51. “What do I do with my hands?”
A Simple Approach to Gesturing
For the more than two decades I have been a presentation coach, the most frequently asked question (until now, but more about that in Chapter 54, “Rx: CrackBerry Addiction”) has been, “What do I do with my hands?”
The answer is to use your hands to illustrate your words. But that seemingly simple instruction can lead to overkill if a coach or a presenter attempts to choreograph gestures. Choreography makes presenters feel like performers and worse, overloads them, as if asking them to pat their heads and rub their tummies at the same time.
An apocryphal story about Richard Nixon ...
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