It is a well known saying that a good message or speech will travel to the listener’s heart if and only if it is conveyed with a good body language. Else, the travel ends at the listener’s ear.

This blog post will share with you how to deliver an effective public speech with the correct use of your expressions, sound modulations, hand gesture, use of feet, your confidence etc so that you transform from a boring sound box to a great orator.

The Head

First and foremost thing to be remembered during your speech is your facial expression! In sync to what you preach, your idea should be supported with your facial expressions like anger, shock, smile, amazement, frown etc.

An important message passed to the listener with the correct expressions and sound modulation is never forgotten. The audience would absorb what you preach like a blotting paper and act upon that.

Eye Contact

Next important factor to be taken care in public speaking is the Eye Contact of the orator with the audience. There are DOs and DON’Ts in keeping Eye Contact.

DOs are keeping random eye contact for 2 – 3 second with each member and having your ideas reach their heart and the DON’Ts are having repetitive sweeping or scanning motion of eye over the gathering which would lead the audience to sleep rather than engaging with the speech.

But, if the number of listeners is large, keeping eye contact with each individual is difficult or rather impossible. But when you look to a group of people from a distance, it is a human tendency for each individual of the group to feel as if you are looking at him.

While addressing a large gathering, this ‘mob feeling’ can be made use of. You should clump people into small groups and look. Because of the distance, each would feel as if the orator is looking into his own eyes and they all feel happy and would surely be more attentive.

Your Feet

At the end there are your feet and legs. If you are required to stand at one place while speaking you need to pay attention to your stance and posture. Stand straight with legs slightly apart. Keep your weight equally distributed on both feet. Don’t lean on any one leg.

At the same time do not move from side to side. If you need to move around on stage try to look natural without slouching or dragging your feet. But ramp walking like a model should also be avoided. It is but natural to feel nervous when on stage. It’s due to the adrenaline in the body. You need to put that to good use rather than avoid performing.

Nerves will show mostly in your extremities. But by staying calm and focused this nervous energy can help you perform better. Even professional feel these nerves but they learn to redirect this energy and make it work for them. So be confident and it will show in your body language.

It is a well known fact that a good message or speech will travel to the listener’s heart if and only if it is conveyed with a good body language. Else, the travel ends at the listener’s tympanum.

In this blog post, I intent to share 3 key tips to deliver an effective public speech like the correct use of our expressions, hand gesture, voice modulations, use of feet, topic confidence etc so that you transform from a boring sound box to a great orator.

The Body

Whatever is your body structure, just keep it straight, visible to the audience, be relaxed and confident, that’s it! The rest will follow by itself. The only caution is to maintain your body balance and then you can deliver your message straight to the heart of the listener.

Hands and Arms

Majority of the people do not know what to do with their hands and arms during a speech. They usually grasp somewhere, insert their hands in the pocket or do some scratching on the podium. In fact they are actually forgetting that arms and limbs aid the orator in the deliverance to a great extent.

These limbs are like supporting artists to the hero in a play. In sync to what you preach, your idea should be supported with the appropriate dramatic movement of your hands and arms.

Your facial expressions like anger, shock, smile, amazement, frown etc aided with hand gestures and voice modulations would magically change the effect of your speech. Such speeches are never forgotten.

The audience would absorb what you preach like a blotting paper and act upon that. Depending on the gravity, tension and urgency of your topic a blow on the bench, throw of closed fist in the air, pointed finger etc conveys your sincerity and attachment to the subject and the message would directly hit where it is meant to be.

An emotionless speech without any of the above ‘supporting artists’ would force the listener to look in to his watch and surely bore them to the core.

Body Movement

And last but not the least is the art of body movement. First thing essential for this ‘movement’ is nothing but a clear space for movement. The stage should be clear of obstacles, hanging wires, without obstruction between you and the listener and a clean and rough floor. Once the above conditions are achieved, you can master the art of body movement in public speaking.

Body movement can be very much effective in pulling the attention to your lips. If you are not delivering your speech behind a podium, you can best utilize the chance by proper body movement.

A good orator is actually a good player of mono act. Exactly in sync with the situation, you move around the stage, cut jokes with your move and utilize the space keeping your body balance and next you would see the listener imitating your expressions with utmost concentration and joy. These elevate you from a normal speaker to an efficient orator and a crowd puller.

Body language is a type of non-verbal communication that comprises body posture facial expressions, signs and eye movements. Body language may reveal mental state of a person. It may show whether the person is sad, happy, relaxed, angry or tense.

Persons send out and decipher such signals almost involuntarily. Body language is common not only in humans but also in birds and animals. For example, when bees want to convey to other bees where to find a new place of “nectar”, they gesticulate in the form of a little dance in front of the beehive.

Quickly decoding the gestures, the other fees fly off in the direction indicated. In the whole process, there was no buzzing and no other communication except little signals. This is the body language at its best.

In our day-to-day life, we are all tuned to communicate through body language. This technique of wordless communication is passed on from one generation to another. In effect, communication depends more on body language than words.

Someone has scientifically established this. Many consider that around 80% to 90% of human communication consists of body language and that it always reveals the truth. Many consultants have established this in discussions with clients about truth, falsehood and fiction. Clients are divided into pairs to play a “story telling game”.

Each member of the pair tells the other pair one aspect of truth and another factor of fiction, without disclosing the details. The other group’s teammate listens carefully, assesses which one is true and which one is false. Based on this judgment, the partner introduces the other member of the pair to the group.

If their conclusions about the truth and falsehood are found to be incorrect, the partner is permitted to rectify them. The discussion that follows clearly brings out the fact that the conclusions about truth or non-fiction and falsehood or fiction were mainly based on instinct or involuntary actions of body language.

Body language is not a deception and does not depend upon the capacity of the “story-teller” to influence through his narrative or “acting”. It is a basic non-verbal communication. A proper understanding of the process of body language can be a very useful technique in numerous business ventures and professional jobs.

For example, body language plays a vital role in police force, recruitment agencies and sales promotion activities. The awareness of body language and the level of communication using this method can be enhanced by constant practice and training.

However, the signs that we have been using since birth can sometimes be detrimental to our interests. This is because of the diversity in cultures in different parts of the world. For instance, people use a smile, a touch or other gestures in building relationships or greeting in ceremonies or functions.

While westerners may welcome direct eye-to-eye contact to communicate and both men and women do not mind a handshake, people of other cultures may not appreciate these types of gestures.

Similarly, while South Americans, even in formal situations, like to come physically close to the person they are talking, Americans and the British people would like to maintain a safe distance. It is, therefore, essential to grasp the implied meaning in any body language method of communication.