GESTURES


The way you use gestures will depend on the situation. Only if the
group is large will the sweeping, "dramatic" gestures be at all
appropriate. In smaller, more intimate groups, more natural and
subtle gestures are called for. And the same as for whole-body
movements, each gesture should be purposeful and used deliber-
ately to emphasize your points:
 raising a finger to indicate caution;
 raising a clenched fist for determination;
 clasping hands P T I
 together to symbolize 0 4
 co-operation ...

 ...and so on.
 But a raised finger to indi-
 cate caution here! Unless
 such gestures come to you
 naturally-or you are well
 practiced-they can appear 0 ,
 wooden or "stagy". Remember
 the advice at the beginning of this IW ItN
 chapter: make sure to find your own style, and do
 what seems right for you.
 However, we can try to avoid the undesirable gestures that are
 uncontrolled and often unconscious-the jingling of coins in a
 pocket, the scratching of an ear-the sorts of movement that
 distract and do not help us to get across to our audience.

 THE EYES
 The way you use your eyes will have a great bearing on how
 effective you are as a speaker. Just think what a hypnotist can
 achieve mainly through the way he uses his eyes!
 The key factor is contact. Make sure you look at your audience
 while you talk. No-one will appear convincing who looks down at his
 notes most of the time or out of the window or even above his
 audience's heads. You can't look at each member of the group all the
time, but you can fix a midway point, and occasionally "patrol" the
group members from there.