|
A new
study of the way children tell stories suggests that
making bigger gestures could help you become a better speaker
by helping you recall more of what you want to say.
The
discovery is part of a study by researchers at the University
of Alberta. The researchers observed bilingual children
as they told stories.
"The
children used gestures a lot more when telling the story in
what they considered to be their stronger language," Dr. Elena
Nicoladis, a psychologist at the U of A, said in an article in
Science Daily. "These results seemed counter-intuitive to
us. We thought the children would be more inclined to use
gestures to help them communicate in their weaker language."
"What we
think is going on here," Nicoladis said, "is that the very
fact of moving your hands around helps you recall parts of the
story--the gestures help you access memory and language so
that you can tell more of the story."
At
Speechworks we have long observed that physical actions can
have a surprisingly rich impact on the content of a
presentation. For example, when we ask a client to speak
with more energy in the face and voice, not only does the
style improve, but sometimes the speaker will bring out more
interesting stories and other content. In other words, the
content of the presentation improves and becomes richer as the
speaker becomes more physically energetic.
Perhaps the
physical activity relaxes the mind and allows it to access
more information. Who knows? We don’t pretend to be
psychologists.
We just
know that strong gestures and energetic facial expressions
will make you a better speaker. Now it looks like there is
science to back us up.
At
Speechworks we help our clients learn how to communicate in a
way that connects and persuades. If you’re interested in
becoming a great communicator give us a call at 404-266-0888
or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net |
