'Your body speaks' is the title of the fifth project in the Toastmasters Competent Communicator manual. At the club meeting, on 24 February, Yuyu gave her speech to complete this fifth project, and in doing so she gave the project title a whole new meaning - at least for me.
The instructions for Project 5 tell you how to use body movement to reinforce your message when speaking in public. I thought the title of the project referred to letting your body move, to help the speech along.
As you’ve probably noticed yourself as a member of an audience, a talk is often much more gripping if the speaker moves around while speaking. I don’t mean when the speaker just makes repetitive hand movements (though that is better than nothing). I mean that when a speaker lets his or her body illustrate his or her talk, the result is a much more confident – and usually more interesting and involving - ‘performance’.
On 24 February, Yuyu showed that the title could have more meaning than I had been reading into it.
Yuyu explained to us that soon after she had just given her very first speech at Toastmasters, she had to give a presentation at a workshop for her discipline at university.
She had been extremely nervous and had stood motionless behind the lectern during her workshop presentation. Afterwards, noone in her audience had asked her any questions in question time. (Questions put to an academic after a presentation in a workshop are like a stamp of approval – you want to have some!) It was as if her presentation hadn’t been heard.
Since then, Yuyu has given a number of talks at Toastmasters and gained considerably more confidence in speaking.
She told us that she had just recently given another presentation at a workshop or conference for her discipline. This time, Yuyu said, with her Toastmasters experience ‘under her belt’ she had moved around during her presentation, reinforcing her points with her body language and making direct eye contact with interested members of the audience as she spoke. Her body demonstrated that she was now a confident speaker.
And – hey presto! – this time the senior professors present used the question time after her presentation to raise some interesting points for discussion and sought further information from her – a stamp of approval indeed!
I suddenly saw, as Yuyu meant us to, that in this case Yuyu’s body had indeed 'spoken' for her in her two workshop presentations. When she was very nervous, her body had told her audience that fact – and they had respected that situation and not challenged her with questions. Now, several months later, they had seen from her body language that she has confidence. Her audience could now feel free to respond to Yuyu’s professional presentation at the workshop. They knew subconsciously that they could raise points for discussion and ask for more information, and she would not be terrified when they did.
What a testimony to the value of taking regular opportunities, such as at club meetings, to come out to the front and speak to the group!
Practice makes perfect, and evidently – in Toastmasters at least – practice builds confidence, and your body will tell everyone so!
The instructions for Project 5 tell you how to use body movement to reinforce your message when speaking in public. I thought the title of the project referred to letting your body move, to help the speech along.
As you’ve probably noticed yourself as a member of an audience, a talk is often much more gripping if the speaker moves around while speaking. I don’t mean when the speaker just makes repetitive hand movements (though that is better than nothing). I mean that when a speaker lets his or her body illustrate his or her talk, the result is a much more confident – and usually more interesting and involving - ‘performance’.
On 24 February, Yuyu showed that the title could have more meaning than I had been reading into it.
Yuyu explained to us that soon after she had just given her very first speech at Toastmasters, she had to give a presentation at a workshop for her discipline at university.
She had been extremely nervous and had stood motionless behind the lectern during her workshop presentation. Afterwards, noone in her audience had asked her any questions in question time. (Questions put to an academic after a presentation in a workshop are like a stamp of approval – you want to have some!) It was as if her presentation hadn’t been heard.
Since then, Yuyu has given a number of talks at Toastmasters and gained considerably more confidence in speaking.
She told us that she had just recently given another presentation at a workshop or conference for her discipline. This time, Yuyu said, with her Toastmasters experience ‘under her belt’ she had moved around during her presentation, reinforcing her points with her body language and making direct eye contact with interested members of the audience as she spoke. Her body demonstrated that she was now a confident speaker.
And – hey presto! – this time the senior professors present used the question time after her presentation to raise some interesting points for discussion and sought further information from her – a stamp of approval indeed!
I suddenly saw, as Yuyu meant us to, that in this case Yuyu’s body had indeed 'spoken' for her in her two workshop presentations. When she was very nervous, her body had told her audience that fact – and they had respected that situation and not challenged her with questions. Now, several months later, they had seen from her body language that she has confidence. Her audience could now feel free to respond to Yuyu’s professional presentation at the workshop. They knew subconsciously that they could raise points for discussion and ask for more information, and she would not be terrified when they did.
What a testimony to the value of taking regular opportunities, such as at club meetings, to come out to the front and speak to the group!
Practice makes perfect, and evidently – in Toastmasters at least – practice builds confidence, and your body will tell everyone so!
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