause.

Her hand gestures were frequently distracting.

It’s obvious that, especially at the beginning of her talk, Gilbert was nervous. (Who wouldn’t be at least a bit nervous speaking at TED?) But the nervous energy was frequently released through the wringing and grinding of her hands (see, for example, at 0:30 and 1:05 to 1:25). This is a shame because at other times she used her hands quite effectively to emphasize her points (see, for example, 6:26 to 7:26, 10:20 to 11:03 and 15:59 to 16:40).

Effective gestures can enhance the impact of your message, but they have to be used properly and in moderation. Think of adding gestures to your presentation the way in which a world class chef would add spices to a fine meal: judiciously, to enhance the flavor of the food, but not to overpower it.

Practice getting comfortable with leaving your hands at your side from time to time when you do not need them. That way, when you do gesture, the gestures will be more effective.

She could have related the message to the audience more than she did.

I love the message that Gilbert conveys – that we should do our work as best we can, even if the recognition and acclaim do not come, because it is the doing that is important. I feel, however, that she could have done a bit more to relate it to the audience. Indeed, in the entire speech, which lasted almost 20 minutes, I counted relatively few times when she expressly mentioned the audience:

• 2:20: “Is it logical that anybody should be expected to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this earth to do?”
• 12:12: “And I would imagine that a lot of you have too.”
• 14:35: “I fell into one of those pits of despair that we all fall into when we’re working on something that’s not coming.”
• 15:50: “And I know you know what I’m talking about.”
• 18:31: “Just do your job.”

Don’t get me wrong. I do not question for one moment the sincerity behind Gilbert’s message. I am simply saying that it would have been nice to hear her talk more about the audience and the challenges that the people there might be facing. Also, it would have been nice for her to state that her message about creativity applies to people beyond the fine arts, because I do believe that her words have meaning for us all.

Never forget that a speech is, first and foremost, for the audience and about the audience. Why should the audience care? That is the question that we as speakers must always ask ourselves.

So there you have it. Some thoughts on a great speech by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Your Thoughts?

What did you think of this speech? What are Elizabeth’s strengths? How could this speech have been made better?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

John Zimmer is a Canadian now living in Geneva, Switzerland. A lawyer by training, he has spoken extensively before courts, tribunals, business conferences, bodies of the United Nations, and more. He lectures on public speaking and presentation skills at the University of Lausanne and elsewhere. John is a four-time European champion of Toastmasters International public speaking contests. His writes regularly about public speaking and presentation matters on his blog.

Have you ever been at an industry conference, a PTA meeting, or a community gathering where you wanted to stand up and voice your opinion, but couldn’t find the words or didn’t have the confidence to put yourself out there?

This article shows how you can gain public speaking confidence using an unlikely method — by practicing improv comedy.

What is improvisational comedy?

Remember the TV show, Who’s Line Is It Anyway? The stars would be placed in a scene or character, and they would entertain us with their on-the-spot confidence and skills.

Improvisational comedy — or just plain improv — is the trained skill of improvised acting and spontaneously creating hilarity. If you are like me, you may view spontaneity as creating new things on the spot — creativity on demand. But spontaneity is something you already possess. It is about removing the mental blocks to your innate creativity, and letting your inner self shine.

We often have a gut instinct about what is funny in the moment and that can serve us well. Training in improv comedy allows you to recognize those moments, relax, and let your spontaneity flow. You will stress less about what is and isn’t allowed, and speak up more freely.

Learning by playing

One of the first things you learn at improv is to get in a playful state. What this means is that you let go of the need for perfection. Let go of the wish to affect the outcome – to always want to be successful and to avoid failure. Just play. Regardless of the outcome.

When you are doing improv, you learn to do before you think too much. Act as soon as the thought appears. If you start to think about it, and imagining what can go wrong, you won’t express the creativity. Be willing to reveal that inner self that usually gets censored. When you play, you can be any character you want to be.

Improv games you can play

Find a friend or group of friends who are open to learning new skills.

You can practice these exercises as long as you want, but each round should last about two minutes.

Game 1: Word-at-a-time storytelling

This is an exercise for two people. The goal is to tell a story one word at a time alternating between the two people.

For example: (Person A) Once, (Person B) upon, (A) a, (B) time, (A) I, (B) walked, (A) into, (B) a, (A) tree, and so on.

When starting out, you may find it easier to frame what the story is about before starting. This gives the participants an idea of the direction of the story. For example, “Go into a forest and kill a monster.” Then leave the details up to the participants.

Game 2: Speaking in Gibberish

This can be practiced alone. However, to get the best effect, you need to get feedback, so at least two people are recommended.

Act out a scene without using your verbal skills. You’ll notice how much of communication is actually non-verbal as you can still tell a lot with non-verbal cues (e.g. pointing to a watch or showing a surprised or angry expression).

Game 3: Questions are the answer

This is a game for two people who get placed in a scene and then they share a dialogue around it. The rule is that you can only ask questions. No answers, statements or explanations – always answer a question with a question.

Keep trying to move the conversation forward, so stay clear of circular arguments, i.e. why? Why not?

For example, suppose the scene is a pet shop.

