Make Body Language Your Superpower

Making Body Language Your Superpower - an instructional video on using body language effectively. Presented by Stanford graduate students Matt Levy, Colin Bailie, Jeong Joon Ha, and Jennifer Rosenfeld. Created as an exemplary final project in Lecturer JD Schramm's Strategic Communication course in March 2014. Body language - both the speaker's and the audience's - is a powerful form of communication that is difficult to master, especially if the speaker is nervous. This video will teach you how to use your body language effectively, even if you are nervous. This video will also show you how to read the audience's body language and what you should do when they look bored or disconnected from the presentation. Use these tools to enhance your nonverbal communication abilities and better connect with your audiences.

[MUSIC]

What makes one an exceptional presenter?

Is it flashy visuals?

Is it the tone of voice?

Is it the actual message or content?

Or does it have something to do

with body language?

Our gestures and our stance.

Today, we wanna talk to you

about this latter point.

How do we use our body, effectively,

to communicate our message?

Because we have so many great ideas here,

but if they remain in our head,

and don't actually link up with

the audience, our message will not arrive,

our message will not have

resonated with the audience.

So body language plays a powerful

role in how we communicate.

And, unfortunately,

body language can also distract.

We've seen this clip before,

of Michael Bay.

He speaks, the teleprompter,

he loses sight of what's happening,

the teleprompter doesn't sync up

and he struggles.

And all you see is his body moving around,

and he's nervous.

He's exuding it.

So I wanna give some color

commentary as we re-watch as a class

what is happening.

So his stance at the beginning, it's okay,

but his hands, he's meshing them, and

now he's starting to turn

from the audience.

Again, his hands are clashed.

He's looking a bit down.

Not at all of you, the audience.

And he spins.

He shows his back to the audience.

And he can't regain composure.

He's swaying back and forth.

He's looking down.

He's avoiding the audience.

His nerves are coming out.

Again, his hands-

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> And now I think he's looking at

the back of the stage,

that's the exact opposite place from

where you want to actually look.

He's incredibly nervous,

and now he exits the stage.

We all wanna avoid our own Michael Bay

moments when we communicate.

The last thing we want at a start up

pitch or meeting is to have that happen.

Is to have the body language

take over from the message.

If we lose sight of

what our body is doing,

all people can pay attention

to is the body itself, right?

It'll take over.

So that comes down to not

only can it distract, but

the body language, it is your superhero.

It's your super power,
sorry, not a superhero.

You're the superhero.

But it's your super power!

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> In the sense that we can utilize it to

enhance and communicate with

every person in the audience.

We wanna talk about that today

from three advantage points.

Colin is gonna get us started in talking

about how posture breeds success.

Jeong Joon is then gonna talk about how

gestures to strengthen your message.

Finally, Jennifer's gonna close us out

with how we think about the body posture

of you the audience, and

how to interact with that.

Colin, take us away.

>> Communication begins before you

even open your mouth to speak.

Your audience's first impression of

you is your posture and your position.

And so it's important to know both how

to stand and as well where to stand.

And perhaps it's fairly obvious, but

you should stand facing

the people you're talking to.

Don't stand facing your visuals and

turning your back to the audience.

That's not what we wanna do,

we can't communicate that way.

It's also important to know where

you're standing in the room.

A position of strength in this room

is somewhere in this center box,

as long as you're moving around in

the center, you're doing pretty well.

Where you don't wanna be is

off in the corner cowering or

especially in front of any distractions.

And this room is pretty good.

It doesn't have that many distractions.

But there is a window.

And outside this window, there are cars,

there are buses, there are bikers.

And when I was standing over there,

probably about half of you could see in

your peripheral vision outside the window.

And if a car were to drive by, your

instinct, your reaction, would be to look

out the window, and that would break

your concentration and our conversation.

And we don't want that either.

And now that you know where to stand,

it's important to know how to stand.

So we're gonna demonstrate

a few bad positions,

that we've seen from us and

some of you guys, and

even from the presentations earlier

today that you shouldn't do.

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> And the first one

is hands in your pockets.

This comes off as nonshalant,

your shoulders tend to roll forward, and

it's very difficult to convey

a strong message from this position.

The second one is hands on your hips.

When your hands are on your hips,

you tend to look overbearing and powerful.

And the third one is the fig leaf.

This is where you're protecting

your family jewels with your hands.

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> And while it also looks timid,

it's especially bad when you decide

to gesture from this position.

>> I want to show you something!

>> [LAUGHTER]

[APPLAUSE]

>> You look like you're flashing

the audience, and that's not a good thing.

So how should you say it?

And if I could actually get all of

you to stand, I'll lead you through

a short demonstration on how

to find your base posture.

So once you've stood,

be mindful of the people next to you, and

place your feet hip width apart, close

your eyes and look up towards the ceiling,

and lift your hands above your head, get

a good stretch underneath your shoulders,

and let your arms drop to the side.

When you open your eyes, look down,

this is your base posture.

Thank you very much for participating,

you guys can sit down now.

