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.

Set the scene and take control 

PURPOSE

The first thing to do is provide your audience with a clearly defined PURPOSE for the presentation.  It’s like telling your car passengers where you’re going.  But make it about them, not you!  So include a WIFT i.e. What’s In It For Them, so they’ll be eager and engaged from the start.

The next 3 scene setting components are optional, so only put in what you need.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION, E.g.

• Introducing yourself and/or the team.
• Providing context to the presentation e.g. the background situation, recapping on the brief, reminding the audience of any prior meetings or discussions etc.
• This is also a great time to build rapport with your audience.  Can you:
  -       Acknowledge the challenges or successes in their world
  -       Pre-empt any concerns they might have about the content within your presentation
  -       Proactively manage their expectations

HOUSEKEEPING

I’m sure you’re familiar with the sorts of things housekeeping can include, but just in case here are some examples:

-       Saying thank you to the audience
-       Letting them know how long you’ll be talking for
-       Stating when you want the audience to ask you questions
-       Letting them know if you’re going to be asking them questions
-       Advising if there will be any interruptions or breaks during the presentation
-       Letting them know catering arrangements
-       Telling them if there will be handouts during, or leave behinds after, the presentation.

Then there are the presentation ‘rules’ regarding things like mobiles, blackberries, laptops etc as well toilet location and emergency procedures.

THE ATTENTION GRAB

As the name suggests, this is a great tool to get the attention of the audience, to set the mood of the presentation, and to reduce your nerves.

Don’t worry, your attention grab doesn’t have to be wildly creative.  What it must do however is support your message in some way.  Otherwise there’s a danger that the only thing people will remember will be your attention grab and not the point of your presentation! 

There are loads of great sources for attention grabs.

Ok, having decided what you’re going to say to set the scene and take control of your presentation, you now need to determine in which order it makes sense to say them.  There’s no right or wrong – just whatever order seems to flow right for you.

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.  I’d say you’re ready for lift off!

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