This woman is leaping into the ocean for a sunset swim. Does she looks scared or excited, how do you know? Her body language tells us that she is excited, your appearance and movements say a lot about you too. In this lesson you will learn about nonverbal delivery, the dues and don't of body language during a presentation. To discuss the five features, we will use the acronym leaps, legs, eyes, arms, posture, smile. The first letter of leaps stands for legs. If your legs are stable you will look more reliable, people will have more faith in what you say. So distribute your weight evenly on both legs. This is my friend Emily, she is an accomplished presenter who's going to demonstrate, does and don'ts for us, look at how her feet are firmly on the ground. You can stand like this for a long time. If your knees are unlocked, don't put all of your weight on one leg, it feels comfortable at first, but soon you'll need to shift your weight to the other leg. You'll end up rocking back and forth, which is distracting for the audience. Keep your legs balanced. Staying completely still in one spot isn't good either. Moving around the room will make you seem more dynamic, but it needs to be controlled. Walk with a purpose like the board or screen to point out an important idea. Walk purposefully to the other side of the room to show the audience there that you haven't forgotten about them. However, don't pace aimlessly back and forth across the floor. The audience will get tired of following you with their eyes. Leaps, L is for legs, E is for eyes. Eye contact is crucial for building report. It shows that you care about your audience and that your words are sincere, honest. Look at the audience, not at the ceiling or on the floor. It is tempting to look away when we are nervous or when we're thinking about what to say, but you don't want the audience to see this, so keep your eyes at the audience. Look at everyone 180°, talk to audience members in all parts of the room, not just the people in the front, center, the people on the sides and in the back also deserve your attention. In the same vein, don't talk to only your boss or professor looking mostly at the authority figure will make the other audience members feel that they are not important to you. If you have visual aids, like note cards or presentation slides, don't read them. If you are staring at your notes, you will lose credibility as a speaker. It implies that you don't know your information by heart. An occasional glance at your notes shows that you are an organized person who wants to stay focused, but it should only be a brief glance, quickly turn your eyes back to the audience. You should be looking at the audience 90 percent of the time. The A in leaps stands for arms, your arms should be open, not closed. Open arms are an indication of a nonjudgmental, friendly personality. Show that you are open minded, never cross your arms in front of your body, you will look unapproachable, standoffish. Keep your arms lightly together in front of you better yet keep them loose at your sides. Your hands should be open to don't ball your hands into fists, even if you're smiling, finger pointing looks rude and accusatory. When gesturing as someone or something your palm should be open and inviting. Your hands should not be hidden, this makes you look secretive. Your hands should always be in plain view. Hand gestures give life to your words as long as you're not fidgeting. Don't continuously tap your fingers or touch your body, hair, face, clothing. Use your hands in a controlled, purposeful manner to emphasize important points. Leaps, legs, eyes, arms, posture, good posture shows that you are confident, strong, goal oriented. You want the audience to feel this, slouching, hunching your back, makes you look insecure, uncertain about your ideas. Keep your back straight at all times. Relax your shoulders, scrunched up shoulders make you look tense, stiff. Your shoulders should be down in their natural position. If you're using the white board or projector screen, your body should be parallel to it, avoid turning your back to the audience. Don't block the visual aid when you're referring to it, don't block it when you aren't referring to it either. Your body should never be in front of it, stand parallel to your visual aid. The last letter of leap stands for smile. Smiling shows enthusiasm for not only a material, but also enthusiasm about your audience. Moreover, a smile is contagious, if you're smiling, the audience will want to smile too. Your presentation will be more interesting. Some presenters think that smiling will take away from the seriousness of the material, but unless you're talking about something sad that's not true, looking serious throughout your presentation will make you look apathetic, maybe even disinterested in your material. Smiling on the hand clearly shows passion, even if someone is disagreeing with you, never look angry. It is your job as a presenter to maintain a positive attitude in the room. Can you remember what leaps stands for? Legs, eyes, arms, posture, smile. In this lesson you learn to use the acronym leaps to improve your nonverbal language skills. How you say something is just as important as what you say.
