How can you use body language to enhance your confidence in public speaking?

Here are a few suggestions from me: Stand tall: Imagine a string pulling you up from the ceiling. It makes you look and feel confident. Big breath, big smile: Take a deep breath before you start. Smiling (even if a little) tricks your body into feeling happy and brave. Use Gestures: Don't fidget! Use your hands to gesture or use them to point at important things on your slides. Eye contact: Look at people in the audience, like you are talking to a friend. Don't stare at the floor or ceiling! Practice these tips at home in front of a mirror. The more you do them, the more natural they will feel during your presentation.

In general, on stage, people need to ‘overact’ with gestures by a factor of 10. Why? Because our normal interactions are one to one. Standing up and performing on stage means larger gestures and to make the same impact as you do one to one requires way more energy and movement. Moving up the scale is much easier than ‘calming g it down’ - so start with ‘upping the ante’ and the rest will follow easily.

Gestures are important for virtual public speaking too. Usually people see you on screen from the shoulders up. So, you need to make your hand gestures higher than normal. Although this feels unnatural, it is necessary so your hands can be seen on screen and you are not just a talking head

Making eye contact is a powerful technique I frequently use to engage my audience. As I walk around the room, I hold eye contact with as many people as I can for up to 20-30 seconds, creating the feeling of a brief, one-on-one conversation while simultaneously involving the entire audience. If someone appears distracted and doesn't respond quickly, I move to the next person, recognizing that not everyone can give their undivided attention at all times for reasons unrelated to the content being shared.

I'm not a big fan of over-rehearsing because it can alter the natural delivery of my message. However, I do believe that while preparing for a presentation, recording yourself to ensure your body language aligns with your content is valuable. This process provides a clear idea of areas that need refinement and highlights any natural gestures that might be distracting or annoying.

It’s good to record yourself and notice your facial features while talking. Sometimes you can be thinking but you might actually look angry. You would never know this if you didn’t record yourself.

It is important to vary your speech. When yelling an exciting part of a story, speed up to help create that sense of urgency. When something tragic happens, slow your speech, pause, and let the audience think about what you said.

You can use your body to help your voice go up or go down. Palms up and raised arms help you to raise voice - useful when trying to get audience attention, or pose a question. Also useful for voice feminisation. Palms down gestures help your to lower and quieten your voice - useful to draw in your audience and focus on important points. Learning to use your body to adjust your voice is a very useful communication tool to master.

Para conduzir uma narrativa e deixá-la verdadeira ao público envolve saber usar bem as nuances da voz, volume e algo essencial que s?o as pausas e respira??o controlada na hora certa. Palestrar n?o é narrar uma partida de futebol e nem sussurrar um segredo. Conhe?a o local, saber usar microfone de m?o, headset e a capela também te ajudar?o a saber como usar sua voz sem se prejudicar e perder a qualidade da palestra.

When I first started public speaking I felt I needed a pulpit or a stand of some sort to speak from. Turned out, it was more about me than about my audience. I needed the security. When I got around the pulpit I began to dance with the audience. I led and they were engaged and followed. When I stepped forward, I was making a point - they all honed in; when i stepped back in silence, it gave them the space to reflect on what I had just said; when I moved and owned the space I began to react and change how I spoke to based on how the audience reacted to what I said. This was a conversational dance between me and them.