According to research carried out over time, non-verbal communication in speech making accounts for about 55% while the content is just 7% with the rest being the vocal component of communication and standing at 38%. This non-verbal component of communication is more often than not referred to as body language. As a public speaker and even in everyday life while interacting with others, your body language will help to influence how they perceive you and it at best be positive for effect. Your gestures, body movements and facial expressions are very important factors that must be thoroughly considered by you if you intend to use body language to aid your presentations skills.
The best kind of communication is one in which what you are saying, otherwise called the content; how you say it, which I would refer to as the vocal component; (your voice and how you use it) and what you are not saying in words, which is the non-verbal component of communication ; agree and are in sync. In other words, what you are saying must match how you say it and what you are not saying. For you to have a complete message, all these three must be in unity. If there is a disconnection between these elements then your message will be affected negatively. Imagine a love-struck man telling his girlfriend of eight years he wants to marry her meanwhile he is wearing a frown on his face with arms crossed. It is therefore important to learn and practise how to use body language effectively to pass across your message. The idea behind this is to align what your body is saying with your words and thus give that stellar presentation you have always wished to have.
As a successful public speaker, you should focus on using positive or open body language in order to enhance the reception of your message by your audience. Common examples of positive body language include open arms, maintaining good eye contact, open torso and widely spaced legs, smiling faces etc, which are time-tested ways of indicating warmth, pleasantness and the state of being approachable. One of the lessons I have learnt in my professional career is that people sometimes buy things on emotions rather than logic. Your ability to connect with your audience emotionally might just as well be very dependent on the language of your body, which is the most perceptible element of communication depending on who is looking and listening. Body language is more encompassing than this but for the purpose of a speaker speaking to an audience some of the examples mentioned above might just as well suffice.
You should avoid negative or closed body language like a plague, as this is sure to detract from your message and reduce your believability level in the eyes of your audience. Examples of this include folded arms, frowns on the face, pointing your finger or waving an object threateningly in the face of your audience.
Body language will forever remain an integral component of communication so you would do well to master it and use it effectively to add value to your presentation.
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