Stiff as a board
Have you ever seen a street artist like this one before? I’m sure you have round your city or
town. The point of the exercise is for the artist not to move. It is hard for him to do because it is not natural.
Yet put a person on a stage in front of an audience and suddenly they become as stiff as our friend here.
You might feel awkward by doing gestures; to your audience it looks strange if you don’t.
Some cultures and countries tend to gesture more than others. For some though it can be hard.
You can get your ideas and thoughts over better if you use not just your voice but also hand movements and facial expressions.
Look through your talk and find instances when you can use gestures. As an example, if you were speaking about size, relative location or the position of something you could use your hands quite naturally. These would be descriptive gestures.
When you are in conversation in a normal setting it’s surprising how many times you use them.
The one got away
If you have been fishing and you want to tell your friends
about the huge fish you had caught but had got away, how would you do it? With the aid of gestures of course.
It is the most natural thing to do.
So in you public speaking look for places you can dogestures. You may feel that it is forced at first.
With practice it will seem natural and will certainly enhance your presentation.
So get moving those hands!!
