Building Professional Presence

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Building Professional Presence

1. Body Language.
2. Eye Contact.
3. Appropriate Language.
4. Personal Destructors.
5. Effective Use of Voice.

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A. Body Language

1. Gestures.
2. Facial Expressions.
3. Postures.
4. Movement.

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A.1. Gestures

• Gestures can help bring your presentation to
  life, impart your conviction (sincerity/assurance
  ), channel nervousness in a positive direction,
  and convey confidence and enthusiasm.
• Guidelines for gestures (signs, signals)
• Use gestures to emphasize a point.
• Use gestures to direct attention and provide
  emphasis.
• Always complete a gesture once youve started it.

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A.1. Gestures

• Show audience youre pleased with whats going on
  or what have been said.
• Descriptive gestures are useful in describing
  properties of things
• Size / Shape / Motion / Direction/
• Experiment with a variety of gestures.
• Practice gestures in front of a mirror or
  videotape until you are comfortable with them.
• Remember that you can gesture with your head,
  arms, hands, or entire body.

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A.2. Facial Expressions

• Its more interesting to watch someone who has
• a range of facial expressions than someone who
• is stuck in one expression.
• Guidelines for facial expressions
• Begin the presentation with a relaxed, friendly
  expression.
• Vary your expressions to reflect the content of
  your meeting.
• Let your face show the delight, amusement,
  puzzlement, etc., you are feeling.
• Dont paste on a smile frequently.
• Dont be afraid to laugh.

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A.3. Posture

• Use your posture to project confidence. The
  audiences should be able to tell from the way you
  physically present yourself that you feel good
  about what youre saying.
• Guidelines for Posture (position, stance)
• Maintain an erect but relaxed posture.
• Keep your arms comfortably at your sides when
• not using them to gesture.
• Avoid rocking, shifting, and staring at the
  ceiling.
• when someone is speaking, make sure your body
  is fully directed to the speaker.

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A.3. Posture (some guidelines for Posture )

• Alternative between sitting and standing.
• Lean forward to show interest and attention.
• Avoid crossing your arms or putting your hands
  in your pockets.
• Avoid putting your hands on your hips or
  pointing at people.
• If you tend to freeze up, place supplies where
  you have to move to get them.
• Before starting your presentation, warm up
  and relax your body.
• When audiences take a break, use the time to do
  something relaxing or energizing for yourself.

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A.4. Movement

• As a general rule, always move with a purpose.
• Change your position in the room periodically.
  Dont plant yourself at the head of the table or
  room.
• Vary the speed at which you move around the room.
• Move toward participants to connect with them.
• Avoid pacing.

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B. Eye Contact

• Eye contact is a critical element of effective
  delivery.
• By making eye contact, you demonstrate your
  interest in, and concern for, the audiences.
• Eye contact also enables you to assess the
  changing
• responses of the group.
• Nervousness can make it difficult for you to
  maintain eye contact.

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B. Eye Contact

• Guidelines for making eye contact
• When an audiences is speaking to you, maintain
  eye contact for at least five seconds.
• When you are talking, look at the participants.
• When you are answering an audience's question,
  look at the questioner, then establish eye
  contact with the rest of the group.

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B. Eye Contact

• Coordinate eye contact with movement at times
  look and walk toward your audiences rather than
  just standing still.
• Make sure that your eye contact with any
  individual or section of the group is neither too
  long nor too short. In general, maintain eye
  contact for only a few seconds before moving on
  to the next person or section of the group.

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C. Appropriate Language

• Its important to adapt your use of language to
  the circumstances of the audiences. Tailor words
  and references to their intelligence and
  academic, technical, and social backgrounds.
• Avoid overuse of technical terms and buzzwords.
• Effective use of Pause
• Pause for emphasis or dramatic effect.
• Pause and take a breath instead of using non
  words (um, okay, really, you know,etc.)
• Maintain eye contact when you do pause.

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D. Personal Destructors

• Empty your pockets before the presentation.
• Put pens and markers away from you so you wont
  be tempted to play with their caps.
• Have nothing around except essential materials.
• Videotape yourself. Watch the tape to see
  mannerisms you may be unaware of having.

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E. Effective Use of Voice

• Fear and tension often manifest themselves in
  vocal problems that dont exist when youre in
  stress-free situation.
• Careful planning.
• Concentrate to enhance your voice.
• Speed and pacing.
• Volume.
• Inflection.

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E.1 Speed and Pacing

• Vary your speed for dramatic effect.
• Speed up to convey excitement.
• Slow down to add emphasis.
• Use natural pauses when presenting content to
  break the material into small, meaningful
  segments it makes it easier to remember.

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E.2 Volume

• The size of the room and your distance from
• attendee will determine the volume you choose.
• Guidelines for effective use of volume
• Adjust your volume to the size of the room.
• Vary your volume for dramatic effect, but never
  get too loud or too soft.
• Concentrate on controlling your projection rather
  than controlling your volume.

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E.3 Inflection

• Vary your inflection for emphasis of critical
  information.
• Avoid adding inflection for its own sake.
• Make sure the tone in which you present concepts
  and respond to incorrect answers is not parental.
• Audiotape yourself.