• Person A: Do you have any puppies?
• Person B: What kind of puppies do you like?
• Person A: What about german sheppard puppies?
• Person B: Male or female puppies?
• … and so on.

Game 4: Play with an imaginary object

Stand in a circle with your group of friends. One-by-one, pick up an imaginary object from a the table in front of you, interact with it, and pass it on to person next to you. They will then take it, interact with it, and put it back on the table.

You have to make it clear what the object is, so that the person next to you knows how to interact with it.

For example, pick up an imaginary lollipop, lick it a few times, put it in your mouth (with the tongue bulging out your cheek), before taking it out and passing it to the next person.

Game 5: Narrating a story

Two people play this game. One person narrates while the other acts out the story.

There are two variations you can play. In variation A, the narrator prescribes what the other person should act out. In variation B, the actor acts out a story, and the narrator responds by describing it.

For example:

• Variation A: Narrator says “The man saw a big monster and took out his sword” (and the actor then performs the action as described).
• Variation B: The actor acts surprised and exaggerates taking a sword out of a sheath (and the narrator describes what is happening).

Improv lessons will boost your speaking confidence

The lessons you learn in improv are valuable, and will improve your confidence as a speaker.

• In improv, you learn to think on your feet; this will hone your on-the-spot speaking skills too.
• Improv works best if you make the other participants look good; in speaking, you look good if you make the audience feel good about their chances to succeed.
• When you are having fun doing improv, the audience has fun too; with public speaking, the audience will enjoy themselves if you are enjoying yourself.
• In improv, you learn the outcome isn’t always controlled by you; the same goes with public speaking: you need to take the pulse of the audience continuously and adjust where necessary to keep them engaged.
• In improv, you practice and gain expertise in many speaking tools. Vivid body language to engage the audience; setting a scene and playing a character; good storytelling skills; and directing attention through asking questions are just a few critical speaking skills.

Try it out!

If you have the opportunity to join an improv course or workshop, do it. Or, gather a group of friends and hold your own event. Improv comedy isn’t as scary as it is made out to be. It is not just for performers but anyone wishing to become more confident in front of an audience. So, sign up and have a blast, and become a more confident speaker in the process.

Similar Articles You May Like... How to Thrive When Speaking Outside Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) Are Your Speech Gestures Too Small, Too Big, or Just Right? Speech Preparation #7: Choreograph Your Speech with Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety 12 Days of Public Speaking Christmas 6 Communication Barriers and How You Can Avoid Them

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Leon van der Walt has been a member of Toastmasters in Johannesburg and London and has served as club VP of Education. He constantly seeks to improve his public speaking and communication skills and sharing what he has learned through his website. His guiding principle is that life is about communication, and having fun while communicating is what makes life worth living.

What is relevant to them?
What do they already know?
How do they feel about our topic?

When I recently spoke at two conferences in Africa, I discovered that there is another, more fundamental layer of audience needs to consider as well.

In this article, I will share the lessons I learned about basic communication issues when speaking to a culturally distinct audience.

1. Don’t assume they can understand you
2. Be cautious of cultural jargon
3. Be adaptable to local style
4. Slow down
5. Watch your body language

Tip 1: Don’t Assume They Can Understand You

Although English is the official language of business in both places I spoke (Nigeria and Kenya), their English is more formal, flowery, and structured than casual, American English where we regularly use contractions (e.g. can’t, mustn’t, would’ve) and drop the endings on words (e.g. are you comin’ to the party?).

To enhance the audience’s ability to understand you, speak clearly and articulate carefully. Minimize your use of contractions. Check with the audience to see if they understand; encourage them to interrupt you if they do not.

Tip 2: Be Cautious of Cultural Jargon

Local terminology, popular culture references, and humor likely will not translate. If they don’t, the point you’re trying to make is lost on the audience. Humor from your culture may even be offensive in other cultures. Things you are very familiar with (e.g. Starbucks, Seinfeld, online banking) may not have any meaning to your audience.

For example, in part of my presentation in Nigeria, I was talking about various social media tools and quickly found that, although Facebook is popular, LinkedIn is not widely recognized there.

If you want to use a cultural reference in your presentation, do some research and find a local one that will resonate with the audience. If you must use one local to your culture, explain it. Avoid jargon and slang. If you use acronyms, spell them out.

Tip 3: Be Adaptable to Local Style

In my presentation skills training classes I teach people not to open their presentation with the standard “I’m so happy to be here”, but instead use those precious first moments to grab the audience’s attention with a powerful, on-message opening. When I speak, I follow my own advice. However, in both Nigeria and Kenya, openings were uniformly formal and almost ceremonial.

In Nigeria, as the only Western, white person in a room of 350 people, I felt it was much more appropriate to abandon my normal style and open my remarks by telling the audience that it was my first visit to Africa and how honored I was, and grateful to the Board of Trustees, to be a part of their conference. My comments were completely sincere, but style-wise, a little over the top for me. In this case, however, it was the right decision: the audience responded with a huge, welcoming round of applause.

Tip 4: Slow Down

This is actually good advice for most presentations, but it’s particularly important in a cross-cultural context. If you have some difficulty understanding your audience speak, because of accents or cadence, they probably have the same difficulty understanding you. The faster you talk, the more difficult you are to understand. If you are being simultaneously translated, speaking quickly also makes it more difficult for the translator.

