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How to Use Gestures Effectively

How to have effective gestures.

We talk a lot about verbal and non-verbal communication in our public speaking workshops, but what exactly is non-verbal communication? To put it simply, it’s the way you communicate through body language or gestures, and it’s a critical component of presentation skills training .

To make a gesture is to move your body in a way that reinforces a verbal message you are trying to get across. People often gesture with their head and shoulders (nodding and shrugging are both examples of gestures), but when it comes to presentations and public speaking, it’s typically the hands and arms that do the bulk of the gesturing.

Gesturing is a very important part of public speaking

Gesturing should be purposeful and deliberate; you can always tell an inexperienced speaker by the way he moves his hands (or doesn’t move his hands, as the case may be). Dead giveaways are hands in the pockets, behind the back, or—to the other extreme—waving them wildly, which is very distracting.

Here’s the truth: Your audience is judging you and your message not only by what you say, but how you say it—and that means your body language. People most remember what they see (as opposed to what they hear), which makes the gestures you use even more important. If you want your presentation to stick with your audience, make what they see as interesting and stimulating as what they hear.

So what can you do? How can you gesture effectively? The first thing you should know is it’s difficult to ignore a moving subject. Standing at a podium reading from prepared notes will have your audience yawning in no time. Instead, move around and use your hands to emphasize the key points in your presentation. Make eye contact and smile warmly.

Practice is fundamental to mastering public speaking skills, and that includes gesturing. So remember as you practice your next presentation (you are practicing, right?) to include a few appropriate gestures—ones that will add value and place an emphasis on what you’re saying.

Here are some presentation tips to keep in mind:

Stop fidgeting. Tapping your fingers, running your hand through your hair, jingling the change in your pocket—these are all examples of fidgeting that will take away from your presentation by distracting your audience. (It’s difficult to ignore a moving subject, remember?) Instead, stride across the stage or presentation area with your head up and shoulders back. Move your hands in a way that co-ordinates with the words you are speaking.

Act naturally. Waving your hands and arms erratically is not natural behavior—most people don’t do it in everyday conversation, so don’t do it during a presentation. Consider the gestures you make when you talk to family and friends. When you are trying to identify something to another person, for example, you might point. That’s a natural behavior and therefore is an appropriate gesture to use in a presentation. A good rule of thumb is to let your gestures come naturally as part of your feelings on the subject you are speaking about. You can’t practice everything.

Look the part. How you hold your body sends a message to your audience. Leaning on the podium, folding your arms across your chest, and shifting your weight from foot to foot will not make you appear very confident or engaging (and you probably won’t feel it, either). These positions also do nothing for your delivery. You want your voice to come out clear and smooth. Standing in a slouched position will make you look and sound uninteresting. But standing with your feet hip width apart, with one foot positioned slightly ahead of the other looks poised. Balance your weight evenly on the balls of your feet, relax your shoulders (without letting them droop), and let you arms hang naturally at you sides. Take a few deep breaths and you’re ready to begin.

Never underestimate the power of effective gesturing; how you move your body adds personality to your presentation and can be far-reaching. Make a habit of observing how others use gestures and how it affects their message, then set up a camera as you practice your next presentation and evaluate the gestures you use. Are they adding or taking away from what you’re saying? Let us know in the comments below!

How to: Use Gestures in a Presentation

"If you're not talking with your hands – you're not really talking."

That was a recent tweet from Alexis Ohanian , Reddit co-founder (or as we prefer to think of him, Qai Qai's granddad ).

It made us smile. Because we have a lot of students apologize, as if it's a bad thing:

"Sorry, I talk with my hands."

Using gestures is a great idea . They can add a layer of meaning and expression, show your commitment to getting the message across, and make it easier for your audience to follow along.

The key to "talking with your hands" in a presentation is to use gestures for a reason. To know what you’re trying to say. Because with gestures—just as with talking—no one appreciates someone who’s babbling on nonstop.

Here's how to to approach gestures for public speaking:

Step 1. Find a neutral place for your hands to rest comfortably.

If you're using a lectern , grasp the lectern on either side. If you’re standing at the front of the room, you can let your arms relax naturally by your sides.

Try to avoid:

Clasping hands in what we call "the fig leaf position" (see soccer penalty kicks and corporate annual report photos if this is not clear)
Crossing your arms for long stretches (if at all)
Clasping hands behind your back (called "the parade rest" position by Buckley coaches)
Gripping the bottom rim of the lectern (as if you're holding on for dear life)
Rubbing and wringing hands (making you seem nervous even if you aren't)
Tenting hands in the prayer position (as if hoping for divine intervention)
Stuffing hands in pockets (especially when you have pockets full of stuff)

A comfortable resting position will make you appear confident, more at ease, less nervous—even when you are not feeling any of these things.

Step 2. Use your gestures to create pictures.

The best way to get your hands and arms into the act is to use them for a reason. Did profits rise over the last quarter? Then you can lift your hand up to show it. Do we need to work together? Perhaps you can reach out to the audience then pull your arms in.

The best-looking, most helpful gestures:

Depict something
Involve not just the hands but the upper body
Are away from the torso , not held close in with elbows bent
Are delivered with hands open , not with fists or pointing fingers

Step 3. Monitor for quantity, timing, and identifiable patterns.

Whether you're rehearsing a big presentation or speaking off the cuff, reflect on these:

There's no rule for how much (or how little) to gesture. This is part of the art of public speaking —and depends on factors that include tone, subject matter, where you’re speaking, and your personal speaking style.

We say: If you feel like a flight attendant delivering the pre-flight safety message, that might be (insert gesture: air quotes) "too much."

This more likely comes into play when you're working from a script. Speakers need to make sure gestures happen at the moment they feel natural. Better to leave it out—even if you've rehearsed it—rather than to throw it in late because you remembered "oops, I was going to gesture with that."

Identifiable patterns

Avoid falling into repetitive gestures, because once an audience spots them, they can’t stop noticing them.

We often see speakers who accordion their hands in and out, pump a hand for emphasis, or roll over one hand in a kind of throwaway motion. A few of these will not ruin you. But when you start to use these over and over, or use them in the same way to punctuate a talk, that pattern will become a distraction (and nuisance) for your audience.

Step 4: Keep hands quiet when not being used for a purpose.

Rather than give in to those repetitive motions or pointless hand flailings, learn to keep hands quiet when they’re not adding to the conversation.

Hands can go to that neutral place you identified in Step 1. That way, when you gesture for a reason, the message won’t be lost on your audience.

Our regular reminder to students: You wouldn't highlight every line in a textbook, because that defeats the purpose of highlighting. Likewise, when hands move nonstop, you make it hard for the audience to read the gestures that have something to say.

