How to Look Awkward and Uncomfortable When Presenting

In a darkened, hushed auditorium, somewhere in the world, there is an expert walking out on stage. She’s presenting on a topic she knows well, to an audience keen to learn what she has to share. Yet, the first thing she does when she reached the lectern is to adjust her jacket, to tug and twitch everything back into place. Then she stands with her hands clasped in front of her, shuffles her feet and rocks back and forth. Her hunched shoulders make her voice muffled, and with every moment, she seems to shrink, getting smaller…

She looks awkward and uncomfortable, and the audience soon starts to mirror her feeling. No one wins from this presentation.

When your audience first watch you walk on stage, they are already forming an opinion of you, and your presentation. Throughout your speech, your audience will revise that opinion, deciding if you are smart, confident, trustworthy, or interesting. They form these opinions, not by listening, but by watching your every movement.

If you have practised your speech, and you know your topic area well, you can still make your audience think you are unprepared, or ignorant, simply by the way you move. There are certain gestures and body movements that make you appear awkward, uncomfortable and nervous. If you can consciously control these movements, even if you are nervous, then the audience, and you, will really pick up in energy and the information can start to flow.

Here are three movements that make you appear awkward and uncomforable:

1. Adjusting your clothing on stage. Have a moment in the restroom to check your appearance in the mirror, then leave yourself alone. Your tie, your jacket, and your blouse all look great, and the audience doesn’t want to watch you getting dressed.
2. Crossing your arms over your body. This makes you appear closed and shielded. It can also interfere with microphones and your voice and breathing. There are many variations of this, from folded arms to the fig leaf, but all give the impression of discomfort.
3. Standing with your hands in your pockets. This hunches your shoulders, and messes your suit. It is the ideal posture to adopt if you want to look like a sulky teenager. When your hands are in your pockets, you also have the chance to distract the audience by jingling the coins and keys you keep in there.

Gesture and body language can make up over 70% of the message we send to the audience. If you are awre of the way you move, you can make sure the right message is being transmitted.

Ben Wilson wrote this post from his small room in his small house near the ocean. If you enjoyed this, you might like to sign up for his free communication tips. The newsletter also has less talking in third person.

Secrets of Communication from an Opera Recital

Last month, my wife and I went along to operatic recital from husband-and-wife singers John Murray and Anna Corrs. These two world-class performers live locally, but it was my first chance to actually see and hear them live. The recital, part of the season program from Tauranga Musica, was composed of favourites of the performers, a variety of operatic pieces by composers from different periods and languages.

A Deeply Engaging Performance

Watching these two experienced artists perform works which were familiar yet foreign was deeply engaging. I was astonished that complex emotions — tenderness, frustration, lust, and anger — could be so convincingly conveyed without a word of English. Murray and Corrs made use of gesture, vocal variety and voice projection to build drama, display emotion and free themselves of giving a boring, static performance.

Murray and Corrs both used gesture to maximise the impact of their emotive delivery and convey more context around the story each song told. Because they are professional singers and dramatists, I expected the big movements of stage performance. But those movements play a valuable role that I find easy to forget as a communicator; not everyone in the audience will sit close enough to see what I am doing with my hands. Big gestures mean that all the audience get the message. An interesting technique, I noticed the performers use was to actually move a little slower than normal, and to use the entire arm in the gesture, with open hands clearly visible all around the room. This slow, bold gesturing style gave the singers are very graceful appearance, almost like ballet dancers, without the leaping (or the tights).

Often in a recital, the performers remain predominantly in one location on the stage, captured by the podium and microphone or transfixed by the audience gaze. Murray and Corrs showed how effective it was to move around the

stage, singing without notes or amplification, and appearing totally comfortable dramatising the little stories in front of the audience. As they moved about the stage, interacting with each other, the singers really demonstrated the intention of each piece. As with their hand gestures, they kept the movement slow, bold and graceful. In one piece, they started with an angry stance back to back, and finished with a tender (audience appropriate) embrace. The stance and the positioning on the stage really drove the momentum and pacing of the story.

What Can We Learn?

As communicators presenting less ambitious themes and stories than those on the operatic stage, what can we learn from watching professional singers on stage? We can take away three lessons.

Use Generous Open Gestures

First, use generous open gestures and be willing to move around the stage. Use a powerful voice so that you are not tied down by the microphone. Your gestures and movements are then free to use up your entire stage giving the presentation enjoyable presence.

Move And Speak Slowly

Second, move and speak slowly. During a presentation it is harder to get your message across. You need to move at the pace the audience can understand you. That pace will be slower than you think, so move slowly.

Be Emotional

Thirdly, don’t be afraid to be emotional. You audience will never be more emotional than you. Every presentation that you give should pack a powerful emotional message. This helps you to get your point across and makes your story much more memorable.

I’ve learned three valuable lessons from singers John Murray and Anna Corrs – Use big gestures, move slowly, and be emotional. Now, I just need to learn to sing in Italian.