Chapter 54 Avoid ridiculous body language

Seeing this topic, we naturally thought of the issue of abuse of speech movements.My first public speaking class was taught by the president of a university in the Midwest.In retrospect, it concerned mainly the gestures of speech--moves which were not only useless but misleading and had a bad influence on it.In class, we are taught to put our hands on our sides, palms facing back, fingers clasped, thumbs on the legs; Stretch out first, followed by the middle finger, ring finger, and little finger, forming a classic flight. When the entire artistic movement is completed, our arms will return to their original state and be placed on the side of the body.The whole process seemed dull and contrived, lacking sincerity, the professor just wanted to make a different action.

Moreover, in the process of teaching, the principal did not consider stimulating us to make body movements and integrate our personality into body language; nor did he try to incorporate and naturalize the truth of life; Awareness requires us to relax, speak and behave humanly and agreeably.Therefore, our speech at that time was very regrettable. It had lost its vitality and vitality like a mechanical typewriter or a long-lost nest of birds, and it seemed as absurd and bizarre as a clumsy illustrated poster. I once saw twenty persons standing in front of a class, without exception, reading from the same fragment of oratorical speech, excerpted from a book such as the one above.These people strictly follow the requirements in the book, reading aloud while making movements, which seems very ridiculous.Many have suffered from this method of speaking because it is false, mechanical, and boring.Recently, the provost of a well-known university in Massachusetts declared that his university did not have a course in public speaking because he did not see the utility of the course or its significance in how to speak intelligently.In this regard, I deeply sympathize.

For a long time, most of the articles written on public speaking manners have been useless and nothing more than a waste of pen and paper.The speech gestures imitated from such articles often appear artificial.The real act of speaking comes from within you: your heart, your thoughts, your interests, your desire to express, your passions.Indeed, the action of the momentary burst is the most valuable, and this spontaneity is better than the rules of any speech action.Therefore, speech manners are never like a tuxedo at a dinner party. It is an outer expression of one's inner world, just like a person's kiss, heartache, laughter, and seasickness.

A speaker's onstage demeanor should be as much his own as his toothbrush.If each speaker had his own way, their speech manners would be different from each other.Therefore, when training all speech learners, we cannot pursue a cookie-cutter speech style.We can imagine how ludicrous it would be to replace Lincoln's sluggish, stolid lectern demeanor with Douglas's quick, graceful style. According to Lincoln's biographer and partner in his law firm: "Lincoln was a speaker with more head movement than gesture. Turn it. This behavior is significant when he emphasizes the content of the speech. Sometimes Lincoln will suddenly straighten his body and neck like an electric spark thrown into a flammable field. However, he is seldom like many The rhetorician used violent hand movements, as if to divide the space into fragments, and he would not deliberately design his movements for the pursuit of stage effect-during the speech, Lincoln would occasionally walk around. At this time, he So graceful and at ease, so natural and individual, and in a certain sense, so noble. At the same time, he had a great disdain for showing off, showing off, affectation and falsehood - when Lincoln's right hand is long and thin There is a well-known meaning and emphasis when pointing his fingers at the minds of his listeners. Sometimes, to express a sense of joy, he will raise his hands, palms up, at an angle of almost fifty degrees to the ground, as if longing for an embrace Something he loves. If he's expressing a distaste for, say, serfdom, he'll throw his arms up, his fists clenched, and he'll wave it in the air. It's one of his classic moves, and you can see His unbridled determination to bring down what he loathes and consign it to the dustbin of history.

"Lincoln always stood there in a regular manner, that is to say, he never stood on his feet, nor did he hold his hands or lean on anything for support. During the speech, Lincoln only changed his position and posture. He never No shouting, no walking up and down the lectern. To relax his arms, Lincoln would occasionally hold onto the lapel of his coat with his left hand, leaving his right hand free for gestures." This action of Lincoln was engraved into a statue by Gordons, which stands in Lincoln Park in Chicago.This is how Lincoln behaved when he spoke.In contrast, Roosevelt appeared to be more energetic, passionate and energetic, his facial expression was extremely rich, his fists were clenched, and his whole body was conveying the message of the speech; Brian often waved Arm, fingers spread; Gladstone used his fist to knock on the table and palm from time to time; Lauder Rothbury would raise his right arm high, and then drop it down hard.In any case, the most important thing for a speaker is the power of his thoughts and beliefs, which will make his behavior firm and natural.

Naturalness and life, they are the best comments on the requirements of speech behavior.Barker was bony and terribly awkward in manner; Pitt flung his arms like "a bad clown"; Ray's speech movements are simple and ugly, similar to those of Gladden, Barnell and others.Therefore, the recently deceased Lord Kershen of Cambridge University said in his speech to Parliament: "Our conclusion has become very obvious. Those great public speakers have their own speech movements, and when they have a clean appearance and Even if they're ugly and clumsy after their good manners, it doesn't really matter."

Many years ago I heard a sermon given by the famous Gibbs Smith.I was deeply moved by the eloquent speeches of this orator who converted tens of thousands of people to Christianity.In his speeches he used many gestures, yet he did them as naturally as he breathed the air, which is the ideal state of speech. If you still follow some of the principles mentioned above and practice repeatedly, then you will also find yourself reaching the same level in using speech gestures.Here, I cannot give definite rules for speech gestures, because everything depends on the temperament, preparation, enthusiasm, personality of the speaker, as well as the subject of the speech, the audience, the situation of the scene and other factors.