Page 69 - How To Sell Yourself

68 How to Sell Yourself
the fingers or tug at the bottom of your jacket. Your fingers should be slightly curled with the thumb angled slightly toward the audience.
Don’t let either your palm or the back of your hand face the audience.
Stay loose and gesture. What has been illustrated so far is only your starting position. I don’t recommend that you stand like a statue. Use gestures to punctuate what you’re saying and to help the audience visualize what you’re saying. After the first few ges- tures, you’ll find that your hands can come to lots of other posi- tions and look good.
• Your fingers can be folded gently in front of you.
• One hand can move to a pocket after a gesture.
• Your arms can be folded in front if you’ll come out of it
to gesture and then return to another position.
It’s important to vary the gestures so that they’re genuine and appropriate. It’s also important to vary the hand positions.
Whatever subsequent positions you choose, keep in mind the gesture is one of the strong signals you send.
The open face says, “I care.” The gesture says, “I share,” “This communication is important to me,” and “I hug you with this idea.”
Keep up the good work. Keep using your hands and your arms to make appropriate and genuine gestures. Don’t succumb to the temptation to hide them. You’ll also discover that by varying the hand you use to gesture, you’ll help yourself vary the gestures.
For some reason I don’t understand, television personalities are discouraged from using their hands. It’s created some really weird communication styles. The reporters, anchors, and talking heads speak with heads bobbing, shoulder-jerking, and odd move- ments for emphasis. We all talk with our hands, so all those other awkward wriggles are gesture-substitutes that look weird.
The lectern
The same principles apply to the lectern. You can hold it with both hands, but don’t clutch it. Clutching the lectern tightly is the podium equivalent of the fig leaf. Use the lectern, but not as a crutch. Don’t become dependent on it to hold you up.