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Do's and Don'ts of Presenting

Presenting in front of any number of people is something I find extremely intimidating and very anxiety provoking. I do just about everything I can to avoid talking to more than 4 people at a time. My senior year of college I took an online public speaking class to avoid speaking in public to a random group of people. As a result, I continue to struggle with presenting and unfortunately, online public speaking isn't an option in grad school.

One of the topics we cover in our Leadership II class is how to best present yourself during speeches, projects or interviews. A resource we were given was titled "6 Ways to Look More Confident During a Presentation". I was intrigued. As I read the article my eyes were opened to just how much your body language impacts what you say. The article talks about how a group of people skilled in reading body language went to a tech entrepreneur competition and watched contestants body language and how it correlated to the scores they received from the judges. After watching the contestants they predicted who the winners would be and were spot on with their projections. It goes on to talk about how body language impacted the Presidential Debates of 2012 and how the candidates helped and hindered themselves. It then goes on to talk about ways to make yourself look more confident while presenting.

The article gave picture examples and the logic behind the 6 ways they thought would help boost your confidence while speaking. The first is "the box". For this simply keep all your hand gestures in an imaginary box in front of your chest while speaking. This helps you to seem more trustworthy and truthful. Another is called "holding the ball". While talking you pretend that you are holding a basketball in your hands and it helps you to appear more commanding and dominant. "Pyramid hands" helps you appear self-assured and relaxed. The article goes on to talk about the importance of a "wide stance" and how holding your palms up or palms down can help you during a presentation.

After reading the article I thought back to previous presentations, seminars, or speeches I have attended and every single one that came to mind, at least one if not more, of the 6 "tips" were used by the presenters. Who knew that something so simple as how you stand or how you talk with your hands could help you ace that presentation or interview. While I still have a fear of presenting, at least now I can stand confidently and finally have something to do with my hands besides fidget!






Here is the link to the article I used above:

https://hbr.org/2017/04/6-ways-to-look-more-confident-during-a-presentation

Comments

  1. Dr. LancasterJuly 16, 2019 at 3:55 PM

    I agree - so interesting! I love that you went back to see for yourself if what the article said was true :)

    ReplyDelete

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