Feeling reluctant to gesture? Try three basic moves that work for nearly every type of speaker.

Are your gestures right-sized for you and the room ? See how you create tone when talking with your hands

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Oct 5, 2022

Gestures to use in your presentation—and some to avoid

I don’t know how many times I’ve been coaching leaders on presentation skills and I’m asked, “What do I do with my hands?”

People have an instinct they should be doing some thing with their hands while they’re talking—but darn if they know what it is!

Studies show that we as humans naturally gesture with our bodies. It adds energy to our conversations and enhances our message. In fact, a 2019 study by Professor Jeop Cornelissen of Eramus University found that “gesturing had a more direct impact [on the audience] than the language [of the presenter].”

That’s what this post is about—strategically choosing effective gestures during a presentation to connect and communicate to your audience more effectively. It’s the second part of our two-part post on the use of gestures. Didn’t catch the earlier post? No problem – here it is!

In this part 2, we’ll introduce specific gestures that can make your presentation (let’s use those) and those that will break your presentations (let’s avoid those). As you explore these suggestions, pay attention to those that you would like to incorporate and practice as well as those you recognize you might be doing unwittingly and want to reduce.

Ready? Let’s go.

Gestures to use for effective communication

Gestures that are helpful are those that promote genuineness, authenticity and engagement. Here are a few positive gestures I recommend:

Let them see your hands— Show your open palms to the audience. This flips a switch in our caveperson brain: You don’t have a weapon. You’re no threat. You are safe. It’s a way to invite your audience into your talk. A great way to show your palms during a presentation is to open with a personal story. Personal stories are full of truth and honesty, so you might find your hand gestures naturally opening up. (You may not even have to consciously think about opening your palms!)

Listing with your fingers —One of the easiest and most basic hand gestures is numerical. ANYTIME you say a number, do the corresponding gesture—this makes your number easier to remember for the listener, adds movement and serves as a nonverbal anchor in the conversation.

Showing levels or sizes —when demonstrating different levels of growth, size or volume, use hand gestures to show small, medium or large (vertically or horizontally). This works well when sharing sales or financial data with your audience so they have a visual representation.

Slap one hand, palm up, into the palm of your own hand when stating a conclusion. It’s a “bottom line” gesture—a way of saying, “Listen up! This is important.” It also helps the audience transition to a new topic.

Pointing to yourself —gently place the fingertips of one hand over your solar plexus.

Spreading out your arms —Use this when you want to emphasize the size or importance of something.

Raise your hand— Whenever you ask a question of your audience, try to spin it in a way to get them to enter in. For example: “Raise your hands if you’ve ever had this happen to you!” You’re prompting them to join in.

Comparing things —Whenever you want to separate or compare two different ideas or things, you can use your hands and body to symbolically represent them in different locations. For example, I might say this is totally different from that by using my left hand (or moving to the left) when I say “this” and my right hand (or moving to the right) when I say “that.” This is a great way to visually put distance between two things and help your audience keep track.

Gestures to avoid

There are entire trainings on the gestures you should avoid. Those of you who may be traveling outside the U.S. should be especially mindful of everyday gestures that are offensive, rude or obscene (and there are many!). However, wherever in the world you may be presenting, here are a few that I hope you will avoid:

Steepled fingers —touching the fingertips of your two hands in front of yourself. This is my #1 pet peeve gesture. It’s a “power pose.” You don’t want it. It’s overused. It radiates arrogance. It’s completely unnatural. Worse, if you are using this and start to turn your wrist and fingers downward, it conveys insecurity.

The “fig leaf”— This is the default gesture people assume when they’re standing in front of a crowd—one hand holds the other down below in front of their body . (Think Adam and Eve and their discretely placed adornments.) The message this conveys is that you feel threatened, frightened or are withholding important information.

Pointing —This should be used with caution. Most people don’t like to be pointed at because it can be seen as accusatory or invasive. However, you can point as a gesture to highlight a person or to literally make a point—just use your entire hand and not just a finger or two.

Crossed arms —This can signal to your audience that you are unenthusiastic about your presentation or information, or that something is incorrect. It’s a defensive posture that will create a distance between you and your audience.

Fidgeting with a prop —It can be your ring, your watch, your pen, the clicker. This can be terribly distracting. It screams “I’m really nervous!” or “I’m not confident in what I’m saying.”

Hands behind your back— Having your hands behind your back can be really distracting to the audience because they start to become suspicious. What is he/she hiding? It gives off closed-off energy and worse, can come across as superior. A variation on a theme here is having your hands clasped behind your head. Not pretty – don’t do it.

Hands-on your hips —Having your hands on your hips can make you seem overbearing.

Wrapping up

Gestures matter. They convey confidence and help your audience to engage with your message. Choosing gestures that enhance your presentation and avoiding gestures that detract from your message are important for your success. To quote the Grail Knight in the film, “Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade,” when using gestures, let’s be sure to “choose wisely.”

Want more inspiration on gestures? Check out this TED talk by body language trainer Vanessa Van Edwards .

Did you like this post? Try Are you non-verbals helping or hurting your presentation?

Give us a like. Share. Subscribe.

Marie Tjernlund is the Co-founder and President of NobleEdge Consulting. As an accomplished executive coach, certified Conflict Dynamics Profile® facilitator, and a professional Actor/Director and voice-over artist, Marie brings her positive energy and enthusiasm to clients around the world. You can contact her at [email protected] .

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How to Look and Sound Confident During a Presentation

Carmine Gallo

Your audience will make up their minds about you in seconds.

How you look and sound during a speech or presentation are going to make a big impression on your audience. Within seconds, listeners will decide whether you are trustworthy, and they will do it based on your body language and vocal attributes. The good news is that there is plenty of hard evidence that explains how you can give the appearance of confidence and competence — even if you’re nervous or timid on the inside. To look confident, make eye contact, keep an open posture, and use gestures to emphasize your message. To sound confident, eliminate filler words, take time to pause before important messages, and vary your pace.

You’ve crafted the message and created the slides for your next presentation. Now it’s time to wow the audience. How you look and sound are going to make a big impression — and your audience will form opinions quickly .

Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman (St. Martin’s Press).

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Using Gestures Effectively During Public Speaking

Gestures are important to get your message across.

One important way to help your audience understand what you’re trying to say is through hand gestures. That may seem like a strange thing to say—after all, if your message is clear it’s the words you use that should relay your point, right?

That’s true, but keeping in mind people remember more of what they see than what they hear, it’s your hand gestures that reinforce the words you say, and it’s your body language that provides an indication of how you feel.

