Move on stage to emphasize an idea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a brief but very useful post by John Zimmer on his Manner of Speaking blog for June 11, 2025 titled Movement on stage emphasizes an idea. He said (as is shown above in my cartoon version):

 

“To emphasize a positive idea (determination, excitement, conviction, etc.), take a step or two forward.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then he also said:

 

"To emphasize a negative idea (struggle, sadness, loss, etc.), take a step or two backward."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You also can move sideways and stop (as shown above) when making a series of points. On July 25, 2018 I blogged about a post on his Six Minutes blog about Body movement tips for public speakers from Andrew Dlugan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And back on November 28, 2012 I blogged about what not to do in a post titled Pacing infinitely.

 

 

Inflated and deflated statistics about nonverbal communication, voice, and words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I ran across some articles that reported a set of percentages (shown above via a fancy 3-d bar chart) which I had not seen before. For example, an article by Corporate Communication Experts titled 9 Public Speaking Statistics We All Should Know claimed (as #4):

 

“The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus found that when people are speaking, approximately 7% of the message comes from the words, 36% of the message comes from your voice, and 57% of the message come from your nonverbal communication.”

 

It was also in another article at B&FT Online on September 12, 2022 titled Insights with Dzigbordi K. Dosoo: Becoming a more effective communicator. And it was in a blog post by Sakshi Shukla at ADP List on June 16, 2022 titled How to overcome the fear of public speaking?, an undated post by Eisha Gul at the Weshare blog titled 41+ Public Speaking Statistics You Should Know (as #8), and another undated post by Kevin Brown at MightyAlly titled The second (overlooked) side of communications: interpersonal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 57% for nonverbal communication is slightly higher than the well-known 55% (and the 36% slightly lower than the 38%) reported by Albert Mehrabian back in the early 1970s - and shown above via a second bar chart. I blogged about it back in July 25, 2009 in a post titled Bullfighting the Mehrabian Myth, and also on February 18, 2019 in another post titled Is your donut chart sending the wrong signals? Philip Yaffe discussed it in an article at Ubiquity ACM on October 2011 titled The 7% Rule – fact, fiction, or misunderstanding. John Cadley also discussed it briefly in another brief article on page 30 in the October 2020 issue of Toastmaster magazine titled Watch what you’re saying.

 

Where had that slightly inflated version with 57% rather than 55% for nonverbal communication come from? My search at Google Books revealed that it appeared back in 2010 (almost four decades after Mehrabian) as the last paragraph on page 55 of a book by Paul Deslauriers titled The Grassroute Guide where he said:

 

“Studies have shown that words impact interpersonal communication less than one might guess. One study went so far as to conclude that only 7% of what a person takes away from an interaction is attributed to the words used, while 57% of what is communicated is attributed to body language and 36% to voice tone. Body language and voice tone are expressions of the energy behind the words, which can account for 93% of the communication’s impact.”

 

I suspect that Mr. Deslauriers incorrectly recalled the 55% but then wrote it down without going back to check Mehrabian. He didn’t mention either UCLA or Mehrabian, so those who read his book might not have known where to look to check his numbers.

 

Once those incorrect numbers were out, they got repeated by uncritical writers another decade later, who didn’t bother to check back to the original source.

 

Rolling up your shirt sleeves makes you look informal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, rolling up the sleeves of your shirt makes you look informal. An article by Simon Hall at the Cambridge Network on July 18, 2022 titled The strange psychology of public speaking mentioned that he didn’t have the energy and enthusiasm he needed unless he did that. Another article by Carola Long at FT (Financial Times) on October 27, 2021 titled What to wear for public speaking quoted Fashion stylist Victoria Hitchcock who said for women:

 

“Rolling up your sleeves will also make you much more approachable”

 

What should you avoid? A post at Gilda Bonanno’s blog on February 3, 2018 titled Public speaking body language mistakes: gestures, movement, posture & facial expressions mentioned:

 

“One of my public speaking coaching clients rolled and unrolled his shirt sleeves while he presented (we solved that problem by having him wear short sleeves).” 

