When standing in front of an audience, your body language is a crucial element in delivering your message effectively as a public speaker. And a nervous presenter can often be detected in the telltale signals that they display such as pacing, dancing or holding for dear life on to props such as a podium. So how does one overcome speech anxiety and at the same time demonstrate dynamic body language that is coherent with your message in order to deliver a quality presentation?

Amy Cuddy is an American social psychologist and Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit at Harvard Business School. She has become famous for known for her research nonverbal behaviour, and the effects of social stimuli on hormone levels. She is a world famous speaker on the psychology of power, influence, nonverbal communication, and prejudice and her TED talk has been viewed more than 21 million times and ranks number two among the most-viewed TEDTalks according to Wikipedia.

What Amy Cuddy has to teach us that is so profound is not only does our body language communicate a clear message to our audience, but it also influences the way we feel about ourselves.

To assume a confident stance when conducting a presentation therefore not only makes us appear confident, but makes us feel confident. This is very useful information as herein lies a very useful approach that we can adopt in order to overcome speech anxiety.

Powerful body language will assist you to feel powerful when you present. It will also assist you to feel more powerful in situations where you would normally feel submissive, such as those difficult job interviews or workplace confrontations.

We recommend taking a look at Amy Cuddy’s very popular TED Talk and try out some powerful body language in order to change the way you feel and look in not only your presentations, but your life. Or, if you still need some help, please do contact us for some individual coaching. We hope you enjoy this video and check here for more TEDx talks from our clients.

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