Tip 5: Watch Your Body Language

Gestures (e.g. pointing) or unconscious habits (e.g. maintaining direct eye contact) may be offensive in other cultures. Do your research to determine what’s appropriate and what’s not where you’re speaking.

A resource to check is Gestures: The Dos and Taboos of Body Language Around the World by Roger Axtell. It is available from amazon.com for just $11.53.

The Bottom Line

Speaking in another country to people from another culture is an amazing experience. Do your homework, incorporate a few modifications into your presentation, and eagerly embrace any opportunity that comes your way.

Learning More

You can research the cultural characteristics of your audience with these resources:

• CIA: World Factbook
• BBC: Country Profiles
• US Department of State: Country Notes

Have you ever spoken to an audience from a culture different than yours? What tips can you share?

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words 6 Communication Barriers and How You Can Avoid Them Boost Your Speaking Confidence Through Improv Breathing: The Seductive Key to Unlocking Your Vocal Variety 8 Faulty Speaker Assumptions and How to Fix Them

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Kathy Reiffenstein is the founder and president of And…Now Presenting!, a D.C. area business communications consulting and training firm, where she draws on her background in sales, marketing and customer service to create confident, persuasive speakers. She works with business executives, authors, non-profit leaders and the military to help them speak clearly, effectively and engagingly to their audiences.

But do you know how big these gestures should be?

In this article, you’ll learn to match the size of your gestures to your audience and venue.

What is meant by gesture size?

Just as your voice can be loud or soft, your gestures can be large or small.

For example, consider the spectrum of hand and arm gestures.

• Gestures involving your fingers only are small gestures.
• Gestures pivoting at your wrist are a bit larger.
• Gestures pivoting at your elbow are larger still.
• Finally, gestures pivoting at your shoulder are large.

Okay, how do you choose the right size?

It depends. Gestures that are effective for one audience might be completely ineffective with another audience.

Factors you should consider are:

1. the distance between you and your audience, and
2. sight lines between you and your audience
3. cultural and contextual factors

From these factors, we can derive some basic guidelines for effective body language.

Distance

In general, the farther your audience is from you, the larger and more pronounced your gestures need to be. Small audience = small gestures. Big audience = big gestures.

For example, when seated at a board room table, you might use a small hand gesture. When speaking in an auditorium, you need to use full arm gestures.

Sight Lines

In general, if sight lines are clear, you can make smaller and more intricate gestures. If sight lines are partially blocked, you need larger (and higher) gestures.

Cultural and Contextual Factors

Cultural and contextual factors may impact the appropriate size for your gestures. A few examples are:

• The culture of your audience members may dictate more subdued gestures. (In general, beware the use of large gestures if you are not familiar with your audience’s culture.)
• When delivering a eulogy or news about layoffs, your gestures should be subdued.
• When speaking to children, your gestures can probably be magnified.

In all cases, it is best to research this as part of your audience analysis, particularly if you are speaking to a new group.

Example Scenarios for Speech Gestures

Let’s consider a few sample scenarios to illustrate how the size of your audience (and, by extension, the size of the room) influences which gestures are most effective.

1. Speech Gestures for a Small Group (2-6 people)

Example Scenario: You are having a conversation with a colleague in an office, or sitting at a table with customers.

Guidelines for this small group setting:

• Your gestures can be small and still effective because everyone is close to you.
• Finger gestures and hand gestures pivoting at the wrist can be effective.
  For example, consider the finger gestures displayed by the man in photo A on the right.
• Eye gestures and facial expressions are inherently small gestures. They are critical in an intimate small-group setting, because everyone can see every nuance, both conscious and unconscious.
  For example, the woman in photo B is communicating non-verbally simply with her eyes and facial expression.
• The smaller your audience is, the more likely that you will have their full attention. They will tend to be looking at your eyes with a rather narrow field of view. Therefore, small hand gestures may work best if you raise your hands up closer to your eyes.
  For example, see how the man in photo C is gesturing with raised hands.
• Beware nervous gestures (e.g. tapping your fingers on the table; clicking a pen repeatedly) which are magnified in this setting.

2. Speech Gestures for a Medium Group (7-40 people)

Example Scenario: You are presenting to an audience which is seated around boardroom table, or in a small meeting room. You may be standing, or you may be seated yourself.

Guidelines for this medium group setting:

• Your gestures should be scaled up a bit as the average distance between you and the audience members increases.
• Your eye and facial gestures are still important. People in the front rows may still be able to see every nuance, both conscious and unconscious.
• Hand/arm gestures should pivot from your elbows at least.
  For example, consider President Obama in photo D as he gestures with his arm pivoting from his elbow.
• Watch your sight lines! Hand gestures which pivot at the wrist may be too small for people to see, particularly if you are speaking with a lectern or if views are obscured (e.g. by computer screens).
  For example, the man’s gesture in photo E may be invisible to his audience (and thus, ineffective) because it is blocked by the computer screen.
• Depending on the room layout, you may be able to incorporate some larger gestures with your upper body.

