Facial Expressions
Facial expressions
Facial expressions also communicate cognitive messages and emotions. They enhance your verbal communication by producing "feeling tone," the impression that you care about what you're saying.
The following tips will help you use facial expressions to increase your persuasiveness:
Smile before you begin speaking
Don't be either mechanical or melodramatic; act naturally
Think about what you're saying and react with facial expressions to match or enhance the thought
(intro) We spend a lot of time on the big picture – and the big details – of our presentations. What story am I trying to tell? What is my message? What is the best intro? What is the best conclusion? Do I have enough slides? Too many?
You may feel like you spend a lot of time and energy on these aspects, and you probably do. You may feel like you zoom into the tiniest details of your slide design, and you probably stayed up all night slaving over every last caption and font. However, there are probably finer points that you usually don’t consider.
When is the last time you thought about your facial expressions?
It’s easy to forget that we have these highly effective expression-machines pasted on the front of our heads. We’ve all seen photos of ourselves when we are relaxed – and not knowing we are photographed. Even though we had a great time at the party, we look sad in the photo. Or stressed. Or simply weird.
It just goes to show you that most of us aren’t aware of what we are saying with our facial expressions much of the time. This isn’t too big of a deal for us in real life, but what about when we are presenting? Most of us avoid making insanely weird faces during our time on stage, but what if we could use our facial expressions more effectively in our quest for PowerPoint presentation greatness?
Here are five facial formulas for maximum expression during your next presentation. (body)
1. Smiling Eyes
Every person you know has a different smile. In fact we all have more than
Facial expressions also communicate cognitive messages and emotions. They enhance your verbal communication by producing "feeling tone," the impression that you care about what you're saying.
The following tips will help you use facial expressions to increase your persuasiveness:
Smile before you begin speaking
Don't be either mechanical or melodramatic; act naturally
Think about what you're saying and react with facial expressions to match or enhance the thought
(intro) We spend a lot of time on the big picture – and the big details – of our presentations. What story am I trying to tell? What is my message? What is the best intro? What is the best conclusion? Do I have enough slides? Too many?
You may feel like you spend a lot of time and energy on these aspects, and you probably do. You may feel like you zoom into the tiniest details of your slide design, and you probably stayed up all night slaving over every last caption and font. However, there are probably finer points that you usually don’t consider.
When is the last time you thought about your facial expressions?
It’s easy to forget that we have these highly effective expression-machines pasted on the front of our heads. We’ve all seen photos of ourselves when we are relaxed – and not knowing we are photographed. Even though we had a great time at the party, we look sad in the photo. Or stressed. Or simply weird.
It just goes to show you that most of us aren’t aware of what we are saying with our facial expressions much of the time. This isn’t too big of a deal for us in real life, but what about when we are presenting? Most of us avoid making insanely weird faces during our time on stage, but what if we could use our facial expressions more effectively in our quest for PowerPoint presentation greatness?
Here are five facial formulas for maximum expression during your next presentation. (body)
1. Smiling Eyes
Every person you know has a different smile. In fact we all have more than