Wondering what to do with your hands while presenting?
If you’re from the UK, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of the famous Monty Python sketch show.
One of their most famous scenes involves a knight in duel, losing his arms and legs.
‘It’s just a flesh wound’, he defiantly suggests… without his arms.
Despite underplaying it, we can all agree that arms, and hands in particular, have been a wonderful part of our evolution.
Apart from one situation.
What on earth are we meant to do with them?
This uncertainty can be incredibly distracting. However, when used correctly, it can really aid our storytelling and wider presentation.
Common mistakes
I’ve seen lots of poor examples of hand movements. In fact, I’ve been guilty of some of these myself.
My main mistake was to put one hand in my pocket. The goal was to look relaxed, casual, and informal.
Generally speaking, this looks unprofessional.
Remember it’s all about your audience. We have to consider what they might think of it.
I’ve also seen people clasp their hands behind their back as if they’re singing a national anthem before the Olympics. This can disconnect you from the audience and look overly formal.
I’ve seen people use very dramatic hand gestures, flailing around as if they’re trying to swat a fly.
This is hugely distracting for an audience, particularly if you’re holding notes. It also limits the impact you can have with your hands when you want to use them to emphasise a big point.
I’ve seen arms crossed, looking defensive. This is particularly dangerous during a Q&A when we want to remain pro-active and in-control.
I’ve seen arms rigidly held down by the side as if lining up for military duty. This looks nervous.
It’s amazing how much an audience can pick up from these mistakes.
The good news is, when we get it right it can have an equally-sized positive impact.
Speaker’s stance
One of my favourite tips for anyone who feels nervous is Speaker’s Stance.
It’s a great way to hide your nerves whilst looking professional.
Simply clasp your hands together and hold them somewhere between your belly button and where your belt buckle would sit.
This allows you to open your hands up when you feel ready or alter it slightly to hold any cue cards around the same area.
Gesturing
We’ve spoken a lot about avoiding distractions.
Important, yes. But how do we enhance our presentation with our hands?
There are several things we can do:
- Keep your hands visible – this looks more trustworthy
- Use hands to create ‘scenery’ – imagine areas in front of your body that you can gesture your hands. These areas can represent different moments in time, different industries, or anything else that you need to categorise
- Keep gestures with silhouette – this is far more natural and allows you to emphasise bigger points by occasionally going beyond the silhouette
All of the tips above are designed to help you align your gestures to the message. This alignment builds trust.
The vocabulary of hands
You’ll have heard of body language as a phrase. The word language suggests we’re communicating when we do this.
Experts have looked into different hand movements to study what they means.
Here’s a few of the more common hand movements and their usual meaning:
- Open palms – inviting and honest
- Counting fingers – use to structure and listing information
- Steering – moving your audience through the content
- Pinching – demonstrating relative size comparative to another point
When used correctly these gestures can help deepen both understanding and trust.
While it may seem a minute detail, over the course of a presentation these gestures really add up.
Recording presentations
Awkward? Yes
Uncomfortable? Yes
Cringeworthy? Yes
Effective? Even bigger yes.
Recording yourself to watch it back is a great return on your cringe investment.
Whilst uncomfortable at the time, it allows you to measure so many aspects of your delivery. Even more so, visual things like hand gestures and other body language.
You might want to build up to this by using a mirror or a phone camera in ‘selfie’ mode (so you can see this like a mirror, without recording).
If there are some tips in particular you’d like to use, you could even make a checklist to look out for when you watch it back.
What to do with your hands while presenting: A how to guide
For more tips like this, and for detailed feedback, get in touch with Pink Elephant today.
We’d be delighted to help you improve your communication skills and sort out those pesky hand problems.
Photos in What to do with your hands while presenting: A how to guide by Pink Elephant Communications.
What to do with your hands while presenting: A how to guide was written by Stuart Fenwick and edited by Maxine Montgomery.