3. Speech Gestures for a Large Group (40-100 people)

Example Scenario: You are presenting a lunchtime seminar at a company, or perhaps a conference break-out session in a large meeting room. There probably is not a significant stage, nor is there raised seating (i.e. you are standing at the same level as your audience).

Guidelines for this large group setting:

• Your gestures should scale up even larger with arm gestures out and away from your body.
  For example, the woman in photo F is gesturing with her arm which is pivoting from her shoulder.
• Eye and facial expressions become less important because they are probably invisible to much of the audience unless you really exaggerate them.
• Because of the obscured sight lines for most of your audience behind the first few rows, this can be the most challenging audience size because they can only see you from the chest and higher. Any gestures you make lower are invisible to much of the audience.
  Note how the man in photo G has raised both his arms just under his face to gesture. This allows audience members to see him above the head of the person in front of them.
• One way to magnify smaller gestures is to hold them for a longer period of time and turn your body slightly as you display it. This increases the likelihood that more people will see the gesture.

4. Speech Gestures for a Huge Group (100+ people)

Example Scenario: You are presenting a keynote address at a conference. Audience seating is elevated as you move from front to back, and you are speaking from a stage which is probably set back from the front row.

Guidelines for this huge group setting:

• Your gestures need to scale up again. Full body gestures are necessary. Don’t hold back.
• Small gestures, like small objects, are invisible. Gestures with your fingers (e.g. putting up three fingers to indicate your third point) are invisible. Your audience will see your arm up, but they cannot see your fingers.
  For example, consider Steve Jobs as he unveils the MacBook Air in photo H. He realizes that most of his audience cannot really see what he is holding. (And his hands and face are even smaller!) So, a photo of a manila envelope appears on the screen behind him to compensate.
• Eye and facial gestures are invisible. This does not mean you should have a “dead” face. Quite the opposite, you should still have expressive eye and facial gestures because this will tend to keep your vocal variety high.
• Because of improved sight lines, you can probably use “low” hand/arm gestures that are centered around your stomach and waist.
• Also, your legs are now visible and you can exploit this to great advantage with full body gestures such as strolling or kicking.
• In rare cases, a video system may be used to magnify you for your audience, as with the woman presenting in photo I. If this is the case, smaller gestures can, once again, be seen. Large gestures are probably still more effective.

In Summary

Always be aware of the distance between you and your audience and the sight lines in the room. Based on this knowledge, scale your gestures accordingly and you will be effective.

Similar Articles You May Like... Toastmasters Speech 5: Your Body Speaks 6 Communication Barriers and How You Can Avoid Them Boost Your Speaking Confidence Through Improv How to Thrive When Speaking Outside How to Make Reading a Speech Not Like Reading a Speech Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love)

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Does your face signal fear or does it signal excitement for your topic?

Do your hands vibrate, or do they punctuate your words?

The fifth Toastmasters speech project encourages you to make every body movement enhance your speech rather than detract from it. This article of the Toastmasters Speech Series examines the primary goals of this project, provides tips and techniques, and links to numerous sample speeches.

Why is This Speech Important?

Your aims for this speech project are to complement your message with your body during delivery. Specifically, be aware of your:

• posture,
• body movement,
• facial expressions, and
• eye contact.

If you aren’t aware of your body language, you are missing an incredible opportunity to improve your effectiveness as a speaker.

Tips and Techniques

1. Remove “Noisy” Movements

The Competent Communicator manual advice for this project is excellent, and among my favorite pieces of advice is “any movement during your speech should be purposeful.”

For many people, there is as much to be gained from removing nervous and distracting movements as there is from adding conscious gestures. It may seem counter-intuitive, but this is “addition by subtraction.”

Before delivering this speech, ask your mentor or a fellow club member to highlight your most distracting physical mannerism. We all have one. Mine is “wringing” of my hands. Yours might be a tendency to play with your hair. It might be playing with your keys or coins in your pocket. It might be rocking back and forth from your heel to your toe.

Whatever it is, make a goal in this project to consciously remove or reduce it in this speech project. By doing so, you can clear your physical palette, and then you’ll be ready for purpose additions of gestures to complement your message.

2. Avoid “Forcing” Gestures into Your Speech

One common mistake I see in Toastmasters who tackle this speech project is to overdo it by awkwardly forcing a hand gesture into nearly every sentence. This almost always results in a very choppy and awkward delivery.

Remember that your goal is not to provide a continuous physical interpretation of every word spoken. Instead, add gestures selectively where they add the most impact.

I find that the best way to avoid forcing hand and arms gestures is to try to strike an even balance between the other forms of physical gestures — eye contact, facial expressions, posture, or whole body movements. For example, if you convey an important emotion with your facial expression, your arms can relax to your sides because they “aren’t needed.”

3. Record Video of Yourself Speaking

If you have not seen yourself speaking yet, use this project as the motivation to finally do it. The best way to discover any distracting movements is to watch yourself delivering a speech with the volume turned off.

• Is your body constantly in movement, or do you come to rest in between gestures?
• Do your gestures alone (without the sound) convey emotions which match your message?
• Is your face expressive or flat?
• Are your eyes darting around the room or providing sustained contact?

