importance nonverbal communication in presentation

Delivering your speech: the power of nonverbal communication

When I say “public speaking” what comes to mind? Dread? Nervousness? Excitement? “Public speaking” often brings uneasy feelings to first year students, as standing in front of a classroom ranging from first year to fourth years may seem a lot more intimidating than one full of your long-time high school classmates. You have a well-written and researched speech and you have already sought out a peer review from the Writing and Communication Centre, but the easy part is over. Delivering your speech involves more than a professional tone and a confident voice; you will convey the real impact of your message through nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is the communication we engage in that isn’t written or spoken language, but still creates meaning.

Eye contact, one of the most important nonverbal cues, keeps your audience engaged, makes you believable, and opens up communication. Looking at individual members of the audience establishes an interpersonal connection with them. While maintaining eye contact is important, gestures are useful when emphasizing certain points. Gestures are an excellent way to channel your nerves into movement, as long as you ensure they are not repetitive or taking away from your message. Using immediacy behaviours, that is, literally or psychologically making your audience members feel closer to you, can establish more relationships as a speaker. Moving closer to your audience or smiling are simple ways to create a closer relationship between you and your listeners.

The audience sees your face before they are going to hear your voice and thus, you have the opportunity to set an emotional tone before you even start speaking. As a speaker, you can decide how your facial expression can alter the atmosphere of your speech in a meaningful way. In many instances, audience members will mimic your emotions, so if you want your audience to feel a certain emotion, its best to express that emotion yourself. Although your face and voice play a major role in communicating a specific emotion, your posture will communicate the intensity of that emotion.

You might be overwhelmed at the long list of unconscious habits to consider when delivering a speech. Delivering a hard hitting, persuasive or informative speech is not easy, but it is an important and useful skill for your post-secondary education and beyond. If you need ideas, feedback, or strategies in creating and delivering a speech, the Writing and Communication Centre is a hub for practice, development and collaboration that can work with you to help develop your individual voice in your academic work. With practice, knowledge and a bit of help, public speaking does not have to be a daunting task, but an opportunity to share your ideas and leave a memorable impression as a speaker.

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How to Communicate Non-Verbally During Presentations

February 23, 2023 / Blog

importance nonverbal communication in presentation

Non-verbal communication is an essential aspect of conveying your message during a presentation. It can amplify your message by helping you connect with your audience, emphasize key points, and maintain the audience’s interest . Therefore, it is vital to develop your non-verbal communication skills to improve your presentation’s impact.

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Let’s talk about the best strategies for effective non-verbal communication during presentations.

Preparing for your presentation

Non-verbal communication is as important as verbal communication during a presentation. Thus, preparing for your presentation allows you to incorporate and optimize both verbal and non-verbal communication.

Here are some tips to help you prepare:

Practice your body language and facial expressions in front of a mirror. You can also record yourself to review later. Being aware of your body language and facial expressions allows you to identify areas you need to improve.
Dress appropriately for your audience and the message you want to convey.

Using body language

Body language lets you communicate through physical movements to convey messages and feelings.

However, while it can convey confidence, enthusiasm, and credibility, it can also undermine your message. Unprofessional body language can make you appear uncertain, uninterested, or untrustworthy.

Here are some tips to help you use your body language productively:

Stand up straight to convey confidence, authority, and enthusiasm.
Make and maintain eye contact with your audience. Make eye contact with individuals throughout the room, not just one individual or section.
Use hand gestures to emphasize key points. Use gestures to indicate numbers or draw attention to specific areas of the slide.
Use posture to convey your level of interest and engagement. Avoid slouching or leaning back, as doing so can make you appear disinterested and unprofessional, and may detract from your presentation.

Using facial expressions

Facial expressions can convey a range of emotions, attitudes, and reactions during a presentation. Using appropriate facial expressions can help your audience understand your message more effectively and engage them on an emotional level.

Here are some tips to use facial expressions effectively:

Smile to show you’re friendly and approachable. Moreover, smiling can help you appear more confident and relaxed.
Use a variety of facial expressions to convey different emotions.
Avoid expressions that display discomfort, nervousness, or other negative emotions.

Effective non-verbal communication is an essential aspect of successful presentations. It can help you convey your message more effectively, connect with your audience, and keep them engaged.

By following the tips and strategies in this post, you can develop non-verbal communication skills to improve your presentation’s impact.

Partnering with SlideGenius can take the pressure off you as you prepare for your presentation. By handling the creation of visually appealing and informative presentation decks, SlideGenius can free up your time and energy to focus on the most important aspects of your presentation: preparing and rehearsing your delivery.

Contact SlideGenius today to schedule a consultation.

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Public Speaking: Nonverbal

Criteria for success.

You feel confident in your movements and body posture.
You maintain eye contact and forward-facing movements during the talk.
You incorporate power poses when necessary.
Your body movements flow naturally with your presentation and slides.
Any movement that doesn’t support your main message is minimized.

Identify your purpose

A public presentation is more than just presenting information, it is also about engaging the audience and captivating their attention. If it wasn’t through our physical engagement, we might as well give the audience members an audio recording or slide deck instead. As a presenter, we attempt to liven the verbal messages with nonverbal gestures. Whether through body language, movement, or stage presence, these nonverbal components are just as important as the slides and talk you have practiced and prepared for. Incorporating conscious movements that serve to enhance how your message is perceived by your audience can help you:

Engage your audience. Posture, gestures or movements, and your physical location on the stage are all factors that can be incorporated to create a story-telling effect that will keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation.
Feel more confident. Strong body postures (e.g., power poses) convey confidence and a sense of importance during your talk.

Analyze your audience

Many audience members will arrive with the intention of learning more about your work and gaining some insight about your field. You can do more by also delivering an impactful and engaging talk that viewers can take home and remember. Audience types will dictate how you present yourself. For example, formal talks require formal attire, and this is also true in the types of nonverbal communication you can incorporate. Defined posture and deliberate movements are a must for professional talks, whereas more dynamic movements may be appealing for more casual and friendly presentations.

Similarly, the environment in which you are presenting will also determine your style. Poster presentations can be more informal with casual movements to guide the viewer. Department talks, on the other hand, should have movements that flow fluidly with your talk to guide the audience in your longer discussions.

Use eye contact to engage your audience

Possibly one of the most intimidating aspects of a talk is to look at the audience and to see their eyes gazing back at you. It is very common to escape eye contact by looking at your notes, the floor, or turning your back on your audience to face your slides. However, to be an effective presenter it is necessary to overcome these crutches in order to engage your audience. Making eye contact will help the audience feel important, like you are actually talking to them and not just giving a rehearsed speech.

If you already feel comfortable maintaining eye contact, remember to engage the entire audience. A few suggestions are:

If it’s a large room, turn your head or even body to talk to all corners of the room, not just the people in the middle.
Rather than just scanning the audience, can you take time to make one-on-one eye contact with individuals? Use this as an opportunity to gauge the audience’s level of interest. Seeing how they respond to your slides, transitions, etc. can help you adjust your talk as you go.

If making eye contact is challenging for you, here are two suggestions to help you work on this skill:

Rather than trying to make eye contact with individuals, try looking at someone’s forehead, a colorful shirt, or the cushion of someone’s seat to create the illusion that you are making eye contact with the general audience. Alternatively, if picking out details is too distracting, you can look at or just above people’s heads to give the illusion of making eye contact.
Once you feel comfortable looking into the audience, pick one or two places and go back and forth between these places during your talk to engage the entire room.

Emphasize deliberate movements and minimize unnecessary distractions (maximize signal-to-noise)

Here, we define signal as any movements that add substance to your talk and further engages the audience, such as conveying a message with your hands, or making eye contact with the audience.

Noise, on the other hand, is any unnecessary movements that distract the viewers, such as fidgeting or repetitive motions. Move with purpose. Do not ruffle your pockets or rock back and forth. Instead, present a straight, upright posture with arm movements that match the pace and flow of your talk. Adding purposeful movement to signify changes in ideas or to emphasize important points can add another layer of engagement to your talk. Some examples include:

If you are comparing two concepts, physically weigh them out with your hands to convey the difference as if your hands were a scale.
Casually walk to the other side of the stage when transitioning between ideas to physically cue the viewers that there is a change in topic.
With a straight arm, point in the direction of the slide that has an important message. Make your movement distinct to indicate that the audience should focus on the slide, and not you.

Overall, this “art form” is unique to each person based on level of comfort and ability. We highly recommend using the Communication Lab to ask about how you can best utilize body movements to further enhance your talk. Alternatively, ask a friend for feedback, film yourself, or practice in front of a mirror to get a sense at what actions you naturally do during a talk, and reflect on how to change or enhance them.

(The metaphor of “signal-to-noise ratio” comes from Jean-luc Doumont’s book Trees, Maps, and Theorems .)

Use good posture and incorporate power poses

Many of us are rarely conscious of our posture, yet this is the first impression you will make to your audience even before you speak. A straight back and a level chin with your eyes facing the audience will show that you are prepared and ready.

Power poses can help assert confidence and importance during your talk. You are, in fact, the most important person in the room, so use power poses to make it look that way! What makes power poses distinct from low-power (or submissive) poses is the control of space. Hands on the side and a slightly wider stance command space on the stage and demands attention. Of course, overly dramatic, arrogant, or otherwise off-putting stances and posture should be avoided. Use a friend or video to find a power pose that makes you feel confident but doesn’t detract from your overall talk.

How to Practice

Non-verbal engagement is part of our daily lives, so pay attention to your movements when you interact with friends or co-workers. With practice, you will be able to naturally deliver a strong presentation when the time comes. Overall, things to consider are:

Be conscious of your posture when standing and interacting with friends.
Look people in the eye! Attempt to make eye contact with those you talk to.
Pay attention to your small and fidget-like movements, even while by yourself. If these unwanted habits go unnoticed during everyday life, you can expect these habits to creep into your talk without you knowing.

Finally, make an appointment with the Comm Lab if you ever want to practice one-on-one or to discuss your concerns related to your non-verbal presentation style.

Additional Resources

Common Challenges and Fixes for Verbal and Nonverbal Communication – An extensive reference table created by the BE Communication Lab
“The Importance of Nonverbal Communication” – A quick read with fun statistics about the importance of nonverbal communication and additional concrete suggestions for improving your skills.
“Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are” – A TED Talk on the effects of power poses and how to incorporate them into your daily life.

