Chapter 13 Develop and use your own speaking posture

Close the book, for you cannot learn gestures from a book.When you give a lecture, your impulses and desires are the noblest skills, more valuable than any instruction any professor can give you. The speaker should not sit facing the audience before speaking.You appear at the venue with a brand new attitude, isn't it better than the old image in the eyes of the audience? If we have to sit down first, then pay great attention to our sitting posture.You must have seen people look around for an empty seat, much like a hound looking for a place to lie down for the night.They looked around, and when they found a chair, they hurried forward and threw their bodies onto the chair like a big sandbag.

A person who knows the art of sitting down first touches the chair with his heel, then easily maintains an upright posture from head to buttocks, and slowly sits down under perfect control. As we said earlier, don't play with your clothes or your jewelry, because doing so will distract the audience from you.There's another reason: doing so gives the impression of a lack of self-control.Any movement that does not add weight to your speech will reduce the audience's attention to you, and there is no movement that will not attract the audience's attention.Therefore, you must stand in a still posture and control your own body, which will give the audience a psychological sense of control and poise over you.

When you are ready to stand up and start speaking, don't rush to start speaking immediately. This is often a common problem of amateur speakers.Take a deep breath and look at your audience for about a minute, pausing if there is noise or commotion among the audience, and wait until everything is calm. Hold your chest out.Don't wait until you have to face your audience to do this.Why not practice doing this every day?In this way, when you stand in front of an audience, you can naturally puff out your chest. Luthor Gulick said in his book "The Productive Life": "There is not one person out of ten who can hold himself in the best position... You must keep your neck tight to your shirt. collar." He recommends that people do this exercise every day: "Breathe in slowly, but as hard as you can. At the same time, keep your neck firmly against your collar. Even if it's exaggerated, it won't hurt. Doing it The goal is to directly straighten the back. This will also thicken the chest."

How should the hands be placed after standing upright?The best way is to forget about them.It would be ideal if they would hang down to the side of the body in a natural way.If they look like a bunch of bananas to you, don't assume that no one will notice them, or that people won't be interested in them.Go unnoticed only by dangling easily at the sides of your body.Not even the most critical person can criticize this pose.Of course, they can also make emphatic gestures naturally and unhindered when needed. But if you're nervous and find that putting them on your back, tucking them in your pocket, or placing them on your desk makes you less nervous -- so what?You have to use your common sense to judge.I have heard many of the famous speakers of this era speak.They also occasionally put their hands in their pockets when they give speeches: Brian does it, Depp does it, President Roosevelt does it.Even a gentleman as respectful of manners as the English statesman Disraeli sometimes succumbed to this temptation.Still, it's not such a big deal that the sky won't fall over it.If a man has something worthwhile to say, and says it convincingly, how he places his hands or feet is of little importance.Most of these minor details can take care of themselves, so long as his head is full and his heart is full of enthusiasm.After all, the most important thing in giving a speech is the content, not the posture of hands or feet.

This leads naturally to those oft-abused posture issues all around us.The first speech class I attended was taught by the dean of a college in the Midwest.As far as I can remember, this class was about posture.This class turned out to be not only useless to me, but also misconceived and very harmful.The dean told me to let my arms hang loosely at my sides, palms facing back, fingers half-bent, thumbs touching my thighs.This trains me to lift my arms gracefully, do a classical turn of the wrist, and spread out first the index finger, then the middle finger, then the little finger.Finally, when the whole aesthetic and decorative maneuver is complete, the arm is lowered along the same graceful but unnatural curve, against the outer thigh.The whole performance is full of rigidity and artificiality, completely unreasonable and even more unreal.The dean believes that what he taught cannot be learned elsewhere.

However, he didn't teach me to create a unique set of movements, nor did he encourage me to develop a sense of using gestures, nor did he ask me to breathe life into it so that it seemed natural, and he didn't ask me to relax, learn to be spontaneous, to break through A reserved shell, talking and acting like a normal person.None, the whole show is regrettably as mechanical as a typewriter, as lifeless as last year's Bird's Nest, and as ridiculous as a TV melodrama. It's hard to believe that such absurd stuff is still being taught in the 20th century.But, just a few years ago, there was a book on speaking poses—an entire book that tried to turn people into cyborgs.It stipulates in detail what gestures should be used to speak this sentence, what gestures should be used to speak that sentence, which gesture should be used with one hand, which gesture should use both hands, which gesture should be raised with hands, which gesture should be used. One to lift to a medium height, which to lower, how to bend this finger, and how to bend that finger.I once saw 20 people standing in front of a class at the same time, speaking the same sentences from this book, and making the exact same gestures on the exact same sentences, which made them all look equally ridiculous, Artificiality, time wasting, mechanization, and health hazards have given many people a very bad impression of speech teaching.The dean of a large Massachusetts college recently announced that his school will no longer teach speeches because he has not seen any teaching method that teaches students to give speeches reasonably.I have 100 percent sympathy for the headmaster.