What I Did for Speech 5

I decided to select a speech with a range of emotions so that I could practice having my body express the emotions. I chose to talk about a hobby that I shared with my dad — woodworking. Some examples of body language I used were:

• eyes wide open to mimic child wonder;
• angry face to signal frustration at a woodworking project gone wrong;
• shaking head to signal disappointment from my dad;
• a thrusting arm to show how wooden furniture was smashed; and
• various arm movements to show the sizes of pieces of wood.

The title of the speech was Measure Twice, Cut Once. Years later, I rewrote a substantial portion of this speech and entered the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, eventually placing third in District 21.

Critiques of Toastmasters Speech 5 Examples

Here are a few examples of Toastmasters members delivering speech 5 on video. Each is accompanied by a few critiques which highlight positive behaviors and things to improve. In several cases, a time is given (e.g. 0:45) Clicking on this link will take you to the moment the gesture is used in the speech.

Speech Example #1

Feeling Naked by Heather Applegate

• Gestures to Improve
  • Repetitive gesture (both arms spread out to sides), many times in a row. [0:45] If you repeat any action too many times, your audience starts to ignore it, or be annoyed by it. Both are bad for you.
  • In general, arms are quite “busy” with many “generic” gestures throughout. In her defense, this creates a relaxed, conversational style that is appropriate in for this speech topic. Still, I would like to see it toned down.
• Effective Body Language
  • Facial gestures convey a “puzzled look” to complement the confusion of the “neighbors being around you”. [0:55] This gesture comes through strong even with the imperfect video quality.
  • It’s better to avoid notes because they tend to limit gestures as you hold on to the paper. However, if you do must have notes, this is the way to do it [1:30]: briefly look down to orient yourself, and then look back up again before speaking. (Contrast this with talking to the paper @ 5:00.)
  • Inhale, exhale to complement “Just breathe” [3:05]

Speech Example #2

Let’s have disagreement by Anonymous

• Gestures to Improve
  • Forced gesture – The opening walk from right to left [0:02] seems forced to me. However, he recovered well with broad arm to right while saying “you’ll be one mile apart”
  • Repetitive action – Throughout the speech, two gestures are repeated over and over again. [1] two arms with palms upward; [2] two arms with thumbs up.
  • Back to the audience. [5:32] Try to avoid facing away from the audience, even when writing on a whiteboard or flip chart.
• Effective Body Language
  • Natural smile throughout the speech.
  • Raising of right arm reinforces that he wants the audience to respond to his question. [0:57]
  • Arms mimic “building a wall” [1:45]
  • Arms mimic a complete circle to punctuate “a whole” [3:16]
  • Emphasize opposites. Notice the use of the two arms for “stupid” and “smart” [4:16]
  • Arms “hugging” to punctuate the word “embrace” [6:03]

Speech Example #3

Speak Without Saying a Word by Emilie Staryak

• Gestures to Improve
  • It’s difficult to focus naturally on gestures when talking about gestures. For this reason, I recommend choosing a topic other than gestures for this speech.
• Effective Body Language
  • Natural smile throughout the speech.
  • Get the lectern out of the way [1:06]. Removing barriers between you and your audience helps them to see your body language and connect with you.
  • Emphasize opposites — “If we have a party that is going to start at 5 o’clock, we have to tell my Uncle Joe that it starts at 6 (arms gesturing to the right), and we have to tell my Dad that it starts at 4 (arms gesturing to the left)” [3:15]

Speech Example #4

Learning from Yourself by Anonymous

• Gestures to Improve
  • Arms tucked behind body for the first 70 seconds of speech. Try to keep your hands and arms in front and “ready” to gesture.
  • Repetitive gesture, both arms out in front, palms up, hands going up and down. [e.g. 4:40 to 5:20, and other times]
• Effective Body Language
  • Broad smile accompanies “I had lots of fun there” [2:20] Authenticity!
  • While saying “Projection”, arms project strongly outwards to complement words [2:48]
  • Emphasize opposites by providing opposing gestures. Arms sway to right = “too fast”; arms sway to the left = “too slow” [2:52]

More Examples of Your Body Speaks

Here are a few more sample video speeches which may provide inspiration for you. As you watch some of these videos, ask yourself which body language is effective and which is not. Then, try to emulate the best behaviors in your own speech.

• The Joy. The Ecstacy. The Moment by Anonymous
• Home Invasion by Annie
• Stuck in a Rut by Jason Turner
• Unknown by Sanjiv Santhanam
• Death of an Apostrophe by Chris J
• Unknown by Julia Billingsley
• Competition by David Stokes
• Couch Exercise by Eric
• Change by Accident by Bruce
• Invest a Little Discipline by Harsh Singhal
• Learning from Kids by Sachin Shah (including an evaluation)
• What Winners Do To Win by Lisa

Next in the Toastmasters Speech Series

The next article in this series examines Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety.

Similar Articles You May Like... Are Your Speech Gestures Too Small, Too Big, or Just Right? 6 Communication Barriers and How You Can Avoid Them How to Make Reading a Speech Not Like Reading a Speech Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) Toastmasters Speech 7: Research Your Topic Boost Your Speaking Confidence Through Improv

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Wrong. You only have words on paper, and your audience doesn’t want to read your speech.

