Public Speaking Importance

Body Language and It’s Importance in Public Speaking, Bill Becker 1/20/18

Each of the six non-verbal cues are very important traits of becoming a better public speaker. Making good eye contact with your audience is one of top non-verbal cues. As a speaker you must make a habit of scanning your audience. Eye contact with your audience will bring you the speaker a closer connection to the speech material and meaning. In fact, if eye contact is used during speaking voice tones will improve. Similarly, the use of facial expression will show your audience that your speech has meaning. It also gives the audience assurance that you the speaker are related to their speech. The use of facial expressions goes hand and hand with eye contact.

On the other hand, poor posture sends a signal to your audience that you are not engaged in your speech. Using good posture at the start of your speech goes a long way with your audience. Ways to improve posture include exercise and checking your posture against a wall with a mirror. Your audience will see your posture even before the first words come out of your mouth. Make a statement! Furthermore, hand and arm mechanics must be used during speeches. The use of this non-verbal cue will make speeches more meaningful to both the audience and speaker themselves. Hand movements for a speaker are a must! Without the use of hand movement, you the speaker are losing one of the most powerful gesture tools available. One that uses this cue well will be very satisfied with the quality of their speeches. Additionally, one must also use body movement during speaking. With the use of good body movement your audience will become aware of transitions within your speech. Speech timing will improve with use of proper body movements. Expression of words will become crisper and feeling of the words more

I am now more aware of my eye contact with the entire audience will need to be practiced becoming more fluid with my speeches. During my introduction speech I locked down my eye contact on who I was introducing and our professor. One way of me improving this cue will be practicing my speech with more family members in a room. I will place them further apart to gain a setting of our classroom or a larger venue. With more practice eye contact will improve my overall speech presentation. Even though, standing during the day is very common for me. I can still improve on posture by practicing in front of a mirror. Posture in front of a podium will also need some practice. I might have a habit of leaning on the podium which can also take other non-verbal cues away like hand and arm mechanical plus body movement. Practicing at a church would be a great location to check this non-verbal cue. From my classmate introduction I found out that hand and arm movements were nonexistent. Relaxation during my speeches will bring this non-verbal cue out more. Hand and arm movement cannot be lost to improve as a better public speaker. Without this cue my speech audiences will lose focus on the meaning of my speech and my satisfaction of what I have spoken about will be