How Showing Emotions (Especially the Good Ones) Will Draw Your Audience In When You’re Speaking
Women hear it our whole lives: “Smile more!” “You look so pretty when you smile!” And while these comments are most often unwelcome, in the context of public speaking, they’re not totally wrong (and they don’t just apply to women).
At JPG, we teach our clients that more than 80% of effective communication comes from our nonverbals — namely, our body language and facial expressions. This greatly impacts our credibility, influence, and perception.
Your Facial Expressions, Vocal Tone, and Words Should Match
We know that the three pillars of effective communication are:
- words and messaging,
- vocal tone and inflection, and
- body language and presence.
We want each pillar to work together when we’re delivering a presentation or talk — not just to a group of people but one-on-one as well.
More often than not, executives have no problem when the message is serious or stern. It’s when they are delivering good news (or even neutral news) that the pillars misalign. We see this time and time again, especially with our male executives.
“We hit our profit goals for the quarter!”
“We just ranked number one in our market!”
“We’ve had a breakthrough in our research!”
Messages like these should be delivered enthusiastically with a bright vocal tone and a warm smile to match. Even a “I’m happy to be here” should convey with non-verbals that you are actually happy to be there.
It may seem silly, but if your tone and facial expressions don’t match your words — it ends up undermining your credibility. If you’re monotone when you should sound excited, if your face is neutral or even stern when you should be smiling, it gives the impression that you don’t genuinely believe in the message that you’re delivering.
And that? That leads to distrust, which is the last thing we want as leaders.
A Smile Draws People In
While mastering effective communication is paramount, a smile has other benefits, too. Companies often will bring JPG in to coach their executive team to make them more “magnetic.” Their leaders know their stuff, but they’re not bringing much of a presence to the company, which means employees are less likely to buy into what they have to say.
A warm smile can have a large impact both in the boardroom and on a stage.
- It brightens the mood. Unless the meeting is on a somber or serious topic, you WANT the mood to be light. You want people to want to be there because they’ll be more likely to listen to what you have to say.
- It attracts people to you. You don’t need to have over-the-top charisma, but you do need to have a personal appeal if you want people to follow and, more importantly, stick around.
- It makes you look confident. Again, when your words, tone, and face all align, especially for a positive message, it portrays you as the confident leader you are and imbues the audience with trust in you.
Master the Art of the Smile
There’s a lot more to non-verbal communication than just smiling, but that’s a great place to start. Making sure your audience — whether it’s your employees, your board, or your peers — trust you and listen to you is the top priority when you’re presenting.
At JPG, we give you a safe place to practice this skill so that you can give the impression that matches your intention.
