Oh yeah, I'm back.

If you want a sure-fire way of being perceived as a boring speaker, then make sure you never move your body at all!

Huh?

Of course, I am assuming your goal is not to be perceived as a boring speaker, so you should do your best to use appropriate physical movement in your speech.

Don't move.

What is “physical movement”? It is exactly what it sounds like: how you move your body as you speak.

This encompasses a few things:

1. Whether and how you walk around the stage
2. How you use your arms and hands
3. How you move your body when not walking (swaying, leaning, hunching over, etc)
4. Your posture
5. How you position and move your head

For the purpose of this blog, we’ll leave out facial expressions.

Those will be covered later, if I can write that much again.

Many speakers, especially newer ones, spend a majority of their time focused on the words they need to say. I do. They may spend a little time thinking about how they will deliver those words (volume, tone, pitch, variety, etc). Physical movement is one of the last things they think of, if they think of it at all. This is sad, because proper physical movement can add a wonderful element to your presentations.

In fact, I've heard that body language is the best way to communicate.

Even with people you don't know.

Here are seven ways to include better physical movement into your presentations:

1) Be Aware of What You Are Already Doing

You can’t make something better until you know how well (or poorly) you are currently doing it. Your first step, therefore, is to take stock of how you are currently using your body when you speak.

What I do is RECORD everything so I can critique myself later.

Pretty darn impressive when you think about it. I mean you get to watch yourself on camera. How cool is that.

You can’t just think about it and assume you know. Quite often, we do many things unconsciously. Your best bet is to have someone videotape you delivering a real live presentation (not just one you are practicing at home or in your office). If that’s not possible, you can record yourself during practice. You can also ask someone to watch and give you feedback.

Even if you go with one of those options, make sure to videotape yourself live as soon as you can. And then watch it. Yes, this is hard, but you will learn more by simply recording and watching yourself then you will from “thinking about” your speech.

As you watch, make notes of how you do and don’t move. When I did this, I was stunned by how I swayed back and forth. Just realizing that I was doing it was enough to make me pay attention and stop.

2) Move Between Your Points

The simplest way to start adding movement to your presentation is to coordinate it with your speaking points. As you move from point to point, you can also move from spot to spot on the stage.

For example, if you are delivering your first point from the center of the stage, when you finish that point, pause, take two steps to the right, plant yourself, and then start your next point.

This may not seem like much, but this simple technique helps you remember to move and also gives the audience a visual indicator that you are switching topics.

Kind of like doing it automatically.

Pretty darn cool in my opinion.

3) Exaggerate When You Practice

When you practice your presentation (you are practicing, right?) you should exaggerate your movements.

Most speakers, when they get in front of a live audience, tend to “pull back” a little bit. The think they are moving a lot, but in fact they are moving in a very minimal way.

By exaggerating when you practice, you make sure that when you get live and pull back that your movements are still visible and comfortable for the audience.

4) Put Down the Notes

I am not one those people who has a big problem with a speaker using notes during their presentation. However, when used improperly, notes can be a huge impediment to your physical movement.

Be careful.

If you hold notes while you speak, two things may happen:

1. You will hold the notes in both your hands in front of you. This locks your arms at your side and forces you into a boring, stiff posture. If you are holding your notes, you can’t really move your arms and hands, can you?

2. You will keep looking straight down at the notes. This reinforces the stiff posture, and also makes it harder for you to make good eye contact. Eye contact is its own topic, but when it comes to physical movement, the simple act of making eye contact with different audience members can help you move. Also, when you keep glancing straight down, you project a weak, hunched over posture.

That's bad for anyone, especially if you're doing it in front of me, a
chiropractor.

Try to go without notes. If you must use notes, leave them on the lectern or table so you can refer to them if you need to. If you feel you absolutely must hold on to them, at least hold them in only one hand.

I like to do what Steve Jobs did.

Use pictures to prompt you.

Doing that makes it easy.

5) Pre-Plan and Practice a Few Moves in Advance

If you are new to this, don’t try to add physical movement to every moment of your talk. Instead, think through your talk and pick out a few moments when you could add in a little physical movement.

It could be moving between points. It could be acting out a bit of dialog (see next point). It could be using your hands to make a point. At first, it’s not as important what you do as it is that you try something.

Pick a few moments, practice them, and then incorporate them into your live speech. Afterward, review how those movements felt and whether you felt they worked for the audience (videotape is a great tool to help with this). Then you can edit, add, or delete movements for the next speech.

6) Act Things Out

You don’t need to turn your presentation into a one-person theater show, but when you are telling stories (you are telling stories, right?) you should use a little movement to paint a picture for the audience.

If you are talking about an angry patient, slightly act-out the angry patient. If you are talking about a time you were working on the computer, show us yourself working on the computer. If you’re telling us about a big door you came across, use your hands to give us a sense of the size of the big door.

The easiest place to add in a few act-outs is when relaying a conversation. When you share a conversation you were part of with the audience, turn your body slightly back and forth as you switch between characters. Not only does it help the audience keep track of who is saying what, but they also find it more interesting and entertaining.

7) Be Deliberate

The biggest KEY to using physical movement effectively is to make sure that all of your movements are deliberate. People who don’t move effectively usually never give any thought to it at all, so it is clearly not deliberate.

The first step is to be aware of what you are doing. Not just after the fact (as stated in point #1) but during your speech. Whether you move or not, it should be a conscious choice, and not just an automatic reflex you have no control over.

It takes time and practice to get to a point where you are able to be aware of all your movements as you do them, especially if you are obsessing over remembering what you need to say!

Your best bet, therefore, is to make sure you know your material well. If you are confident and familiar with your speech, then your mind will be much freer to focus on other things, such as your physicality.

With time and practice, you will eventually get to a point where being aware of your movements is something you do automatically and naturally. When that happens, you will be well on your way to being a powerful and effective speaker!

Don't forget.

It always takes practice to be good.

At anything.

Be good, be safe and think about marketing.

Talk later,

Dr. Carney