Nine times out of ten all the writings on speech posture are useless, and not just a waste of good paper and good ink.Any posture learned from a book is likely to be wasted.You want to learn useful poses!You can only figure it out by yourself, start from your own heart, and cultivate according to your own thoughts and interests.The only gestures of value are the ones you're born with.An ounce of instinct is worth more than a ton of rules. Gestures are nothing like dinner dresses, which can be put on and off at will. They are an outward expression of an inner condition, like a kiss, a colic, a laugh, or seasickness.

A man's gestures, like his toothbrush, should be his own personal use.Everyone is different, as long as we can let nature take its course, everyone's gestures should also be different. No two people should be trained to perform the exact same gestures.You can imagine the absurdity of the slender, clumsy, slow-thinking Lincoln using exactly the same gestures as the fast-talking, edgy, debonair Douglas. Herndon, who practiced law with Lincoln and wrote his biography, said: "Lincoln gestured less often than he did with his head. He often shook his head vigorously. When he wanted to emphasize his This gesture is especially meaningful when he is making a point. Sometimes the gesture comes to a sudden stop, as if flying sparks to combustibles. He never gestures like other speakers do, cutting air and space. He never used theatrical movements... As the speech proceeded, his movements became more and more free and easy until they reached perfection. He had a complete naturalness, a strong character, so he also Dignified. He despises vanity, ostentation, affectation, and hypocrisy.... The long, thin fingers of his right hand contain a world of great significance and emphatic emphasis as he spreads his insights in the minds of his listeners. Sometimes, for To express joy and conviviality, he would raise his hands at about a fifty-degree angle, palms up, as if eager to embrace that spirit. If he was expressing disgust—say, denouncing slavery—he would raise his arms, clasping them. Fist, thrown in the air, showing a truly sublime sense of loathing. This is one of his most effective gestures, showing a most vivid determination to pull down what he hates and leave it in the ashes trampled on. He always stood neatly, with his toes on the same line, never putting one foot in front of the other. He never held or leaned on anything, and throughout the His posture and attitude vary only slightly during his speech. He never shouts or walks up and down the podium. To ease his arms, he sometimes grabs his coat with his left hand The collar, the thumb is up, and the right hand is free to make various gestures." The famous sculptor Saint-Gaudens sculpted him into a statue in Lincoln Park in Chicago.

This is Lincoln's method.Roosevelt was more energetic, passionate, and active than Lincoln.His face was alive with feeling.He clenched his fists, and his whole body became a tool for him to express his feelings.Politician Brian often holds out a hand, palm open.Greystone often slapped the table with his hands, or stamped his feet on the floor, making loud noises.Rosebery used to raise his right arm high, and then pull it down suddenly with incomparable strength.However, these actions must first have considerable strength in the speaker's thoughts and beliefs, so that the speaker's posture can be strong and natural.

Natural... alive...they are an excellent display of action.The British politician Burke's gestures are very clumsy and unnatural; the famous British orator Pitt, scribbled in the air with his hands, like a clumsy clown; Sir Henry Irving was lame and moved strangely; Sir Macquarie was on the podium His behavior is not flattering; the same is true of the epoch-making Osama bin Laden, and the same is true of Barnier.The late Sir Curzon said at the University of Cambridge: "The answer is obviously: great orators have their own unique gestures. Although great orators must have beautiful appearance and graceful posture, if the speaker happens to be very Ugly and clumsy in action, that doesn't matter much."

Years ago, I heard the famous Gypsy Smith preach.I admire him a lot for the fact that thousands of people have converted to Jesus Christ through his sermons.He also uses gestures—and a lot of them—but never feels unnatural in any way.This is the most ideal way.As you practice applying these principles, you will find that you make your gestures in the same way.I cannot give you any law of posture, it all depends on the temperament of the speaker, on his preparation, his zeal, his personality, the subject of the speaker, the audience, and the conditions of the room. However, there are some suggestions that might also be of some use.Don't use a gesture repeatedly, it will make people feel boring and monotonous.Don't use the elbows for short, jerky movements, movements from the shoulders look much better on the podium.Don't end the gesture too quickly.If you use your index finger to emphasize your thoughts, be sure to maintain that gesture throughout the sentence.Most people ignore this, which is a common but serious mistake.It weakens your emphasis, and some unimportant things seem important instead, while the real point seems unimportant. When you're speaking in front of an audience, use only those gestures that come naturally to you.But when you practice, force yourself to gesture if necessary.In forcing yourself to do so, so conscious and stimulating, it won't be long before your gestures flow naturally. Close the book, for you cannot learn gestures from a book.When you give a lecture, your impulses and desires are the noblest skills, more valuable than any instruction any professor can give you. If you forget everything we have said about gestural technique, and you are about to give a speech, remember this: If a person is so absorbed in thinking about his subject, and is so anxious to express his opinion, that he forgets his own existence, the conversation and the If he behaves naturally, then his gestures and expressions will not be criticized.If you doubt this, you can punch someone and knock them out.You'll see when that person stands up and gives you an almost flawless speech. The following three sentences are the best description of a typhoon in a speech: Fill the bucket. Knock the plug off. Let nature take the leap.