The best speakers have that magic touch.

Literally, they actually use more effective hand gestures to sway their audience.

According to Science of People of Vanessa Van Edwards, “The least popular TED Talkers used an average of 272 hand gestures during the 18-minute talk. The most popular TED Talkers used an average of 465 hand gestures — that’s almost double!”

Here’s why you need to consider your hand gestures when speaking in front of an audience:

1. It’s your face that shows your emotions but what you do with your body language is how you react to that emotion internally. Hand gestures can show whether you are super confident or really nervous
2. 2) Your hand gestures engages an audience visually and backs up your words. Imagine listening to a podcast and watching a video. When people watch a video, they get to see everything. Your expressions and hand gestures will keep your audience captivated.
3. 3) Move your body to move your mind. For example, your thoughts and words will start becoming more confident when you start performing hand gestures that exude confidence.

Here’s a video of the best hand gesture you can use as a leader and public speaker.

Looking for more ways to improve your public speaking? After extensive research, we’re bringing you 135 ideas and resources that will make you a better speaker. Check out 135 Ways To Improve Your Public Speaking

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Enjoyed the article? Give it a like and comment below. (Kit actually reads EVERY comment from his loyal fans)

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Learn even more about communication and public speaking skills at BostonSpeaks.

Kit Pang is a Communication Expert, TEDx, Inbound and Keynote speaker, and the Founder of BostonSpeaks. He is on a mission to help individuals become exceptional speakers and communicators. Kit’s seminars and talks have been credited as super fun, engaging, soul-searching and insightful. www.bostonspeaks.com | @KitPangx, @Boston_Speaks

Do You Know What Your Hands Are Saying About You? was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The big buzz word in business is all about storytelling. Examples of popular articles include “The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool” or “Why storytelling will be the biggest business skill of the next 5 years”

Our culture focuses on the ability to speak well (keynote addresses, public speaking competitions or the best man’s speech). Often we do not have the attention span to listen to someone’s story because we rather focus on telling our own story. When we give the gift of our attention and time to someone while listening to their stories, we show respect, care and interest to that person.

Why are stories so powerful to tell? They speak to the heart. Logic and facts speak to the head.

What if we flipped this around? If we listen to other people tell their stories, does that mean we are listening to their heart and emotions?

Stories tells us what is happening in people’s minds and how they live their life. It’s like seeing the world through their eyes when they tell us their stories.

How can we use story listening to our advantage?

1. To learn about others and what is going on in their world.
2. To understand how others are feeling. At certain points when people tell their story, they might smile when they think about a positive moment or they might express frustration due to a negative event.
3. You can also boost your own storytelling skills when you share other people’s stories to make a point during your talks or conversations.

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Enjoyed the article? Give it a like and comment below. (Kit actually reads EVERY comment from his loyal fans)

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Learn even more about communication and public speaking skills at BostonSpeaks.

Kit Pang is a Communication Expert, TEDx, Inbound and Keynote speaker, and the Founder of BostonSpeaks. He is on a mission to help individuals become exceptional speakers and communicators. Kit’s seminars and talks have been credited as super fun, engaging, soul-searching and insightful. www.bostonspeaks.com | @KitPangx, @Boston_Speaks

More Impactful Than Storytelling was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Anyone that has spent time with rabbits know that they run in circles. The moral of the story is that the tortoise keeps a straight path, the hare on the other hand, wanders.

In conversations, most people have a wandering mind when they tend to communicate. The truth is that people have too many thoughts or things they think they need to do.

Can you imagine talking to a hare vs a tortoise? In other words, talking to a hectic mind compared to a calm mind.

The journey to becoming a more effective communicator isn’t an event or a race. It’s a lifestyle. Do you remember the last time you were in the presence of an impeccable communicator?

They were probably not running in circles.

Learn it through public speaking.

The legends, such as Zig Ziglar, David Ogilvy, and Dale Carnegie knew how to wow a crowd but most importantly, they knew how to sell. As a professional speaker, I’m inspired by the standards they set for communicating with their customers. These industry leaders knew that communication is at the core of successful selling.

A GREAT SALESPERSON KNOWS HOW TO TALK AND LISTEN IN A WAY THAT MAKES PEOPLE NOT ONLY TAKE NOTICE BUT ALSO TAKE ACTION.

In her article, 13 Communication Skills That are Crucial to Sales Success, HubSpot’s Leslie Ye explores this topic in detail, writing that “the root of sales success is the ability to gather and provide information in a way that makes a prospect want to do business with you.”

When I teach a seminar or give a keynote speech, my goal is to provide actionable information. To do that, I have to make sure I’m not just talking to the room but that my message is being received. Communication isn’t effective unless it makes that connection.

How can you make that connection?

You have to prepare, practice and perform. Craft your thoughts out and practice your communication skills to make it effective. Through seminars, speakers forums, and practice, speakers develop the skills that allow them to connect with their audiences and get them to open their hearts (and at times, their wallets as well)

That’s why studying professional speakers can make a good salesperson even better. A salesperson who knows the product and customer becomes a triple-threat once he or she also knows how to communicate like a pro.

HERE ARE A SOME OF THE SPEAKING TALENTS THAT WILL UP YOUR SALES GAME:

Confidence and authenticity — Imagine how easy it will be to speak to a single customer or prospect once you’ve mastered sharing your story with a whole group of strangers. Improving your speaking skills can help you overcome the natural nervousness most people feel when asked to make a presentation before strangers. As you become a better speaker, you’ll also become a more authentic communicator.

