I love to watch televangelists. Most of them are masters of the art of public speaking and persuasion, and the best of them could possibly sell Holy water (‘miracle water’) to the Pope.

It seems like it was during the Jurassic era, but it was only a few short years ago that we had the soothing voice of radio preachers like Billy Graham. Fast-forward to today’s onslaught of multiple cable channels and you can’t flick your remote without bulls-eyeing a televangelist. Like all God’s living creatures they do have their purpose, and so in the realm of communication, if you study them long and hard they will provide you the cure to healing your own body language ills.

My current and absolutely favourite televangelist is Joel Osteen. Apart from his handsome good looks and the straight-forward sincerity in which he delivers his messages, he has a calm, confident demeanour, — something we can all use to cure our body language ill. Some speakers, whether they are talking to a group, a capacity-filled stadium, or to just you and me, get a tad too excited. They seem to force all their emotions into that single space of time and then proceed to soundly whip us over the head with their conversation. Their eyes are intense and piercing, and the timbre of their voice is several octaves above their normal speaking tone. Unless you are a animal tamer, (I am assuming here) that job might require you to ‘be all that you can be” in the ambit of theatrics in order to achieve your goal, namely to break in a horse or tame a lion — I am almost sure that those same facial expressions are not required when speaking to human beings who you ultimately wish to persuade to your way of thinking or behaving. Yes, I do know that our rich, hot Caribbean culture means that we are lively and full of action and passion and bringing it all to the stage is what it’s about, but I do believe it is time to restore the balance. This is not to say you should become a boring speaker and depart from the true nature of how you communicate, but there is something for us to learn from an unruffled and smooth presentation. That too can be just as effective and energetic as others.

If you are a speaker who stands in one place while presenting to a group, think about moving around while you speak. This adds energy to your presentation and helps you to utilise the space between yourself and the people with whom you communicate. This is a suggested cure for those of us who think we might appear to be too ‘stiff’ or frozen by fear to our audience members. When you walk around during your speech you enlarge your body language when you move and fill the room a little more with your presence. A quick note to the enthusiasts among us: moving around the around the room does not mean prancing hither and yon in front of the members of your audience like a demented monkey. Neither is it a suggestion for you to take a leaf from the book of our more energetic televangelists who become spirit-filled during their sermons and often leave us with emotions opposite from those they intended. Your audience members should also not be searching up and down the platform or dais to see to where you disappeared. Pace yourself and use ‘the walk’ to build the confidence you have within you, remembering that you are sharing your knowledge with the members of this group. The best speakers I know utilise the space between themselves and their audience to create a connection and a warmth.

Your hands can be a barrier to your audience or a boon to your conversation with them. Hands are an expressive part of our bodies when we speak, and we should not ignore the power in these limbs as they can make our conversation stronger. Here is where we do not take leaf out of the book of some televangelists who, microphone in hand, proceed to point accusingly at those of us who refuse to enter the fold. Hand gestures should vary and definitely not be offensive. If you usually keep your hands in your pockets, use them to clutch the lectern or your speaking notes. The best speakers make good use of their hand gestures, not repetitively or as if choreographed, but in a way that adds positively to their performance. Most people (myself included) would rather walk through boiling oil than speak publicly. However, there are positive lessons we can learn from those who have mastered the art.

Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, (MBA, ABC) is a Business Communications Consultant with RO Communications Jamaica, specialising in business communications and financial publications. She can be contacted at: yvonne@rocommunications.com. Visit her website at www.rocommunications.com and post your comments.