I was visiting the natural history museum this weekend and made a stop at the T-Rex exhibit, among others. Of course, one of the first things you notice about dino boy is how small and seemingly ineffectual his arms are.
But he’s in good company. I’ve seen a series of speakers recently who are trying very hard to get past the “I don’t know what to do with my hands” issue. They are making valiant attempts to gesture but they are so uncomfortable that they try to move their arms without letting their elbows ever stray from their sides. Their arms are pinned down from the shoulders to the elbows and then their forearms are flailing about like a T-Rex trying to clap.
So shake it out folks. Put your arms down by your sides and shake them loose. Let them hang there and get comfortable with that. Then move your arms, but your whole arms. Let some air under there. It will feel funny at first. It will feel scary. You’ll feel like you are taking up a lot of space. You’ll feel like your gestures are too big. That’s OK. You can tone it down if you need to. But first go big.
Be big. Take up space. Be a T-Rex and command attention. But you don’t suffer from short limbs like T-boy so don’t gesture like a T-Rex or you may find your presentation turns your audience to fossils and your message may become extinct.
