In our previous post we talked about the use of gestures and how they can be used to help add impact to our message and presentation style.

The reality though is that some people are very careful with the way they use their hands, and expansive gestures simply don’t feel right for them.  Other people know that they are big gesticulators but find their hands get ‘stage fright’ just at the start of a presentation.  If you fall into one of these 2 categories then this post is for you.  Within this blog we’ll explore how to create a stress free start to a presentation, what to do to give your hands/arms the excuse to be free, and some actions to avoid.

Creating a stress-free start to a presentation
For 99% of people the start of a presentation is the hardest.  One of the ways of taking some of the anxiety out of the situation is to make the start as simple as possible; and that means getting rid of things to worry about – like what to do with your hands.

For a lot of people the simplest solution is to hold a large chunky pen in both hands, such as a whiteboard marker.  For almost everyone this instantly solves the problem of where to place their hands, and because their hands are relaxed and anchored it prevents them fidgeting and looking uncomfortable.  Hint: holding a presentation ‘clicker’ is not as effective as a pen because anything technical can cause us to worry about what could go wrong.  And we all know that if it can go wrong it probably will!

If you’re presenting using a lectern, an alternative to the above is to hold the sides of the lectern.  Don’t hold onto it with a white-knuckled grip though as you’ll look like you’re hanging onto it for dear life.

A similar strategy you can use if you’re not presenting with a lectern is to place your hands/touch the table in front of you.  Hint: this doesn’t work if you’re very tall or have short arms as you’ll end up leaning over the table and possibly intimidating your audience.

The final option is to find your own position where your hands feel naturally comfortable and relaxed.  The 3 most common positions are the Cradle where the back of one hand rests in the palm of the other; the Gate where the fingers are inter-laced; and the Handshake where the palms are together and at right angles with the fingers folded over.

The trick to creating a stress-free start to your presentation, as far as your hands are concerned, is to experiment, even in front of a mirror, to find out what feels and looks right for you.

However, you can’t keep your hands in the same position forever as you’ll eventually look stiff and awkward. So at some point you’ll need to give your gestures the excuse to be free – which is what we’ll cover now.

Giving your gestures the excuse to be free
If you’re a natural gesturer you’ll probably find that after the first 60 seconds of the presentation your hands will take on a life of their own without you thinking about it. In which case you might find our previous post ‘What should I do with my hands?’ useful.

If gesturing is not something you do normally then we recommend you ‘gesture with purpose’ i.e. use gestures when there is naturally a reason or excuse for doing so.

Some examples include:

•   Referring to a visual aid i.e. open-palm pointing at a PowerPoint® slide or holding up a handout or prop.

•   Pointing to a specific part of a slide/handout etc.  And yes, you can walk in front of the projector to do so.  This shows confidence and helps   the audience to follow what you’re saying (clearly you need to step away from the slide once you’ve made your point).  This is a great technique for highlighting a point on a graph, drawing your audience to some figures within a table, or emphasising a section of a photograph, diagram or flowchart.

•   Counting numbers on your fingers e.g. ‘We’re going to talk about 3 areas today’.

•   Referring to the audience, or individuals within it, using open palm gestures.

For many people, even those that do not naturally gesture very much, the above techniques will free up their body language and thereafter they’ll remain looking relaxed and comfortable.  Having said that, there are some things to avoid.

Actions to avoid
•   Dead arm/s:  Without wanting to be unkind, Julia Gillard suffers from this.  You know that look – when the arms and hands are stiff, wooden - almost like they don’t belong to the presenter’s body.  Exaggerated gesturing can actually make this look worse as the speaker can appear false and manufactured.  The quickest solution is to find a comfortable anchor position and to gesture with purpose as described above.

•   Fig-leaf posture: This is when we hold our hands together in front of our ‘nether regions’.  It’s a very nervous-looking stance and will certainly make you appear uncomfortable.  The solution is simple however.  Keep your hands in whatever position feels right for you and then bend your elbows so your hands rise to waist-height or above.  What’s terrific about this technique is that it opens your shoulders and chest helping increase your personal presence as well as your voice projection – all great for looking and sounding confident!