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Meggie Mapes

Learning Objectives

Describe the importance of nonverbal delivery in public speaking
Identify common non-verbal pitfalls
Utilize specific techniques to enhance non-verbal delivery

Have you played charades? Many of you have likely “acted out” a person, place, or a thing for an audience, using only your body and no words. Charades, like many games, demonstrates the heightened or exaggerated use of nonverbals – through acting out, the game highlights how powerful nonverbal communication can be for communicating with an audience.

When speaking, similar to charades, your job is to create a captivating experience for your audience that leads them to new information or to consider a new argument. Nonverbals provide an important facet of that experience by accentuating your content and contributing to the aesthetic experience.

The nonverbal part of your speech is a presentation of yourself as well as your message. Like we discussed previously, public speaking is embodied, and your nonverbals are a key part of living and communicating in and through your body. Through the use of eye contact, vocals, body posture, gestures, and facial expression, you enhance your message and invite your audience to give their serious attention to it—and to you. Your credibility, your sincerity, and your knowledge of your speech become apparent through your nonverbal behaviors.

In this chapter, we explore various nonverbal components that influence your message to create an aesthetic experience for your audience. Rather than a checklist of skillsets, we invite you to read these as a series of inter-related behaviors and practices, beginning with eye contact.

Eye Contact

Imagine bringing in 2 qualified applicants for a job opening that you were responsible to fill. The interview is intimate, and each applicant sits directly across from you and 3 other colleagues who are assisting.

While answering questions, applicant 1 never breaks eye contact with you. It’s likely that, as the interview progresses, you begin to feel uncomfortable, even threatened, and begin shifting your own eyes around the room awkwardly. When the applicant leaves, you finally take a deep breath but realize that you can’t remember anything the applicant said.

The second applicant enters and, unlike the first, looks down at their notes, and they never make direct eye contact. As you try to focus on their answers, they seem so uncomfortable that you aren’t able to concentrate on the exchange.

Both approaches are common mistakes when integrating eye contact into a speech. We have likely all seen speakers who read their presentations from notes and never look up. It’s also common for a speaker to zoom in on one audience member (like the teacher!) and never break their gaze.

Eye contact creates an intimate and interpersonal experience for individual audience members and it assists in maintaining rapport. Part of creating a meaningful aesthetic experience is through eye contact, and the general rule of thumb is that 80% of your total speech time should be spent making eye contact with your audience (Lucas, 2015, p. 250). When you’re able to connect by using eye contact, you create a more intimate, trusting, and transparent experience.

It’s important to note that you want to establish genuine eye contact with your audience and not “fake” eye contact. There have been a lot of techniques generated for “faking” eye contact, and none of them look natural. For example, these aren’t great:

Three points on the back wall – You may have heard that instead of making eye contact, you can just pick three points on the back wall and look at each point. What ends up happening, though, is you look like you are staring off into space and your audience will spend the majority of your speech trying to figure out what you are looking at. This technique may work better for a larger audience, but in a more intimate space (like the classroom), the audience is close enough to be suspicious. Put simply: we can tell you aren’t looking at us.
The swimming method – This happens when someone is reading their speech and looks up quickly and briefly, not unlike a swimmer who pops their head out of the water for a breath before going back under. Eye contact is more than just physically moving your head; it is about looking at your audience and establishing a connection.

Instead, work to maintain approximately 3 seconds of eye contact with audience members throughout the room. You are, after all, speaking to them, so use your eyes to make contact. This may also reduce some anxiety because you can envision yourself speaking directly to one person at a time, rather than a room full of strangers.

Remember: you have done the work. You are prepared. You have something to say. People want to listen.

When you (and your body) move, you communicate. You may, for example, have a friend who, when telling exciting stories, frantically gestures and paces the room—their movement is part of how they communicate their story. They likely do this unconsciously, and that’s often how much of our informal movement occurs.

Many of us, like your friend, have certain elements of movement that we comfortably integrate into our daily interactions. It’s important to know your go-to movements to ask: how can I utilize these (or put them in check) to enhance the audience’s experience? In this section, we will introduce how and why movement should be purposefully integrated into your public speech. We’ll focus on your hands, your feet, and how to move around the space.

Gestures and Hands

Everyone who gives a speech in public gets scared or nervous. Even professionals who do this for a living feel that way, but they have learned how to combat those nerves through experience and practice. When we get scared or nervous, our bodies emit adrenaline into our systems so we can deal with whatever problem is causing us to feel that way. In a speech, you are asked to speak for a specific duration of time, so that burst of adrenaline is going to try to work its way out of your body and manifest itself somehow. One of the main ways is through your hands.

Three common reactions to this adrenaline rush are:

Jazz hands! It may sound funny, but nervous speakers can unknowingly incorporate “jazz hands”—shaking your hands at your sides with fingers opened wide— at various points in their speech. While certainly an extreme example, this and behaviors like it can easily become distracting.
Stiff as a board . At the other end of the scale, people who don’t know what to do with their hands or use them “too little” sometimes hold their arms stiffly at their sides, behind their backs, or in their pockets, all of which can also look unnatural and distracting.
Hold on for dear life! Finally, some speakers might grip their notes or a podium tightly with their hands. This might also result in tapping on a podium, table, or another object nearby.

It’s important to remember that just because you aren’t sure what your hands are doing does not mean they aren’t doing something . Fidgeting, jazz hands, gripping the podium, or hands in pockets are all common and result in speakers asking, “Did I really do that? I don’t even remember!”

Like we mentioned in this section’s introduction, the key to knowing what to do with your hands is to know your own embodied movement and to trust or adjust your natural style as needed.

Are you someone who uses gestures when speaking? If so, great! Use your natural gestures to create purposeful aesthetic emphasis for your audience. If you were standing around talking to your friends and wanted to list three reasons why you should all take a road trip this weekend, you would probably hold up your fingers as you counted off the reasons (“First, we hardly ever get this opportunity. Second, we can…”). Try to pay attention to what you do with your hands in regular conversations and incorporate that into your delivery. Be conscious, though, of being over the top and gesturing at every other word. Remember that gestures highlight and punctuate information for the audience, so too many gestures (like jazz hands) can be distracting.

Similarly, are you someone who generally rests your arms at your sides? That’s OK, too! Work to keep a natural (and not stiff) look, but challenge yourself to integrate a few additional gestures throughout the speech.

Feet and Posture

Just like your hands, nervous energy might try to work its way out of your body through your feet. Common difficulties include:

The side-to-side. You may feel awkward standing without a podium and try to shift your weight back and forth. On the “too much” end, this is most common when people start “dancing” or stepping side to side.
The twisty-leg. Another variation is twisting feet around each other or the lower leg.
Stiff-as-a-board. On the other end are speakers who put their feet together, lock their knees, and never move from that position. Locked knees can restrict oxygen to your brain, so there are many reasons to avoid this difficulty.

These options look unnatural, and therefore will prove to be distracting to your audience.

The default position for your feet, then, is to have them shoulder-width apart, with your knees slightly bent. Since public speaking often results in some degree of physical exertion, you need to treat speaking as physical activity. Public speaking is too often viewed as merely the transmission of information or a message rather than a full-body experience. Being in-tune and attuned to your body will allow you to speak in a way that’s both comfortable for you and the audience.

In addition to keeping your feet shoulder-width apart, you’ll also want to focus on your posture. As an audience member, you may have witnessed speakers with slumped shoulders or leaning into the podium (if there is one) with their entire bodies.

Difficulty with good posture is not just a public speaking problem. Think about how often you sit down in a coffee shop, pull out your laptop, and, after some time, you realize that you are leaning over and your lower back is wincing in pain. You likely pull your shoulders back and straighten your spine in response. If you don’t focus on this posture (and practice reminding yourself to “sit up straight”), your body may slump back into old habits. So, you guessed it: focusing on good posture is just that – something that you must focus on, over time, so that it becomes habitual.

Focusing on good posture and solid grounding will, in addition to increasing your confidence, assist you in maintaining your eye contact and focusing on projecting your voice throughout the space.

Moving in the Space

We know that likely you’re wondering, “Should I do any other movement around the room?”

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. Movement depends on two overarching considerations: 1) What’s the space? And, 2) What’s the message?

First, movement is always informed by the space in which you’ll speak. We’ll cover this more in tips on rehearsal (see Chapter 16), but we’ll highlight a few important details here. Consider the two following examples:

You’ll be giving a presentation at a university where a podium is set up with a stable microphone.
You’re speaking at a local TedTalk event with an open stage.

Both scenarios provide constraints and opportunities for movement.

In the university space, the microphone may constrain your movement if you determine that vocal projection is insufficient to guarantee a level of speaking that can be heard throughout the space.

In other words, you need to stay planted behind the microphone to guarantee sound. Partially constraining, this does allow a stable location to place your notes, a microphone to assist in projecting, and allows you to focus on other verbal and nonverbal techniques.

In the TedTalk example, you are not constrained by a stable microphone and you have a stage for bodily movement. The open stage means that the entire space becomes part of the aesthetic experience for the audience. However, if you are less comfortable with movement, the open space may feel intimidating because audiences may assume that you’ll use the entire space.

In addition to the space, your message and content assist in deciding how or why you might move around the space. It’s necessary to ask, “how does movement support, enhance or detract from the message?” and “how might movement support, enhance, or detract from the aesthetic experience for the audience?”

Remember that most public speeches are ephemeral, where the audience is attempting to comprehend your message in one shot or run through. Given these circumstances, it can be tricky for an audience to track the argument progression, especially since you may be dealing with an audience of varying levels of experience with your topic. Similar to the space, thinking through where your movement can assist in translating your information is paramount.

Once you have knowledge of the speaking space and completed speech content, you can start using movement to add dimension to the aesthetic experience for your audience.

One benefit of movement is that it allows you to engage with different sections of the audience. If you are not constrained to one spot (in the case of a podium or a seat, for example), then you can use movement to engage with the audience by adjusting your spatial dynamic. You can literally move your body to different sides of the stage and audience. This allows for each side of a room to be pulled into the content because you close the physical distance and create clear pathways for eye contact.

Without these changes, sections of the audience may feel lost or forgotten. Consider your role as a student. Have you experienced a professor or teacher who stays solitary and does not move to different sides of the room? It can be difficult to stay motivated to listen or take notes if a speaker is dominating one area of the space.

Changing the spatial dynamics goes beyond moving from side to side. You can also move forward and backward (or what theater practitioners might call down or upstage). This allows you to move closer to the audience or back away—depending on what experience you’re trying to create.