Natural Gestures Versus The Robot

Gesturing is a natural communication tool. In a study conducted by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, researchers found that children who use more hand gestures at 18 months old have greater language abilities later on. Another study showed people are naturally inclined to listen more closely to people who people who use hand gestures.

When it comes to public speaking, gesturing is as important as good eye contact and an even voice . But for some reason, a lot of people suddenly forget how to gesture once they’re put in front of an audience. They find it difficult to gesture appropriately and at the right time. What ends up happening is their gestures during public speaking look deliberate and unnatural.

A sincere gesture involves the entire body and should have a facial expression to match. Consider the body language of someone you meet up with who hasn’t seen you in a while. Their arms are outstretched as they walk towards you to greet you with a warm hug. Do they approach you with a scowl on their face? Probably not.

How To Gesture Effectively

First, imagine you’re standing behind an invisible box that stretches from your neck to your waist and six inches on either side of you. You’re in control as long as your hands remain inside that invisible box. This space is front and center to you and your audience and once you stray outside of it, you run the risk of your hands becoming a distraction.

Next, keep your hand gestures natural. No one’s hands are constantly moving when they speak; they only use their hands when they want to punctuate certain words or describe things. It’s the same when you’re public speaking: Gesturing shouldn’t look awkward or feel forced. If it does, that’s what your audience is going to remember about your presentation.

The Big Five

There are five main types of gestures that are appropriate for public speaking and they’re appropriate because you see them every day. In fact, I’d wager you don’t even realize you do them all the time.

Descriptive gestures – These are the gestures you use to describe a thing or a situation. Fish tales are usually punctuated with descriptive gestures. (“You should have seen the one that got away!”) You might also use descriptive gestures to describe how something moves.
Emotional gestures – These are the gestures you use to describe a feeling. For example, if you’re describing someone who’s depressed, you might slump your shoulders. If you’re describing being afraid , you might cower. Emotional gestures are great because when you use them, you appear more genuine.
Symbolic gestures – These are the gestures you use to indicate words, numbers or position. Some say anytime you’re communicating a number under five, you should use your fingers because it offers a natural visual that reinforces the number. Other examples of symbolic gestures are giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down and giving the finger. (But don’t do that in your presentation!)
Suggestive gestures – These are the gestures you use to suggest emotion, even when it’s not spoken. They’re similar to emotional gestures because they usually involve more of your body than just your hands. An example of a suggestive gesture is crossing your arms to suggest apathy.
Prompting gestures – These are the gestures you use to encourage others to do the same. Unlike the previous four, these probably aren’t gestures you use in everyday conversation, unless you go around telling people “Raise your hand if…” (and you raise your hand first to encourage your listener to raise their hand too).

Bonus tip: Pointing is a terrible gesture! Don’t ever point—to yourself and certainly not to anyone else. Use an open palm instead.

Gestures During Public Speaking

It’s important for you to let your hands do some of the talking when you’re public speaking, but it’s even more important for you to practice how you’ll gesture so that you can use these movements with purpose to engage your audience and help them understand and remember your message.

Are you following us on social media yet? You’ll find a lot of great advice and tips on public speaking on our Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn or Google+ pages. Check us out!

7 thoughts on “Using Gestures Effectively During Public Speaking”

Awesome! Never really thought about gestures before.

Many of the politicians who have been taught gesturing look ridiculous and fake. Natural gesturing can be effective but the obvious trained gesturing has a negative impact on the message.

very natural looking gestures add to all presentations

The invisible box is a great tip. I will definitely use it.

I hate it when people point. It’s so overbearing and obnoxious. Good article.

I’ve seen both sides of the spectrum in presentations, some people barely use body language, but others are so over-expressive that it distracts from what they are saying.

Pingback: Angela

These gestures will improve your next presentation

Not enough instruction is given on how to gesture effectively during a presentation.This article aims to bridge this gap.

By Stephanie Scotti 09/13/19

Communication

These gestures will improve your next presentation

Icons made by Kiranshastry from Flaticon/SmartBrief illustration

Whenever I work with business leaders on their presentation skills, inevitably the question comes up: “What do I do with my hands?”

One reason the question has such prominence is that not knowing what to do can make us feel self-conscious. And if you’re at all worried about what the audience is thinking about you or your hands, then you’re not 100% focused on giving a powerful presentation.

Given how important gestures are to the impact of a presentation, it’s frankly surprising that speaking and presentation coaches so rarely describe — in a detailed way — which actual gestures are most effective, i.e., recognizable and support your message. This article aims to bridge this gap.

Start with a strong stance

People tend to go to one extreme or the other when it comes to hand gestures: we may be too “verbose” with our hands or too closed off and stiff. Hand motions need to be congruent with what you’re saying as the physical expression of your verbal message.

Strong and effective gestures start with a tall, erect stance. Make sure your shoulders are back, your chest is lifted (but not “puffed up”), and you keep your feet about shoulder-distance apart (for more about this, see my book “Talk on Water ,” p. 139). If you’ve ever practiced good posture by walking around with a book balanced on top of your head, you know what I have in mind here.

Once you have your strong stance, simply allow your arms to relax at your sides with your elbows slightly bent and your hands hovering about waist height. You can rest one hand inside of the other as a kind of home base. This is your strike zone — your arms are relaxed and yet ready to gesture.

Gesture with intention

The main differentiator between gestures that are distracting and those that are effective is that effective gestures are intentional. Think about a time when you were totally distracted by someone’s hands as you watched him present. Do you recall what was distracting about his movements? It’s probably that he kept making the same repetitive motions over and over, which added nothing to what he was saying. This can get tiring to watch (it can become almost like watching a tennis match).

Clearly, these kinds of repetitive movements are more aptly described as a nervous tic than an intentional motion designed to support what is being said. If you think of your presentation as a conversation with the audience, it can help you to feel less nervous and more natural about what to do with your hands. Whether you’re pitching, presenting or keynoting main stage, you want hand gestures to be purposeful, varied and emphasize your message in a natural way.

So what are some effective gestures to use throughout a high-stakes presentation?

There are two types of gestures, both of which can be effective:

1. Conventional gestures

Conventional gestures are more or less universally understood and can be considered almost as generalized sign language. What makes conventional gestures effective during a presentation is that everyone in the audience will understand your intention.