•   Pocket-picking: A post on using one’s hands wouldn’t be complete without talking about hands in pockets.  At secondnature we are completely comfortable with people having a hand in their pocket in a normal presentation situation - as long as they aren’t doing anything with their hand whilst it’s in their pocket….e.g. jangling keys, coins etc - and that they don’t keep it there indefinitely.  What does look uncomfortable is someone that repeatedly goes to put their hand in their pocket and picks at the edge of it, and then withdraws their hand.  This will certainly make you look nervous.  If that’s where your hand wants to anchor for a while, let it. You’ll actually look a lot more calm and relaxed and let’s face it – who is going to dismiss the quality of your content because you had a hand in your pocket for 5 seconds or so?

The key when using gestures, or not, is to find a style that works for you.  When you’re not using them find an approach that still helps you come across as relaxed and comfortable.  In other words, don’t try to be someone you’re not.

p.s. remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.

“You play the hand you’re dealt.  I think the game’s worthwhile” CS Lewis

One of the most common questions we get asked during our presentation skills workshops is ‘what should I do with my hands?’  There are many practitioners who recommend that people place their arms and hands at the sides of the body as this a natural stance and is less likely to distract their audience.  Our view is that most people both look and feel incredibly unnatural when their hands are left hanging limply at their sides.  And anyway, as presenters, aren’t we supposed to be the focus of the audience’s attention?

Almost all of us naturally use our hands and gesture when we speak.  Indeed, most of us even gesture when we’re talking on the telephone – even though we know the other person can’t see us.  Taking this a step further, research* amongst congenitally blind children and adolescents has shown that they gesture in the same way as the sighted counterparts in the study.  *Jana Iverson and Susan Goldin-Meadow, Indiana University, USA. (1998)

So our view is that we should harness our hands’ natural inclination to want to be part of the action.  So how do we do this without coming across as one of those guys (they always seem to be men) on airport runways directing airplanes with table-tennis looking paddles.

Here are 5 great ways to use your hands to add impact to your presentations.

1. Emphasising a message

This is the most natural way to use gestures.  Some simple examples include using expansive hand gestures to reinforce that something is or was big/significant/impressive etc.  E.g. ‘The team made a huge effort ’.  Conversely you can draw your hands together to each other, or pinch the fingers on one hand together, to stress that something is or was small/insignificant.  E.g. ‘The different in price was negligible’.

Gesturing can also be used to emphasise a point on a Power- Point^® slide, or even on a handout.  Physically referring to a part on a graph, a bullet point, or a section of a diagram will draw the audience’s attention to it and therefore help it stand out from the rest of your content.

2. Picture painting

Many people are highly visual and so like their information presented to them in a visual format.  Gestures are a terrific tool that presenters can use to create a visual representation of what they’re talking about.  Think about the following phrases – ‘There were 3 steps that we went through’, or ‘People went above & beyond what we expected’, or ‘He flat out refused to give his approval’.  Language like this is crying out to be reinforced visually so use your imagination and let your inner artistry come out.

3. Reinforcing a story

Gestures can help reinforce the passage of time.  The trick however is to ‘see time’ from your audience’s perspective – which means doing the mirror image of what you would naturally do.  This can be tricky at first!  But with a little practice it will become second nature.  For example you could say the following ‘So we stared by exploring the market (gesture to your right); we then looked at what our competitors are doing (gesture centre); and then finally we fine-tuned our product offering (gesture to your left)’.  This can also be combined with movement within the room or even seated – but more about that in another post!

4. Connecting with your audience

This can be as simple as opening your arms wide and showing the palms of your hands at the start of a presentation or meeting (yes this can be done sitting down also) to welcome people and to kick off proceedings.  You can use a similar gesture to invite and encourage questions from the group.  When referring to an individual or specific group within the audience you can gesture towards them – though don’t point as this can come across as rude!  The same applies when you want to ask a question or illicit input from someone within the audience.