In addition to engaging with the audience, movement often signals a transition between ideas or an attempt to visually enunciate an important component of your information. You may want to signal a change in time or mark progression. If you’re walking your audience through information chronologically, movement can mark that temporal progression where your body becomes the visual marker of time passing.

You may also want to signal a transition between main ideas, and movement can assist with that, too! Moving as main point transitions embodies the connections between your ideas while letting the audience know that “we are going to progress in the argument.” If integrating movement as a transition feels odd, choppy, or awkward, those feelings help signal that the organization of your main points may need some re-working.

Thus, using purposeful movement can enhance your aesthetics, but purposeful is the keyword here. While movement can enhance, it can also distract and constrain. Keep these common pitfalls in mind:

The pace-master. We all know this distracting pitfall where (likely due to nervousness), a speaker paces back and forth without any clear reason for the movement. “What in the world are they doing?” you might wonder as an audience member. Unfortunately, if you’re internally asking that question, you’re likely not focusing on the speaker’s content. While it’s OK to “walk and talk” so to speak, avoid constant walking and talking. As a speaker, maintain a solid footing when you aren’t moving.
Obstructing the view: It’s likely that, at some point, you’ll use objects or other presentation enhancements like a PowerPoint or a video during your speech. Make sure you aren’t moving directly in front of the audience’s line of sight. Even if you aren’t referencing something, it can be awkward to walk in front of a projection light.
The robot : As a dance, the robot can be great, but in public speaking, it’s usually not as effective. We commonly experience students who use “the triangle” method, where each main point in the speech is mapped onto an invisible triangle. This can be done well and is a great way to start incorporating intentional movement, but it can also at times lead to movement looking unnatural. Work to strike a balance between pre-planned and robotic.

When you speak, moving in the space can be beneficial. As you plan your purposeful movement, be aware of the message you’re providing and the space in which you’re speaking.

Facial Expressions

Picture being out to dinner with a friend and, as you finish telling a story about a joke you played on your partner, you look up to a grimacing face.

“What?” you ask. But their face says it all.

“Oh, nothing,” they reply. Realizing that their face has “spilled the beans” so to speak, they might correct their expression by shrugging and biting their lip – a move that may insinuate nervousness or anxiety. You perceive that they didn’t find your story as humorous as you’d hoped.

Facial expressions communicate to others (and audiences) in ways that are congruent or incongruent with your message. In the example above, your friend’s feedback of “oh, nothing” was incongruent with their facial expressions. Their verbal words didn’t trump their facial expressions, however, and their nonverbal feedback was part of the communication.

Facial expressions are generally categorized as one of the following: happy, sad, angry, fearful, surprised, and disgusted. Your facial expressions matter; your audience will be looking at your face to guide them through the speech, so they’re an integral part of communicating meaning and demonstrating to your audience a felt sense.

In fact, if your facial expressions seem incongruent or contradictory from the tone of the argument, an audience may go so far as to feel distrust toward you as a speaker. Children might, for example, say, “I’m fine” or “It doesn’t hurt” after falling and scraping their knee, but their face often communicates a level of discomfort. In this case, their facial expression is incongruent with their verbal message. If you’re frowning while presenting information that the audience perceives to be positive, they may feel uneasy or unsure how to process that information. So, congruency can increase your ethos.

Instead, work to create congruence between your message and expressions. In class discussions on pathos, we often joke about the ASPCA commercials with the Sarah McLachlan song “In the Arms of an Angel” playing in the background. The music is meant to, of course, communicate feelings of sadness around animal cruelty, and rightfully so. In a speech, similar to using music, your facial expressions can assist in setting the aesthetic tone; they are part of developing pathos.

Given the amount of information that we all encounter daily, including information about global injustices, it’s often insufficient to merely state the problem and how to solve it. Audience members need buy-in from you as the speaker. Using facial expressions to communicate emotions, for example, can demonstrate your commitment and overall feelings around an issue.

To be clear: facial expressions, like other forms of nonverbal communication, can greatly impact an audience member’s perception of the speaker, but not all audiences may interpret your expressions the same. Re-visit Chapter 4 on audiences.

What you wear, similar to other aesthetic components, can either enhance or detract from the audience’s experience. Like facial expressions, you want your attire to be congruent with the message that you’re delivering. In an early chapter, we noted that aesthetics are often dictated by certain contextual norms. Context is relevant here, too, as the purpose and audience will inform appropriate attire.

We recommend considering two questions when selecting your attire:

First, “what attire matches the occasion?” Is this a casual occasion? Does it warrant a more professional or business-casual approach? If you’re speaking at an organization’s rally, for example, you may decide to wear attire with the organization’s logo and jeans. Other occasions, like a classroom or city council meeting, may require a higher level of professional attire.

Second, “have I selected any attire that could be distracting while I’m speaking?” Certain kinds of jewelry, for example, might make additional noise or move around your arm, and audiences can focus too much on the jewelry. In addition to noise-makers, some attire can have prints that might distract, including letters, wording, or pictures.

Your attire can influence how the audience perceives you as a speaker (ahem: your credibility) which, as we’ve discussed, is key to influencing listeners. Before we conclude this chapter, we return to credibility and reflexivity.

Aesthetics and Credibility

As a speaker, it’s important to remember that the audience remains a central component of public speaking and is central to consider when making aesthetic choices.

Yes, this means that you should think about your audience when you are a speaker. These aesthetic choices will influence your audience and assist them in determining if you are credible and, frankly, if they want to listen to your message.

For example, an audience may view vocalized pauses as evidence that a speaker lacks confidence around their topic or does not know the material as well. Similarly, you may consider your attire before presenting, assuming that your audience will respect and view you professionally if you select business casual clothing.

Aesthetic choices are also important when you are in the audience, and it is imperative to be critical and reflect (or practice reflexivity) on how you are filtering a speaker’s information through their aesthetics. The filter that informs our willingness to view a speaker as credible is often based on a mythical norm , or what Audre Lorde (1984) defines generally as young, white, thin, middle-class men. This classification certainly does not fit all speakers, and if you are part of this classification, that’s OK! The mythical norm warns us to be conscious of holding these categories as “the best” or preferred, especially around what counts as credibility. In other words, are these categories unconsciously facilitating a more positive aesthetic experience?

For example, you may decide to wear business casual clothing to increase the likelihood that your audience views you as credible, but as an audience member, be careful assuming that someone is not credible because of their attire. Business attire can be a privilege that everyone cannot afford.

Eye contact can also be investigated. We’ve alluded that eye contact increases trust amongst your audience, and it often does; however, the connection between eye contact and higher levels of credibility is specific to the U.S. cultural context. Culture thus defines how we interpret and understand certain aesthetic choices, including eye contact. Remember that culture is always a core component of communication. As an audience member, be careful of presumptively judging a speaker based on your own cultural expectations, identities, or positions.

Your nonverbal delivery assists in setting an aesthetic tone for the audience by providing embodied insight into how the audience should think, act, or feel. The space – or literal context in which you’ll speak – also contributes nonverbally to the message. We’ll discuss space in more detail in a later chapter on rehearsal.

a filter that informs our willingness to view a speaker as credible that is often based on dominant cultural norms and/or identities

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Nonverbal Communication Skills: 19 Theories & Findings

In it, he introduces the concept of dramaturgy, which compares everyday social interactions to actors’ portrayals of characters, suggesting that one’s social interactions are analogous to a string of varying performances (Ritzer, 2021).

Goffman’s work also included the concept of impression management. The key to impression management includes appearance; your manner of interacting; and the attitudes conveyed through gestures, facial expressions, and nonverbal skills (Ritzer, 2021).

William Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage.”

I’m not a trained actor, but teaching public speaking courses has made me aware that audiences seem to prefer speakers who use a variety of hand gestures. These gestures signify the speaker as “warm, agreeable, and energetic” (Goman, 2021).

Just that nugget of information has taught me to incorporate hand gestures to develop my public speaking skills.

What other nonverbal communication skills enhance daily interactions?

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free . These science-based tools will help you and those you work with build better social skills and better connect with others.

This Article Contains:

What is nonverbal communication, 9 types of nonverbal communication skills, is nonverbal communication important, 2 psychology theories and models, 8 fascinating research findings, importance in counseling and healthcare, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message.

Nonverbal communication is a way to convey information “achieved through facial expressions, gestures, touching (haptics), physical movements (kinesics), posture, body adornment (clothes, jewelry, hairstyle, tattoos, etc.), and even the tone, timbre, and volume of an individual’s voice (rather than spoken content)” (Navarro & Karlins, 2008, p. 2–4).

In this YouTube video, Joe Navarro explains several nonverbal communication cues, exposes some myths, and discusses his work with nonverbal communication in law enforcement.

Marco Iacoboni (2008, p. 81), author of Mirroring People , takes it a step further, stating that “gestures accompanying speech have a dual role of helping the speakers to express their thoughts and helping the listeners/viewers understand what is being said.”

To competently read body language, Navarro and Karlins (2008) provide suggestions such as rigorous observation and a familiarity with the person’s baseline behaviors. They also recommend watching for changes, or ‘tells.’

Navarro and Karlins (2008) advise becoming familiar with universal behaviors and contextualizing nonverbal cues. However, cultural norms could inhibit rigorous observation.

Characteristics of nonverbal communication

The United States is considered a low-context communication culture (MacLachlan, 2010). This means that much of the information in a message comes directly from words rather than through implication or body language.

This style of communication involves lots of verbal detail so as not to confuse listeners. Low-context cultures rely less on nonverbal communication, which can obscure or censor portions of the message.

Nonverbal communication is culturally determined, and it is largely unconscious. It indicates the speaker’s emotional state. When nonverbal cues conflict with the verbal message, it may convey confusion or deception (Navarro & Karlins, 2008).

Finally, nonverbal communication varies by gender and displays power differentials, information effective leaders can use to influence others (Hybels & Weaver, 2015; Henley, 1977).

Nonverbal communication of successful leaders

It’s essential for leaders to read body language, also known as decoding. Deciphering between engagement (e.g., nodding, tilting the head, open body postures) and disengagement (e.g., body tilting away, crossed arms and legs) can be the difference between success and failure (Goman, 2021).

Successful actors could be considered professional first-impression artists. Like actors, leaders often find themselves center stage; they must learn the art of creating first impressions.

Subjective awareness and the ability to express yourself nonverbally are known as encoding – crucial for positive first impressions. Advice from professional actors includes a maintaining a pleasant facial expression, good posture, pausing, breathing, relaxing, and avoiding hiding your hands (Shellenbarger, 2018).

