The magic link between body language and public speaking confidence
Background
Some years ago, I worked in Manhattan, “The City that never sleeps”. Living and working in New York City was one of the most fun and exhilarating times of my life.
After a year of living in NYC, I wanted to return home to Australia to visit my mother, whom I missed desperately. Although we spoke every few days on the phone, I longed to see her in-person. My fervent desire was to take an extended period of leave of 6 weeks from my job - definitely a lot of vacation time by US standards!
The “problem” was that I had to ask my boss for his permission. Although I had a very good working relationship with him, I still dreaded broaching my leave request with him. My boss could run “hot and cold”. One minute he could be pleasant, even quite charming, and then if he got into “a mood”, could be sarcastic and difficult. I was super-nervous that my request would be flatly denied, and that he would laugh me out of his Office.
When the day came around to ask for his approval, I watched him like a hawk, desperately trying to gauge his mood. The more I over-thought how things would transpire, the more anxious, fearful and panicky I became. After a harrowing few hours of non-stop procrastination (not to mention terrible productivity!), my imagination growing wilder by the minute, I eventually pulled myself together, plucked up some courage, marched into his Office and nervously blurted out my request.
Without batting an eyelid, he simply replied: “Of course, that’s fine. I understand you must be home-sick, living so far away from Australia”. At which point, I almost skipped out of his office, feeling on top of the world.
After the initial euphoria wore off, I felt quite disgusted with myself for having procrastinated and almost made myself sick from blowing everything out of proportion.
And now, with the wonderful benefit of hindsight, I know that I shouldn’t have put things off and gone into overthinking mode.
I should have also applied the following proven strategy to empower myself with a jolt of courage, confidence and self-belief to just go-for-it!
Remember the 1970’s show “Wonder Woman” played by Lynda Carter? In the show, Wonder Woman was an empowered and unstoppable character, with strong, confident body language to match!
Our body language is highly significant in affecting our confidence. Amy Cuddy is an American social psychologist, who became widely known for her 2012 TED talk, in which she presented a 2010 study on "power posing" which she had co-authored. The Study looked at how our body language can influence our mind.
The Power of the Power Pose
Cuddy found that when people adopted a “power pose” –making themselves physically bigger, with the arms held high, or on the hips in the “wonder woman” pose, for a couple of minutes, their body’s biochemistry changed. Their blood level of the hormone cortisol (the stress hormone) reduced, whilst levels of testosterone (the dominance hormone) increased. The power posers were imbued with a feeling of inner-strength, assertiveness and confidence. Cuddy speaks about how in life, we have to fake it, not till we make it, but till we become it.
Cuddy’s fascinating TED talk a few years ago has now been viewed by around 18.5 million people! Since viewing her Talk, I’ve tried to use the power pose in my life in stressful situations, say just before giving a public presentation to a roomful of strangers. Prior to the event, I’ve gone into a private room (sometimes it had to be a stall in the ladies’ rest room, where it definitely felt kind of weird!), put my hands on my hips for the requisite two minutes, and waited for that magical feeling of inner confidence to sweep over me.
Your new strategy to be confident when speaking in public!
Think about some situations in your life before which you could apply a Power Pose. It could be before delivering a presentation at work, before a big job interview, speaking on the phone to a difficult client or at a critical meeting in which the stakes are high. Just make sure you practise your power pose for a good two minutes in a private room shortly before the situation for which you need to be cool, calm and collected.
I swear by the use of the power pose prior to delivering a presentation and find it to be a very empowering practice.
In closing, don’t underestimate the importance of body language in communication.
If you are looking for a technique to stop feeling anxious before public speaking and to be a more successful public speaker, this is a great strategy you should definitely add to your toolkit!
© 2020 Susan Weser. All rights reserved.
Susan Weser is the Founder of Speaking2Win, a boutique public speaking and presentation skills consultancy, based in Melbourne, Australia. Susan’s mission is to demystify public speaking and presenting. She loves to fast-track her clients’ public speaking success, empowering them with the skills and confidence to excel in all their public speaking endeavours.