Avoiding Bad Body Language

There isn’t a lot of technology or online content in in-person meetings and presentations — we’ll get to bad online body language down the road — but how you stand, talk, gesture, and relate to the others in the room is probably more important.  After all, you may have invested days or weeks online, in advertising, or in shoe leather just to get in front of this audience. So how you come across deserves the same amount of attention as every other part of your marketing process.

Here’s some guidelines and examples (http://bit.ly/ozyIE3) that communications expert Bill Rosenthal shared with Inc. magazine:

• Avoid the gestures, expressions, postures, and eye movements demonstrated at the link
• Never look away from your audience
• Fidgeting with your hands is distracting
• Don’t clap, knuckle crunch, or cuticle pick
• Unless you are pointing to something in your presentation or making a big movement, keep your hands by your side
• When you use your arms, gesture from the shoulder—not your elbow—to avoid looking like you are doing the chicken dance
• Be neat and organized
• Dress for the environment