This video , 8 Things Successful People Do to Look Confident , provides quick tips for confident body language even if you’re not feeling confident.

First impressions are said to be formed in less than seven seconds (Goman, 2021). In this short time, others formulate labels such as “powerful,” “submissive,” or “trustworthy.” Evolved leaders incorporate mindfulness to help.

Naz Beheshti (2018) states, “Evolved leaders… use nonverbal tools mindfully and deliberately to reinforce their message.” She goes on to say, “this lifts the value of your communication and your value as a leader” (Beheshti, 2018).

Awareness of self, others, and the situation (mindfulness) allows us to ensure that our gestures and body language align with our spoken words. This creates congruence and generates trustworthiness (Beheshti, 2018; Newberg & Waldman, 2013).

This means we are analyzing several, simultaneous nonverbal cues. A frustrated person may tap their foot, cross their arms, and tightly squeeze their biceps (Jones, 2013). These clusters may cross over and include a variety of nonverbal categories, summarized below.

1. Kinesics

Kinesics is the study of how we move our body, specifically the head, hands, body, and arms (Jones, 2013). This includes sending messages through facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and posture.

Haptics is the study of touch or coming into physical contact with another person (Hybels & Weaver, 2015). Throughout history, touch has been surrounded by mystery and taboo. We are perplexed by healing touch and riveted by stories of infants who perished due to lack of touch. Touch can denote relationship, status, power, and personality (Henley, 1977).

Cultural norms dictate guidelines regarding touch. Mindfulness regarding social and environmental settings is prudent. We greet a friend at an informal party differently than we would greet a boss or coworker in a professional setting.

3. Proxemics

The study of space and distance is called proxemics, and it analyzes how people use the space around them (Hybels & Weaver, 2015).

This YouTube video is a fun demonstration of students completing a school project on personal space and the discomfort felt by both humans and animals when social norms are violated.

4. Territory

Territory is often used to display power or reveal a lack thereof.

“'[P]osture expansiveness,’ positioning oneself in a way that opens up the body and takes up space, activated a sense of power that produced behavioral changes in a subject independent of their actual rank or role in an organization” (Goman, 2021).

Expansiveness conveys power.

5. Environment

Environment includes objects we use to adorn ourselves and the artifacts we surround ourselves with in order to create an impression. These objects provide nonverbal cues that help others form impressions (Jones, 2013).

6. Paralinguistics

Paralinguistics, also known as vocalics, is the study of how we speak and involves pitch, volume, rate of speech, tone, quality, tempo, resonance, rhythm, and articulation to help determine the context of the message (Jones, 2013).

7. Chronemics

Chronemics is the study of time, including how it is used. Nancy Henley (1977, p. 43), author of Body Politics: Power, Sex & Nonverbal Communication , asserts “Time is far from a neutral philosophical/physical concept in our society: it is a political weapon.”

Henley (1977, p. 47) describes the concept of “ritual waiting,” stating, “The more important the person, the longer we will ungrudgingly wait for the service or honor of attention.”

8. Attractiveness

The power of drawing attention to oneself doesn’t rely on physical appeal alone. Although facial symmetry and fashion of adornment are important (Jones, 2013), people who master good eye contact, have a lively face, offer encouragement, and use open gestures are also considered attractive (Kuhnke, 2012).

9. Olfactics

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Nonverbal communication is very important, as you could reveal unintentional information, as well as cause your communication to be misinterpreted.

Leakage: Unintentional messages

Teaching social–emotional skills to incarcerated people provided me with a powerful lesson about the nuances of nonverbal communication. On a particularly challenging day, I thought it wise to meditate and center myself prior to entering the jail. However, upon seeing me, the people inside began inquiring what was going on with me. What did they detect?

Nonverbal leakage can be shown through micro-expressions, which are “very fast facial movements lasting 1/25 to 1/5 of a second” and indicate a person’s real feelings (Ekman, 2003, p. 214).

This YouTube video is the opening scene of the series Lie to Me , based on the work of Paul Ekman regarding micro-expressions.

Varying statistics on the value of nonverbal communication may cause concern for those less practiced, but which statistics are accurate?

Crossed messages

The original research from Mehrabian and Ferris (1967) regarding nonverbal communication is widely interpreted. Elizabeth Kuhnke (2012, p. 10), author of Body Language for Dummies , interprets the study, saying, “55% of the emotional message in face-to-face communication results from body language.”

A nonverbal communication formula often cited is 7–38–55, which indicates 7% of the message comes from words, 38% vocal, and 55% facial. However, Lapakko (2007) believes this formula is reckless, faulty, and misleading. Sometimes the nonverbal elements of a message, such as gestures with directions, are incredibly important, and at other times incidental.

In addition, what something “means” in communication is connected to such variables as culture, history of the relationship, people’s intentions, personal experiences, time of day and specific words used. It would be naive to suggest all these nuances could be neatly quantified, and therefore attributing a precise formula to nonverbal communication is flawed in many ways.

So regardless of statistics and formulas, we know that nonverbal communication is essential and that people skilled at both reading and interpreting body language tend to enjoy greater success in life than those not skilled (Goleman, 1997).

Basic emotion theory

Basic emotion theory (BET) posits that emotions are a “grammar of social living” that situate us in the social and moral order of society (Keltner, Sauter, Tracy, & Cowen, 2019, p. 133). In addition, emotions structure interactions, particularly in relationships that matter. BET is integral to emotional expression.

Foundational to BET is the assumption that emotional expressions coordinate social interactions in three ways:

Through rapid conveyance of important information to aid in decision making
To evoke specific responses
To serve as incentives for others’ actions

This is accomplished through reward systems such as parents smiling and caressing a child who exhibits specific behaviors (Keltner et al., 2019).

BET initially focused on six basic emotions. Literature reveals there are over 20 emotions with distinct, multimodal expressions, providing a deeper structure and highlighting the advancing nature of emotional expression (Keltner et al., 2019).

Neural resonance

Two people who like each other will mirror each other’s facial expressions, gestures, postures, vocalics, and movements. This is known as neural resonance, and it aids the accurate transfer of information from one person to another (Newberg & Waldman, 2013).

To fully understand what another is saying, “you have to listen to and observe the other person as deeply and fully as possible” (Newberg & Waldman, 2013, p. 81). Neural resonance uses mirror neurons to create cooperation, empathy, and trust.

Studying nonverbal communication is revealing and intriguing. Most experts will include aspects such as eyes, facial expressions, and hands, but digging deeper reveals less-acknowledged nonverbal nuggets.

1. The benefits of yawning

Yawning is one of the fastest and simplest ways to lower mental stress and anxiety (Waldman & Manning, 2017). Social norms dictate that we refrain from yawning in specific settings, but yawning has many benefits. Did you know that snipers are taught to yawn before pulling the trigger (Waldman & Manning, 2017)?

According to Waldman and Manning (2017), yawning stimulates alertness and concentration; optimizes brain activity and metabolism; improves cognitive functioning; increases recall, consciousness, and introspection; decreases stress and relaxes the upper body; recalibrates a sense of timing; enhances social awareness and empathy; and increases sensuality and pleasure.

2. Feet don’t lie

According to Navarro and Karlins (2008), the most honest part of our body is our feet, as demonstrated by small children who dance with happiness or stomp in frustration. Many people look to the face for truth; Navarro and Karlins take the opposite approach:

“When it comes to honesty, truthfulness decreases as we move from the feet to the head” (Navarro & Karlins, 2008, p. 56), reasoning that emotions are suppressed through fabricated facial expression.

3. Gestures that help

Gestures improve memory and comprehension skills. Gestures may convey information that can influence how listeners respond, depending on the hand being used. “We tend to express positive ideas with our dominant hand and negative ideas with the other hand” (Newberg & Waldman, 2013, p. 44).

4. The eyes have it

“Social network circuits are stimulated through face-to-face eye contact, decreasing cortisol, and increasing oxytocin. The result is increased empathy, social cooperation, and positive communication” (Newberg & Waldman, 2013, p. 135).

Eyes reveal a lot about us. When we are aroused, troubled, concerned, or nervous, our blink rate increases. Once we relax, our blink rate returns to normal (Navarro & Karlins, 2008).

5. Power posing for success

Body language affects how others see us and how we view ourselves. In this YouTube video, Amy Cuddy discusses her research on power posing and how it affects success.

Amy Cuddy’s book is also discussed in our article listing books on imposter syndrome .

6. Fingers crossed

One explanation of the origin of crossing fingers for good luck comes from early beliefs in the power of the cross. The intersection of the digits, epitomizing the cross, was thought to denote a concentration of good spirits and served to anchor a wish until it came true (Keyser, 2014).

7. Fake positivity is harmful

Positivity that doesn’t register in your body or heart can be harmful. According to Barbara Fredrickson (2009, p. 180), “fake smiles, just like sneers of anger, predict heart wall collapse.” To truly benefit from a smile, touch, or embrace, you need to slow down and make it heartfelt.

8. Stand up straight

Poor posture can reduce oxygen intake by 30%, resulting in less energy (Gordon, 2003). Stooping over can make us look and feel old and out of touch. By straightening up, we can make significant differences in how we think and feel. The effect is bi-directional; attitude influences posture, just as posture influences attitude.

Good rapport between clients and practitioners stems from mirroring and synchronicity associated with neural resonance (Finset & Piccolo, 2011; Newberg & Waldman, 2013).

Carl Rogers’s Client-Centered Therapy is based on an empathetic understanding of clients. Nonverbal communication provides valuable information for both the client and the therapist. Showing you like and accept a client may be the most important information a therapist can convey (Finset & Piccolo, 2011).

Nonverbal patterns in therapy evolve over time. Specific behaviors that further the therapeutic process include “a moderate amount of head nodding and smiling; frequent, but not staring, eye contact; active, but not extreme, facial responsiveness; and a warm, relaxed, interested vocal tone” (Finset & Piccolo, 2011, p. 122).

Conscious awareness of nonverbal cues can aid in rapport building. Leaning toward the other signals comfort, whereas leaning away or crossing your arms signals discomfort (Navarro & Karlins, 2008).

Torsos and shoulder blades seem innocuous; however, blading away (turning slightly) from another person shows discomfort, while blading toward or facing another squarely shows a level of comfort (Navarro & Karlins, 2008).

