Body Language Practicum I - Power Poses

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
[Ralph Waldo Emerson]

In any presentation, body language -- also known as non-verbal communication -- can strengthen your message or undermine it.

Your audience reads clues from a myriad of things about you other than what you say: how you stand; your facial expressions; gestures; eye contact. And if these non-verbals are distracting or conflict with your intended message, the audience will be heavily influenced by what they see rather than what they hear.

When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.
[Ralph Waldo Emerson]

Picture this: let's say you are attempting to persuade an audience to pursue a healthier lifestyle. Your presentation is filled with facts and engaging stories about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, getting exercise and reducing stress. But you don't make eye contact, you stand with your arms crossed in front of your chest and you frown frequently throughout the presentation. Even though your message is strong and flows logically, your body language is telling the audience that you're not confident and enthusiastic about your topic. So why should they be?

POWER POSES

How you stand, hold your body and move around the presentation area can communicate confidence and competence [or the opposite] to your audience. Researchers at Northwestern and Harvard have studied what happens when you place your body in positions that project power -- arms open wide and feet apart. They discovered that these power poses trigger a rise in testosterone, a hormone associated with confident, assertive behavior, and a decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone, when the positions are held for as little as two minutes. Adapting their findings to a presentation, these power positions are:

• standing tall, feet shoulder width apart and chest out
• arms away from your sides and uncrossed, open and expansive
• arms outstretched to the audience at about chest height

So for your next presentation strategically employ body language to show your comfort and self-assurance. Focus on regularly throwing your shoulders back and extending your arms away from your body. Incorporate this stance into your presentation prep, especially if this is not a normal body position for you. By the time you get in front of the audience, the hormone adjustment combined with the rehearsal will have your body language projecting your increased confidence.

For more information on this research, here is an informative and entertaining video presentation from one of the researchers, Amy Cuddy, who believes we can learn a lot from Wonder Woman.

 

 

Photo Credit:
flickr/pullip_junk  C.C. 2.0

Comments

[Daniel Kingsley]

Great post and a great video. What is interesting (and comes out of the video) is that although the power poses "artificially" increase our confidence, we end up being more ourselves.

(And, of course, who is to say that our learned contracted body language is any more "authentic" than the power poses).

[Craig Hadden - remotepossibilities.wordpress.com]

Thanks Kathy, I love that video!

If you're interested to see the research paper on which it's based, there's a link to it on my blog:
http://remotepossibilities.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/boost-testosterone-present-better/

[Kathy Reiffenstein]

Hi Julianne and Matt,

Thanks for stopping by!

Non-verbals are such an important part of communicating your message to your audience. Our content can be fabulous but if we are projecting frustration or boredom or a lack of confidence, that's going to significantly impact how our audience receives that fabulous content. And I agree, Julianne...it's amazing how many people don't get that!

Matt, I'm a firm believer of rehearsing in as near to "real" conditions as possible...out loud, using all props and tools (like our slides), standing up and using the gestures we plan to use in front of the audience. Then all this becomes internalized and when we're giving the presentation for real, we don't have to focus on these things but are free to put all our focus on the audience.

Best,
Kathy

[Matt T]

I really like the idea of getting into state before your presentation by using a power pose as you describe above. Quick access to massive confidence! Thanks for the insightful article :)

[Julianne Kissack]

It seems every post I have come across in the last little while has been about stage presence and making sure your non verbal cues are solid. I like your use of the phrase power poses and the wonder women pic made me smile.

But its amazing how many people don't even realize that their body and movements are also controlling the the crowds view of the topic.

Great post!