Give Your Presentation a Hand

Give Your Presentation a Hand

By James A. Baker
Founder
Baker Communications

Presenters, speakers, and anyone who has ever stood in front of an audience knows how awkward you can suddenly feel about your hands. There they are, flapping around way down at the ends of your arms. Wherever you put them, it just feels wrong. What should you do with those things while you’re speaking?

When you are presenting, your physical appearance and nonverbal body language are communicating a message to the audience. Being aware of your hand position and movements is an important part of maintaining a positive and authoritative image.

Closed Positions
For many inexperienced or nervous presenters, the instinctive response is to put the hands in a protective, defensive “closed” position. These positions, while sometimes comforting to the speaker, appear stiff and often deliver a negative message to the audience. They also limit your movement, and decrease your ability to effectively emote and connect with your listeners.
Closed positions to avoid include:

• Crossed arms - This position makes you look frightened, withdrawn, and defensive.
• Clasped hands - Clasping your hands in front of you can be seen as a submissive position, which will decrease your authority and credibility with the audience.
• Hands in pockets - This tends to look either stiff or overly casual, and audience members may find it distracting.
• Clenched fists - This is a frightened and/or angry gesture; probably not the sense you want to communicate.
• Hands behind back - This gives the audience the sense that you’re hiding something.
• Fiddling with clothing - This nervous tic will not inspire confidence.
• Touching face or head - Touching the face may come across as fearful or insincere. Don’t play with your hair, either - it gives you an air of distraction and impracticality.

Open Positions
Open hand and arm positions communicate honesty, openness, and confidence to the audience. If you are not actively gesturing, writing, or using your hands, keep them in a natural, loose position. Down by your sides or near your waist are fine, as long as the arms are not stiff. They should appear relaxed and natural.

Using Gestures
Your hands should not hang like dead fish throughout your presentation. Hands can be incredibly expressive, and gestures can be used very effectively to help communicate your message to the audience. You can use gestures to illustrate size, shape, direction, intensity, or sequence. You can gesture to emphasize points, or to draw the audience’s attention to a visual aid.
When gesturing during a presentation:

• Keep your hands open. Don’t close into fists or move into other closed positions.
• Avoid the “broken arm” effect. Don’t glue your elbows to your sides and move the lower arm - you’ll look like a chicken, or at best a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Extend the arm fully and move it away from your body.
• Keep your fingers together for the most part, and do not point at the audience or at individuals. It’s rude and somewhat threatening. To select an audience member who is asking a question, an open hand gesture and eye contact usually work fine.
•  Don’t move too fast. Make your gestures fairly slow and smooth, or you may appear twitchy.
• Use large, expansive gestures to help keep your lung capacity and voice projection up.

A natural delivery, with body language that matches and reinforces a positive verbal message, will give audiences a clear and consistent signal. If your nonverbal behavior communicates discomfort or lack of confidence, your audience tends to doubt your credibility and question or reject your message.

The key to a natural presentation delivery style is practice. By practicing your nonverbal communication skills, open hand positions, and gestures, you will develop comfort and consistency.

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