As someone who does a lot of public speaking, I appreciate any help I can get in delivering the message more effectively. My colleague (and former presentation coach!) Kathy Reiffenstein, offers lots of good advice on her blog. One of her latest posts is on gestures — the good, the bad and the ugly. Since the research shows that body language and tone of voice make up 93 percent of the impact of a presentation, it pays to pay attention to what we’re doing and how we’re sounding when we speak. Kathy’s embedded a video that will either make you feel great about yourself or very sorry for the person on camera.
What are some of the things I’ve been working on as a speaker? Keeping my hands out of my pockets and realizing that when my energy level feels over the top to me, it’s probably just about right for my audience.
All of you speakers out there — what are you working on? And for anyone who’s been in an audience lately — what have speakers done lately that either blew you away or just completely annoyed you?