Your audience wants to see and hear your presentation. You will dazzle them by complementing your speech with staging, gestures, and vocal variety.

This article shows you how.

Vocal Variety: The Four P’s

Monotone delivery puts your audience to sleep, no matter how riveting your content. On the other hand, an energetic and varied voice will be music to their ears.

Vocal variety covers the 4 P’s:

1. Power (or volume)
2. Pitch
3. Pace
4. Pauses

Power

Power refers to the volume you project. At a minimum, be sure that your entire audience can easily hear you without straining.

• Turning your voice volume up or down adds interest. Use both variations when they match the emotion you want to convey. For example, speaking loud might be used to convey excitement. Speaking soft might convey sadness.
• Use a microphone to amplify your voice in large rooms.
• Eliminate outside noises, if you can. If you can’t, consider moving the audience closer to you, or moving into the audience.

Pitch

Pitch is the frequency of the sound you emit. To some extent, you are born with your voice pitch, whether it be soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, or baritone. However, if your speech contains dialogue for several characters, varying your pitch is an excellent way to distinguish between them.

Pace

Pace is your speaking rate, and varying it throughout the speech adds great interest. There are many effects that a variable pace can generate, but the most basic are:

• Speed up to heighten the emotion in a dramatic story.
• Slow down when delivering key phrases.

The most common pace problem is speaking too fast for the audience to absorb the material. There are two underlying reasons for this:

• Lack of editing leaves too much content and too little time. The resulting pace is far too fast for the audience to absorb.
• Nervousness also contributes to a rapid speaking rate.

For an example of rapid speaking rate, see Majora Carter in Greening the Ghetto.

Pauses

Pauses are magical. On the lips of master speakers, pauses can be used for a multitude of purposes.

• Short pauses can signal the end of a clause or sentence. Your audience needs these because they can’t read the punctuation in your text.
• Longer pauses signal the transition between major points or stories. Experienced speakers will often take a drink of water, ready a prop, or consult notes at these times.
• Pauses before and after key points are wonderful buffers. The preceding pause signals to the audience that you are about to say something important. The following pause gives the audience time to reflect on what you just said and internalize it.
• Pauses can also be used to enhance audience interaction (e.g. ask a rhetorical question, and then wait).

Example: Steve Jobs demonstrates a powerful pause in his Stanford Commencement speech.

Gestures / Body Language

Hundreds of gestures are available to help complement your words. Gestures throughout your speech make you interesting to watch. If you are interesting to watch, then your audience will be more attentive to your message. Failure to use gestures will lead your audience to watch the inside of their eyeballs.

Rather than attempting to itemize hundreds of different gestures, I’ll highlight a few general principles:

• Your body will naturally want to move as you speak. Don’t inhibit these natural gestures as they convey a sense that you are comfortable and confident in your message.
• Mix in deliberate gestures to coincide with key points. Mimic the actions of your speech (e.g. throwing a ball), or convey concepts through recognizable symbols (e.g. convey “censorship” by covering your mouth).
• Use a variety of gestures. Don’t use the same one over and over and over again.
• Increase the size of your gestures to match the size of the room. When presenting to three of your co-workers at a table, your gestures can be small (e.g. hand gestures that start at the wrist). When presenting to a packed auditorium, your gestures should be large (e.g. full-body gestures originating from the shoulders)
• Don’t neglect the power of facial gestures. Your audience will feed off the facial gestures you make.

For an outstanding demonstration of gestures which complement a speech, see J.A. Gamache deliver Being a Mr. G.

Staging

Staging your speech means utilizing the 3-dimensional space around you in the most effective way possible.

• Novice speakers will chain themselves to the lectern or stand in one spot on the middle of the stage.
• Intermediate speakers will meander randomly around the speaking area. Body movement appeals to the audience and keeps attention.
• Great speakers move around the speaking area with purpose. Every time they take a few steps, they are doing so with a distinct purpose in mind.

Like gestures, there are innumerable ways to stage your speech, but here are a few general principles:

• The simplest act of staging is to prepare the speaking area before you begin. Move the lectern to the side. Move obstacles away, or at least be aware of them. Make sure every person in the audience has a clear sight line to you (or your slides). Simple acts like this show the audience that you’ve thought of everything, and that you want no barriers between you and them.
• If you are using props or other visual aids, plan where they will be before and after you use them. When they are not being used, you want them out of sight.
• Just as long pauses can signal the transition between major points, so can considerable movement within the speaking area.
• You can map specific locations in the speaking area to be virtual locations for certain stories of your speech. Then, when you refer back to these stories, a simple gesture back to that area of the speaking area is valuable to help the audience make the connection.
• In very large rooms, be sure to balance your position on the left, center, and right of the speaking area.
• Not every speech allows for it, but don’t forget about the forward/backward direction as well as up/down. If you can meaningfully bring in these directions, it will make a powerful statement. For example, consider what climbing on a chair might allow you to do within your speech.

Example of Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety — Face the Wind

As I have done with previous articles in this series, I will use my 2007 contest speech Face the Wind to illustrate the use of staging, gestures, and vocal variety.

