Tag Archives: gestures

The TrumpShake Saga Continues with the Comey Shake-Hug

Here’s another Maclean’s video interview where I am asked about the non-verbal communication of President Trump with others, including James Comey.  It’s a quick analysis of Trump’s ‘aggressive’ off-balancing TrumpShake, his open arm and head nod gesture (including chin thrust) to James Comey, and Comey’s initial hesitations, uncomfortable hand-wringing gesture and his seemingly strong desire to not show rapport with Trump, and escape the scene ASAP.  Enjoy!

How to Develop & Deliver an Effective Pitch (with Slides)

Ric at TechSoup Canada 2Recently I gave a short seminar at TechSoup, located in the CSI (Centre for Social Innovation) building here in Toronto. TechSoup had asked me to speak about developing and delivering an effective pitch, with a slide deck. Their target audience is non-profits who want or need to build their technical skills to help improve efficiencies in their organization. The seminar had a small live audience and it was live-streamed as well.

Just as I teach my clients, I broke my talk into three main chunks: pitch structure, slide guide and public speaking & body language tips. I wrote a brief article on my LinkedIn profile going over the key takeaways, so please click this link to see the article, and then like and share (either here or there) if you found it useful.  Thank you.  🙂

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/develop-deliver-effective-pitch-ric-phillips

And if you desire more info on pitching and presentations, please see my brand new ebook called “3V Podium Power:  Next Level Public Speaking, Presenting, Pitching & PowerPoint Repair!” located on this site here in the ‘store’.

UPDATE:  TechSoup did a great recap of my seminar, and have also included the slide deck I used in case you want to see them (but the 2 videos I used are not included, fyi).  Please click here to see their summary and my slides.  Please share this info here, there, or anywhere.

TechSoup Link Here

https://www.techsoup.ca/community/blog/effective-pitches-nonprofits

Thank you so much!

Body Language – Is It Really Useful?

“Do you know about body language?”

Ask someone this and they will probably say “oh yes. I should make eye contact but not stare at someone too long, I should not cross my arms because it looks closed, and I should not slouch at meetings, etc.”

Okay, that information EVERYONE knows. But I have to tell you, as a student and teacher of body language, there is a lot more going on than just that. Let me ask you these questions:

Can you tell what is going on with a man and a woman in just one photograph?

Can you predict accurately who is a leader and who is not?

Are you trained to pay attention to things others do not see?

What do you think of Obama and McCain’s body language? Have you thought about what each man is trying to project?

Communication is made up of 2 parts – verbal and non-verbal. Obviously body language falls under the latter. As we learned from the 3 Vs of communication, 55% of all our communication is visual, which is our body language, gestures, attire and accessories. (The other 2 Vs are verbal and vocal, remember?)
If you are interested in improving your ability to read people accurately then I suggest you consider the study of body language.

Today I have a great body language analysis quiz for you! Take a look at these photos of Obama and McCain, Nikky Hilton, Tom Arnold, Bruce Springsteen, Pam Anderson, Sir Richard Branson, and other people and see if you can interpret their relationships and projected messages before reading what the expert, Kevin Hogan, has revealed.

http://kevinhoganprograms.com/aw.aspx?B=17&A=223

I am a big fan of Kevin Hogan. Who is he? He teaches influence, NLP, persuasion, sales, personal performance etc. in addition to body language. He has a great weekly newsletter, lots of books in the bookstore plus several at-home study programs. Click the above link, go down about half-way to find the photos of the famous people, and start reading their body language! Have fun!

That’s it for today. Thank you so much to those of you that responded to my poll regarding our upcoming Toronto workshops. I am planning the next one for October as you read this. I will tell you about it in the next newsletter, and give you a chance to take advantage of an ‘early-bird’ special if you so choose.

Thanks again and have fun with your body language quiz! Here is the link to it again:

http://kevinhoganprograms.com/aw.aspx?B=17&A=223

All the best,

R.P.

PS – Tomorrow I will post some other Kevin Hogan program links to my blog, just in case you are interested to know more about his home-study courses in different areas. I believe he is having a sale right now on some products, when you click through the links.

Bye for now,

Ric

Body Language & Face-Reading Resources

I recently presented an interactive seminar on body and face reading at a Toronto law firm. At the end I gave them some resources, just in case they wanted to learn more about this art/science. So then I thought I should also let you, my faithful readers, get in on this knowledge! For those interested, here is a starting list of some good resources that you may want to check out, if you are interested in improving your ability to read peoples emotions, character, attitudes and beliefs, and current intentions. Have fun!

Books:

How to Read a Person like a Book by Gerald I. Nierenberg and Henry Calero

How to Use Body Language by Drs. Sharon and Glenn Livingston

In Your Face by Bill Cordingley

Face Language 2000 by Jon E. and David E. Prescott

Online:

www.Bodylanguagebodylanguage.com

www.Bodylanguageexpert.co.uk

www.Kevinhogan.com

www.Facereader.com

www.Facereadingacademy.com

www.Facefrontiers.com

www.Counterbalanceconsulting.com 

Improve your body language, improve your confidence!

Improve your body language, improve your confidence!

The way that you move your body and walk has an enormous effect on the way that you feel and your confidence levels.

Let’s start with an exercise.
Imagine there are two people standing in front of you – one with “negative body language” and one with “positive body language”.

I’d now like you to write down what you are observing with each of these people.

 

Positive Body Lang.

Negative Body Lang.

How are they standing?

 

Where are their eyes looking?

 

Where have they got their head?

 

How are they talking?

 

 

How are they moving?

 

 


 

You know, how you feel at any moment in time is linked to what is going on in your head and how you are moving your body. The way that you move sends subconscious messages to your mind and this either helps or hinders the way that you feel.

Emotion is created by motion. If you sit still for a long period of time your natural energy levels automatically lower. And what happens when you get up, walk around and return to your seat? Yes, you have more energy and you’re given a boost. I can’t stress how important it is to move and act confidently and positively.

You will give off all the right vibes to everyone around you and it will make them think that you are confident even if you’re not feeling it inside.

Yes, that’s right. Even if you’re not feeling confident, act as though you are.

So, how do you do this?

Well, controlled and with a purpose. Don’t saunter along aimlessly. Walk like you know exactly where you’re going and keep your head up, chin level. Gesture with your hands as you talk, it will create motion and you know what that leads to – EMOTION!

The right gestures also have a major impact on building rapport.  Smooth, engaging gestures work best, especially those that match and complement your words and speech patterns. And don’t forget to smile!

Think for a moment about your confidence role model.

One thing that he/she and confident people in general have in common is that they all probably smile a lot and are happier than their negative counterparts. It may sound silly, but there is a lot of power associated with a smile. So what I would like you to do is to start smiling more often.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you have to walk around with a silly grin on your face all of the time.

But smile as you walk down the street, when you talk to someone, even when you look in the mirror at yourself. You will be surprised at how better you will feel for it, and it will project a positive image to all others – one that will attract opportunities and people.

Remember that confident people are happy people and negative people are not.
Happy people are also seen as more attractive than unhappy and sad people so that is an added bonus!

So in closing, be aware that your body movements can and will affect how you feel and how others perceive you, and also remember that you can proactively help to project a confident image with some simple, minor adjustments any time of the day.