The stakes are high – the cameras are rolling and the room is packed. This appearance could make or break your career. You’ve worked hard perfecting your talking points, but, uh oh…..
Something’s falling flat. The audience isn’t with you. This is embarrassing and hardly the impact you were hoping for. What could possibly have gone wrong?
Body language
The audience was listening, but, your nervous toe-tapping slumped posture and lack of eye contact were making them uncomfortable. And that made it difficult to connect with what you were saying. Ugh.
Ignore your body language and it will do the talking for you
Research states that 50-65% of communication is non-verbal. So, if you ignore your body language, you’re leaving over 50% of your ability to communicate behind. Good media training and executive presence coaching will always include body language and non-verbal communication skills. If you want to know how to improve communication skills and strengthen your executive presence, working with your body language is an important step.
Don’t underestimate the power of body language
Recognize yourself in this awkward clip from the Big Bang Theory? It’s a perfect example of how working hard on your content, but ignoring your body language can tank your presentation. (2.5 minutes)
Here are 7 body language tips to help you have a more powerful impact and a more powerful executive presence:
- Identify body language: what is it?
- How can your body language help you?
- How can your body language hurt you?
- Understanding body posture
- Using eye contact
- Basic do’s and don’ts
- The secret of body language: remarkable results
1 Identify body language: what is it?
Body language is the conscious and unconscious messaging transmitted by your body.
Gaining awareness of body language and what it can communicate is the first step to being able to use it to reinforce your message.
“The body never lies”
Martha Graham, Dancer
Here are some of the ways we use body language to transmit messages:
- Posture
- Hand gestures
- Eye movements
- Eye contact
- Mannerisms
- Facial expressions
- Physical reactions
- Body movements
- Stillness
- Nervous tics
- Breath
2 How can your body language help you?
- Do you smile when you first meet someone?
- Do you make eye contact when speaking to people?
If so, you’re using positive body language to communicate.
Body Language can communicate a variety of positive messages:
- Tells people you’re trustworthy
- Makes you look approachable
- Creates credibility
- Projects confidence
- Reinforces emotion
- Reinforces authenticity
- Makes you seem honest
- Tells people you care about them
- Shows people you’re interested in what they’re talking about
Ariel: “But without my voice, how can I…”
Ursula: “You’ll have your looks, your pretty face. And don’t underestimate the importance of body language, ha!”
The Little Mermaid
3 How can your body language hurt you?
If you’re not aware of what your body is saying, you might be confusing people:
- Are you saying “yes,” while shaking your head “no”?
- Are your arms close to your body and your hands in a fist while you try to give a co-worker positive feedback?
Here are some of the negative messages your body can communicate:
- You lack confidence
- You’re not trustworthy
- You’re lying
- You’re not really listening
- You don’t want to do the work
- You don’t want to be friends
- You don’t care about what I’m saying
- You’re insecure
- You’re sending mixed messages
- You’re hiding something
Once you start understanding the power of body language, you can use it to reinforce what you want to say on camera, in presentations, and in meetings.
4 Body Posture
Your body posture is the first thing people see. Body posture tells a story the moment you walk on stage, the moment we see you on camera, the moment you get out of a car, the moment you meet someone. Body language can reinforce and strengthen your executive presence.
Body posture doesn’t just affect others, it also transforms how you feel about yourself and what you have to say. You can literally change your feelings about what you have to say by changing your body posture first.
In her famous Ted Talk, Social Psychologist, Amy Cuddy breaks down the basics of body posture:
“Posture is a leadership language.”
― Janna Cachola, Lead by choice, not by checks
5 Eye Contact
Eye contact is one of the most important aspects of body language.
Strong eye contact can be very positive. It allows you to connect on a personal level to whomever you’re talking to – whether that be an interviewer, or a room full of people.
Lack of eye contact can be detrimental. Avoiding eye contact, looking away, or moving your eyes to the side too much often suggests that you’re lying or hiding something.
“When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
6 Body Language Do’s and Don’ts
If you want to know how to improve communication skills: it’s important to use your body language to be comfortable and confident. Follow these tips:
| Do | Don’t | Why |
| Sit upright and lean forward | Slump or slouch in your chair | Indicates interest and attentiveness |
| Make eye contact | Look away, avoid eye contact altogether | • Connection • Lack of eye contact suggests you’re hiding something or lying |
| Be still | Fidget, move around too much | • Stillness is engaging • Fidgeting is distracting |
| Smile | Expressionless | Sometimes nerves make us forget to smile |
| Nod | Expressionless | Shows you are listening and engaged |
| Use your hands | Crossed arms | Shows enthusiasm and openness |
| Sit with legs uncrossed | Cross your legs | Shows enthusiasm and openness |
7 The Secret of Body Language: Get Remarkable Results Fast
Here’s a body language secret that no one talks about: the shortest route to more comfortable body language is to connect to your passion. Once you do, your body language becomes more naturally expressive and believable.
How to connect to your passion:
Let’s say your on-camera interview is about your long and amazing career. Take some time before the interview to talk about your career successes out loud. Talk long enough that you start to get genuinely excited about what you’ve accomplished. Say these stories out loud in your car on the way to your interview. Choose meaningful accomplishments that helped someone else or your company. Speak out loud in detail about the transformation that came about because of your actions. Large or small, find incredible stories that you feel deeply about and practice them.
When you get excited about your stories, you will be compelling to watch. After all, if you’re completely engaged in what you’re saying, your audience will be too.
If you’re not engaged, you probably need help. A great way to get better results fast is from executive presence coaching or media training. It’s important to make the most of every appearance!
Emotion always has its roots in the unconscious and manifests itself in the body.
– Irene Claremont de Castillejo
CONCLUSION
The more aware you become of your own body language, the more effective you will be as a speaker, presenter, leader, and communicator. Eye contact, posture, and understanding the basic do’s and don’ts of effective body language will help strengthen your message on stage and in front of the camera. I can’t stress this enough – if you want to know how to improve communication skills – use your body language. Don’t forget the #1 secret of natural body language: passion!
Being nervous or having stage fright can be a detriment to your body language. For help in this area, go to: 5 Tips for Overcoming Your Fear of Being On-Camera.