 

An image of Barrack Obama was cropped from one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

20 Excellent brief YouTube videos from Patrick Barry on poise, rhythm, optimism, being dynamic, and the unexpected

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my previous post I discussed Does your speech have ‘legs’? Erik Palmer’s PVLEGS is a checklist for evaluating speaking by public school students. In that acronym P stands for poise, so I next looked for videos on that topic. 

 

Patrick Barry teaches at the University of Michigan Law School. He has a public speaking series with twenty YouTube videos on the five topics of Poise, Rhythm, Optimism, Dynamic, and the Unexpected. They are not linked together in a coherent way, but I searched them out and organized them. (He also has a lot of videos about writing, which I will discuss later).  

 

There are a half-dozen about POISE in speaking from the Good with Words workshop series posted on March 30, 2018. Those total to just over 12 minutes:

 

Poise: build in pauses (2:34)

 

Poise: oxygen should be a part of your presentation (2:48)

 

Poise: you don’t win points for saying the most words (1:09)

 

Poise: interpersonal skills (2:10)

 

Poise: the virtue of clarity (1:09)

 

Poise: charisma (2:20)

 

 

There are seven more on RHYTHM:

 

Rhythm: rhetorical repetition (anaphora and epistrophe)(2:14)

 

Rhythm: that’s slavery (1:41)

 

Rhythm: parallel structure (“safe place. Real support.”)(2:44)

 

Rhythm: structure, specifics, stakes (0:41)

 

Rhythm: the rule of three (4:06)

 

Rhythm: constraints can be freeing (1:20)

 

Rhythm: order out of chaos (1:00)

 

 

There are three on OPTIMISM:

 

Optimism: smile more than you think appropriate (1:55)

 

Optimism: the smile of someone who has something to share(0:54)

 

Optimism: informed hope and entrepreneurs of ideas (2:16)

 

 

There are two on being DYNAMIC:

 

Dynamic: your mouth should not be the only thing that moves(3:23)

 

Dynamic: a bad presentation with good technology is still abad presentation (1:01)

 

 

And finally, there are two on the UNEXPECTED:

 

Unexpected: be surprising in a convincing way (2:28)

 

Unexpected: include a little mischief (1:32)

 

A dictionary of gestures with over 880 entries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gestures are an important part of nonverbal communication during public speaking. In the catalog for my local public library system I found an interesting 324-page book from 2018 by the late Francois Caradec (1924 to 2008) titled Dictionary of Gestures, and subtitled Expressive Comportments and Movements in Use around the World. The MIT Press description of this translation by Chris Clarke of a 2005 French original says it is:

 

“An illustrated guide to more than 850 gestures and their meanings around the world, from a nod of the head to a click of the heels.”

 

Those 884 gestures are divided into 37 chapters as follows:

 

Head 1.01 to 1.35

Temples 2.01 to 2.10

Ear 3.01 to 3.22

Forehead 4.01 to 4.19

Eyebrows and Eyelashes 5.01 to 5.07

Eye 6.01 to 6.26

Nose 7.01 to 7.43

Mouth 8.01 to 8.42

Lips 9.01 to 9.13

Tongue 10.01 to 10.13

Teeth 11.01 to 11.09

Cheeks 12.01 to 12.23

Chin 13.01 to 13.26

Neck 14.01 to 14.19

Shoulders 15.01 to 15.14

Armpits 16.01 to 16.03

Arm 17.01 to 17.45

Forearm 18.01 to 18.14

Elbow 19.01 to 19.09

Wrist 20.01 to 20.19

Fingernails 21.01 to 21.10

Hand 22.01 to 22.87c

Fist 22.88 to 22.112

Both Hands 23.01 to 23.84

Hand to Hand 24.01 to 24.24

Thumb 25.01 to 25.18

Thumb is Not Alone 25.19 to 25.42

Index Finger 26.01 to 26.68

Middle Finger 27.01 to 27.10

Ring Finger 28

Little Finger (Pinky) 29.01 to 29.06

Torso 30.01 to 30.04

Chest 31.01 to 31.29

Hips 32.01 to 32.06

Waist and Stomach 33.01 to 33.13

Buttocks 34.01 to 34.08

Groin, Genitals, Thighs 35.01 to 35.12

Knees, Legs 36.01 to 36.13

Foot 37.01 to 37.12

 

The largest category, with 112 gestures, is for the Hand and Fist.

