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  • Hi, this is Anne Warfield with Impression Management Professionals. Today we're gonna

  • look at the hand-off. How to have your hands, add to --and not distract -- from your presentation.

  • Do your arm and hand gestures add to your conversation? Or do you feel like they distract

  • from it? Is there an answer to what you should do with hand gestures so you appear more confident,

  • relaxed, and trustworthy.

  • You know, finding the right amount of hand gestures can be really tough during a presentation.

  • The reason is that once your brain feels like it needs to get people onto your side, or

  • it feels nervous as to whether people will accept what you're saying, it begins to send

  • messages to your neurons and your muscles to act accordingly. So literally, you can

  • have no idea how much your hands are doing while you're trying to talk. It'd be so nice

  • wouldn't it, if we could just unscrew our arms, put 'em off to the side, until we're

  • done presenting, and then re-attach them? But unfortunately, that's not possible.

  • So I'm gonna share with you, what you can do in order to make sure that the impression

  • that your hand gestures give is the one that matches what you want, all the while so you're

  • exuding high executive presence. So let's see what some things mean. Open palms, are

  • seen by the audience as a sign that you're open and honest. So when you're talking about

  • controversial topics, keep your hands out in front. That's very important. If you put

  • your hands behind your back or into your pockets, your audience will feel as though you're withholding

  • information, or you're detached from them. Matter of fact, just go down to a courtroom,

  • and watch how people plead. People who are guilty often put their hands behind their

  • back when they stand and state their plea.

  • Now if you put your hands down in front of you and clasp them together, it's what's called

  • the "fig leaf position", and you appear submissive. Now this is because your shoulders naturally

  • stoop downward, and they give you that submissive look. So watch my shoulders, and look at the

  • difference when I bring my hands up to my waist, versus when I drop them down into the

  • fig leaf gesture. Notice how they remain more square, and strong when my hands are up. So

  • what should you do with your hands during a presentation? Your hands should either be

  • naturally down at your side, up near your waist, clasped loosely in front of you at

  • the waist level, or you can have one hand at your waist level and one more loosely at

  • your side.

  • The most important thing is to have your hands appear natural to you and the audience. So

  • if you're a person who's very expressive and you use your hands a lot while talking, then

  • do the same while you're presenting. I watched one woman who was a very expressive person

  • try to keep her hands below to her side, her poor little hands flopped around on the end

  • of her arm which was completely stiff. To the audience, it looked like a little fish,

  • flopping on the end of a pole. When I asked her what she was doing, she said she'd been

  • told that she used too many hand movements and so she was trying to stop it. I said,

  • "Let it go, your hands wanna move".

  • So here's my point, when you're in front of an audience you want them to see and feel

  • your character and integrity. This means that you need to be authentic, and that the person

  • they see on the platform is the same person they meet if they run into at the grocery

  • store, or at the gas station. So if you're an expressive person, use your hands. If you

  • don't, it will appear to the audience as though you're uncomfortable speaking with them. And

  • if you're a non-expressive person, don't worry about it, don't use your hands, just occasionally

  • gesture so that your hands don't lie limp at your side the whole time your talking.

  • Most importantly, make sure you're grounded in the value you're offering your audience.

  • Don't try to wow them, dazzle them, or show them how brilliant you are. All of those thoughts

  • will cause your brain to send extra energy to your neurons and cause you to become too

  • expressive with your hands. Just be grounded that you're there to add value to them, and

  • your strength will come through in your relaxed manner as you communicate with them. May you

  • go forth and have a great outcome focus day filled with fabulous results.

Hi, this is Anne Warfield with Impression Management Professionals. Today we're gonna

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