5. Anchoring

Some people seem to be born gesticulators.  Indeed their gesturing is so energetic that if we tied their hands behind their back they probably wouldn’t be able to speak.  If you’re someone like this then anchoring your hands can be a terrific technique for creating emphasis (because emphasis is created by change).  The best time for this approach is when you’re summarising a section within your presentation, recapping on our entire presentation, and at the close of your presentation. Because you’re momentarily doing something different, your content at that point will stand out from the rest of your information and so stick in the minds’ of your audience.

Our belief is that gesturing and using one’s hands are great ways to help bring your message to life and to connect with your audience.  But how much or how little you do it is up to you.  It’s crucial that whatever you do feels comfortable so you look naturally confident and in control.  Don’t force it and don’t script it.  But do have fun with it .

p.s. remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.

1.  What we can to set the scene and take control

2.  How we can say it in order to own the room

1.   Set the scene and take control 

To set the scene, all presentations should have a Purpose, and possibly some Background information, some Housekeeping and/or an Attention Grab.  For more information on these, have a quick look at my blog ‘Mission Control.  Ready for lift off’. 

Great, so now we have some relevant scene setting information to ease you and your audience into the presentation, plus they all now know why they are there listening to you.  Now let’s look at how we can own the room and create a really strong 1^st impression.

2.  Owning the room

It’s essential that you use the first 60 seconds to establish your presence, authority and credibility i.e. to sell yourself.

The first thing to do is MARK YOUR START i.e. decide where you physically want to be to start your presentation.  You obviously want to be where everyone can see you (usually at the head of the table) and you ideally want to position yourself as close to the audience as is comfortable.  This is because increasing your proximity to your audience increases your presence and appearance of confidence.  Once you’re at the spot where you want to begin, take a moment to collect and connect.  

To do this, pause as this will raise your perceived confidence and authority. As you pause, breathe.  Breathing naturally will help you to appear in control, whilst also reducing your nerves.  At the same time make eye connection with your audience.  Obviously don’t eye ball every individual, but you do want to start building some non-verbal rapport with them.  As part of this, make sure you smile!  This is one of the most important assets we have – it makes us appear relaxed, approachable and in the moment – and smiling also helps to reduce nerves!

The above sounds complicated but really it’s no different to how you would behave if you were being introduced to someone for the first time – and it only takes 2-3 seconds, and these few seconds can be crucial in helping you appear poised, self assured, and ready to begin.

Ok, so now it’s time to own the room.  Here goes!

Simply go through your first scene setting chunk (i.e. purpose, background, housekeeping or attention grab) then pause.  If you don’t pause at this point, what comes out of your mouth will sound like verbal porridge.

Now change gear, up or down it doesn’t matter.  This is to make sure you begin to engage the audience and don’t come across as monotone.

Next, see if you can move/change position.  This doesn’t have to be dramatic!  A lean back in your chair or a step forward will do.

Now deliver your next scene setting chunk.  Then pause, change gear and move and so on until you reach your agenda.

QUICK WARNING – This may feel unnatural at first! But I guarantee it’s well worth it as the combination of pausing, changing gears and moving is incredibly powerful. Together they will help you own the room and come across as comfortable, confident, and in control.  At the same time, you will get the audience’s attention, maintain their engagement and build a sense of anticipation for your presentation.  A pretty good 1^st impression I’m sure you would agree – all achieved in a matter of seconds. Plus, this will reduce your nerves, so that by the time you get to your agenda you should feel you’re firing on all cylinders and ready to deliver a really successful presentation.

If you want to kick off a presentation and own the room remember the first 60 seconds can make or break a presenter. So plan & practice the start so you know you’ll make a great 1^st impression

p.s. remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.

So, firstly there’s the script. A crafted set of words, meticulously selected to convey precisely what the speaker wants to say. Nice and easy from the presenter’s view point. But to the audience, someone that reads from a script usually sounds scripted(!), stiff, formal and unnatural. Sure, when every word matters, and there is no other visual support, a script might be necessity. A good example of such a case was Jacob Zuma giving his acceptance speech earlier this month. But on the whole if you want to engage your audience and appear relaxed and confident, leave the script to Hollywood actors.

