Align Your Body to Unlock Your Gestures
You want to gesture naturally and dynamically while presenting. But you don’t know what to do with your hands when you talk in front of a group. You feel silly and unnatural if you gesture too much, or boring and stilted if you gesture too little. So how do you find a happy medium?
First, unlock your hands. Let them relax and rest at your sides. Don’t worry, they will not stay there; they just have to be unlocked at the outset to be free to gesture. Next, you must have your entire body facing the person you are speaking to. This means your toes, hips, and shoulders need to face that person. As you look to a new person, again align your body by taking a few steps and planting yourself. Your free hands will swing up and begin gesturing once more. You don’t even have to think about the gestures: they will occur on their own. Unlocked hands and proper alignment promote natural gestures. It’s as simple as that!