Gestures in communication are critical. Especially when public speaking. Gestures help reiterate and emphasize messages and key takeaways. Most importantly, they play a crucial role in first impressions.
Your audience is paying attention to all your cues: body language, vocal dynamics, and gestures. The two questions they are asking when they first see you on stage, according to Amy Cuddy’s book, “Presence,” is:
- Can I trust this person?
- Can I respect this person?
According to Joe Navarro, former FBI agent and nonverbal communication expert, humans gauge trustworthiness by looking at the hands. He writes in Psychology Today, ” In my work with mock juries, we found that attorneys, or for that matter witnesses, that hide their hands are perceived as less open and less honest by the jurors.” Consider how often you gesture and what those gestures communicate.
Importance of Gestures in Communication
Ever notice how people apologize for making gestures when they talk? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, “I talk with my hands,” or “I’m passionate” or “I’m Italian.” When I’m sitting across the table from a person and they make hand gestures while they’re talking, that’s when they seem they are being their most authentic and truthful self. I’m not sure why we decide to shut down half our body when public speaking. Use your words. Support those words with your gestures.
Gestures Increase Credibility
Want to increase your credibility? Increase your gestures. Research shows that influential speakers use more hand gestures than average speakers, according to Science of People:
The least popular TED Talkers used an average of 272 hand gestures during the 18-minute talk.
The most popular TED Talkers used an average of 465 hand gestures—almost double the least popular.
Don’t just talk more with your hands though. Make your gestures specific so they integrate with what you’re saying.
Gestures reinforce key points
In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote “Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.” Integrate the words with the gestures. Gestures help you drive your messages and key points home. Say the word two and then say the word two with two fingers up. Invite someone to move something from one side of the room to the other side of the room. The first time, say it. The second time, say it along with a gesture. The next time you walk into a store, ask for an item of a certain size. Then ask for the item of a certain size by saying what you’re looking for with a gesture. Tell a story without gestures. Tell the story again and paint a visual picture for your audience by telling the story and using gestures. See how the gestures support the words. See how your communication is much clearer.
Gestures activate the body
Ever try running without using your arms? It’s inefficient and your body gets very tired, very quickly. Public speaking is physical. The misnomer is speaking equals talking. It doesn’t. Your arms and hands are extensions of your body. Cut off your arms and hands and you cut off the flow. You’ll look like a talking head. Audiences will get bored. Gestures are like an engine – they feed the words and the body.
Gestures sync your brain
According to X Christopher Bergland in Psychology Today, “When you ‘speak with your hands’ you are engaging both hemispheres of your cerebellum, which synchronize with both hemispheres of the cerebrum and allows you to maximize the creative and logical powers of your left and right brain. To create a “Superfluid” state of thought and performance it’s important to combine cerebral (words) with cerebellar (gestures).”
Gestures make people pay attention to a speech. Spencer Kelly, associate professor of Psychology, director of the Neuroscience program, and co-director of the Center for Language and Brain at Colgate University, says our ears expect to hear speech when we see a hand gesture. Kelly said, “Gestures still have a tight and perhaps special coupling with speech in present-day communication. In this way, gestures are not merely add-ons to language – they may actually be a fundamental part of it.”
To learn how we can help you use more expansive, integrated gestures when public speaking, please contact us.