Open palms are an ancient sign of trustworthiness that help establish rapport and are considered nonthreatening (Kuhnke, 2012). Hidden hands (placed in pockets or behind backs) signal disconnection and reluctance to engage. To display respect, keep an open posture with your muscles relaxed and weight evenly distributed.

Mirroring and matching go a long way to show synchronicity. Be careful to avoid mimicry, which signals disrespect (Kuhnke, 2012). Too much of a good thing can jeopardize credibility. An extended, fixed gaze into another’s eyes or effortful smiling can seem awkward, or worse.

This short YouTube video explains the dynamics of fluctuating facial expressions, based on the work of Charles Darwin and Paul Ekman.

This Silent Connections worksheet is an exercise for groups that combines mindfulness and nonverbal communication to build connections.

Someone who lacks the ability to make eye contact during conversation can be easily misinterpreted. To overcome this nonverbal communication issue, our Strategies for Maintaining Eye Contact can be very useful.

Our blog post 49 Communication Activities, Exercises, and Games includes six nonverbal communication activities for adults and three nonverbal exercises that work for families and children.

The blog post What Is Assertive Communication? 10 Real-Life Examples includes nonverbal qualities that complement and enhance assertive statements. Hints for eye contact, facial expressions, and posture can be found throughout.

In the blog post Cultivating Social Intelligence : 3 Ways to Understand Others , we discuss characteristics of social intelligence, including body language.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others communicate better, this collection contains 17 validated positive communication tools for practitioners. Use them to help others improve their communication skills and form deeper and more positive relationships.

17 Exercises To Develop Positive Communication

17 Positive Communication Exercises [PDFs] to help others develop communication skills for successful social interactions and positive, fulfilling relationships.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Nonverbal communication is an essential communication skill. Nonverbal expertise aids in delivering clear messages and forming positive impressions. It doesn’t have to be a big gesture to make a difference. Gently stroking the hand of a grieving friend speaks volumes.

Viewing life as a series of dramatic performances, as implied by both Shakespeare and Goffman, can add a sense of intrigue and adventure to enhancing nonverbal communication. These essential skills will help us achieve goals.

Just as the highly motivated thespian will study and polish their craft, anyone wanting to succeed in their career or interpersonal relationships can study and practice the nuances of nonverbal communication.

Actors and public speakers often practice their craft in front of a mirror or videotape themselves to reflect on strengths and weaknesses.

This article includes a myriad of resources to help improve nonverbal communication skills with many additional resources available.

By starting with something as simple as posture, we exit stage right, headed toward the competency of center stage. Break a leg!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free .

Beheshti, N. (2018, September 20). The power of mindful nonverbal communication. Forbes . Retrieved April 26, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nazbeheshti/2018/09/20/beyond-language-the-power-of-mindful-nonverbal-communication/?sh=6f40b3d71501
Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions revealed: Recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life . Holt Paperbacks.
Finset, A., & Piccolo, L. D. (2011). Nonverbal communication in clinical contexts. In M. Rimondini (Ed.), Communication in cognitive-behavioral therapy (pp. 107–128). Springer Science + Business Media.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2009). Positivity . Crown Publishing Group.
Goffman, E. (1956). The presentation of self in everyday life . University of Edinburgh.
Goleman, D. (1997). Emotional intelligence . Bantam Trade Paperback.
Goman, C. K. (2018, August 26). 5 Ways body language impacts leadership results. Forbes. Retrieved May 1, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2018/08/26/5-ways-body-language-impacts-leadership-results/?sh=5c1b235c536a
Gordon, J. (2003). Energy addict: 101 Physical, mental, & spiritual ways to energize your life . Berkley Publishing Group.
Henley, N. M. (1977). Body politics: Power, sex and nonverbal communication . Simon & Schuster.
Hybels, S., & Weaver, R. L. (2015). Communicating effectively . McGraw-Hill Education.
Iacoboni, M. (2008). Mirroring people: The new science of how we connect with others . Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Jones, R. (2013). Communication in the real world: An introduction to communication studies . University of Minnesota Libraries.
Keltner, D., Sauter, D., Tracy, J., & Cowen, A. (2019). Emotional expression: Advances in basic emotion theory. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior , 43 (3), 133–160.
Keyser, H. (2014, March 21). Why do we cross our fingers for good luck? Mental Floss . Retrieved May 27, 2021, from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/55702/why-do-we-cross-our-fingers-good-luck
Kuhnke, E. (2012). Body language for dummies . John Wiley & Sons.
Lapakko, D. (2007). Communication is 93% nonverbal: An urban legend proliferates. Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal , 34 (2), 7–19.
MacLachlan, M. (2010, February 12). Cross-cultural communication styles: High and low context. Communicaid. Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/blog/high-and-low-context/
Mehrabian, A., & Ferris, S. R. (1967). Inference of attitudes from nonverbal communication in two channels. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 31 (3), 248–252.
Navarro, J., & Karlins, M. P. (2008). What every body is saying . Harper-Collins.
Newberg, A. M., & Waldman, M. R. (2013). Words can change your brain . Avery.
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Waldman, M. R., & Manning, C. P. (2017). NeuroWisdom: The new brain science of money, happiness, and success . Diversion Books.

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All Articles Leadership Management The importance of nonverbal communication in virtual meetings

The importance of nonverbal communication in virtual meetings

Gestures and other nonverbal communication is underrated, and it's especially important during virtual meetings.

By Jeff Wolf 06/02/20

The importance of nonverbal communication in virtual meetings

For more than two months, much of the country has been working from home and attending an endless string of virtual meetings on Zoom, Skype or WebEx. During this time, I’ve been sharing with my coaching clients the importance of nonverbal communication.

When participating in any virtual meeting, the way you present is important. While we often think it is what we say that carries the most weight in our meetings, it’s more often what we don’t say. Thinking that the majority of your communication is verbal can cause a severe disconnect with the people who are in your meeting.

Relaying information in real time is not limited to verbal interchanges or the use of language. Nonverbal communication is extraordinarily powerful and has been the subject of study for many social scientists, philosophers and psychologists. Nonverbal communication is defined as all wordless interactions, including hand gestures, posture, facial expressions and eye contact. In addition to this, vocal intonation, speaking style, speed and tone all affect how you converse with others.

Nonverbal communication is much more subconscious than verbal communication. While you have to think about language before using words, a smile, laugh, facial expression or hand movement can go largely unplanned.

While vocabularies and languages are considerably different across cultures, nonverbal communication remains universal and understood globally. People from Massachusetts to Morocco understand a smile or a frown.

In both your personal and professional life, your posture is evaluated by how relaxed you seem as well as your body’s orientation, leaning and the position of your arms. Gestures are defined as any movements and signals you use, such as waving, winking, rolling the eyes, nodding,and pointing.

As a leader or manager, it’s vital to understand not just the meaning of the words you speak, but the overall presentation. Exploring the many functions of nonverbal communication will make your meetings more collaborative and more productive.

Functions of nonverbal communication

Repetition . Gestures, such as nodding, serve to reinforce what’s being said. A nod of the head is, in fact, one of the most universal gestures, understood across many cultures. It is widely accepted as an agreement or understanding between people.
Substitution . Substitution involves replacing a spoken word with a nonverbal cue. You can nod your head without saying a word or wave your hand instead of saying goodbye. You haven’t uttered a word, yet you have communicated effectively.
Complement . A smile can complement words of enthusiasm or praise.
Accenting . You may accent a particular word in a sentence, such as, “I am very disappointed in you!” A strong tone of voice dramatizes the message.
Misleading or deceiving . Can you tell when an employee is lying? Detecting deception is usually based on nonverbal cues. In criminal investigations, for instance, facial expressions, body movement and tone of voice can expose the truth versus a lie.

Improving nonverbal communication

Communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, drives all activity between you and others. So, how do you improve yours as you listen to and speak with others in virtual meetings?

If a person’s words fail to match their nonverbal cues, it’s best to trust the nonverbal messages. Listen with your eyes. In most cases, the nonverbal message is much more accurate.

Step 2: Maintain eye contact . Eye contact is crucial when speaking with anyone, particularly coworkers, superiors or direct reports, as it promotes trust and understanding. Try to increase eye contact when speaking with others and see if they’re making and maintaining eye contact with you.

If someone avoids eye contact, you’ll likely sense the person’s discomfort or dishonesty. You can ease another’s discomfort by asking questions that enhance communication.

Step 3: Work on your posture . It’s likely that your mother emphasized the need to stand up straight and avoid slouching in your chair. As it turns out, Mom had given you your first lesson in nonverbal communication. Posture is a nonverbal indicator of confidence.

When you’re sitting, sit up straight. Slumping conveys disinterest and inattention. Leaning back, or rocking back and forth in your chair, tells others you’re bored. In contrast, leaning forward in your chair when listening to someone speak, demonstrates an active interest in both the person and conversation.

Step 4: Set the stage. A sloppy environment sends the message that you’re disorganized and careless. Messy areas may be a symptom of a larger problem, such as inefficiency, which stems from an inability to find files or other important papers. Disorganization creates stress and limits productivity. Instead of creating vertical piles on your desk, rely on to-do files that can be stored inside a drawer.

Step 5: Read your audience . If you’re making a presentation, be aware of your audience’s nonverbal communication. As your presentation progresses, watch for signs of slouching, yawning or dozing off; this means you’ve lost their attention. If, on the other hand, the group is energized and interested, participants’ body language may convey that they want you to ask for their thoughts and input. Learning to read a group’s mood enhances your abilities as both a speaker and a manager.

Step 6: Listen to your voice. Paralanguage, or paralinguistics, involves various fluctuations in one’s voice, such as tone, pitch, rhythm, inflections and volume. These cues can have a powerful effect on communication. A loud or forceful tone, for example, may convey a stronger and more serious message compared to softer tones. Sarcasm can also cause problems — a manager’s sarcastic tone creates stress because their tone (joking) is meant to contradict their words (hurtful or biting).

Step 7: Question yourself. Throughout the day, monitor your progress. Ask yourself the following questions about your performance: How was I perceived at the meeting? Could I have done something differently? Were people really interested and paying attention to what I was saying? Did I listen well to others?

As you answer these questions, your self-awareness will increase.

Jeff Wolf is one of the most highly sought-after executive coaches in business today. He has been named one of the country’s top 100 thought leaders for his accomplishments in leadership development and managerial effectiveness and has been featured on NBC, CBS, CNBC, and Fox TV.

He’s the author of the international best-seller “ Seven Disciplines of a Leader ” and is known as one of America’s most dynamic speakers. He may be reached in his San Diego office at 858-638-8260, [email protected] , or www.wolfmotivation.com .

