Advanced Body Language Tips for Public Speaking

• 00:05 It's time for some advance tips on body language when it comes to public speaking.
• 00:11 One of those eye contact.
• 00:14 Now the worst speakers in the world, the bottom 5% speakers stare at the floor,
• 00:19 they stare at their notes, they're reading, their head is buried in notes or
• 00:23 they're reading the PowerPoint bullets.
• 00:25 They're completely ignoring the audience.
• 00:27 The audience could fall asleep, you could stand on the front row,
• 00:31 light your hair on fire, the speaker would never notice.
• 00:34 You don't wanna be like that, lost in your own little world.
• 00:39 The next roughly 94.9% of speakers are looking at the audience but
• 00:44 they're looking at the whole audience the whole time.
• 00:49 I'd like to thank all of you for coming here today,
• 00:51 they're like a wind shield wiper sprinkler.
• 00:55 When you're in the audience you never feel like that person's really looking at you,
• 01:00 that's not what great speakers do.
• 01:02 Great speakers use the power of their eyes,
• 01:07 the body language of their eyes to really connect with audience members.
• 01:13 So the thing to do is really lock eyes, hold it full a full thought,
• 01:18 a sentence or two with one person.
• 01:21 Then go over here.
• 01:23 Look at another person, really hold that thought.
• 01:26 It's not about one Mississippi, two Mississippi,
• 01:28 it doesn't have to be a specific seven seconds.
• 01:32 It's just a couple of sentences, one thought.
• 01:36 And you're making sure that person really sees you look at them, and
• 01:40 you're looking at them.
• 01:42 Once you do this after a while, it becomes easier for
• 01:45 you because you're now not looking at the audience the whole time,
• 01:48 you're having more of a one on one conversation.
• 01:52 But it makes the person in the audience feel like, wow.
• 01:57 He really spoke to me, she really spoke to me.
• 02:01 Now this is one of those tricks where it doesn't get any harder with a larger
• 02:06 audience but the larger audience perceives it as more difficult.
• 02:10 And they feel like wow she really spoke to me,
• 02:14 he really spoke to me, all those people in the room.
• 02:18 So it really helps you cuz most people find this easy to do,
• 02:22 if you're just talking to one person.
• 02:26 But with a larger group, it kinda feel like oh, oh,
• 02:30 I don't wanna lose place on my notes or my script or any of that stuff.
• 02:33 So we sort of fade away don't do that, and don't look at the whole room.
• 02:39 Look at one person at a time.
• 02:41 Now, what do you do if you're on a stage and
• 02:45 there's spotlights on you and you can't even see the audience?
• 02:49 Well, guess what?
• 02:49 A little bit of a modification in the system still works.
• 02:54 Just focus on one spot 20 feet out here.
• 02:57 Hold your contact in that area, your general gaze.
• 03:01 20 people in that whole area will feel like wow, he spoke to me.
• 03:06 Then go over here, go 50 feet up, and
• 03:10 look at where people would be sitting there, if you could see them and
• 03:13 you'll come across much more purposeful, confident, relax.
• 03:19 Because sometimes you see speakers, their voice may be fine,
• 03:24 their hand gestures may be fine, but their faces kinda.
• 03:31 And it just doesn't convey confidence.
• 03:35 So focus one person at a time for a full thought and mix it up.
• 03:38 You don't wanna be boom, boom, boom, boom.
• 03:41 You don't wanna be mechanical.
• 03:44 The other problem speakers have is if the audience is 180 degrees,
• 03:49 they only look at sort of a 90 degree section, from here to here.
• 03:53 They completely ignore the people on the sides.
• 03:57 Don't be like that.
• 03:58 You want to be inclusive as possible at showing people hey, I care about you too.
• 04:05 I wanna reach out to you.
• 04:08 Now this also bring us to the question of literally getting closer to your audience.
• 04:15 You don't have to walk around, there are great speakers Ronald Reagan,
• 04:19 other presidents who stay in one spot and still make great presentations.