There are six movements that fall under this category:

Pointing: When you point, your audience will turn their attention to whatever you are pointing to. You can point to your slides to draw attention to a particular item in a list saying, “the whole argument hinges on this one data point” or “the boundaries on this map have changed.” You can also point to a product you’re pitching. However, you will want to avoid pointing at the audience or individuals, as this can be interpreted as punitive. You can use an open hand instead (for a good example of how to point without offending your audience, watch this video ).
Giving or receiving: When you hold your hands out as if to give or accept a book or maybe a piece of paper, it indicates openness and a willingness to share information. You could use this gesture when you are offering information or asking listeners to consider a new idea. When you hold your hands in this way, your body language says, “this is the information my team has discovered” or “these ideas are valuable for attaining your outcomes” or “I’m appealing to your good will to help me understand this matter.”
Rejecting or stopping: Think about how you would hold your hand if you wanted to say “stop.” You would hold your wrists at a 90-degree angle away from your body, palms pushing away. When you hold your hands in this way while you’re speaking, it indicates rejection. You’re saying to the audience, “this proposal or policy won’t do” or “let’s slow down and think about this for a moment.”
Clenching fists: This one can be a display of resolve, as in, “we must fight this merger to the end.” It can also indicate power or conviction as when someone pounds the podium while giving a speech. But be careful about your tone of voice when using this gesture because it can come off as anger. You can think of clenched fists as physically putting an exclamation point on your words.
Cautioning: You may hear people refer to this gesture as the “dog with dirty paws.” This is similar to rejecting, only you may make slower movements with your palms facing away or pushing downwards. You can think about the kind of movement you would make to calm a friend if she were feeling upset. This gesture conveys the advice, “don’t take this one so seriously” or “let’s approach this calmly.”
Dividing: When you hold your hand vertically out to one side of your body and then do the same motion on the other side with the opposite hand, you suggest the idea of two diametrically opposed points. For example, you might say, “we can neither be too risk averse [right hand] nor overly confident [left hand] in our projections for the market next quarter.” I also often connect this gesture with conveying the idea of “pro vs. con” or “theory and practice.”

2. Descriptive gestures

Descriptive gestures are, just as the name suggests, literally physical descriptions. What makes this type of gesture effective is that it helps the audience create a vision that corresponds to your words. Here are some examples of descriptive gestures and when to use them:

Small, medium, large: You can use this one to literally show different levels when doing a pricing comparison, for instance. You could say, “we offer the premium package at the highest level with all the bells and whistles,” then “we have a basic package, which is good for companies that aren’t ready for a huge transformation,” but “our top-seller is this package right in the middle.”
Growth: Whenever you move your hand or gesture in an upward motion, it indicates growth or increase. You can use this gesture to literally show the direction sales or job growth is headed. Or picture the “hockey stick chart” used to demonstrate rapid growth. You can make this shape with your hands to show, rather than tell, how your work will benefit stakeholders.
Itty-bitty: If you are making a small point or talking about a problem, challenge or issue that could arise, you can show it’s small by making the “itty-bitty” gesture. You can emphasize that this is not something your audience should take too seriously by holding your index finger and thumb close together. Making this gesture while you’re talking can actually reduce anxiety in your audience .

Do’s and don’ts

Let’s end with a quick list of do’s and don’ts:

Do make your gestures spontaneous, plentiful, filled with vitality, variety and coordination.
Don’t do anything that could be interpreted as defensive (e.g., putting your hands in “fig-leaf” position, in your pockets, behind your back, or folding your arms in front of your chest or even across your body for extended periods of time).
Don’t point at individuals, including co-presenters or audience members.
Do mark your script with cues to add intentional gestures where appropriate, instead of hoping you will remember.
Do pay attention to the meanings of gestures across cultures, especially if you’re presenting to a global audience.
Do remember to keep your hand gestures congruent to what you are saying.

Using gestures effectively is an important part of presenting with power. Above all, be sure to practice your pitch or presentation with intentional hand gestures included, so that they feel natural and you can focus on being present with the audience when all eyes are on you.

With these practical tips in mind, you’ll be on your way to expertly enhancing your words with physical expressiveness

Stephanie Scotti is a strategic communication advisor specializing in high-stake presentations. She has 25-plus years experience of coaching experience and eight years teaching presentation skills for Duke University. She has provided presentation coaching to over 3,000 individuals in professional practices, Fortune 500 companies, high-level government officials and international business executives. Learn more at ProfessionallySpeaking.net and ProfessionallySpeakingBlog.com.

If you enjoyed this article, sign up for SmartBrief’s free e-mail on leadership and our weekly PR Council newsletter , among SmartBrief’s more than 200 industry-focused newsletters .

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Sonja Stetzler

Effective Connecting

June 22, 2023 By Sonja Stetzler

3 Benefits of Using Gestures in Presentations

Using gestures in presentations is a powerful communication technique..

One area of communication and in public speaking that hasn’t gotten much attention in recent years since we have been presenting virtually is the power of gestures.

In developing content for a presentation, we tend to focus on our choice of words and how we deliver them. However, the power of gestures, our hand motions, and body language, should not be underestimated.

The power of gestures should not be underestimated

Recent research has shown that gestures are an essential part of our communication process, and they precede our conscious thoughts.

We are constantly signaling our intent to others in a split second before the words come out of our mouths, and most of this signaling falls underneath our conscious radar.

We all gesture, though how and how much we gesture will vary among cultures.

What are the benefits of gestures?

1. understanding.

When we use gestures to help explain a concept, our audiences better understand what we are saying. Our hand movements help to clarify, specify, and enhance our speech which aids their comprehension of our message.

2. Memory and Learning

Audiences are likely to remember more gestures accompanying the words in a speech.

In a research study where participants watched videotaped speeches, they were able to remember points in the speech when a gesture was used to emphasize a point.

Gestures enhance our memory by reinforcing the spoken word with visual and motor cues.

3. Influence

Studies have shown that when audiences hear a speech and see gestures at the same time, the listeners’ attention becomes amplified.

One study involved a group of experienced investors who watched 4 versions of a presentation pitched by an entrepreneur. One video employed the use of figurative language; one video included frequent hand motion; one video used both figurative language and hand gestures; and the fourth video used neither.

The investors who viewed the video with the frequent gestures were 12% more interested in investing, which led the researchers to conclude that gestures mattered more than words.

A word of caution – Over-gesturing can backfire and distract an audience. Be purposeful when using gestures in your presentations.

How can you use this information?

Start with an awareness of how you naturally use gestures.
Ensure your gestures are aligned with your message or points in your presentation.
If you are presenting on a video platform, see if you can adjust your view so that the audience can see your hands.
Experiment with a few gestures that feel authentic to you and practice so that they become a part of your natural communication style.
Watch how other speakers use gestures and learn from them.