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for SmartBrief’s free e-mails on leadership , career development and HR , among SmartBrief’s more than 200 industry-focused newsletters .

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Nonverbal Communication: Presentation Tips in a Virtual Workplace

by Tory Freeman | Jun 11, 2021 | General , Personal Development | 0 comments

With COVID-19 making many conferences, meetings, and businesses operate remotely, it is likely in the last 12 months you have had to: 1.) become a Zoom expert, 2.) repaint the wall behind your desk so it looks attractive, and 3.) invest in a high-tech microphone and camera. If all of this wasn’t stressful enough, presenting online gives us other challenges, including the horror of being able to see our own faces while we present, adding more stress to an already stressful situation. Speaking or presenting online gives other difficulties as well, as you have to think about how you show emotion through the camera, create connection remotely, pose with camera angles, and what you do with your hands.

Why Nonverbals are Important

Being able to connect using compelling nonverbal communication is powerful and a necessary part of any presentation, meeting, or sales interaction. Nonverbal communication is the other part of the communication equation, in which verbal and nonverbal communication are the two parts of the whole. Excellent communicators utilize both, and when presenting in virtual settings, it’s not just the words you say, but the manner in which you say them — the nonverbal communication that accompanies them can often speak louder than words. Dr. Kory Floyd, a Professor of Communication at the University of Arizona, defines nonverbal communication as “comprising any behaviors with which we communicate without the use of words.” These would include eye-contact, physical appearance (including clothes, or accessories such as glasses), body movement, gestures, facial expressions, and vocal variety. “Vocal variety” comprises the ways in which you use your voice, such as rate, pitch, pauses, and volume. Utilizing nonverbal communication can make a bland presentation come alive, give flair to a TED Talk, or create connection with your audience during a meeting.

That’s really the power of nonverbal communication — connection. To make us feel connected or close to someone. This phenomenon is often studied in instructional or business settings, and is called nonverbal immediacy . Dr. Floyd says, “Nonverbal immediacy is the use of nonverbal behavior to minimize psychological distance and create emotional closeness between people. It is useful in any setting (virtual or not) in which a sense of closeness is desirable. It can be achieved through eye contact, warm facial expressions and vocal tones, forward leaning, proximity, touch, and other behaviors that help to create or maintain connection between people.”

It is a worthy goal to try to increase nonverbal immediacy when interacting and presenting online, as it will help your audience to feel connected to you.

Sara Blakely, founder & CEO of Spanx, is magical at utilizing nonverbal immediacy. In this interview , she smiles warmly, uses a lot of eye-contact with the host, has a large range of gestures, laughs, and makes the audience absolutely fall in love with her. The good news is that you can make the audience connect with you by utilizing these following four types of nonverbal communication.

1.Facial Expressions

2. eye contact.

“The most important advice is to look at the camera, not at the image,” says Dr. Floyd, who suggests it’s important to vary your gaze whether in person, or remote.

3. Body Movement and Gestures

4. vocal variety.

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11.5: Nonverbal Strategies for Success with Your Audience

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Learning Objectives

Demonstrate three ways to improve nonverbal communication.

Nonverbal communication is an important aspect of business communication, from the context of an interpersonal interaction to a public presentation. It is a dynamic, complex, and challenging aspect of communication. We are never done learning and adapting to our environment and context, and improving our understanding of nonverbal communication comes with the territory.

When your audience first sees you, they begin to make judgments and predictions about you and your potential, just as an employer might do when you arrive for a job interview. If you are well dressed and every crease is ironed, your audience may notice your attention to detail. Wearing jeans with holes, a torn T-shirt, and a baseball cap would send a different message. Neither style of dress is “good” or “bad, but simply appropriate or inappropriate depending on the environment and context. Your skills as an effective business communicator will be called upon when you contemplate your appearance. As a speaker, your goal is to create common ground and reduce the distance between the audience and yourself. You want your appearance to help establish and reinforce your credibility.

In order to be a successful business communicator, you will need to continually learn about nonverbal communication and its impact on your interactions. Below are three ways to examine nonverbal communication.

Watch Reactions

Market research is fundamental to success in business and industry. So, too, you will need to do a bit of field research to observe how, when, and why people communicate the way they do. If you want to be able to communicate effectively with customers, you will need to anticipate not only their needs, but also how they communicate. They are far more likely to communicate with someone whom they perceive as being like them, than with a perceived stranger. From dress to mannerisms and speech patterns, you can learn from your audience how to be a more effective business communicator.

Enroll an Observer

Most communication in business and industry involves groups and teams, even if the interpersonal context is a common element. Enroll a coworker or colleague in your effort to learn more about your audience, or even yourself. They can observe your presentation and note areas you may not have noticed that could benefit from revision. Perhaps the gestures you make while speaking tend to distract rather than enhance your presentations. You can also record a video of your performance and play it for them, and yourself, to get a sense of how your nonverbal communication complements or detracts from the delivery of your message.

Focus on a Specific Type of Nonverbal Communication

What is the norm for eye contact where you work? Does this change or differ based on gender, age, ethnicity, cultural background, context, environment? Observation will help you learn more about how people communicate; looking for trends across a specific type of nonverbal communication can be an effective strategy. Focus on one behavior you exhibit on your videotape, like pacing, body movements across the stage, hand gestures as you are making a point, or eye contact with the audience.

Key Takeaway

To use nonverbal communication to enhance your message, watch reactions and consider enrolling an observer to help you become aware of your nonverbal habits and how your audience receives nonverbal messages.

Watch a television program without the sound. Can you understand the program? Write a description of the program and include what you found easy to understand, and what presented a challenge, and present it to the class.
Observe communication in your environment. Focus on specific actions like face touching, blink rate, or head nodding and write a brief description of what you observe. Share with classmates.
In a group, play charades. Pull words from a hat or envelope and act out the words without verbal communication.
Interview someone from a different culture than your own and ask them to share a specific cultural difference in nonverbal communication—for example, a nonverbal gesture that is not used in polite company. Write a brief description and present it to the class.
What do you think are the assumptions (explicit or underlying) about nonverbal communication in this chapter? Discuss your thoughts with a classmate.

Nonverbal Communication: Types, Importance And Examples

Have you seen The Dying Swan, the signature solo dance performance by legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova? It expresses the pain…

Have you seen The Dying Swan , the signature solo dance performance by legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova? It expresses the pain and struggle of a dying swan trying to survive. As the graceful Pavlova trembles and finally collapses under the weight of melancholy, the passion and the beauty of the performance tugs at the heartstrings of the audience.

Have you heard about miming? It is the theatrical technique of expressing an idea or mood of a character entirely by gesture and body movements. Marcel Marceau, the celebrated French actor and mime artist, described mime as the ‘Art of Silence’.

At the heart of the powerful performances by Pavlova and Marceau lies strong and aesthetic nonverbal communication.

What Is Nonverbal Communication?

When you don’t want to take part in a particular conversation, you may look the other way. Without uttering a word, you convey, “I am not interested.”

Nonverbal communication is conveying your message through gestures, postures, signals, or clues. In our personal and professional lives, we give and receive countless nonverbal clues every day.

Types Of Nonverbal Communication

Let us explore the types of nonverbal communication.

Body language:

Body language is an effective means of nonverbal communication. You can tell a lot about a person from their facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, and use of space. One of the best-known examples is actor Amitabh Bachchan whose effective body language gave an aura to his angry young man persona in his early films.

Learn to read the body language of people around you by noticing their postures and gestures.

Eye contact:

Eyes are an effective communication tool to convey messages without saying a word. Eye contact says a lot about a person. For instance, those who avoid eye contact are often perceived as shy or less confident.

It is said that actor Irrfan Khan spoke a thousand words with his eyes. “I’m just beguiled by Irrfan’s magic eyes,” Hollywood star Tom Hanks once said.

Facial expressions:

From a lip movement to the raising of eyebrows and shifting of the glance, our facial expressions convey a wide range of emotions. Some facial expressions are very powerful. For instance, a smile makes any situation easier to handle.

A gesture is another form of nonverbal communication. Different gestures could mean different things in different situations.

Have you seen people communicate using sign language? Every hand gesture means something. Even during regular conversations, most of us knowingly or unknowingly use certain gestures such as nodding or giving a thumbs-up or high five.

Para-linguistics:

Para-linguistics means vocal communication through the tone, pitch, and volume of your voice. Remember the community tennis matches held on the weekends? The way your sister came shouting, you knew she had won the match.

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said,” said Peter Drucker, a well-known management consultant.

Examples Of Nonverbal Communication

Let’s look at an example of nonverbal communication.

Hitesh works in an ad agency. He is always given the first preference for final presentations, and his colleagues wonder why. The reason is that his manager knows that in addition to content creation, Hitesh has excellent nonverbal communication skills. His body language exudes confidence and his habit of making eye contact and his gestures express trust and clarity.

Teachers, actors, lawyers, TV anchors, journalists, or salespeople, who communicate with their students, audience or customers regularly, need to have excellent nonverbal communication.

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said,” said Peter Drucker, a well-known management consultant. This pretty much sums up the importance of nonverbal communication.

It is said that 80% of communication happens nonverbally. We express our innermost emotions such as love, hope, pleasure, anger, sadness and anxiety without words.

Empathetic nonverbal communication is the secret ingredient of happy relationships and has the power to clear misunderstandings.

Importance Of Nonverbal Communication

Here’s how nonverbal communication helps. It:

Adds value to verbal communication

Helps overcome cultural barriers

Helps communicate with the nonliterate or people with a hearing disability

Increases workplace efficiency

Reinforces trust and credibility

You will be an effective communicator if you pay attention to yours as well as other people’s body language.

Harappa Education’s Speaking Effectively course is thoughtfully designed to help you use nonverbal cues to speak powerfully. The course will also tell you about Aristotle’s Appeals—the three appeals of reasoning, credibility, and emotion—besides giving insights through other interesting facts and examples. ( https://bettysco.com/ )

Explore blogs on topics such as effective communication , barriers of communication, types of verbal communication , forms of communication , and verbal and nonverbal communication in our Harappa Diaries section to make your world of work better.

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The Importance of Nonverbal Communication in Virtual Meetings

For the last five months, the country has been working from home and attending an endless string of virtual meetings on Zoom, Skype, or WebEx. During this time, I’ve been sharing with my coaching clients the importance of nonverbal communication.