• 04:25 But in my experience, the more you walk around the room and
• 04:28 get physically close to people,
• 04:30 as long as you're not invading anyone's space, the more powerful it will be.
• 04:36 The more confident you'll seem.
• 04:38 The more people will listen to you.
• 04:40 The more they will perceive you as really professional.
• 04:45 The other thing that will let you do that is to have
• 04:50 your notes on a single sheet of paper.
• 04:54 Don't take a big pad out and be flipping around, that's distracting.
• 04:58 Have your notes on a single sheet of paper, preferably bent
• 05:04 over have that sitting on a table or a chair or the lectern, but don't touch it.
• 05:10 When you don't touch the notes and you've narrowed things down to a simple outline,
• 05:15 that frees you up to move around.
• 05:19 And people will perceive you as just incredibly confident and comfortable,
• 05:24 and that will make you seem like a real pro, someone who's a true authority.
• 05:30 If you're having to stand in one place like a potted plant and stare at your
• 05:36 notes, nobody knows if you even know this, nobody knows if you wrote the speech.
• 05:42 You could just be reading someone else's work.
• 05:44 But when you were walking around, you convey true authority,
• 05:50 true confidence and that's what will help you so much.
• 05:55 Now, the absolute biggest tip I can give you when it comes to your body language
• 06:00 for speaking is you've got to practice on video.
• 06:07 And you need to practice in a room that is similar in size and
• 06:11 shape to the room where you're going to be speaking.
• 06:13 So you're speaking in a big convention hall,
• 06:16 try to get there at the night before.
• 06:17 Get in there 6 AM when no one else's there and practice in that room.
• 06:22 But practicing enough doesn't work.
• 06:25 You need to practice on video, watch it, and see that you're using this space.
• 06:31 See that you're using all of the stage, and if it's a small room and
• 06:35 you're talking to 20 people, go around and touch the chairs in advance where
• 06:40 you'll be, get comfortable walking around the room, know where the stairs are.
• 06:46 The more comfortable you are the easier it will be for
• 06:50 you to see natural and relax in the actual presentation.
• 06:54 And one final thing before you get up on a stage or front of a bunch of people,
• 06:59 find a friend, a colleague, befriend someone in the audience,
• 07:04 have them just look you over, and make sure nothing is sticking out.
• 07:08 You don't wanna have a piece of hair sticking out,
• 07:10 if you have a bunch of hair sticking out back.
• 07:13 You don't want your shirt sticking out.
• 07:14 I've had a situation before where the microphone,
• 07:17 wireless microphone was in back and it was sticking out causing my jacket,
• 07:22 instead of being flat to stick up like a tail.
• 07:25 And I didn't catch it in time, it was distracting to people.
• 07:29 So you want someone to really look you over.
• 07:32 Also, after lunch make sure there's no spinach in your teeth,
• 07:36 because that can chip away at your confidence if you've been speaking for
• 07:41 five minutes and all of a sudden you feel like, is there something there?
• 07:46 Let me keep my mouth closed now.
• 07:48 You don't want that, so look at a mirror and
• 07:51 have someone look at you right before you go on stage.
• 07:56 And before you even get to that point, you need to rehearse on video and
• 08:01 you need to watch the videos, you've heard me say before without the volume on.
• 08:06 And that way you can really isolate what looks comfortable and what doesn't.
• 08:13 Is there a point there where you're just grabbing a pen and
• 08:16 you don't even realize it.
• 08:18 Is there a point in your speech where you're playing with your rings?
• 08:23 Get rid of it.
• 08:24 You don't really know how your body language is coming across
• 08:28 until you watch it.
• 08:30 You can't practice this in a mirror, that is a horrible waste of time.
• 08:34 You can practice on video and watch it.
• 08:37 So that's really what's most important when it comes to preparing your speeches.
• 08:41 Gotta practice on video, you gotta watch it,
• 08:44 you gotta keep doing it, I don't care if it takes 100 times until
• 08:49 you like every aspect of how you look and how you sound.
• 08:55 Once you get to that point
• 08:58 it almost becomes impossible not to be filled with confidence.

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