Evaluating Speeches: Posture & Gestures

Video Transcript

"We're talking about the evaluation of the speaker and their overall presentation, and a couple of things that you want to take a look for. First is posture, and when I'm talking about posture, this is what I see a lot. I see they're traditionally behind a podium and they're leaning on the podium or maybe they're rocking on the podium, they're slumped over the podium, or maybe they're simply just standing up but they're slumping over. What we're looking for is poised, standing tall, "I am giving the speech, here we go." Another thing that you have to take a look at is moving around. Are they randomly moving? Are they rocking? What are they doing? They should be standing stationary with the possibility of maybe moving once or twice if it's warranted, but not just random rocking and moving around side-to-side. The last thing that we want to take a look at when we're talking about the body are gestures. How much gesturing are they doing? Are they doing nothing or are they constantly talking with their hands to the point of extreme distraction? Over and over and over they're using their hands. So you want a moderate amount of gesturing, when it makes sense."