5 Body Language Tips for More Effective Presentations
Have you ever been stuck wondering how to move during a presentation? Maybe you’ve asked the famous, What do I do with my hands?! question before.
Body language is an important element to any kind of public speaking delivery. When you’re more conscious of how and when you move, it will make your presentation that much more effective.
Here are five of my top tips for body language during a presentation, and how to leverage things like natural movement, stage setup, clothing and more so you can deliver your best presentation yet.
1. Avoid using a podium
One of the first things I always consider before giving a presentation is what my setup will be like. Will there be a podium? A screen for my slides? Am I on a stage or on Zoom? There are a lot of factors that can affect the way we deliver information.
In general, I always recommend that it’s best to avoid using a podium where possible. Even though podiums can be a tempting and “easy” setup for your presentation, they will ultimately make your delivery less effective. There are several reasons for this. First, podiums are quite boring for your audience (1), and I’ve found over the course of my career that presenters who are completely visible and use their space effectively are far more engaging. Also, podiums are a barrier between you and your audience and that makes it harder to connect. And after all, having a true connection with your audience is the best way to get results.
With that in mind, you don’t want to pace back and forth just for the sake of doing so. It’s important to find the style of movement that works best for you and makes sense with the content you’re delivering. More on this in tip number four.
2. Dress for success
As a general guideline, I recommend dressing one step up from the audience you’ll be presenting to. For example, if they will be wearing casual clothing, you would wear a sport coat. Or if they wear sport coats, you would wear a suit. The intent is to meet the level of dress.
There’s an equal danger of over-dressing and under-dressing. If you’re in an environment where the usual attire is a denim shirt and khakis, a suit would be out of place. At the same time, a sport coat and trousers would be under dressed when working with people who normally wear a three piece suit. Identify the normal attire for your audience and at minimum, match their attire and when possible, bump it up a notch.
When you are presenting on Zoom, don’t only dress from the waist up. Getting fully dressed will boost your confidence and take care of any camera mishaps that could happen.
3. Keep your body language natural to you
There are so many tips out there for how to move your hands or body when you’re delivering a presentation. As a public speaking coach, I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the years about how and when to move. Specifically, the famous question, What do I do with my hands?! I’ve addressed this question on social media a bunch of times – click here to check out my Instagram Reel on this topic.
Long story short, I always give the same answer: hands know what to do when you’re not focused on them. Same thing with your body. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to practice and see how your hands and body naturally move so you can adjust when it’s showtime (and I encourage you to do so before any and every presentation). Ultimately, you want to keep your body language as natural to you as possible.
I came across this HBR article that gives a few positions with your hands and body stance that tend to show confidence. The evidence is based on surveys conducted and analyzing the movements of several key public figures. If you’re interested, you can check out that article here (2).
My strong recommendation is that you get used to standing in “Home” position. Feet hip-distance apart, soft knees, shoulders back, arms/hands relaxed at your sides. When you are in “home” position it's easy to move to any other position, and it's an open and welcoming stance. Your audience will feel at ease listening to you and be confident in what you're speaking about.
4. Understand motivated vs. unmotivated movement
My best tip for understanding how you already tend to move during presentations (what gestures you naturally use, if you fidget, etc.) is to record yourself while presenting. This will be the quickest way to identify any unmotivated movements you’re already making and remove them wherever you can. In other words, movements that don’t have a strong purpose behind them. From there, you can begin to identify where you can add motivated movement – movement that has meaning and reasoning behind it.
It’s important to remove any unmotivated movement before adding in motivated movement. This process will ensure that you’re not moving around unconsciously and will keep your audience engaged and focused on the topic at hand. You can even begin to move based on changing topics in your presentation. For example, moving towards your audience when asking questions, connecting the dots on something, or offering a revelation (3).
5. Be conscious of how and when to stand still
We’ve talked a lot about movement so far, and there are also equally important times to stand still during your presentation in order to make your delivery more effective.
The main point that I recommend standing still for is during your CTA (call to action) at the end of your presentation. Your CTA is one of the most important elements in your presentation because it’s where you ask your audience to do what you want them to do.
It’s important for you and your audience to be focused during this time. So, it’s best to eliminate all distractions and focus on the content only by standing still.
Conclusion
Those were my five best tips for body language during a presentation. Whenever you’re public speaking, it’s important to avoid using a podium where possible and consider your stage setup, dress for success and match the attire of your audience, keep your body language natural, take out any unmotivated movement before adding in extra movements, and to be conscious of when to stand still to make your delivery even more effective.
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Happy presenting!
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