Body Language in Speeches: Hand Movement

00:01 It's one of the most common questions I get.

00:03 What do I do with my hands when I'm giving a presentation? One of the worst myths out there is that somehow, if you want to seem professional, you're not supposed to move your hand.

00:14 So you end up seeing people holding their hands or fig leaf position in front of them or grabbing the lectern.

00:21 This is horrible, horrible advice and a horrible overreaction to bad advice.

00:28 The thing to do with your hands when you're giving a speech is what you do all day long. When you talk, you move your hands.

00:36 Now, some people, the movement is higher than others.

00:38 Some people, it's lower.

00:39 You can't see my hands now, but they're moving.

00:42 But in my experience and working with more than 10,000 clients from six continents over the last 30 years, is that everywhere in the world, when people are relaxed and comfortable and talking, their hands are moving.

00:56 The second you stop moving your hands, you freeze your hands.

01:00 You freeze your arms, your shoulders, that gets into your vocal cords.

01:04 And next thing you know, you have that kind of contrived, phony, blah, blah, blah tone in your voice. Awful.

01:11 Now, in theory, is it possible to be gesticulating and waving your hands so wildly? And it's possible.

01:21 But all I can tell you, with all the clients I've worked with over the years, I've never once had a client who moved their hands so much.

01:30 It was distracting. Now it is true.

01:32 You see characters in sitcoms doing that.

01:37 But you don't actually see people in real life moving their hands in such a way that it's distracting. So my advice is you want to move your hands comfortable, confident people move their hands when they speak.

01:51 Here's the thing. If you get up and speak, and you've got a good speech, you're interesting and memorable, and you're moving your hands the whole time.

01:59 No one's going to come up to you afterwards and say, Wow, Sally, I really love the way you moved your hands during that speech.

02:05 It's not going to affect them at the intellectual level, but at the gut level. People will feel like you're simply more comfortable, confident, authoritative, relaxed.

02:17 They won't be able to put their finger on it, but they will perceive you as comfortable. Whereas if you're holding your hands, holding paper in your hand, holding a pen, you're going to look tense, nervous and uncomfortable.

02:31 So the thing to do with your hands is move them when you speak.