 

An article about it at the CBC Radio program As It Happens on August 9, 2019 is titled ‘This book can save your life,’ says translator of French Dictionary of Gestures. It explains:

 

“For instance… there’s a gesture that, to us, means ‘halt’ or ‘stop,’ with the palm face-out. Abd if you curve those fingers you wind up with what [Caradec] describes as a Greek gesture called the ‘mountza,’ which came from public shamings where you would actually hurl refuse into the face of the person being shamed.

 

But with the flat palm out, [it’s] also an Arab greeting. So we had American GIs who were telling people coming up to a check point, ‘Stop, stop, stop.’ And the people though they were being greeted and waved on and so they just kept coming, and there were shootings.

 

That’s why one reviewer said, ‘This book can save your life,’ which is clearly a bit of hyperbole. But at the same time, you want to know the difference when you’re traveling in certain cases.”  

 

The cartoon came from page 5 of the April 29, 1916 issue of Puck magazine at the Internet Archive. 

 

UPDATE

There is an excerpt titled An Illustrated Guide to Mouth Gestures and Their Meaning Around the World. 

 

 

Using a leg gesture to point out a direction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gestures commonly use hands or arms rather than feet or legs. But, as shown above in a cartoon from page 11 of Puck magazine back on October 13, 1880 is also is possible to point out a direction using a leg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the usual convention with time going from left to right, it also is possible to use a leg to point forward or back (as shown above).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An article on page 5 in the July 9, 1892 issue of Scientific American described a very elaborate system of gestures for showing numbers from 1 to 9999 using both arms and legs. It was called Homogenetic Enumeration. That topic was discussed again in Scientific American by Marty Karmelek on May 31, 2011 in an article titled Homogenetic Enumeration: A Numerical System Guaranteed to Move You.

 

My image was modified from the da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man at Wikimedia Commons.  

  

Good advice on gestures from 125 years ago

 

At the Internet Archive I found an 1897 public speaking book titled The Progressive Speaker. It begins with a discussion of elocution that contains the following advice:

 

“GESTURE

 

Second only to vocal gymnastics comprising articulation, pitch, force and time – which have been discussed in the preceding chapter is gesture.

 

Gesture is the science of interpretating and emphasizing by the various postures and motions of the face, head, shoulders, trunk, arms, hands, fingers, legs and feet the words which are spoken.  

 

Graceful and appropriate gesture renders vocal delivery far more pleasing and effective. Hence its cultivation is of primary importance to those who are ambitious of accomplishment in elocution. Without discussing this subject at length, we will, by a few simple illustrations, endeavor to show the favorable and unfavorable postures of the body, and afterwards proceed to show the different attitudes for expressing various emotions and sentiments. In the first place, let it be remembered that the orator or reader should stand upon his feet, and never lounge or loll in an ungraceful attitude. If a speaker should lie on the stand before him, or hang on to a chair or table, he will not be likely to deliver himself with energy or effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above illustrations show a few of the improper positions often assumed, in contrast with proper or graceful attitudes.

 

The Head, the Eyes, the Arm, and Hand

 

As the head gives the chief grace to the person, so does it principally contribute to the  expression of grace, in delivery. The head should be held in an erect and natural posture; for when hung down, it expresses humility, or diffidence; when thrown back, arrogance; and when inclined to one side, languor or indifference. The movements of the head should be suited to the character of delivery; they should accord with the gesture, and fall in with the actions of the hands and the motions of the body.

 

The head is capable of many appropriate expressions. Besides those nods which signify assent or approbation and rejection, there are motions of the head, known and common to all, which express modesty, doubt, admiration, and indignation. But to use the gesture of the head alone, unaccompanied by any other gesture, is considered faulty. It is also a fault to shake or nod the head frequently, to toss it violently, or to agitate the hair, by rolling it about.

 

The eyes should look the sentiment expressed. Every gesture will be strengthened or weakened by the expression of the eye. This, like other gestures, should be practiced before a mirror. But to give the proper expression and power to the eye, the speaker must feel the sentiments he would put into his look and words.  

