Behind the Bullet Points: The Surprising Secrets of Powerful Presentations by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0000000000000
Published: 2021-10-03T00:22:54+00:00

PoweredPointer 39: Use strong gestures to emphasize points and to ‘paint images’

Don’t be afraid to use strong gestures. For example, when you say something about the whole world, put your hands in front of you and spread them horizontally to the sides or move them in a large circular motion. If you say something like “think about it”, hold your chin in your hand as if you are thinking. Perhaps even look puzzled or contemplative as you do this. Remember, you want to hold your audience’s attention. They should have written down your bullet point first. Their eyes should subconsciously gravitate back to you when they are finished writing. Now you are explaining it. Ham it up. And smile: it relaxes everyone. Including you! This is not like you? It is not me either, but I do it! Work at it. You will be surprised how easy hamming it up really is. You may even start enjoying your own presentation. And more importantly; strong gestures will help you get your information across to your audience!

Let’s go back to Steve Jobs. He practiced his speeches over and over again and analyzed every single gesture and every single word in his presentations. His archrival from Microsoft, Bill Gates, described Jobs as being able to cast spells over his audience (McLellan, 2020).

Let’s switch to a very different type of person now. One who is far from a role model. I thought long and hard about whether I should put in the following. Unfortunately, it does really reinforce many of my points.

If you look online, I am sure that you can find a set of photographs that Heinrich Hoffmann, Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer, took of the brutal dictator rehearsing facial expressions and hand gestures as he addressed an imaginary audience for one of his speeches.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.