Gary Genard's

Speak for Success!

"Be a voice not an echo." - Albert Einstein

Body Language and Public Speaking: Connecting Movement to Message

As an actor, the first thing I decide when creating a character is how he walks. I know that if I understand how my character moves, I'll gain insight into how he thinks. Movement in any kind of performance, in other words, is part of the thinking process.

More about that in a moment.

In the meantime, consider that you should use the same strategy of linking movement to how you think when you speak in public. (To learn how to use body language productively as a speaker, download my free cheat sheet"5 Secrets of Powerful Body Language.")

To Move Your Audiences, Move!

Prevailing practices aside, when you give a presentation, you're not a talking head, after all. The body is an essential tool of communication. You need to use it not only to reach and influence listeners, but to gain an essential level of presence and charisma.

That means doing more than using gestures and eye contact, the elements of body language that come easily to mind regarding public speaking. The way you occupy your performance space—whether it’s a small meeting room or the raised stage of a conference hall—has a pronounced effect on your impact with an audience. So does your physical closeness or distance from that audience.

Equally important to all of this is the concept known as embodied cognition, which says that movement itself aids thinking. What a hugely important idea for public speaking! Just picture the difference: You, standing stock-still behind a podium versus striding confidently across the stage as you drive home an important point.

Of course your audience will see you as a dynamic speaker if you use nonverbal communication effectively, someone who can speak for leadership. But just as important: you’ll think more clearly, and I believe, find more action-oriented language to express your message.

Taking a Physical Approach

I thought of all this today while reading an interview with actor Willem Dafoe. According to the piece, he too starts a new role by discovering his character’s movements.

As he puts it, “When you devote yourself to an action, that frees you up emotionally.” That’s wonderful, isn’t it? — Devote yourself to an action. I like it for another reason as well. Devoting yourself to physical action can help take your focus off yourself if you have anxiety about public speaking. When you’re not conscious of yourself, as Dafoe says, “you aren’t there.”[1]

I tell my coaching clients who have speaking fear: the best thing that can happen to you is to disappear. That's when you truly become the conduit of your message, the very thing you’re there to accomplish as a speaker.

Think About Your Movements, but Don't Rehearse Them

A small paradox to close: To use your body well, you need to use your mind. Think, that is, about how movement can be part of the physical expression of what you’re saying.

Ask yourself these simple questions:

  • Where on the stage will you be when you say the parts you really want to drive home?
  • Which key points need a strong gesture?
  • How will you break up your presentation visually to make it interesting for your audience?

With regard to your gestures, allow them to emerge on their own, without your rehearsing them. Otherwise, you run the risk of becoming mechanical, and using a gesture because you’ve employed it at that point all twelve times you ran through the speech. And believe me, it will look that way.

As one of my acting teachers said: Create the conditions for the gesture, not the gesture itself. Do that, and when the gesture or movement comes, it will be natural and organic, having arisen from the core of what you’re trying to express.


[1] Alexandra Wolfe, “Weekend Confidential: Willem Dafoe,” Wall Street Journal, July 26-27, 2014, C11.

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Tags: public speaking training,body language,nonverbal communication,influence,charisma,presence,leadership,acting techniques

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