Here are a few of my favorites to watch:

Victoria Labalme’s TEDx talk
Shola Richards’ TEDx talk

Working on a presentation for a conference or upcoming meeting? Not sure how to navigate a difficult conversation with a co-worker, direct report, or maybe your manager? Does your team need help with coming together on a project? These are all areas where I can help!

Reach out for a Discovery call to see how Communication Coaching could be helpful for you and/or your team! There are still a couple of spots open for the summer.

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Presentation Gestures and Movement

Move When You Need to Move

The best rule of thumb for gestures and movement while public speaking is simple—move when you need to.

When I first began speaking, I was always concerned with trivial things such as what should I do with my hands? Should I scan the audience with my eyes, or look over everyone’s head? How do I keep from fidgeting?

Because I focused on those trivial things, my message was lost in a lot of minutia. I was more focused on myself and less focused on the message that I was trying to deliver. Consequently, I distracted myself, I lost my place and made myself more nervous, which caused me to fidget, avoid eye contact with my audience, and worry more about my hands. It was a reinforcing downward spiral.

However, once I began doing the few things we’ve covered on this website and in our podcasts, my gestures and movement improved automatically. In stead of focusing on NOT looking nervous, I began to focus on increasing my enthusiasm about my topic. Instead of focusing on listing off a bunch of bullet points, I began to focus on delivering my content using compelling stories. (It is almost impossible to tell a story without using great gestures.) Instead of focusing on how I looked, I focused on what the audience wanted to know about my topic. With each of these alterations, my focus shifted off of myself and onto my message. Many of the nervous habits went away automatically without me having to do anything at all.

However, there are a few things that we can consciously do to make ourselves appear more poised in front of a group. Keep in mind that as you become more confident in front of a group and more self-assured when you speak, many of these things will happen automatically. So don’t spend a lot of time thinking about these things in the beginning. As you become more and more confident, if you find that some of these things are still distracting you, then focus on improving one area at a time.

Set Up Your Room for Success

One of the biggest mistakes that I see presenters and meeting organizers make is to setup the room for failure. About 90%+ of all office meeting rooms are equipped in a way that forces the speaker to limit his/her gestures and movement. Since we limit the size of our presentation classes to about 10 or fewer people, we are often delivering these classes in a boardroom. In fact, last week, I taught a class in Chicago where the room was only about 20 ft by 30 ft in size. The boardroom table took up about 70% of the room and was placed right in the center. The drop-down screen was in the middle of one of the 20 ft walls, and the screen was about six foot wide. Mathematically, if I wanted to use that screen, I would have had to pick one side of the room or the other to present from (since the screen was in the middle of the room). So I would have had to present from an area that was about 6 ft X 4 ft in size. Kind of hard to move a lot if you are in a refrigerator box sized space.

So, just placed a whiteboard off to the corner of the room and projected my slideshow onto it. The whiteboard only took up about three-square-feet of space. As a result, I was able to use the remaining 70-square-feet of space to present.

Many audio-visual people have learned from past mistakes. Often, now, when you go to a conference, you will see a stage or speaker area in the middle of the room. In addition, you will often see dual screens, one on each side of the front of the room. This works much better for the speaker. Setting up the room properly will allow you to move more effectively!

The Five Best Ways to Improve Your Movement and Gestures When you Present

Create a Good First Impression Before Your Even Say Anything.

Realize that the first impression that your audience has of you often is created before you take the stage. The way you carry yourself, your posture, and your conversations with audience members can all have a part in creating your first impression. So, as you walk to the front of the room, make sure your chin is up, make eye contact with a few friendly faces, smile, and have some enthusiasm in your step. An easy way to harness enthusiasm is to just walk about a stride or so faster than your normal pace.

This one simple thing can have a profound effect. What is your automatic impression if the speaker slowly walks to the front with little or no enthusiasm? Chances are you will begin to think that this meeting is going to be dull. Even before the speaker opens his or her mouth.

Stand with Poise, Shoulders Back, Weight Evenly Distributed.

Once you take the stage, make sure to distribute your weight evenly on both feet. The reason is that if your weight is centered on one foot, eventually, you will tire. You will then want to shift to the other foot. Before long, you will constantly be shifting from one foot to the other. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it might eventually become a distraction to your audience. Anything that distracts from your message can have a negative impact on your performance.

In addition, you want to use your posture to show the audience that you are confident, poise, and in control of the room. You can do this simply by standing with your shoulders slightly back. Make eye contact with friendly faces in the audience. This will help the audience members feel that you are speaking to them directly instead of lecturing to them. It will also help you build confidence, because these people will give you subtle positive reinforcement like nods and smiles.

If your shoulders are slumped over and your back is arched, you’ll look like your on your way to the gallows. You’ll look defeated. Use you presence to take control of the room, and your audience will pay attention to your words more closely.

Drop Your Hands to Your Side, and You Will Use them More.

If you’ve ever wondered, “What do I do with my hands?” don’t worry. That is a natural question that almost everyone has when they begin to present. The answer is to drop your hands to your side when you are not using them. It will feel unnatural at first, but you’ll find the results quite rewarding.

If you clasp your hands in front of you, then when you need to use them, you have to first let go, and then use them. And your subconscious mind would rather just keep them clasped. Therefore, we miss opportunities to make natural gestures. If you were in the military, you are probably more likely to rest your hands behind you. This can be negative for the same reason, but can be doubly distracting because people in the audience after a while will begin to wonder, “What is the speaker doing behind his/her back?” You’ll find that when you drop your hands to your side, you will be much more natural at using them to dramatize your speech when you need to.

People will often argue with me when I make this suggestion to them, because they hear me saying, “Keep your hands by your side.” That is absolutely NOT what I’m suggesting that you do. I’m suggesting that you start with you hands by your side, because now, when you make a gesture, it will be powerful. If you have your hands clasped in front of you, if you do make a gesture, the gesture will be very weak. Try a quick exercise. Clasps your hands in front of you (somewhere between your navel and your chest). Now, break the clasp and move your right hand up and to the right. How far did your hand move? If you are like most people, only about six inches. Now, drop your hands to your sides. Move your right hand to the exact same spot it was a few seconds ago. How far did it move this time? If you are like most people, about two and a half feet. That additional movement is perceived by your audience as energy and enthusiasm.

Avoid Repetitive Gestures.

Move around as much as you need to when it is appropriate. But always remember to avoid repetitive patterns. Anything you do too much can be a distraction. I had a professor in college that always paced back and forth in the same manner throughout the entire lecture — every day. He also had a habit of carrying ChapStick in his pocket and pulling it out sometime during each class and applying it on his lips.

