6 Hand Gestures For Effective Public Speaking & Presentation ✊👆👌🤘 | Communication Skills Training

Do you know that the least popular public speakers use an average of 272 hand gestures during the 18 minute talk? Whereas the most popular public speakers use an average of 465 hand gestures in an 18 minute talk. That's almost the double and this fact completely shocked me and made me think, why are hand gestures so important? And what are the most popular hand gestures? I also thought of how can everyone use their hand gestures to deliver an effective talk. So what I did is, I observed some well-known public speakers and then created a list of top six hand gestures that can help you deliver an influential public speech. So this is Michelle and you're watching me on Skillopedia, the place to learn skills for the real world. So let's begin with the first gesture. So the first gesture that I'm going to talk about today is, mmm, mmm, mmm. Well, do you think, can you guess what I mean here? I mean listing. The easiest and most basic hand gesture is listing. Anytime you say a number, you can list it with your hand. This adds movement and warmth to your body language and also attracts the listener's attention. So let's see an example of how you can use this gesture in your speech. So imagine that you're delivering a speech on why and how to deliver a good public speech. For this you can say, one, you need the skill of controlling anxiety. Second, you need the skill of creating good PowerPoint presentations and third, the skill of maintaining eye contact and fourth, the list, the art of telling stories and lastly, using humour. So what you just noticed is, I used my hand to draw your attention. So the next time you're adding any numbers in your presentation, make sure that you use your hands to do the listing. The next useful gesture is to show the level of something. So this is a really easy one and can be used literally to show someone what level something is. For example, if something is high or if something is low. You can use this to indicate how big or small something is or where someone stands. Let's look at an example. You can use the high version like this for saying something like, it's a pretty big deal or you can use the low version by saying, it's a matter of least importance. So it's a pretty big deal and it's a matter of least importance. Not only that, you can use this as an alternative to listing. As you talk about different stages. For example, you could say in a speech, we start with the introduction, then move on to the structure and we end with the conclusion. So here I've used my hand to show the level or the structure of something. And next up is the very popular hand gesture, which is pointing gesture. So you didn't expect this to be on the list and you might be confused that, is it positive or negative? Well, I would say that this one should be used with caution because normally people don't like to be pointed at. It can seem as if you're accusing them. However, you can point to get someone's attention or literally to make a point. For example, this gesture goes very well along with saying something like, you know, I just remembered something important or you could say, this one's important or you could use pointing when you want to say, let me tell you something. Alright, so here we've looked at three hand gestures and now we're going to look at the fourth one. So the next hand gesture is, this and that. Whenever you want to separate two different ideas or things that you're saying, you can use your hands to represent that. For example, I might say, we are totally different from them. Using my left hand when I say, we and my right hand when I say, them. So this is a great way to put distance between two things and show that these are two separate things or two separate ideas. So once again, you could say, we are totally different from them. Also, you can use this gesture to show a change. It can be used along with this example. It really changed my mind from positive to negative or you could say, I stopped doing hard work after I learned about smart work. So just like listing, whenever you're contrasting different ideas, use your hands to show it. This is a powerful persuasion technique, which means it can persuade your audience to believe what you're saying is right or to convince them of your opinion. So this can go well with this and that or when you're talking about two different places, here and there or about the size, big and small. I believe you've got the idea of how to use this hand gesture to separate two different things. Now to build on my previous point about engaging the audience. So you use your hands to engage the audience. You can also use some prompting gestures. So you might wonder what are prompting gestures? So these are those gestures that when you ask audience to do something, you do it along with them. So if you ask your listeners to raise their hand, you raise it along with them or if you ask them to clap or perform any other action, you do it with them. So the reason you need to do this is to get them more engaged in your talk. For example, you might say, raise your hand if you want to earn million dollar this year. So when you say this, you should first raise your hand because people and your audience will follow you, right? This is because your audience is more likely to do it, if they see you doing it. But if you don't do it, there's a high possibility that they won't do it. So if you think you and your audience are super enthusiastic, you could even ask them to jump up and down on the spot, if they want to earn a million dollars this year. But as I mentioned earlier, if you want them to perform any specific action, you must do it with them first. So when it comes down to using gestures effectively, I guess the rule is, if the gestures are supporting what you are saying, then they are probably going to be great. And if they take you away from what you are saying, like probably you are scratching your face or adjusting your clothes or playing with your ring or probably you know, clasping your hands, then they are probably taking away from your presentation and not really adding. So at the end of the day, it comes down to preparation and practice. And with gestures, the most important thing is to be natural. So don't really try and force yourself, if you don't feel natural. If it is flowing like it does in everyday conversations with your friends and family, then it's a good sign and you should go ahead with using those gestures. So you need to find out, which one of these gestures are you comfortable with? Which one of these gestures would you like to involve in your presentation? Because not all gestures can be used by everybody. So pick up your top three and leave them in the comments, so I can find out which one