Below is an annotated summary of key staging, gestures, and vocal variety — the choreography of the speaking performance. The summary is time-indexed e.g. [1:15] according to the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Staging: Throughout the speech, note how most of the humor “punch lines” are delivered looking right or left. Similarly, many of the serious lines are delivered front and center. This is a technique that I was exploring in this speech for the first time.
• Gesture: Arm gesture to left, then right to match the trading of house keys for condo keys. [0:27]
• Vocal variety: “escaped … loud vacuous whoosh“. Also complemented by arm gestures to the right [0:42]
• Gesture: Facial expressions on “yard work” [0:56]
• Gesture: Arm gesture referring to audience on “a Toastmasters club officer” because many in the audience were (or have been) officers. [1:00]
• Staging: The walk around my yard looking at numerous bushes and trees [1:26]
• Gesture/Staging: Introduction of the Japanese maple tree is with arms up to indicate the height of the tree. Notice how this stage position is mapped to the tree location. [1:34]
• Vocal variety: Vocal variety: “no, not wide enough” [2:10]
• Gesture/Staging: Difficult to see this on the video, but the hole-digging sequence involves stage movement from front to back, diagonally. [2:13]
• Gesture: Arms open wide to indicate the breadth of the “moat” [2:21]
• Staging: Drop to the floor to wrestle the tree. [2:30] This position was also the setup for the “roots like tentacles, as expansive as its branches” gesture [2:50]
• Gesture: Triumphant gesture [2:34]
• Staging: Note the location of the neighbour’s monster tree is off to the right (actually above the audience). This position is mapped for future reference to the monster tree. [3:12]. For example, notice reference to monster tree at [3:51] and again at [4:12].
• Gesture: Forceful gestures to mimic the gas BBQ being lifted up [4:05]
• Gesture: Double hand gesture for “force combined with direction” [4:30]
• Gesture/Staging: Full body gestures for wind blowing and tree resisting. Notice that for these gestures, I am facing to the side so that the majority of the audience will see these gestures in profile. This is more effective than facing the audience. Note also how the contrasting wind directions are indicated [4:39 to 4:55].
• Vocal variety: Voice is quieter at the start of the miscarriage story, then gets louder with “when that wind came for them, not once but twice” [5:05]
• Gesture: holding infant Maximus [6:22]
• Gesture: incubator [6:30]
• Gesture: Notice the gestures in the “yesterday-today-tomorrow” segment [6:45] It starts on the audience’s left, then middle, then right… just as if they were viewing a standard timeline from left to right.
• Vocal variety: Lengthy pause before “We are not trees” [7:04]
• Gesture: Emphatic gestures to indicate we are not trees [7:12] and roots going through the seat [7:13]. Energy here is amplified.

Next in the Speech Preparation Series

Your speech is finally ready. No… wait… you haven’t practiced it yet. The next article in the Speech Preparation Series discusses techniques to get maximum benefit from your rehearsal sessions.

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Critique: Elizabeth Gilbert @ TED (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) Boost Your Speaking Confidence Through Improv Breathing: The Seductive Key to Unlocking Your Vocal Variety Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety How to Thrive When Speaking Outside How to Stop Saying Um, Uh, and Other Filler Words

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

This video critique analyzes many noteworthy elements of the presentation, including:

• a memorable speech opening and closing which feature the same prop;
• the callback technique for repetitive humor;
• emotionally charged writing; and
• a series of wonderfully choreographed gestures.

I encourage you to:

1. Watch the video;
2. Read the analysis in this speech critique; and
3. Share your thoughts on this presentation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Effective Prop for Strong Opening

J.A. opens his speech by blowing a train whistle and yelling “All aboard!” [0:30] This may be the greatest impact in the opening four seconds of a speech I’ve ever seen. It is simple and quick, but it transports the audience out of their chairs in a ballroom and onto a train.

Also note how J.A. expertly conceals the prop before its use (in his left hand, so that he could shake hands with his right), and then immediately pockets it afterwards. This is a good lesson: display the prop only when you are specifically using it. You don’t want the audience’s attention on the prop anymore, so don’t hold onto it, fidget with it, or leave it anywhere in view.

(Effective Prop for) Strong Closing

J.A. closes the speech exactly as he opened it: blowing the train whistle and yelling “All aboard!” This is wonderfully circular, and symbolically tells the audience not only that the speech is complete, but that we have neatly returned back to where we started.

Immediately preceding the whistle, J.A. says: “In the train of life, the world needs more Mr. and Mrs. G’s like you.” This is a well-crafted call to action for several reasons:

• metaphor (“train of life“)
• simile (“like“)
• personalized for audience (“you”)

“Mr. G.” – A Contemporary Hero

When first used in the speech title, “Mr. G.” creates mystery in the minds of the audience. Who is Mr. G.? The use of “mister” implies that it is someone J.A. respects (i.e. Mr. G. rather than simply G.), but that is a subtle clue.

Later, after the true identity is revealed, J.A. continues to use “Mr. G.” I think this gives the hero a more contemporary quality. This makes Gandhi seem more like a next-door neighbour than a great man who (to the audience) lived around the world in a faraway land sixty years ago. The word choice is an effective way to bridge the distance – in time, geography, culture, context – between the life of the hero and the lives of the audience members.

Repetition of Key Phrases

“Awww. How sweeeeet.”