 

The arm, the fore-arm, the hand, and fingers form the grand instruments of gesture; or as Cicero calls them, ‘the weapons of the orator.’ Altogether they form a compound instrument, the centre of which is in the shoulder, but each separate joint often becomes a new centre of motion for the portion between it and the extremity. In gesticulating, this complex instrument does not continue long in one direct line, but changes every moment. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most common positions of the hands are illustrated by the accompanying cuts. They may be memorized by the student in a few minutes, and a little practice will make them familiar. Here, again, the mirror will help. Look first at the illustration; then reproduce it in the glass.    

 

The Stroke and Time of Gesture

 

The stroke of gesture is analogous to the emphasis of the voice; and they should both fall exactly on the accented syllable of the emphatic word. In this way the emphatic force of the voice, and the stroke of the gesture, co-operate in presenting the idea in the most lively manner, to the eye as well as to the ear.

 

In all discourse, whether calm or impassioned, the words and gestures should accompany each other. As, in beating time in music, the beat is made on the accented part of the measure, so in speaking, the stroke of the gesture should fall on the accented syllable of the emphatic word. The emotion which calls forth the word, at the same moment, prompts the gesture. Hence, the muscles of gesticulation should move synchronously and harmoniously with those of the voice.

 

When gesture is not marked by the precision of the stroke, in the proper places, it is very offensive. The arms, like those of a person groping in the dark, seem to wander about in quest of some uncertain object; and the action is of the faulty kind which is called sawing the air. Even graceful motions, unmarked by the precision of the stroke of the gesture, as sometimes seen, lose much of their force, and very soon cease to afford pleasure. All the unmeaning motions of public speakers are attended with the same ill effect as a mouthing and canting tone of declamation, which lays no emphasis with just discrimination, but swells and falls with a vain affectation of feeling, and with absolute deficiency both in taste and judgment.

 

WHOLE FIGURE GESTURES AND ATTITUDES

 

The following illustrations will assist the student in assuming the proper attitudes and making the proper gestures for the expression of the feelings and sentiments indicated. It would be well to memorize and practice before a mirror, until confidence, ease and grace are acquired in executing them.”   

 

 

 

A speech isn’t a poker game, so show some emotion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When playing poker not revealing how you feel is useful, as shown above. But when giving a speech you need to show your emotions in order to connect with the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Puck magazine cartoon from October 19, 1904 of Charles W. Fairbanks, shown above, makes fun of the total lack of expression sometimes displayed by that candidate for vice president, whose nickname was The Indian Icicle. This was when Theodore Roosevelt ran for president.

 

The March 21, 1908 issue of the Indianapolis Recorder has a character study article by James A. Edgerton about him titled Fairbanks, the man of order. A profile of him also appeared on pages 104 to 109 of Philip Secor’s 2013 book, Vice Presidential Profiles: Our Forgotten Leaders. Mr. Secor described how Fairbanks had a dual personality – an icy businessman and an enthusiastic politician. There is a 1904 book by William Henry Smith titled The Life and Speeches of Hon. Charles Warren Fairbanks. Fairbanks, Alaska was named to honor him.

 

The Puck cartoon of a poker game came from the August 28, 1907 issue.

 

A Sunday Dilbert cartoon about having a resting bored face (RBF)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lack of nonverbal feedback, like a poker face (defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an inscrutable face that reveals no hint of a person’s thoughts or feelings”) can confuse others. At ZOOM meetings you may have seen some like the four shown above. Yesterday’s Dilbert cartoon mentioned a specific subtype – the resting bored face (RBF):

 

Tina (the technical writer): I’m sorry. Is my description of the problem boring you?

Dilbert: What? No I’m totally engaged.

Dilbert: I just have a bad case of ‘Resting Bored Face’ or RBF for short.

Tina: So…no matter what I say you always look like that?

Dilbert: You make it sound like a bad thing.

Tina: You’re sucking the life force right out of my body!

Tina: I’d rather be dead than spend another second with you.

Wally: Can you teach me the RBF?

Dilbert: I’d love to. But I probably look like I wouldn’t.

 

On the other hand, overly expressive faces also can be confusing. Back on June 16, 2011I blogged about why you should Learn to ignore these audience behaviors.

 

The four faces were adapted from page 9 of Charles Lederer’s 1923 book, Cartooning Made Easy, at the Internet Archive.

