Body Language in Speeches: Smiling

00:00 You've probably heard that you're supposed to smile when giving a presentation.

00:04 Makes you seem friendlier.

00:05 Warmer. It's true.

00:06 But how do you really do it if you're nervous? Because what happens to most people is when they're nervous, their face goes okay.

00:15 In my presentation today, when I talk about blah, blah, blah, blah, I may get everything right, I may follow my outline, but when my face goes blank, I look flat, boring, nervous, uncomfortable.

00:27 So part of it is you've got to rehearse on video, you've got to be aware of what your face is doing at all times.

00:33 Also, realize it's not just about having kind of a fake plastered smile on your face.

00:40 It's just you want a full range of emotion on your face.

00:44 You want to show all your expressions.

00:47 And certainly when you stand up to talk for the first time, you do want to smile and look like you're happy to be there because too many people, they're introduced, and they're thinking, Oh crap, now I've got to speak.

00:58 What's my introduction that I memorized? And their face has this sort of blank lost look, you don't want to be that way.

01:05 You also don't want to stand up, face perfectly blank.

01:09 And now you're introducing all of a sudden, it's, it's too abrupt. It looks like you're trying to be phony.

01:17 So you need a little bit of a smile on your face before you even stand up.

01:21 Most important of all, you need to figure out a way of making this fun.

01:25 If your speech seems like drudgery to you, it's going to seem like drudgery to your audience as well.

01:31 You've got to figure out what in your content is interesting, fun and engaging, and let that animate your face.