• Three repetitions. J.A. first uses this phrase following the story of Gandhi and the two sandals [1:51]. He repeats it during the stories of giving shoes to a homeless person [2:33] and dancing with the hearing impaired crowd [5:00].
• J.A. uses virtually the same vocal variety and gesture every time.
• He gets a little laughter on the first use, and much more laughter on subsequent uses. This is not accidental. The callback technique creates a psychological connection between each use. Essentially, G.A. created a lightweight conditioned response for the audience to laugh whenever he used that phrase and that gesture.

“Dare to care.”

• Five repetitions. First used with “Gandhi dared to care.” [2:08] Used again at 2:43, 2:48, 5:05, and in the conclusion at 7:28.
• In all cases, this phrase is followed by a longer-than-average pause to indicate its importance.
• This is the signature phrase of the speech. “Dare to care” would have been a suitable title for the speech, although I prefer the title J.A. used for the mystery it created.

Emotionally Powerful

“Dance with me.
And we danced.
At last we understood each other.
Not a word was spoken.
Yet we were not silent anymore.
Our joy roared louder than a thousand voices.
Some words erupted from my heart.
I couldn’t hold them anymore.
I yelled.” [4:22]

These words and the complementary gestures – the foot beating the stage and dancing around – combine to create the most emotional moment in the speech. J.A. is marvelous in this segment:

• His dance and gestures draw the audience in.
• The vocal variety creates building excitement.
• Note the short sentences in this segment: nine sentences with just 44 words (less than 5 words/sentence). The short, simple sentences complement the up-tempo rhythmic beat of his feet.

Rich Figures of Speech

There are many other examples of clever speechwriting as well:

• Double meaning. “Just chatting…[pause] So to speak.” [3:24]
  The latter phrase – So to speak – has a double meaning here:
  1. Its usual meaning – to draw attention to the understatement preceding it. (To say that hearing impaired people just chat is an understatement.)
  2. In this case, the understatement is about speaking. This double meaning is apt to be particularly appreciated in an audience of public speakers.
• Simile. “My brain started melting like ice cream in a heat wave.” [5:32]
• Vivid exaggeration. “Sweat … pooled in my shoes.” [5:34] Later, this is followed by “I slushed back to my seat.” [5:52]
• Repeated word.
  • “Confused… Confused…” [5:39]
  • “Thank you. Yes, you. You. You. All of you!” [6:58] Audiences like to be complimented, as long as you are sincere as J.A. is in this segment.
  • “You.” J.A. uses this word 38 times (including derivatives “your” and “yourself”). The entire speech has 718 words. Over 5% of the words in the speech are explicitly audience-focused. The concentration of “you” words is especially high in the opening and conclusion.
• Anaphora and the Rule of Three.
  “A sandal of hope when you reach out.
  A sandal of joy when you listen to your heart.
  A sandal of courage when you dare to care.” [7:13]
  The first two are accompanied by great gestures. The third gesture is interesting, though I’m not certain what it is meant to represent.

Expressive Gestures

J.A.’s use of body language in this speech was masterful. He demonstrates that gestures should not be random, or an afterthought. Gestures should be carefully crafted to complement and punctuate the words being spoken (or, occasionally, to express ideas in the absence of words). With gestures, he is able to express numerous emotions and ideas throughout his speech. In addition to those already mentioned, there are several more:

• Pride. “You are wearing a pair of sandals you proudly made yourself” complemented by glancing down at sandals with pride. [0:50]
• Motion. “The train starts to pull away” complemented by backwards walking (to the left). His movement makes it seem as though the stage is moving off to the right. [1:02]
• Displeasure. “I would have cursed my bad luck…” complemented by stomping around on stage and “sour puss” facial features. [1:09]
• Recalling a memory. “Big deal. It’s just a pair of sandals.” complemented by a gesture to the stage location where the sandals were removed earlier. [2:15]
• Bravery. “I jumped on the loudspeaker” complemented by a lateral jump to the left. [3:50]
• (Lack of) Physical fitness. “Well, actually, I climbed on the loudspeaker” complemented by cradling his stomach. [3:55]
• Yelling. Waving arms above his head. [4:00]
• Slow motion. Compare the waving of arms @ 4:15 to the earlier waving of arms @ 4:00. The latter gesture is much slower. This contrast shows that that latter waves were more deliberate, more heartfelt.
• Drum vibrations. Tapping of foot on stage to mimic the beating of a drum was masterful. [4:22]
• Sign language. “We love you too.” complemented by sign language. This is far more effective than simply saying “They signed back that they loved me too” without actions. [4:50]
• Nervous and confused. “Boy! Was I nervous! My heart was pounding…” complemented by various nervous gestures. [5:21]

Your Thoughts?

Did you enjoy this speech? What did you like most? How could this presentation be enhanced? Was the evaluation fair? Did I miss anything?

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Speech Critique: Dan Pink (TED 2009) Video Critique: Al Gore (TED, 2006) Critique: Lessig Method Presentation Style (Dick Hardt, Identity 2.0, OSCON 2005) How can you inspire your audience? Ask 10-year-old Dalton Sherman. 5 Presentation Lessons from Randy Pausch in The Last Lecture

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.