Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [67]
Performers are constantly being reminded to look upward into the light, to smile instead of frown, and to look like they are enjoying themselves. One reason for this is that all lights cast downward shadows, especially under the eyes and around any wrinkles near the mouth. Thus, when you see your picture, you may think that you looked “old and mean.” These distortions must be taken into consideration, whether the light is outdoor available light, or high-mounted studio or platform lights.
Practice looking pleasant in front of the bathroom mirror. Raise the eyebrows slightly, part the lips, keep the chin up level with the floor—generally, everything upward-turning.
Summary of Good and Bad Body Language. Good body language includes the following advice:
• Look like a winner with head erect, a slight smile, eyes upward
• Extend your body fully
• Keep your hands at rest, loosely folded and relaxed
• Lean slightly forward when someone speaks to you
• Light up your facial expression
• Turn everything upward
• Be always “at the ready” and alert
• Maintain a high energy level
• “Embrace” your audience
To avoid bad body language, don’t do any of the following:
• Look like a loser, slouching, frowning, head and eyes downcast
• Slump backward with your legs crossed
• Wring your hands nervously
• Ignore the people around you
• Look indifferent or grim
• Look downward
• Fidget with a pencil, pen, or your glasses
• Tap your foot or swing a leg rhythmically
• Look into space, look bored, or squirm
• Toss your hair, brush it back, or constantly move it out of your eyes
• Yawn, chew gum, or chew on your lower lip
• Scratch anything
• Repel and reject your audience
Gestures
Gestures serve to emphasize the meaning that you wish to transmit to your audience. Your gestures should be natural and effective. They should enhance your message, clarify your meaning, or emphasize an important point. You can use gestures to express a mood or an emotion—anger, for example, or impatience, or indifference. A gesture made during a silent pause in your speech can be more powerful than words.
You must feel at ease with your gestures and trust your natural instincts. To improve your effective use of gestures, start by studying your own spontaneous hand movements. You can then work to refine them into more professional expressions of your meaning. But always keep your gestures simple and restrained.
The closed fist expresses hostility, while the open palm expresses welcoming openness. Arms folded across the chest close out the observer, while outstretched arms invite the observer in.
Eliminate unnecessary and distracting nongesture mannerisms, since they tend to be magnified in public. (Examples include flicking a finger against a fingernail, drumming fingers, combing your beard with your fingers, playing with your hair, rubbing your forehead, and cracking your knuckles.) A small, often unnoticed habit may become distracting or irritating.
In public, gestures are confined to a fairly clearly defined framework. At the podium, you should concentrate on confining your gestures to the space between your chin and chest. When you bring the hands too high, they obscure your face and denote tension. Low gestures are lost to view and tend to be “downers” instead of “uppers.” Chest-high gestures are best because they transmit strength, quiet authority, and assurance. To touch your face, your hair, or your body looks self-conscious and uncertain.
Try to keep the elbows close to the body. When not using your hands, keep them out of sight—at your sides or quietly folded. Do not become self-conscious about what to do with your hands. Let your gestures come naturally, growing logically from the meaning of your presentation.
Practice before a mirror or a friend. If possible, look at video tapes of your performance to discover what you really do with your gestures and body language. You may see something that you don’t like, since the camera is very revealing, but this will help you in the