Can You Make Your Message Stronger?

In our last Article on gestures we discussed using contradictory messages for an effect. The idea was to communicate a message other than what was being said through other means such as gestures, tone and expressions. This could be used to communicate that there is some confusion or to add humor. The technique can be very effective but it also takes some practice and timing to do well.

A simpler use of gestures is to emphasize what you are saying. In performing these gestures you are repeating the verbal message with a visual message. For example if you wanted to tell your audience that you had three points to make and you held up three fingers you would be emphasizing what you were saying. Another example would be to tell your audience that the fish was 18 inches long while holding your hands 18 inches apart.

If you are simply repeating the verbal message with your gestures why would you bother?

Well one reason is to reach people who have different learning styles. Remember we discussed that people have learning styles? Some are auditory learners – they listen well. Some are visual learners – they learn by seeing. Finally another group is kinesthetic learners – they learn by doing. By adding reinforcing gestures we add a visual component to our message. This visual component is going to communicate a whole lot more effectively to the visual learners than just the verbal message.

In fact, although we all have a dominant learning style we also use the other styles. Someone who is an auditory learner will still take in at least some of a visual message – so all of our audience will benefit from a variety of communication methods.

Now what about the kinesthetic learners? How do we get them involved or “doing” during our presentation so they take in the message? I’ll share some ideas about that in the next newsletter.

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Copyright © 2007 David Mudie All Rights Reserved

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