What should I Do With My Hands When Making a Speech?
Can you recall a time when you were standing in front of an audience, their full attention upon you and all you could feel was extremely exposed and self-conscious? All speakers feel this way at some time and the most overwhelming problem in this situation seems to be what to do with your hands. Nothing you do with them seems to feel natural or easy.
Standing in front of a room full of people, all of whom are eagerly anticipating the start of your speech, just serves to magnify the problem of what to do with your hands.
Should you put them into your pockets? What about letting them hang limply by your sides? Maybe a ‘grand gesture’ or two might look more natural to your audience, in which case, should you fling your arms about wildly to emphasize your words?
And the more you focus on what to do with your hands, the more you will become distracted from what you should be saying and the more anxious you will begin to feel.
Try these tips and you’ll soon find that you can forget all about your hands and get on with the real job of making an entertaining and enjoyable speech.
Learn to relax. It is a basic truth that you only begin to worry about what to do with your hands when you are feeling stressed and up tight. In your normal, day-to-day life you don’t give a second thought as to what your hands are doing as you speak to you family, colleagues and friends, do you? And the reason is solely because you feel at ease and are not experiencing any nervousness at all.
Take a particular note of whether you usually use hand gestures to illustrate what you are saying at all other times. Try and relate to a friend how to tie a tie or describe a spiral staircase and see just how you use your hands to help enhance your words.
If you find that you are comfortable using hand gestures in general conversation, then continue to do so when delivering your speech. You’ll find that if you continue to do what comes naturally to you, it won’t feel artificial or forced.
If you don’t naturally use gestures, then don’t try to start!
Always remember that if you feel nervous on stage, your emotion may be unconsciously demonstrated by what your hands are doing. Are you clutching the table or lectern tightly, clenching your fists or constantly fiddling with your pen?
Realize that gestures such as desk banging, finger pointing and fist clenching will always appear to have hostile or negative overtones and may even be insulting to people belonging to certain cultures. Be certain to avoid these at all costs!
Carefully limit your gestures during your presentation or you will simply appear to be windmilling your way through your speech.
If you find that focussing on what to do with your hands during your speech makes you feel uncomfortable, spend some time practising relaxation techniques and trying out different hand gestures in front of a mirror in the privacy of your own home. Being able to see what the audience sees will soon allow you to relax and enjoy delivering your speech.
Just as your words go towards making up your speech, so do your actions. Simply be aware that they just form another part of your communication with your audience and should be accepted as a natural part of your presentation.
Once you begin to understand how the use of gestures can naturally enhance and lend support to your words, you will begin to find that you are no longer thinking and worrying about what your hands are doing. Instead you will pleasantly surprised discover that you are using your gestures naturally and without giving them a second thought.
When you can do this, you can congratulate yourself on graduating to the next level of expertise in public speaking!
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