It became an inside joke among the students. We used to joke about how one day the stage was going to collapse in that two foot wide strip that he wore out each day. We also had a daily pool betting on what minute of the lecture the ChapStick would appear.

It was kind of humorous, but it didn’t help us remember the content of his lectures.

Move Bigger.

There is very little difference between movements and gesture that you would do when you speak to someone in a one-on-one situation and the gestures you might use in front of a group. The only major exception to this rule is that as your audience gets bigger, so should your gestures. You may have to exaggerate your gestures if you are speaking to a coliseum, but in most cases, do what comes naturally.

presentation skills | presentation skills

The 4 Public Speaking Gestures And How To Use Them

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Using gestures, when give a public speech is a very important part of your presentation. Also using well designed fashion clothes from the best stores like The Fifth Collection will help you look better when talking in public. If you fail to use gestures properly and you do awkward gestures throughout your presentations,you are probably going to distract your audience and you are not going to get the impact that you want when you presenting.

Here are 4 public speaking gestures you can use as well as how to use them effectively during your presentation.

4 Public Speaking Gestures

I am going to walk you through the four gestures that you can use in your presentations and so you can become more powerful and effective public speaker.

1. Descriptive Gestures

These are gestures that we use to describe something or a situation .We might draw comparisons between something that’s really big and something that’s really small or we might use it to contrast certain items or to depict the size.

A great example that I am taking from toastmasters is if you are using a metaphor saying something is “like a tiny little bird” and you hold your hand out in a cup shape. You are reinstating the metaphor of the bird and also implying size being small.

You can also use descriptive gestures to show shapes. You can also talk about movement, you can talk about location and you can even use gestures when discussing numbers.

So descriptive gestures are very helpful because when we are speaking all we have is our words. All we have is what comes out of our mouth and by using descriptive gestures we can actually improve the impact of our public speech and improve the comprehension of our audience.

This means our message gets across more effectively.

2. Emphatic (Emotional) Gestures

Emphatic gestures are like emotional gestures. So if we are sad we could slump down and talk about sad things. If we are angry we could put our fists together and make an angry face.

We can use these gestures to symbolise the feelings that we have.

Emphatic gestures help us to appear more genuine. When you are talking about and you are using angry gestures it actually makes you seem more genuine.

The audience will be thingking “yes he were angry. I can see it in his body language.”

3. Suggestive Gestures

These are gestures that depict moods or expressions. For example: you could say I welcome you in with open arms whilst opening your arms.

4. Prompting Gestures

These are the ones that prompt the audience to do something.

Tony Robbins does this really well. He might say “raise your hand if you want to earn million dollar this year” and he will raise his hands as he is telling people to raise their hands.

Audience members are more likely to do it if they see you doing it first.

Or you could say “let’s jump up and down on the spot”. So you can see in the video I am jumping and so it encourages audience or prompts them to do something that you want to do.

So there you have the four gestures which we can use while giving a presentation and there are some ideas on how you can use them.

Using Public Speaking Hand Gestures Effectively

When it comes down to using them effectively I compiled the tips here . There I have 5 tips on how you can use them more effectively.

At the end of the day it comes down to preparation and practice and being natural in your gestures.

Don’t try and force yourself if you don’t feel natural. If it is flowing like it does in everyday conversation with your friends or family then that’s a good sign that they’re going to be hand gestures that will work.

Try to avoid those hand gestures that just really take away from your presentation and don’t support what you are presenting.

So I guess the rule is – If the gestures are supporting what you are saying then they are probably going to be great. If they take you away from what you are saying (like scratching your face, adjusting clothes or playing with your ring finger) then they are probably taking away from your presentation and you don’t want to use them.

14 Practical Tips to Improve Your Presentation Skills

The Speaker Lab
May 11, 2024

Ever felt complete dread and fear at the thought of stepping up to deliver a presentation? If so, you’re not alone. The fear of public speaking is more common than you might think, but with the right presentation skills , it’s a hurdle that can be overcome.

In this article, we’ll help you master basic confidence-building techniques and conquer advanced communication strategies for engaging presentations. We’ll explore how body language and eye contact can make or break your connection with your audience; delve into preparation techniques like dealing with filler words and nervous habits; discuss tailoring content for different audiences; and much more.

Whether you’re prepping for job interviews or gearing up for big presentations, being prepared is key. With adequate practice and the proper attitude, you can crush your speech or presentation!

Mastering the Basics of Presentation Skills

Presentation skills are not just about speaking in front of a crowd. It’s also about effective communication, audience engagement, and clarity. Mastering these skills can be transformative for everyone, from students to corporate trainers.

Building Confidence in Presentations

Becoming confident when presenting is no small feat. But fear not. Even those who feel jittery at the mere thought of public speaking can become masters with practice and patience. Just remember: stage fright is common and overcoming it is part of the process towards becoming an effective presenter.

Taking deep breaths before you start helps calm nerves while visualizing success aids in building confidence. Also, know that nobody minds if you take a moment to gather your thoughts during your presentation—everybody minds more if they cannot understand what you’re saying because you’re rushing.

The Role of Practice in Enhancing Presentation Skills

In line with old wisdom, practice indeed makes perfect, especially when improving presentation skills. Consistent rehearsals allow us to fine-tune our delivery methods like maintaining eye contact or controlling body language effectively.

You’ll learn better control over filler words through repeated drills. Plus, the extra practice can help you troubleshoot any technical glitches beforehand, saving you the sudden panic during your actual presentations.

Remember that great presenters were once beginners too. Continuous effort will get you there sooner rather than later.

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Body Language and Eye Contact in Presentations

The effectiveness of your presentation can hinge on more than just the words you say. Just as important is your body language .

Impact of Posture on Presentations

Your posture speaks volumes before you utter a word. Standing tall exudes confidence while slouching could signal nervousness or lack of preparation.

If there’s one lesson to take away from our YouTube channel , it’s this: good presenters know their message but great ones feel it through every fiber (or muscle) of their being. The audience can sense that energy when they see open body language rather than crossed arms.

Maintaining Eye Contact During Your Presentation

Eyes are often called windows to the soul for a reason. They’re communication powerhouses. Making eye contact helps build trust with your audience members and keeps them engaged throughout your speech.

Avoid staring at note cards or visual aids too much as this might give an impression that you’re unprepared or uncertain about your chosen topic. Instead, aim to maintain eye contact between 50% of the time during presentations. This commonly accepted “50/70 rule” will help you exhibit adequate confidence to your audience.

If stage fright has gotten a hold on you, take deep breaths before you start speaking in order to stay calm. Make sure that fear doesn’t disrupt your ability to maintain eye-contact during presentations.

