The New Articulate Executive: Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader, 2nd Edition

Hands

Short of creating a distraction, try to let your hands help you express yourself, for two reasons:

1. Freeing up your hands to “talk” with you helps vent the anxieties that you may feel about speaking in the first place. People experience anxiety or stage fright in different ways. But when allowed to build without release, anxiety can reveal our fear by making us look nervous or wooden. Nervousness often manifests itself in rocking or swaying. Using your hands helps hide fear by physically releasing tension. Keeping your hands active can also help compensate for the frustration of feeling stuck at a lectern.

Of course, your hands should not run away with you. They should always help, never distract. So keep your moves disciplined: short ...