Research has shown that over one-half of all human communication takes place on a non-verbal level. Each of us has at one time or another made a non-verbal statement which was understood completely by another person. A clenched fist and a smile would be two examples. Let's take a closer look at what you can do to make the most of your body language in everyday communication.
Ways to Make Your Body Speak Effectively
First, rid yourself of distracting mannerisms. Each of us is familiar with speakers who tap the lectern as they talk. After a period of time the tapping becomes the main point of concern rather than what the speaker is saying. Rattling coins in a pocket or doing things with one's hair are other examples of distracting mannerisms. These mannerisms tend to take away from the main thoughts of a speech and focus attention on the distracting mannerisms instead of on the speech.
Be natural, spontaneous, conversational. Speaking today gets away from the oratory of past years and can best be described as enlarged conversation. What you need to do is to naturally, spontaneously, and conversationally talk with your audience.
Let your body mirror your feelings. Be natural, be relaxed. Try not to be strained or stiff.
Lastly, use your Toastmasters club as a learning laboratory. Anyone giving a speech can have someone evaluate him and look at his body language as he talks to see if it conveys the intended meaning.
Your Speaking Posture
For correct speaking posture, stand straight but not rigid with your feet about six to twelve inches apart and one foot slightly ahead of the other. Balance your weight evenly on the balls of your feet and lean forward just a little. Your knees should be straight but not locked. Relax your shoulders but don't let them go. Keep your chest up and your stomach in. Your head should be erect with your chin up, but not uncomfortably so. Let your arms hang naturally at your sides, your fingers slightly curled. Its not going to be natural for you, when you first step to the lectern, to try to start positioning your feet and determining if one foot is ahead of the others and if you are balanced and so forth. But you know what a natural position would be, one that would reflect your feeling and would be comfortable to you and the audience, and this is the type of position that you ought to assume. The one thing that most people need to look out for is to not to lean on the lectern. That seems to be the biggest error that people can have as far as speaking posture.
Gestures
Respond naturally to what you think, feel and say.
Create the conditions for gesturing - not the gesture.
Suit the action to the word and the occasion.
Make your gestures convincing.
Make your gestures smooth and well timed.
Make natural, spontaneous gesturing a habit.
Mostly, what is suggested is to do what's natural for you. If you are a very animated person and you like to gesture, by all means do it. If you're not, don't force your gestures. You should have some gesturing in your talk but nothing that you don't feel natural with.
Body Movement
Never move without a reason. If you don't have a reason to move, stay where you are. You can use body movement for emphasis, particularly if you are on a stage talking to people. If you move forward, you're trying to get their attention. If you move backward, you have completed that point and you're ready to move to something else. And to move sideways if you're in a transition period; such as going from the introduction to the body. But don't move just for the sake of moving. This gets back to distracting mannerisms which take the emphasis away from your speech and to your body movement. Also, if you have audio-visual aids, you can use these aids as a means to move back and forth from the lectern to the audio-visual aid.
Facial Expressions
Remove unneeded expressions. Try to look friendly. Remember, your audience will mirror you expressions, so if you smile, they will smile; if you look worried, they will become worried.
Eye Contact
The best thing is to know your material. If you know your material, you won't have to look down to read it, to look at notes, or to look at a written manuscript. Establish a personal bond with each listener; try to make contact with each person in the audience. Establish eye contact, then move on to someone else. Don't maintain the contact too long or you'll make that person uncomfortable, but try to make some eye contact with each person in the audience. Lastly, use your eye contact to monitor visual feedback. You can tell if the audience is getting bored or distracted, and as a result you may have to change your method of delivery; or if they have a quizzical look you may have to go back and explain or restate part of your speech.
How to Make a Good First Impression
First, a general rule of thumb is that you should dress as well as the best dressed person in the audience. That way you are not over dressed or underdressed. Prior to your time to talk take an interest in the meeting, and not be reviewing your notes. You should be prepared enough that you don't have to do that. It's a distraction to the audience if you're not paying attention to the meeting. Begin your speech talking in enlarged conversation to the audience and keeping eye contact. This will help to make a good first impression and to get their attention at the start.
So, for good body language you should be yourself, do what's natural for you, make eye contact, and use enlarged conversation to talk to your audience.
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