If body language and eye contact still feel like a lot to manage during your big presentation, remember our golden rule: nobody minds small mistakes. It’s how you handle questions or mishaps that truly makes a difference—so stay positive and enthusiastic.

Preparation Techniques for Successful Presentations

Presentation skills are like a craft that requires meticulous preparation and practice. Aspects like visual aids and time management contribute to the overall effectiveness of your delivery.

The first step towards delivering an impactful presentation is research and organization. The content should be well-researched, structured logically, and presented in simple language. This will make sure you deliver clear messages without any room for misinterpretation.

Dealing with Filler Words and Nervous Habits

Nervous habits such as excessive use of filler words can distract from your message. Luckily, there are plenty of strategies that can address these issues. For instance, try taking deep breaths before speaking or using note cards until fluency is achieved. In addition, practice regularly to work on eliminating these verbal stumbling blocks.

Avoiding Distractions During Presentations

In a digital age where distractions abound, maintaining focus during presentations has become an even more crucial part of the preparation process. This video by motivational speaker Brain Tracy provides insights on how one could achieve this level of focus required for effective presentations.

Maintaining Confidence Throughout Your Presentation

Confidence comes from thorough understanding of the chosen topic combined with regular practice sessions before the big day arrives. Make use of note cards or cue cards as needed but avoid reading from them verbatim.

Taking control over stage fright starts by arriving early at the venue so that you familiarize yourself with the surroundings, which generally calms nerves down considerably. So next time you feel nervous before a big presentation, remember—thorough preparation can make all the difference.

Engaging Your Audience During Presentations

Connecting with your audience during presentations is an art, and mastering it can take your presentation skills to the next level. Making the message conveyed reach an emotional level is essential, not just conveying facts.

Understanding Your Target Audience

The first step towards engaging your audience is understanding them. Tailor the content of your presentation to their needs and interests. Speak in their language—whether that be professional jargon or everyday slang—to establish rapport and ensure comprehension.

An effective presenter understands who they’re speaking to, what those individuals care about, and how best to communicate complex ideas understandably.

Making Complex Information Understandable

Dense data or complicated concepts can lose even the most interested listener if presented ineffectively. Breaking your key points down into manageable chunks helps maintain attention while promoting retention. Analogies are especially useful for this purpose as they make unfamiliar topics more relatable.

Audience Participation & Questions: A Two-Way Street

Incorporating opportunities for audience participation encourages engagement at another level. It allows listeners to become active participants rather than passive receivers of knowledge.

Consider techniques like live polls or interactive Q&A sessions where you invite questions from attendees mid-presentation instead of saving all queries until the end.

This gives you a chance not only engage but also address any misunderstandings right on spot.

Treat each question asked as an opportunity—it’s evidence someone has been paying attention. Even challenging questions should be welcomed as they demonstrate an engaged, thoughtful audience.
Encourage participation. It can be as simple as a show of hands or the use of interactive technologies for live polling during your presentation. This keeps your audience active and invested in the content.

Remember, your presentation isn’t just about putting on a show—it’s about meaningful interaction.

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Presentation Skills in Specific Contexts

Whether you’re nailing your next job interview, presenting an exciting marketing campaign, or delivering insightful educational content, the context matters. Let’s take a look.

The Art of Job Interviews

A successful job interview often hinges on effective communication and confidence. Here, the target audience is usually small but holds significant influence over your future prospects. Body language plays a crucial role; maintain eye contact to show sincerity and interest while open body language communicates approachability.

Bullet points summarizing key experiences are also helpful for quick recall under pressure. This allows you to present your chosen topic with clarity and positive enthusiasm without relying heavily on note or cue cards.

Pitching in Public Relations & Marketing

In public relations (PR) and marketing contexts, presentations need to capture attention quickly yet hold it long enough to deliver key messages effectively. Visual aids are valuable tools here—they help emphasize points while keeping the audience engaged.

Your aim should be highlighting presentation benefits that resonate with potential clients or partners, making them feel as though ignoring such opportunities would mean missing out big time.

Educational Presentations

An educational setting demands its own unique set of presentation skills where deep understanding trumps flashy visuals. You must make complex information understandable without oversimplifying essential details—the use of analogies can be beneficial here.

Keeping the audience’s attention is critical. Encourage questions and participation to foster a more interactive environment, enhancing learning outcomes for all audience members.

Tips for Becoming a Great Presenter

No single method is suitable for everyone when it comes to speaking in public. However, incorporating continuous improvement and practice into your routine can make you an exceptional presenter.

Tailor Your Presentation to Your Audience

Becoming an excellent speaker isn’t just about delivering information; it’s also about making a connection with the audience. So make sure that you’re taking setting, audience, and topic into consideration when crafting your presentation. What works for one audience may not work for another, so be sure to adapt your presentation styles according to the occasion in order to be truly effective.

The Power of Practice

The art of mastering public speaking skills requires practice —and lots of it . To become a great presenter, focus on improving communication skills through practice and feedback from peers or mentors. Try to seek feedback on every speech delivered and incorporate those pointers in your future presentations. Over time, this cycle of delivery-feedback-improvement significantly enhances your ability to connect with audiences and convey ideas effectively.

If you’re looking for examples of good speakers, our speech breakdowns on YouTube provide excellent examples of experienced presenters who masterfully utilize speaking techniques. Analyzing their strategies could give you great ideas for enhancing your own style.

Finding Your Style

A crucial part of captivating any audience lies in how you deliver the message rather than the message itself. Developing a unique presentation style lets you stand out as an engaging speaker who commands attention throughout their talk. Through — you guessed it — practice, you can develop a personal presentation style that resonates with listeners while showcasing your expertise on the chosen topic.

Your body language plays a pivotal role here: open gestures communicate confidence and enthusiasm towards your subject matter, two qualities essential for keeping audiences hooked. Similarly, using vocal variety adds dynamism to speeches by emphasizing points when needed or creating suspense during storytelling parts of your talk.

Cultivating Passion & Enthusiasm

Showcasing genuine passion for the subject helps keep listeners engaged throughout even lengthy presentations. Sharing stories related to the topic or expressing excitement about sharing knowledge tends to draw people in more than mere data recitation ever could.

Recognize that everybody is distinctive; don’t expect identical results from every speaker. The path to becoming a great presenter involves recognizing your strengths and working tirelessly on areas that need improvement.

FAQs on Presentation Skills

What are good presentation skills.

Good presentation skills include a clear message, confident delivery, engaging body language, audience understanding, and interaction. They also involve effective preparation and practice.

What are the 5 steps of presentation skills?

