It's been said that words convey only 7 percent of your message when you're presenting. Some studies put the figure closer to 13 percent. Neither figure seems wholly believable, but there's no doubt that vocal variety, voice tone, body language, and visual aids convey a good deal of your message. These ingredients often make or break the presentation. People are watching them as closely as they are listening to your words.

Imagine you're telling people how to run a new tooling machine that's due to arrive in a week by standing stock-still at a lectern and reading from a paper. It's doubtful you'll teach people much, and you'll soon see a few heads nodding off. For a presentation on this topic, you would want to be completely visible in front of the group, acting out movements and perhaps pointing to diagrams on a flip chart or overhead transparency.

Let Your Experiences and Confidence Animate the Body
It's best to use personal anecdotes and experiences in your talks whenever you can. You'll unconsciously use gestures that not only inform but give your talk great credibility For example, "There I was in the foxhole, rain pouring down, when the sky lit up with tracers. Surprisingly, no attack came that night. But I had two revelations that dark, rainy night, and I'd like to share them with you..." You'd begin this talk hunched down, perhaps pulling an imaginary poncho over your head, then gaze upward as the sky lit up. Your movements, completely authentic, would inform the audience that you were the genuine thing.

'Punctuate' Your Words
You can use gestures to prompt people: "Who's ever had that experience?" you ask as you raise your arm to signal for a show of hands. Some people have naturally elegant hand movements. They fluidly move their hands in circles, raise and lower them, or use them to underscore important words. If you have this ability, use it. It amplifies your message and helps convey meaning.

Get Out from Behind the Lectern
Even if you're giving a presentation on the most abstract subject imaginable, move around. But don't pace back and forth. Instead, pick a couple of points in the room and every so often walk to a new spot. Stay there a few minutes, then move to another. Some very effective speakers mingle with the audience by walking into an aisle, walking back to consult notes or turn a page on the flip chart, and moving around the room. If you must stay close to the front of the room to tend to visual aids or for some other reason, move out so people can see your whole body. You have that much more opportunity to express yourself.

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