[nabs-l] Public Speaking

[Greg Aikens]

Hi Rahul,
I think getting feedback from someone who can see is an effective strategy. Gestures and non verbals in public speaking are primarily for visual impact and so asking someone who can see if your gestures are enhancing or taking away from your ability to communicate seems reasonable. 

Some general tips though that might be helpful. Remember that hand gestures are only a part of your entire non verbal body language. The way you hold your body and head, as well as facial expressions all work together with any gestures you do with your hands or arms. Your posture should be confident but relaxed. For men this generally means shoulders back and head up, with your feet a comfortable distance apart, maybe a little less than shoulder width apart. You want to be comfortable and not rigid. Your arms should be down at your sides unless you are using them for something specific. 
The feedback about trying to make eye contact with your audience has been good. You certainly don’t want to be a pendulum, but every once and a while you should make an effort to look at a different part of your audience. You could do this every few sentences or so. I often do something early in a speech to get some kind of audience response so that I can hear exactly where everyone is. I might tell a joke or ask a question that requires everyone to respond as a whole. Being focused and aware of your audience is an excellent technique for all speakers. If you hear someone say something affirming a point you have made, or if they respond audibly in the way you wanted them too, (gasps of shock, cries of outrage, wails of sorrow, etc.) give a slight nod toward that person and a smile if appropriate as you continue speaking. These things will help build a rapport with your audience. 

On top of these things, you should add at least a small amount of movement and a few strategically used hand gestures to emphasize the important parts of your speech. Joe’s tip about using movement at transition points in your speech is good. How much or little you want to move is up to you but even taking a step or two to the side of the podium can help give emphasis to a key point or make it clear that you are “stepping out” into a tangent for a moment. If you move on a tangent, make sure you step back to the podium when you resume the main point. Stepping forward or up next to the podium can be effective as you are appealing to your audience about some point. Moving physically closer to them can create a grater sense of intimacy as you make your appeal. I don’t generally move more than a step or two in either direction when I speak but just adding that small movement changed the feedback I received from my classmates. Whatever you do, make sure you are comfortable doing it. If you feel awkward as you move, it will be distracting to you and possibly your audience.  

As to adding hand gestures, I would start by picking one or two gestures that you want to work into your repertoire and use them until they become natural and comfortable. Then you can try to add more. One versatile gesture is using a closed fist to punctuate your points. You hold your fist out in front of you as though you were going to pound it on the podium and bring it down on each key syllable you want to emphasize as though you were “hammering” your point home. That sounds really cheesy but it is a similar motion to raising and lowering a hammer, although far gentler and a much smaller range of motion. You generally don’t want to move your fist more than 4 or 5 inches from the top of the gesture to the bottom. If you actually have a podium in front of you, you may want to save this gesture for when you have stepped out to the side, or you could do the gesture above the podium but without striking it. I suppose you could also pound the podium for emphasis but the circumstances where that is appropriate are probably pretty rare. You can use this gesture for subtle emphasis by doing it at a slower pace and in a gentler manner. If you are wanting more intense emphasis, you could make the movement sharper and quicker, but probably not any bigger. For strong emphasis you could tap the bottom of your fist into your other palm in front of you. 

My temptation when adding gestures was to make them too large. Big movements can be distracting and take away from what you are saying. How big your movements need to be is also relative to how big of a person you are. If you are a tall guy with long arms or just a big guy, even small gestures look bigger. If you are a smaller person, you may need to make a larger movement for it to be noticeable and get the desired effect. 

Don’t be afraid to ask people you trust if something you are doing looks natural or is effective for communicating what you want it to. 

Reading back through this message, I’m not sure how much sense those descriptions will make to anyone else. At least I know what I meant :) Hopefully someone else can glean something useful from it. 

Best of luck in your public speaking endeavors.

-Greg

On Jun 21, 2014, at 5:54 PM, Rahul Bajaj via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> This is turning out to be an intriguing discussion!
> I have really enjoyed reading all the great suggestions that others
> have given so far.
> Although I'd like to believe that I'm not that bad at public speaking,
> I have been told a couple of times that I should use hand gestures to
> convey my points more strongly.
> I have never done this because, as I am sure you all would agree, this
> isn't something that comes to us naturally.
> As a result, I just stand still while giving my speeches and don't use
> any gestures; this is something that weighs heavily against me in
> public speaking competitions.
> Can anyone share any effective strategies that they have employed to
> circumvent this problem?
> Someone spoke about practicing this with a sighted person. That's a
> good suggestion, and I'll definitely keep that in mind.
> Does anyone have any other suggestions?
> 
> Best,
> Rahul
> 
> On 22/06/2014, lizzy via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Shickeytha,
>> You've gotten some great tips thus far.  Here are a few more
>> tricks to add to the list.
>> First, let me just say that my tips for a blind public speaker do
>> not differ greatly from those I would give to a sighted speaker.
>> - Always look at your audience to keep their attention.  You
>> mentioned sighted people looking down at notes or a teleprompter,
>> I personally dislike when people do this (especially when reading
>> from a powerpoint located behind the presenter) because it is
>> pretty distracting to the audience.  No matter how you choose to
>> read your notes, you will always have the advantage of being able
>> to look at your audience while speaking to them (which is a plus
>> if you ask me).
>> - If you do decide to use braille, one tip you could use is not
>> necessarily memorizing your speech ahead of time, but knowing
>> your stance on a topic and perhaps just writing that subject down
>> (or even shortening the word to just a few letters), and
>> explaining your view to the class.  Since no one else is reading
>> your notes, they can literally say anything as long as you
>> remember what the letters/words mean.  There are benefits and
>> drawbacks to memorizing your speech ahead of time, let me know if
>> you'd like for me to elaborate.
>> - Be sure to not only speak clearly, but also use inflection.  I
>> can't stress this enough, speaking in a monotone voice is a sure
>> way to get people to fall asleep or think about things totally
>> unrelated to your presentation.
>> - Know your audience and your subject matter.  You speak to
>> college students in a different manner than you would third
>> graders which differs from how you would speak to parents.
>> Likewise, you'd talk about genocide with an expression that
>> contrasts the one you'd have when talking about something
>> positive.  Be sure to maintain appropriate tone of voice,
>> posture, movement etc.  You'll know your audience is engaged when
>> they react appropriately to something you've said.  For example,
>> when you tell an anecdote, they respond with ooos and ahs, awws,
>> laughs/chuckles- whatever's appropriate.  If you hear a lot of
>> movement (stretching, looking for a clock, checking phones,
>> etc.), or excessive coughing (when it's not flu season), you know
>> you've lost your audience and it's time to take a more upbeat
>> approach.
>> - Finally, and this is the most important tip of all in my
>> opinion.  Be yourself.  If you're not a funny person, don't force
>> it.  If you're not comfortable moving around, just maintain good
>> posture in one area.  As Joe said, these things need to look
>> natural, so do whatever you feel most comfortable with.  If you
>> would like to learn about gestures, movement etc.  then by all
>> means, do so! It makes for a great presentation, but don't force
>> anything.
>> Please let me know if you'd like for me to elaborate on specific
>> topics! I would be more than happy to do so.
>> Hope this helps,
>> Lizzy
>> 
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