[Perform-Talk] The Use of Hand Gestures When Public Speaking

[Shelley Alongi]

Hi Annie 

Hands are funny things. Sometimes we just don’t know what to do with them. When I’m in a situation where I don’t know what to do with my hands. I usually just keep them at my side so that they don’t look awkward. If anyone is looking at your hands, they’re not listening to the message that you are presenting. If you can’t think of a hand gesture, I would just keep your hands as they used to say to yourself. I have had experience with public speaking through toastmasters, and I know through one speech I did use gestures. The speech I gave was on the subject of space flight. I talked to the audience about a certain company and their involvement in offering space flight to the general public. At one point, I said now I know that we all know someone we’d like to launch into outer space. At that point, I took my hands and raise them over my head and out to the sides to signify sending someone toward the sky. I won that contest by the way :-) Sometimes when I’ve given public speeches, I’ll use that gesture to encompass the audience or the subject matter. You can use that gesture to make something obvious or just in a small way. In terms of singing, I suppose it matters what type of music you are singing. In my experience because I do have a music degree, singing was a very stayed performance. In something like a rock concert gestures are much more exaggerated; noticeable because the singers will throw their heads back or puff out their chest or use extensive hand motions. These days singers connected to a mic are most likely to be using wireless technology so this is much easier. Personally, I was in choir so our hands were always full of books. We didn’t do much gesturing, except if we were performing in an opera.  In short, maintain good posture and do whatever you want.I hope this gives you a little insight about how I use hand gestures. You might incorporate waving as if you’re actively saying hello to someone or talking about saying hello to someone. I’ve been giving talks lately at the church every few months and I haven’t needed to use hand gesteures because I have my hands full of my notes. I know in toastmasters you are encouraged not to use notes. But in this situation, I was only giving the talk once and I didn’t want to get distracted and it had been a while since I had given a toastmasters style speech so I cheated and used my notes. :-) I hope this helps you incorporate hand gestures into further speeches and good luck.
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> On Dec 11, 2025, at 9:22 PM, Annie Davis via Perform-Talk <perform-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello everybody😊.  I am curious to hear your thoughts on this subject.  I am a member of Toastmasters at my “survival” place of employment, and the person who evaluated me suggested that I try to incorporate more hand gestures in future speeches.  I’ve heard this a lot and understand that is how many sighted people communicate.  I also understand that every performance, whether spoken or sung should be “believable” to the audience, and when we simply stand there and speak/sing, that is not always the case.
> 
> Conversely, when I have incorporated gestures that I memorized in voice lessons, adjudicators have said that the gestures were over-rehearsed.
> 
> How have you learned to navigate this catch 22?
> 
> Are there certain hand gestures you have in your “back pocket” so to speak that you find useful when presenting that feel natural to you and look natural to your audience?
> 
> I appreciate any insight you might have. ❤
> 
> Annie
> 
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