How to make your content 10x clearer through gesture
Frankie Kemp
23 February 2020
Want to keep your audience with you, even with the most complex information?
One of the simplest ways to do this is through gesture. However, you don’t want to be swinging your arms around like windmills.
Using movement provides a second channel of communication for the listener and adds to the conviction of the speaker.
Here’s one way of driving your point home through your movement and gesture (without looking like a demented air traffic controller)
Transcript:
Do you ever wonder if you’re keeping your audience with your content as you go along in a presentation. For a lot of people, they’re thinking “I don’t know if they’re with me,” or “I don’t know what to do to keep my audience with me.”
One of the techniques that you could use is a very specific form of gesturing called anchoring – or at least I call it anchoring – so you’ll all know what I mean because I’m going to tell you right now. If you have contrasts – distinctions – in your presentation, anchoring is perfect.
So if I’m talking about now I will use a gesture over here. Now, if I’m talking about the future, and I use a gesture over there, as soon as I move over here my audience are like, “She’s going
to talk about now,” and then if I go over there – well you know already – I’m going to be talking about the future.
It helps to parse our chunks of information so it will keep the audience with you. So you could be talking about Product A and Product B. You could be talking about yourself and then you mention the competitor. So parsing – separating – your information like this helps to keep your audience with you. And if you’re on a larger platform just walking and using the space will achieve exactly the same goal.
Now, Kang and Tversky are two researchers who know this only too well. They gathered together a pool of students who had absolutely no engineering background and they watched, in two
different groups, two videos. One video explained the workings (you’re going to be jealous) of a four-stroke engine. I know: I’m really sad that I missed out too. The presenter did this – pointing out on the visuals, which you and I have both seen. And then the other half of the group saw a video with the presenter who was not just pointing out on the visuals but was also using gesture to express how this engine worked.
Then Group A and Group B had to go off in two separate directions and make videos showing what they understood. Group A couldn’t really get quite the depth of understanding from the presenter that did this. But the Group B, who watched the presenter use gestures as well as refer to the visual aids understood at a much deeper level how this system worked. Now they had no background, remember, in engineering so using gesture like this can help keep your audience with you. Use this and you will engage your audience.