Now that you've found your base posture,

this is where you should gesture from,

and it's where you should return

to when you're finished gesturing.

It may not feel the most comfortable, but

it looks the most comfortable

to your audience.

Remember that your posture and position

are the audience's first impression of

you, but now that you know how to stand

still, it's time to learn how to move.

>> Gestures are important because

it helps you communicate better.

For example, if you use gestures,

the audience remembers twice as much.

It also helps you with future speakers,

too, because it helps your

memory when you speak.

Also, beside the transition, your hand and

arm movement is the biggest

movement that the audience can see.

You can either use it wisely or waste

it on random and distracting gestures.

I'm going to show you three

types of gestures, the give,

the show, and the chop.

Here's an example.

This quarter at the GSP,

I went to this communications class.

It was so great.

I mean, you could feel that

your skills are improving.

I think this was the best

class I've ever taken.

Let's rewind and see what happened.

The give.

This quote at the GSP,

I went to this communications class.

So this gesture is used to give

the audience the facts, or the options.

Remember to have your palms up, not down.

We'll get to that in a minute.

The show.

I mean, you could feel that

your skill's improving.

This kinda gesture has the largest variety

and your imagination is the limit.

Just remember that the gesture and

the message has to match.

For example, you can't say "Profits

are rising!" with a gesture like this.

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> So congruency and creativity.

The chop.

I think this was the best

class I've ever taken.

So this gesture is used to

deliver strong opinion.

You can either use it one hand or

you can use both hands.

You can use both hands and

do a larger chop,

which will deliver a stronger message.

So next time when you do gestures, think

about the three types and plan ahead.

Three types is the give,

the show, and the chop.

Hah!

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> I bet everyone in the room

is gonna remember this.

>> [LAUGH]

>> Just work.

That's the message.

Another subject is about

having your palms up.

So I'll give you an example.

People on the right, please rise,

and move to the left.

I'll do it slightly different this time.

People on the left, right,

please rise and move to the left.

One more time, people on the right,

please rise and move to the left.

You see the difference?

Which one do you think would

make more people move?

The first one, yes.

According to the study, if you have your

palms up, 84% of the audience complies.

If you have your palms down, 52%.

If you have your fingers, 28%.

Never use your fingers at your audience!

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> It looks just arrogant.

And only politicians use that.

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> Clinton used it.

"I did not have sexual

relations with that woman."

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> It looks bad back then,

it looks bad now.

So, never use it.

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> And last but

not least, avoid the T-rex gestures.

For example, people on the right,

please rise and move to the left.

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> No matter what you do right,

I mean it looks silly. So

loosen up, everybody.

Always remember that

gestures are there for

you and the audience

to make a deeper connection.

So far we've talked about the audience,

now it's time to focus on you,

the audience.

>> As Jeong Joon, and Collin, and

Matt described, we've been focusing

on the body language of the speaker.

But let's not forget,

who's the real hero here?

As we learned in our first week of class,

it's not me, the speaker.

It's you, the audience.

But what happens when

the audience doesn't realize

that they are on this hero's journey?

Have you ever seen an audience

that looks like this?

Have you ever been that audience?

It's okay, we all have.

Whether we're playing on our phones,

falling asleep and nodding off,

looking at the clock and
calculating.

Can we make an escape from this room?

We've all done it.

But the thing is,

it's the speaker's responsibility

to understand what's going

on with their audience.

And body language is

a powerful way to assess that.

As a speaker, we can be so

focused on our own body language,

that we never even notice

what the audience is doing.

And it's important to change that.

So I wanna share three strategies for how

you can engage with your audience better

by developing more observational skills.

So first of all, absolutely be using

the gestures and body language tools that

we've talked about today and

over the course of the quarter.

But the second thing is to notice.

Of course, you're going to be looking for

eye contact, but look beyond it.

Look at how your audience

members are sitting.

Are they fidgeting?

Are they moving?

Are they leaning forward, looking engaged

and taking notes, or are they zoning out?

If your body language, your eye contact,

and your efforts at being compelling

are not working then you can go deeper.

You can try to surprise

the audience with a question or

use some humor, or

you can disrupt the audience.

As students, we hate being cold called,

but we know it's effective, right?

Jason, what's your favorite color?

>> Dammit.

>> [LAUGHTER]

>> It's blue.

>> Okay, very good.

[LAUGH] You got that one!

>> [LAUGH]

>> As we all know,

it's the fastest way to reengage with

the conversation, with the speaker.

So don't be afraid to use it.

It's so important to keep your audience

on track, because they're the hero and

it's their journey.

Remember how Nancy Duarte told us that we

are the Yoda to the Luke Skywalker, and

our job as the speaker is to

keep the hero on their journey.

>> With that in mind, I think we've talked

about three concepts that really remind

each of us about how body

language is your super power.

Use it, become that super power,

become that superhero.

And we welcome any questions you

have on how to stand strong,

gesture effectively, and

engage the audience.

Thank you.

[MUSIC]