Relaying information in real time is not limited to verbal interchanges or the use of language. Nonverbal communication is extraordinarily powerful and has been the subject of study for many social scientists, philosophers, and psychologists. Nonverbal communication is defined as all wordless interactions, including hand gestures, posture, facial expressions, and eye contact. In addition to this, vocal intonation, speaking style, speed, and tone all affect how you converse with others.

In both your personal and professional life, your posture is evaluated by how relaxed you seem, as well as your body’s orientation, leaning, and the position of your arms. Gestures are defined as any movements and signals you use, such as waving, winking, rolling the eyes, nodding, and pointing. As a leader or manager, it’s vital to understand not just the meaning of the words you speak, but the overall presentation. Exploring the many functions of nonverbal communication will make your meetings more collaborative and more productive.

Functions of Nonverbal Communication

Repetition. Gestures, such as nodding, serve to reinforce what’s being said. A nod of the head is, in fact, one of the most universal gestures, understood across many cultures. It is widely accepted as an agreement or understanding between people.
Substitution. Substitution involves replacing a spoken word with a nonverbal cue. You can nod your head without saying a word or wave your hand instead of saying goodbye. You haven’t uttered a word, yet you have communicated effectively.
Complement. A smile can complement words of enthusiasm or praise.
Accenting. You may accent a particular word in a sentence, such as, “I am very disappointed in you!” A strong tone of voice dramatizes the message.
Misleading or deceiving. Can you tell when an employee is lying? Detecting deception usually is based on nonverbal cues. In criminal investigations, for instance, facial expressions, body movement, and tone of voice can expose the truth versus a lie.

Improving Nonverbal Communication

Communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, drives all activity between you and others. So how do you improve yours as you listen to and speak with others in virtual meetings?

Step 1: Watch yourself…and others. When communicating, focus on what your body is doing. The goal is to increase the expressive nature of your body, when appropriate, without coming across as overdramatic. Be aware that gestures are often useful in a group setting, such as in meetings and presentations. If a person’s words fail to match his or her nonverbal cues, it’s best to trust the nonverbal messages. Listen with your eyes. In most cases, the nonverbal message is much more accurate.

Step 2: Maintain eye contact. Eye contact is crucial when speaking with anyone, particularly coworkers, superiors, or direct reports, as it promotes trust and understanding. Try to increase eye contact when speaking with others and see if they’re making and maintaining eye contact with you. If someone avoids eye contact, you’ll likely sense the person’s discomfort or dishonesty. You can ease another’s discomfort by asking questions that enhance communication.

Step 3: Work on your posture. It’s likely that your mother emphasized the need to stand up straight and avoid slouching in your chair. As it turns out, Mom gave you your first lesson in nonverbal communication. Posture is a nonverbal indicator of confidence.

A gesture conveys a message by using one part of the body, whereas a postural shift involves the movement of the body as a whole. A closed posture (folded arms and crossed legs) indicates a closed personality and a lack of confidence. Open posture (arms spread in a relaxed manner) is a much more confident pose. Your posture also should be in sync with your message, so you avoid sending mixed messages. When you’re sitting, sit up straight. Slumping conveys disinterest and inattention. Leaning back, or rocking back and forth in your chair, tells others you’re bored. In contrast, leaning forward in your chair when listening to someone speak demonstrates an active interest in both the person and conversation.

Step 5: Read your audience. If you’re making a presentation, be aware of your audience’s nonverbal communication. As your presentation progresses, watch for signs of slouching, yawning, or dozing off—this means you’ve lost their attention. If, on the other hand, the group is energized and interested, participants’ body language may convey that they want you to ask for their thoughts and input. Learning to read a group’s mood enhances your abilities as both a speaker and a manager.

Step 6: Listen to your voice. Paralanguage, or paralinguistics, involves various fluctuations in one’s voice, such as tone, pitch, rhythm, inflections, and volume. These cues can have a powerful effect on communication. A loud or forceful tone, for example, may convey a stronger and more serious message compared to softer tones. Sarcasm also can cause problems—a manager’s sarcastic tone creates stress because his or her tone (joking) is meant to contradict his or her words (hurtful or biting).

Step 7: Question yourself. Throughout the day, monitor your progress. Ask yourself the following questions about your performance:

How was I perceived at the meeting?
Could I have done something differently?
Were people really interested and paying attention to what I was saying?
Did I listen well to others?

As you answer these questions, your self-awareness will increase.

Executive coach and speaker Jeff Wolf has been named one of the country’s top 100 thought leaders for his accomplishments in leadership development and managerial effectiveness and has been featured on NBC, CBS, CNBC, and Fox TV. He’s the author of international best-seller “ Seven Disciplines of a Leader .” He may be reached in his San Diego office at 858.638.8260, via e-mail at: [email protected] , or www.wolfmotivation.com .

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Non Verbal Communication in Presentations

Today is Thursday, so this post is on communication skills.

Presentation skills, conversation skills and writing skills are the three keys to effective communication. In this post, I’d like to focus on some tips for using non verbal communication to improve your presentation skills.

Eye contact helps indicates your interest in the people in the audience. It increases your credibility. When you make eye contact with people in the audience, you increase your chances of getting your message across. Eye contact helps you establish a connection with the audience. When you make eye contact with people as you are speaking, you build one to one bonds with them.

Smiles are powerful . I always try to keep a smile on my face when I am speaking. Smiling makes a speaker more warm, likable and friendly. When you smile, people see you as happy – and this makes them more receptive to you. People react positively to smiles. When you smile, the audience smiles. And a smiling audience is a receptive audience. Smiling will help you get your points across and accepted.

Gestures are another important form of non verbal communication. But you have to be careful with gestures. I practice my talks in front of a mirror. As I’m speaking, I watch my natural gestures. Then I enhance them. Usually, I amplify my gestures, because big rooms demand big gestures. However, sometimes, I tone them down – depending on the audience. Regardless, I focus on making my gestures natural and reflective of what I’m saying. I try to avoid choppy, sudden gestures when I’m speaking. Instead, I focus on making my gestures fluid.

Posture and body orientation : I always stand up straight and look directly at the audience. Standing straight and looking directly at the audience indicates confidence. I use posture to make points though. If I am speaking about confidence, and want to give an example of an unconfident person, I slump my shoulders and look at the floor. Spend most of your time oriented toward the audience. If you’re using slides, speak to the audience, not the slide. It’s OK to look at a slide – especially if you want to draw the audience’s attention to it, but always turn back to the audience after a few seconds.

Proximity : Unlike many speakers, I like to get away from the platform and walk the room. This means that I get up close and personal with people in the audience. I have a wireless device to advance slides, so I am not tied to my computer. I find that audiences like it. As I walk the room, people feel that I’m more a part of them, having a conversation with them, rather than talking at them. This doesn’t work with very large audiences – which I define as over 100 people. However, even if you are speaking to a large audience and need to remain on the platform, I suggest using a wireless device to advance your slides. You won’t be tied to your computer, and you’ll appear more natural.

Your voice : Be animated – avoid speaking in a monotone. Show excitement for your material with your voice. I always practice my talks out loud – that way I hear my voice and the words I am using. This helps me modify my delivery in ways that will improve my impact with my audience.

If you use these non verbal communication ideas you’ll become someone whose presentations carry an impact – and you’ll be on your way to career and life success.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com to subscribe to my monthly ezine and for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

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Aesthetics and Delivery

Learning Objectives

The nonverbal part of your speech is a presentation of yourself as well as your message. Like we discussed in Chapter 7, public speaking is embodied, and your nonverbals are a key part of living and communicating in and through your body. Through the use of eye contact, vocals, body posture, gestures, and facial expression, you enhance your message and invite your audience to give their serious attention to it—and to you. Your credibility, your sincerity, and your knowledge of your speech become apparent through your nonverbal behaviors.

In this chapter, we explore various nonverbal components that influence your message to create an aesthetic experience for your audience. Rather than a check-list of skillsets, we invite you to read these as a series of inter-related behaviors and practices, beginning with eye contact.

Eye Contact

Both approaches are common mistakes when integrating eye contact into a speech. We have likely all seen speakers who read their presentation from notes and never look up. It’s also common for a speaker to zoom in on one audience member (like the teacher!) and never break their gaze.

It’s important to note that you want to establish genuine eye contact with your audience, and not “fake” eye contact. There have been a lot of techniques generated for “faking” eye contact, and none of them look natural. For example, these aren’t great:

Three points on the back wall – You may have heard that instead of making eye contact, you can just pick three points on the back wall and look at each point. What ends up happening, though, is you look like you are staring off into space and your audience will spend the majority of your speech trying to figure out what you are looking at. This technique may work better for a larger audience, but in a more intimate space (like the classroom), the audience is close enough to be suspicious. Put simply: we can tell you aren’t looking at us.
The swimming method – This happens when someone is reading their speech and looks up quickly and briefly, not unlike a swimmer who pops their head out of the water for a breath before going back under. Eye contact is more than just physically moving your head; it is about looking at your audience and establishing a connection.

Remember: you have done the work. You are prepared. You have something to say. People want to listen.

Gestures and Hands

3 common reactions to this adrenaline rush are:

Jazz hands! It may sound funny, but nervous speakers can unknowingly incorporate “jazz hands”—shaking your hands at your sides with fingers opened wide— at various points in their speech. While certainly an extreme example, this and behaviors like it can easily becoming distracting.
Stiff as a board . At the other end of the scale, people who don’t know what to do with their hands or use them “too little” sometimes hold their arms stiffly at their sides, behind their backs, or in their pockets, all of which can also look unnatural and distracting.
Hold on for dear life! Finally, some speakers might grip their notes or a podium tightly with their hands. This might also result in tapping on a podium, table, or another object nearby.

Like we mentioned in this section’s introduction, the key for knowing what to do with your hands is to know your own embodied movement and to trust or adjust your natural style as needed.

Feet and Posture

Just like your hands, nervous energy might try to work its way out of your body through your feet. Common difficulties include:

The side-to-side. You may feel awkward standing without a podium and try to shift your weight back and forth. On the “too much” end, this is most common when people start “dancing” or stepping side to side.
The twisty-leg. Another variation is twisting feet around each other or the lower leg.
Stiff-as-a-board. On the other end are speakers who put their feet together, lock their knees, and never move from that position. Locked knees can restrict oxygen to your brain, so there are many reasons to avoid this difficulty.

These options look unnatural, and therefore will prove to be distracting to your audience.

