CAB 7 : Body Language: It's Not Just What You Say, It's How You Say It

Hello everyone

In the last edition, I wrote about how to make a good first impression by paying attention to your appearance and how you conduct the conversation.

This week is about the importance of body language.

According to Albert Mehrabian's work, communication effectiveness depends on the words, tonality and body language. Body language is the most important component at 55% with words contributing only 7% and tonality at 38%.

So how we carry ourselves is far more important than the words we use when talking to someone.

One of the most important parts of body language is eye contact. Make sure that you are able to maintain eye contact with the other person to show that you are interested in the conversation. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of talking to someone who’s looking at the floor or ceiling or just randomly looking elsewhere. It is very offputting when people do that.

If you find it difficult to maintain eye contact, you can also cheat a little bit by looking at the eyebrow, or the space between the eyes to give the illusion of eye contact. But don't stare at someone too intently then it becomes a bit creepy. Maintaining eye contact for about 60-70% of the time is good enough already.

The next thing that you need to be aware of is about your posture. Just by leaning in forward a bit sends a strong signal that you are interested in the conversation. Sometimes I see people standing too straight up creating a bit of an empty space in front of them.

Be careful also about the positions of your arm. If you cross your arms, that is what we called a ‘close’ position and is not an inviting signal to other people.

Related to body language is the concept of ‘mirroring’. Mirroring is the act of imitating another person’s behaviour, gestures, posture, or expressions in order to create rapport. This has to be done skillfully in a subtle way though because otherwise it would look weird that you are copying what the other person is doing. Mirroring when down well is a powerful tool to create strong rapport with the person you are talking to.

So the key thing when it comes to body language is the eye contact, postures and whether your body is in ‘open’ or ‘close’ position. And you should also pay attention to ‘mirroring’.

You can find out more about mirroring here

Pay attention to your body language when you are communicating either in a 1 to 1 setting, in a group setting or when on stage doing a presentation because 55% of the meaning of what you want to say is conveyed through your body language

Practice mirroring in a more casual setting. You can practice it with your partner, your friends or your family.

Do you know the 1-3 technique to structure your presentation. Does your speech have the right intonation, speed and volume? Do you know how you should carry your body language during a presentation?

I will be teaching all these and other techniques in this face-to-face training. You will get ample opportunities to practice and get immediate feedback.

By the end of the training, you will be ready to own the stage the next time you do a presentation.

To register, you can click here https://doktoraz.my/upcoming-events/