What about memorising the script? Well unless you’re a trained actor (back to Hollywood again!) this is possibly your worst option. It’s incredibly unlikely that you’ll be able to remember 3 minutes of a script, let alone 30 minutes; and the stress of just thinking about all that stuff to remember is likely to send you into a tail spin before you’ve even got to the agenda. My advice – rehearse and memorise your first 60-90 seconds, not word for word, just the key points, then acknowledge you’re human and that you’re going to need more than your memory to get you through the gig.

Which leads us to notes. Notes aren’t bad but they have 3 distinct drawbacks. Firstly you need to remember where you are within your notes, at any given time, if they’re going to be of any use. It’s no good rattling through the first 9 slides notes-free and then realising you need their help on slide 10. Unless you can go directly to that spot in your notes, you’ll be stuffed. So let’s assume you use your notes all the way through. Well, the second problem occurs if you happen to be someone that gestures a lot and is pretty animated as a presenter. In this case your notes, waving all over the place, can be a serious distraction to the audience. And finally, every time you read from your notes, you’re cutting eye contact, and therefore engagement with the audience.
So notes too can be a serious hinderance to successful presenting.

Having said that, if properly prepared (large, easy to read, bullet points only) notes can be vital when you are presenting with minimalist slides a la Garr Reynolds, so I won’t be completely black and white about their use.

A close relative to hand-held notes are the computer/laptop notes function that comes with packages like Microsoft PowerPoint®. I personally never recommend people use this option as to be honest I think it’s pretty rude, especially during a business presentation (vs a conference presentation). That’s because every time you look down at your computer notes you draw the curtains shut between you and your audience, which completely disengages them. In fact the disengagement is so strong that you almost have to re-engage them from scratch again when you look back up. I’m afraid using the notes function is a big pet hate of mine.

So that leaves us with looking at our slides. Now I need to stress that I am talking about business presentations – millions of which are probably taking place in meeting and board rooms around the planet as I write this. So, let’s be clear, I am NOT talking about large scale conferences and the like.

What I want to advocate is that your slides should be there to support you, as well as to add clarity and interest to your content. So your slides should act as your guide. But to use them effectively, I encourage people to ‘slide surf’.

For those of you not familiar with surfing – a quick intro. Once surfers are past the breakers, in the ‘take-off zone’ as they call it, they glance every now and again behind them to see what waves are coming. Once they see the wave they want to catch, they face forward and focus on catching and riding that wave.

This is what I recommend as a presenter. Every now and again, to remind yourself of the point you need to deliver, glance at your slide. Now of course I’m not suggesting that you stand with your back to the audience and read continuously from your slides. That would clearly be ridiculous.

What I recommend is a look that only needs a second. If you are using bullet points (and I’m not saying I’m a bullet point fan – in fact the opposite is true, but I acknowledge they are a major factor in business presentations today) and follow the 5×5 rule (No more than about 5 bullet points on a slide. No more than about 5 words per bullet point) a second is all you need.

There are 3 distinct advantages to ‘slide surfing’:

1. You don’t need to hold any notes, leaving your hands free to add animation, dimension, energy, passion etc to your delivery which keeps the audience involved and interested.

2. Glancing quickly at your slide actually adds to audience engagement because looking at your slide acts as a non-verbal signpost; indicating where you are and the direction you are going, which in turn adds clarity and comprehension.

3. For the second that you glance at your slide, you become briefly one of them – a member of the audience, all looking at the slide together. This is a great technique for creating synergy between you, your slides and your audience and therefore for building rapport

And the downside – well I seriously can’t think of any.

So, leave scripts and memorising scripts to Hollywood actors. Only use notes if your slides are minimalist. And never use the computer/laptop notes function unless you want to shut the curtains on your audience. Instead, slide surf! Work with your slides to keep your audiences involved, to signpost the journey, and to create synergy.

One final thing. Don’t forget that YOU are the presentation and YOU are the deliverer of your information.

Above all, remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.