The default position for your feet, then, is to have them shoulder-width apart, with your knees slightly bent. Since public speaking often results in some degree of physical exertion, you need to treat speaking as a physical activity. Public speaking is too often viewed as merely the transmission of information or a message rather than a fully body experience. Being in-tune and attuned to your body will allow you to speak in a way that’s both comfortable for you and the audience.

Difficulty with good posture is not just a public speaking problem. Think about how often you sit down in a coffee shop, pull out your laptop and, after some time, you realize that you are leaning over and your lower back is wincing in pain. You likely pull your shoulders back and straighten your spine in response. If you don’t focus on this posture (and practice reminding yourself to “sit up straight”), your body may slump back into old habits. So, you guessed it: focusing on good posture is just that – something that you must focus on, over time, so that it becomes habitual.

Focusing on good posture and solid grounding will, in addition to increasing your confidence, assist you in maintaining your eye contact and focusing on projecting your voice throughout the space.

Moving in the Space

We know that likely you’re wondering, “Should I do any other movement around the room?”

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer. Movement depends on two overarching considerations: 1) What’s the space? And, 2) What’s the message?

First, movement is always informed by the space in which you’ll speak. We’ll cover this more in tips on rehearsal (see Chapter 11), but we’ll highlight a few important details here. Consider the two following examples:

You’ll be a giving a presentation at a university where a podium is set up with a stable microphone.
You’re speaking at a local TedTalk event with an open stage.

Both scenarios provide constraints and opportunities for movement.

In the university space, the microphone may constrain your movement if you determine that vocal projection is insufficient to guarantee a level of speaking that can be heard throughout the space.

Man speaking at lecture with a microphone

Once you have knowledge of the speaking space and completed speech content, you can start using movement to add dimension to the aesthetic experience for your audience.

One benefit of movement is that it allows you to engage with different sections of the audience. If you are not constrained to one spot (in the case of a podium or a seat, for example), then you are able to use movement to engage with the audience by adjusting your spatial dynamic. You can literally move your body to different sides of the stage and audience. This allows for each side of a room to be pulled in to the content because you close the physical distance and create clear pathways for eye contact.

Changing the spatial dynamics goes beyond moving from side-to-side. You can also move forward and backward (or what theater practitioners might call down or up stage). This allows you to move closer to the audience or back away—depending on what experience you’re trying to create.

Thus, using purposeful movement can enhanced your aesthetics, but purposeful is the key word here. While movement can enhance, it can also distract and constrain. Keep these common pitfalls in mind:

The pace-master. We all know this distracting pitfall where (likely due to nervousness), a speaker paces back and forth without any clear reason for the movement. “What in the world are they doing?” you might wonder as an audience member. Unfortunately, if you’re internally asking that question, you’re likely not focusing on the speaker’s content. While it’s OK to “walk and talk” so to speak, avoid constant walking-and-talking. As a speaker, maintain a solid footing when you aren’t moving.
Obstructing the view: It’s likely that, at some point, you’ll use objects or other presentation enhancements like a PowerPoint or a video during your speech. Make sure you aren’t moving directly in front of the audience’s line of sight. Even if you aren’t referencing something, it can be awkward to walk in front of a projection light.
The robot : As a dance, the robot can be great, but in public speaking, it’s usually not as effective. We commonly experience students who use “the triangle” method, where each main point in the speech is mapped onto an invisible triangle. This can be done well, but it can also lead to movement looking unnatural. Work to strike a balance between pre-planned and robotic.

When you speak, moving in the space can be beneficial. As you plan your purposeful movement, be aware of the message you’re providing and the space in which you’re speaking.

Facial Expressions

Picture being out to dinner with a friend and, as you finish telling a story about a joke you played on your partner, you look up to a grimacing face.

“What?” you ask. But their face says it all.

Facial expressions communicate to others (and audiences) in ways that are congruent or incongruent with your message. In the example above, your friend’s feedback of “oh, nothing” was inconcruent with their facial exressions. Their verbal words didn’t trump their facial expressions, however, and their nonverbal feedback was part of the communication.

Facial expressions are generally categorized as one of the following: happy, sad, angry, fearful, surprised and disgusted. Your facial expressions matter; your audience will be looking at your face to guide them through the speech, so they’re an integral part of communicating meaning and demonstrating to your audience a felt sense.

Given the amount of information that we all encounter daily, including information about global injustices, it’s often insufficient to merely state the problem and how to solve it. Audience members need buy in from you as the speaker. Using facial expressions to communicate emotions, for example, can demonstrate your commitment and overall feelings around an issue.

What you wear, similar to other aesthetic components, can either enhance or detract from the audience’s experience. Like facial expressions, you want your attire to be congruent with the message that you’re delivering. In Chapter 7, we noted that aesthetics are often dicated by certain contextual norms. Context is relevant here, too, as the purpose and audience will inform appropriate attire.

We recommend considering two questions when selecting your attire:

Aesthetics and Credibility

So far in Part 3 on aesthetics, we’ve discussed how to deliver an aesthetic experience for your audience. As a speaker, it’s important to remember that the audience remains a central component of public speaking and is central to consider when making aesthetic choices.

Yes, this means that you should think about your audience (as Chapter 2 discussed at length) when you are a speaker. These aesthetic choices will influence your audience and assist them in determining if you are credible and, frankly, if they want to listen to your message.

Eye contact can also be investigated. We’ve alluded that eye contact increases trust amongst your audience, and it often does; however, the connection between eye contact and higher levels of credibility is specific to a U.S. American cultural context. Culture thus defines how we interpret and understand certain aesthetic choices, including eye contact. Remember that culture is always a core component of communication. As an audience member, be careful of presumptively judging a speaker based on your own cultural expectations, identities, or positions.

Up next: presentation aids.

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Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy Copyright © 2019 by Meggie Mapes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Presentation is Important: Non-Verbal Communication

In one of his best-known standup routines, British actor and comedian Eddie Izzard illustrates the importance of non-verbal communication with commentary about John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech in Berlin, in which Kennedy famously declared “ Ich bin ein Berliner .” Izzard’s punchline says Kennedy’s appearance and tone were so charismatic the crowd didn’t care that Kennedy’s words translate to “I am a donut.”

While Izzard’s punchline isn’t strictly accurate , it is accurate to say a high percentage— possibly more than 90% —of human communication lies in body language, tone, and other unspoken cues. As more of our work communications go electronic , it’s helpful to take a moment to consider how we’re coming across in face-to-face moments.

The Balancing Act

The fundamentals of good non-verbal presentation are well-known: make eye contact and smile. Even more essential than these basics is self-awareness. Eye contact establishes trust and interest, but too much can come across as aggressive. Smiling follows similar rules. A genuine smile conveys positivity and approachability, but too much smiling can appear insincere at best and creepy at worst.

Awareness of your audience or conversational partners and their responses, along with awareness of your own behaviors, will allow you to moderate these and other non-verbal communication cues for maximum effect. While smiling and eye contact are essential to good communication in Western culture, it is worth noting some other cultures regard these gestures as disrespectful, no matter how they’re moderated.

Body Language

Another basic of effective non-verbal communication is good posture. Like much of the common advice about non-verbal communication, posture is subject to self-awareness and moderation. Obviously slouching is out, as it conveys disinterest or insecurity. At the same time, too-rigid posture can seem threatening.

Your whole body should convey interest in the people you’re speaking with. In a one-on-one or small group situation, pay attention to your feet. If your torso is facing your audience but your feet are pointing elsewhere, they will pick up on it. If only subconsciously, they will know you’re not fully attentive to what you’re saying to them or what they’re saying to you, which will make a subtly negative impression.

Personal space norms, like eye contact and expressions, can vary widely based on cultural background as well an individual preference, which makes space a tricky issue. Too much distance between yourself and your audience can indicate disinterest, but too much can create extreme discomfort. A good guideline is to give your audience about four feet of space and let them take the lead from there—within the bounds of what makes you comfortable as well.

Hand gestures also convey enthusiasm while adding interest to a conversation or presentation. Varied gestures appear more natural (and genuine) than a practiced set of mannerisms, and sufficiently detailed and specific gestures can even underline the meaning of what you’re saying. Subtle mirroring of your listeners’ gestures may also contribute to a subconscious bond between you. Again, moderation is key. Too many gestures may be off-putting, though, so awareness of the magnitude of your hand movements and your listeners’ responses will optimize the gestures’ effects.

Delivery lies in the gray area between the verbal and the non-verbal parts of communication, because it’s not about the content of what you say but how you say it. Tone is a crucial part of delivery, and you want to be sure your tone matches the content of what you’re saying. If you’re a typically loud speaker, you can soften your voice to emphasize important information, or go louder for emphasis if you’re typically a softer speaker.

Speed of delivery also makes a difference for understanding. Optimal human processing for spoken language is about 170-190 words per minute . Any more than that and the listener is overwhelmed, less and the listener zones out. We tend to speak more rapidly when we’re enthused, so it’s important to slow down. As always, monitor your speech and your listener or listeners to make sure they’re with you.

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Using body language

Using facial expressions

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Public Speaking: Nonverbal

Identify your purpose

Analyze your audience

Use eye contact to engage your audience

Emphasize deliberate movements and minimize unnecessary distractions (maximize signal-to-noise)

Use good posture and incorporate power poses

How to Practice

Additional Resources

Eye Contact

Gestures and Hands

Feet and Posture

Moving in the Space

Facial Expressions

Aesthetics and Credibility

Share This Book

Nonverbal Communication Skills: 19 Theories & Findings

This Article Contains:

Characteristics of nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication of successful leaders

1. Kinesics

3. Proxemics

4. Territory

5. Environment

6. Paralinguistics

7. Chronemics

8. Attractiveness

9. Olfactics

Download 3 Communication Exercises (PDF)

Download 3 Free Communication Tools Pack (PDF)

Leakage: Unintentional messages

Crossed messages

Basic emotion theory

Neural resonance

1. The benefits of yawning

2. Feet don’t lie

3. Gestures that help

4. The eyes have it

5. Power posing for success

6. Fingers crossed

7. Fake positivity is harmful

8. Stand up straight

17 Exercises To Develop Positive Communication

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1.Facial Expressions

3. Body Movement and Gestures

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Learning Objectives

Watch Reactions

Enroll an Observer

Focus on a Specific Type of Nonverbal Communication

Key Takeaway

Nonverbal Communication: Types, Importance And Examples

What Is Nonverbal Communication?

Types Of Nonverbal Communication

Body language:

Eye contact: