What Do I Do With My Hands While Presenting?

For many thousands of years, human beings have looked at the hands of people approaching them to see if they are holding any kind of weapon or instrument that could possibly cause injury or death. It is instilled in our genes to perform this subconscious act of self protection whenever we meet someone.

This has implications for us in our daily communication with both groups and individuals. It is especially important when doing training, making presentations within our own organizations or to external audiences such as potential clients where we need to project an image of honesty and non aggression or in other communicative activities such as speaking in public generally whether you be a “company spokesperson”, politician, a speaker at a conference, etc. This means that if we wish to be perceived by our audience as an excellent and congruent communicator, we need to be able to consciously control our non verbal communication to ensure that our subconscious does not transmit unintended or in congruent messages.

Possibly the most important points to remember in any presentation, training or public speaking context are:

Always:

Keep your hands in full view of the audience:

Since we always look at the hands of people approaching us it is imperative that in any communicative situation, our hands are in full view as a clear sign that we are not planning to do harm to the other people present. Hiding your hands implies that you are hiding something or not being totally honest. This recommendation applies equally whether you are sitting behind a desk or table or standing up.

Keep your hands above the waist:

Since we look at other peoples’ hands, when communicating, our hands should always be above our waist in a relaxed way. The ideal position is to drop your arms loosely by your sides, then bring your hands up to more or less the level of your belly button. This is the starting and finishing point for all your gestures. This posture shows the audience that you are in control of yourself and your non verbal communication. It allows you to gesture naturally and easily. We recommend that you use a presentation pointer or remote control to show your PowerPoint deck to the audience in a presentation or training course and this posture allows you to use it naturally. You can also use a sign pen if working on a flipchart or whiteboard, etc.

Do NOT hold sheets of paper in your hands as this often leads to what is known as a “Pase” in bullfighting: sweeping the sheet of paper from one side to another as if fighting a bull which distracts the audience’s attention. It is fine to hold, & use, small index cards in your hands.

Use your hands to gesture and burn of excess adrenalin.

Many people produce excessive amounts of adrenalin when required to speak in public due to the psychological and physiological responses which this activity can produce: fear, stress, nervousness, sweating, etc., which can have a range of unexpected and undesirable consequences for the speaker. The best way for us to burn-off the excess adrenalin caused by the stress of presenting or training is to use our hands to help “illustrate” our communication by the use of drawing pictures with our hands; expressing emotions or relationships between elements. There is a school of thought that posits that gestures should NOT be used in presentations, training, public speaking, etc., as it “distracts” the audience from the main message. We propose that if the gestures are rehearsed, forced or incongruent, then, and only then, will the audience be distracted.

Gesture naturally.

One of the most basic forms of communication is that of gestures. It is one of the first forms of communication that we use as babies and, as adults, when we are in a situation where we do not speak the local language we often resort to gestures to communicate – usually with a certain degree of success! Gestures add a visual reinforcement to spoken language which is invaluable in effectively communicating our message.

Note: Many politicians tend to “learn” certain gestures that they believe add credibility to their spoken language, however they tend to overuse these gestures and they often become objects of ridicule by comics on television and in the mass media. An excessive or exaggerated use of gestures is obviously to be avoided. Just be natural!

Another point to remember is that the physical placement of the hands can carry an often unexpected and unintended meaning. Whenever we look at something there is always what is known as “The Center of Gaze” that is the specific object that we are looking at and is often the trainer, presenter or speaker, etc. There is also what is known as “Peripheral Vision” or “Outside the Center of Gaze” which can be up to 160 degrees of all that we see and that enters into, and influences, our subconscious memory.