Body language and situational awareness — An important part of learning to speak in front of an audience is self-awareness. A speaker needs to be able to use motions and gestures to complement their speech, not distract from it. To be truly comfortable onstage, you have to be in control but not self-conscious. That skill takes a little practice.

Voice modulation and control — When you speak, your voice becomes an instrument that communicates not just the spoken words but also emotion and emphasis. Like an instrument, you can adjust your rhythm and tone to enhance your presentation. Learning to recognize your off-notes is another one of the skills professional speaking develops.

Story crafting — Talking is an ability, storytelling is an art. Professional speakers learn to encourage and inspire by telling a great story. Sales professionals who can tell a compelling story with their customer as the star have the map to success.

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Kit Pang is a Communication Expert, TEDx, Inbound and Keynote speaker, and the Founder of BostonSpeaks. He is on a mission to help individuals become exceptional speakers and communicators. Kit’s seminars and talks have been credited as super fun, engaging, soul-searching and insightful. www.bostonspeaks.com | @KitPangx, @Boston_Speaks

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 336,210+ people.

Subscribe to receive our top stories here.

How To Sell Better And Faster was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Become a People Whisperer

With all the discussion of chatbots, AI, and intelligent personal assistants lately, you might start to think that human to human (H2H) communication is disappearing altogether. But the fact is the need for interpersonal communication isn’t going anywhere. In its 2016 Future of Jobs report, the World Economic Forum observed that as more physical and computation tasks shift to machines, the demand for soft skills that machines can’t master will increase.

Of course, it can be tough to predict exactly what the future will bring for each of us personally and professionally. But whether you are an entrepreneur, small-business owner, or business professional, knowing how to talk so people will listen and listen so people will talk will always serve you well.

So how can you leverage your humanness to connect and communicate with business partners, staff, and associates? You can become a people whisperer. Communication is both an art and a science. What you say to others is a creative expression of your thoughts and ideas. But the way you say it and the response it elicits is often guided by our natural human instincts.

Secrets to Becoming a People Whisperer

To better explain what I mean, I’m sharing some of my favorite tips with you. By making these small adjustments in how you approach conversations — whether to a large crowd or an audience of one — you can communicate more effectively and build stronger relationships with the people around you.

1. Use pronouns that invite engagement.

Human beings are predisposed to talk about themselves. What scientists refer to as self-disclosure actually triggers the reward centers in the brain. Because of this predisposition, it can be very easy for us to fall into the “I” and “me” trap when having a conversation. However, speaking to someone using inclusive language that addresses them personally increases the chances that they will respond positively to what you have to say. So choose pronouns that invite engagement and express your desire to collaborate with your audience. And if you know someone’s name, use it. Most people appreciate being recognized.

Tip: Addressing an audience using “you” makes each person feel as if you are speaking directly to them. While using “we” builds a sense of community and shared interest.

2. Communicate with your whole body.

Did you know that there is an entire field of study dedicated to interpreting the meaning of your body position? Social scientists call the study proxemics. Robotics developers even apply human proxemics theories to teach robots how to behave more like humans. If you think about it, you are probably already aware of some of the information scientists have gained. Consider body orientation for instance. If you face someone squarely, with your shoulders parallel to theirs, the two of you are most likely having a private conversation. If the two of you want to open the conversation to others, both of you will face slightly away from each other, creating an opening. When you are speaking to a group or an individual, you can use this knowledge of proxemics to communicate your interest in them.

Tip: If you are making a presentation from a stage, don’t just face straight forward during your entire speech. Think about how a rock star performs and remember to sing a few songs to the people in the wings.

3. Recognize and respond to your audience’s style.

Most people identify with one of four main communication styles. As Toreja Ćurić of PageGroup explains, these styles are called the driver, the analytical, the expressive, and the amiable. While everyone uses a mix of styles to communicate, most of us favor one over another. Most of us also find it easiest to communicate with someone who has a style similar to our own. To make your communications more appealing, I recommend that you learn about each of the styles. Then, when you are speaking with someone whose style is different than you own, adjust your message to match their style instead of your own.

Tip: Consider your audience’s point of view when framing your message. For some individuals, an emotional component is essential while others may prefer just the facts.

Are you ready to give people whispering a try? With just slight adjustments in the way you approach others, you communicate that you are engaged and interested in them and what they have to say. You can form real, human connections with clients, co-workers and new prospects. Robots may be able to perform amazing feats, but they can’t replace the magic that happens when real people get together to communicate or solve a problem.

Looking for more ways to improve your public speaking? After extensive research, we’re bringing you 135 ideas and resources that will make you a better speaker. Check out 135 Ways To Improve Your Public Speaking

Enjoyed the article? Give it a like and comment below. (Kit actually reads EVERY comment from his loyal fans)

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Ready To Beat Public Speaking Anxiety?

Click the link below to register for my most popular free training. https://www.bostonspeaks.com/nofearspeaking

Kit Pang is a Communication Expert, TEDx, Inbound and Keynote speaker, and the Founder of BostonSpeaks. He is on a mission to help individuals become exceptional speakers and communicators. Kit’s seminars and talks have been credited as super fun, engaging, soul-searching and insightful. www.bostonspeaks.com | @KitPangx, @Boston_Speaks

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 325,962+ people.

Subscribe to receive our top stories here.

How to Talk So People Listen and Listen So People Talk was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.