If you ever have to speak to an audience, or present an idea or speech to a large crowd in public, here are some great body language tips that will help you. The most important part of any presentation and speech is that you feel relaxed, your audience feels comfortable, you establish trust, and you deliver compelling points and ideas that engage your audience and drive your message closer toward the end result and goal… whatever that may be.

10 Powerful Body Language Tips for Your Next Speech or Presentation

1. To boost your confidence during your presentation,  open your chest and arms, and keep your back straight.  This position will make you breathe better, and you’ll feel much more relaxed.

2. To make your audience more comfortable, simply smile at them.  Smiling is your most powerful weapon in any presentation.

3. To engage people, gesture with your arms and hands in a natural way, and look your audience in the eye. People tend naturally to pay attention and to like people who look them in the eye.

4. To demonstrate authority, keep calm and use small and stiff gestures.  This way people will trust you and view you as a confident person and presenter.

5. To bring movement and life to your speech, use the physical space you have available and walk it. For example, if you’re presenting 3 points, talk about point “A” when you’re at your first position; then move out or aside 2 or 3 steps, and talk about point “B” this way, movement that includes space will accompany your speech.

6. To keep the audience’s attention, vary your gestures through-out the presentation. Open gestures, small gestures, gestures that involve your head, arms, and hands, and use broad gestures to make an impact on your audience.

7. To draw attention to a certain element of your presentation, point directly at it and look at it on the screen at the same time.  The audience will follow your finger and your eyes.

8. To encourage audience participation, use open gestures and if possible walk around and towards people. We tend to want to participate more when we have proximity to a speaker.

9. To make a hard question from your audience seem easier, pause… breathe slowly (this will give you time to think) and then answer while looking the questioner directly in the eye.

10. To make the audience buy your story, use positive gestures during the entire presentation: nodding, smiling, open gestures, mirroring etc.

The best tips and suggestions I can make for any presentation: be honest, be truthful, be sincere, be transparent, be simple, be fun, be approachable, and most of all be humble!  Don’t be full of yourself, be yourself and full of your goal.