Body Language

Body language is more important than you can imagine. In fact, only 3% of any presentation is the content. About 97% is the body language and how well you involve your audience.

When I heard that I immediately started taking classes on how to improve my Delivery. I began to take courses outside of the Bay Area from professional speakers who were making a full time income from speaking. I figured they would know so much more than I knew it would be easy for me to learn from them.

Even today after speaking for 18 years I still go out to at least one speaker’s event every year. I am always learning from those who have more experience than I do.

The Delivery includes your body language, which I had the most difficulty in applying. I

had to learn to move, with purpose. Movement allows your audience to know you are “moving” to a new topic. Hand movement should indicate pointing out specific details: are you referring to something going up, down, quiet, or an order such as first, you will . . . and then second . . . you will . . . and so forth while indicating such numeric orders.

When I was first trying to incorporate hand jesters I would inevitably raise my hand up when I mentioned something was going down or stopping. It was incongruent and a major challenge for me to overcome.

It was because I was not comfortable speaking in front of larger audiences and my brain and physical body did not coincide. I was able to over come the challenge with a little bit of practice.

Facial expression is a major function of the Delivery. Smiling will engage your audience more easily than being a serious orator. Remember people will engage with you much faster if they think they can relate to you.