The US presidential candidates and their vices (that is, seconds in command, not scandalous habits)  and our own politicians during party conference season know what it’s like to be on show; judged not only for what they say, but the way they say it and how they look.

The frequently quoted study into verbal vs non-verbal communication by Albert Mehrabian suggests that the majority (55%) of what we absorb from others’ communication is via body language, while their tone accounts for 38%. A measly 7% is about the actual words.

So, painstaking hours spent crafting a speech or a presentation can be scuppered by lack of attention to your non-verbal modes of communication.

Our friends at The Brilliant Training Company have been responsible for helping us at Staniforth to refine our presentation skills, which is not only valuable for business development, but also to help make the case for our clients when handling journalists.

Harvard Business Review online has some excellent tips on this topic, which includes taking up yoga to get you breathing on a par with Darth Vader.

Sure - learn your notes and know your stuff. But don’t forget that your body language doesn’t lie.

Tags: , non-verbal communication; body language, presentation skills, presentations, speeches

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 3:32 pm and is filed under General PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.