 

Don’t forget to smile at your audience!

At the Inc. web site yesterday there was an 1150-word article by Thomas Koulopoulus titled One thing that you can do right now to make your next speech extraordinary (no practice involved).

In brief, his advice just is to smile at your audience. Similarly, the 20-page instructional booklet (Item 201) from Toastmasters International titled Gestures: Your Body Speaks reminds us on page 14 that:

“The key to conveying friendliness is remembering to smile.”

An image of a smiling stuffed Cheshire Cat came from Daniel Schwen at Wikimedia Commons.

Jordan B. Peterson on how a lecture really is a conversation

This year Jordan B. Peterson wrote an interesting best-seller book titled 12 Rules for Life – an antidote to chaos. He discussed it in a 24-minute video preview on YouTube. Kelefa Sanneh had a long article about it in The New Yorker on March 5, 2018 titled Jordan Peterson’s gospel of masculinity. I found it on the new books shelf at my friendly local public library and have been reading it. Some I disagree with, but I was impressed by his description of lecturing. That appears on pages 251 and 252 in the essay on Rule 9:  Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t:

“Another conversational variant is the lecture. A lecture is – somewhat surprisingly – a conversation. The lecturer speaks, but the audience communicates with him or her non-verbally. A surprising amount of human interaction – much of the delivery of emotional information, for example – takes place in this manner, through postural display and facial information (as we noted in our discussion of Freud). A good lecturer is not only delivering facts (which is perhaps the least important part of a lecture), but also telling stories about those facts, pitching them precisely to the level of the audience’s comprehension, gauging that by the interest they are showing. The story he or she is telling conveys to the audience not what the facts are, but why they are relevant –why it is important to know certain things about which they are currently ignorant. To demonstrate the importance of some sets of facts is to tell those audience members how such knowledge could change their behavior, or influence the way they interpret the world, so that they will now be able to avoid some obstacles and progress more rapidly to some better goals.

A good lecturer is thus talking with and not at or even to his or her listeners. To manage this, the lecturer need to be closely attending to the audience’s every move, gesture and sound. Perversely, this cannot be done by watching the audience, as such. A good lecturer speaks directly to and watches the response of single, identifiable people,* instead of doing something clichéd, such as ‘presenting a talk’ to an audience. Everything about that phrase is wrong. You don’t present. You talk. There is no such thing as ‘a talk,’ unless it’s canned, and it shouldn’t be. There is also no ‘audience.’ There are individuals, who need to be included in the conversation. A well-practised and competent public speaker addresses a single, identifiable person, watches that individual nod, shake his head, frown, or look confused, and responds appropriately and directly to those gestures and expressions. Then, after a few phrases, rounding out some idea, he switches to another audience member, and does the same thing. In this manner, he infers and reacts to the attitude of the entire group (insofar as such a thing exists).  

*The strategy of speaking to individuals is not only vital to the delivery of any message, it’s a useful antidote to fear of public speaking. No one wants to be stared at by hundreds of unfriendly, judgmental eyes. However, almost everybody can talk to just one attentive person. So, if you have to deliver a speech (another terrible phrase) then do that. Talk to the individuals in the audience – and don’t hide: not behind the podium, not with downcast eyes, not by speaking too quietly or mumbling, not by apologizing for your lack of brilliance or preparedness, not behind ideas that are not yours, and not behind clichés.”

Body movement tips for public speakers from Andrew Dlugan

On July 22nd there was an excellent blog post by Andrew Dlugan about Body movement tips for public speakers. He focused on what you should (and shouldn’t) do with your lower body rather than hand gestures or facial expressions. (Back on September 16, 2015 I had blogged to Please look at Andrew Dlugan’s Six Minutes blog about speaking and presentation skills).

You shouldn’t look like a clumsy giant attempting a ballet dance, as is shown above. Andrew said to avoid these seven things:

1]   Pacing back and forth (oscillation #1)

2]   Swaying or rocking front to back (oscillation #2)

3]   Yo-yo-ing between screen and laptop (oscillation #3)

4]   Tripping over anything or falling off stage

5]   Any movement that could result in injury

6]   Any movement that leads to an awkward or revealing position

7]   Any full-body movement that distracts while you deliver key lines