The five steps of presenting include: planning your content, preparing visual aids if needed, practicing the delivery aloud, performing it with confidence, and finally post-presentation reflection for improvements.

What are the 5 P’s of presentation skills?

The five P’s stand for Preparation (researching your topic), Practice (rehearsing your talk), Performance (delivering with confidence), Posture (standing tall), and Projection (using a strong voice).

What are your presentation skills?

Your personal set of abilities to deliver information effectively is what we call your presentation skill. It can encompass public speaking ability, clarity in speech or writing as well as visual communication talent.

Mastering presentation skills isn’t an overnight process, but practice and perseverance will put you well on your way to becoming an effective speaker.

You’ve learned that confidence plays a crucial role in effective presentations, so take deep breaths, make eye contact, and keep your body language open. As always, preparation is key. Tackle filler words head-on and get comfortable with visual aids for impactful storytelling.

Remember the importance of audience engagement — it’s all about understanding their needs and tailoring your content accordingly. This way, complex information turns into digestible insights.

Above all else: practice! After all, nothing beats experience when it comes to improving public speaking abilities.

Last Updated: May 9, 2024

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New Research Shows How You Use Gestures In Your Presentations Matter More Than You May Think

by [email protected] | May 6, 2019

The next time you pitch an idea, pay attention to what you’re doing with your hands and arms. Your gestures communicate more than you think.

According to new academic research, entrepreneurs who use gestures to underscore their message are considered to be more impressive. For example, extending both arms wide open to explain the ‘sweeping’ size of a potential market gives an investor confidence in the speaker.

Hand motions help to communicate an abstract or unfamiliar idea by making it concrete, according to Joep Cornelissen, professor of communication and management at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University. Cornelissen explained his research in the May edition of the Harvard Business Review .

“We think this kind of information [nonverbal language] is especially important in uncertain, high-stakes contexts like pitch meetings, where investors are looking for a variety of cues that will help them evaluate ideas’ potential,” says Cornelissen.

In his MBA classes, Cornelissen asks his students to pitch an idea and to rate each other on the presentations. The students whose pitches are deemed more memorable and persuasive use gestures to support their main points. “In other instances, I first have students do a pitch on their own and then train them to change their story and strategically add hand motions. The whole class can then see the before and after versions and how much difference carefully crafted body language makes.”

I, too, have found that genuine and natural hand gestures energize a presentation. For example, for one of my early books on communication, I spoke to Dr. David McNeill at the University of Chicago. He had conducted exhaustive research into nonverbal language, especially gestures. McNeill said that gestures and language are intimately connected. Gestures help you speak more fluidly by clearing up the thought process. Gestures come so naturally to us, it takes concerted effort not to use gestures. In other words, if you feel like using your hands to make a point—as most of us do in casual conversation—use gestures in front of an audience, too.

Here are three public-speaking tips that apply to hand and arm gestures.

1. Use gestures

Don’t be afraid to use your hands in the first place. The day before I wrote this article, I was meeting with a senior executive at one of the world’s largest publicly-traded companies. As she was preparing for a major presentation, she asked, “Should I keep my hands still?” Armed with the new research, I confidently told her, “Feel free to use your hands. You’ll make a stronger impression.”

2. Use gestures sparingly

Any overused communication technique can easily turn into a distraction. In today’s political campaign, one candidate flails his arms about to punctuate nearly every sentence. It’s turned into a meme on social media. Too much of a good thing can backfire.

3. Use gestures at key moments

McNeill found that great speakers are more inclined to use definitive and purposeful gestures during “key moments in the discourse.” The best advice is to use gestures at those moments of a presentation when you’re communicating your most important message.

I’m glad we have new research into nonverbal communication. As an author, I naturally focus my writing on the words we use and the stories we tell. But you should also pay close attention to what your body is communicating. Your gestures matter.

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Use These Hand Gestures During A Presentation

August 10, 2020

During a presentation, we mainly use two forms of communication, verbal and nonverbal. Nonverbal communication is commonly referred as body language. We are able to send messages through the use of our body without saying it verbally. Body language includes hand gestures, eye contact, facial expression and postures.

In this article we will be focusing on hand gestures to use during a presentation. Apart from being able to convey messages and feelings through the use of gestures, research studies have suggest that the use of gestures helps to remember information better .

We have group gestures into the following categories, those that help to improve the image you portray to the audience and those that help to make your message more memorable.

Gestures that improves your image you portray to the audience

Not all hand gestures convey the same message or carry the same weight. There are negative and positive gestures. Engaging in negative (also known as closed) gestures make you appear less trustworthy and guarded. Whereas displaying positive (also known as opened) gestures makes you look approachable and likeable. As a result, this helps to improve your image as a speaker.

1. Open Palms

When your audience deems that you have nothing to hide, they are more likely to trust you. This enables you to get your message across more easily.

2. Touching Heart

Touching your heart is a gesture that signify ‘Trust Me!’ When you use this gesture, you are signalling to the audience that everything you say comes from your heart.

This gesture is best used when you are advocating something as it helps to sculpt your image as an authentic and trustworthy speaker.

3. Steepled Hands

Steepled hands is a gesture where all finger tips touch each other. It is commonly used by politicians such as Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy (The former president of France). Investor like George Soros ( billionaire hedge-fund manager) and businessman Kelvin O Leary (Co-founder of Softkey, a technology company that sold software geared towards family education and entertainment) also use this gesture when they speak.

Using this gesture helps you exhibit confidence and shows that you know what you are talking about. As a result, you will be able to garner the audience’s trust and deliver an impactful presentation.

After listing gestures that help to improve the image you portray to your audience, we will move on to explore gestures that makes your message more memorable.

Gestures that makes your message more memorable

4. numbering.

The numbering gesture refers to listing numbers with your hands. This simple gesture is usually used when the speaker starts a new point.

An example of its application would be “moving on to the second point…” (use your hand to show the number two while saying this sentence)

5. This and That

This and That is an interesting and powerful persuasion gesture used to show contrasting ideas. It is an extremely useful gesture because it helps the audience to visualise when you present contrasting ideas. As a result of being able to see what you are presenting, your audience are more likely to remain engaged throughout your presentation.

Unite is also another interesting hand gesture you can adopt in your presentation. It involves spreading out both of your arms (one if you are holding a mic) and gesturing it inwards. This represents two forces combing into one. Examples of context which you can utilise this gesture includes presenting the launch of a new product, delivering a proposal of company partnership.

Although this article listed several positive hand gestures you can use in your next presentation, do bear in mind to use them appropriately for maximum effectiveness. Apart from adopting positive hand gestures, you might be interested to know about the negative hand gestures to avoid in your presentation. Refer to this article for more information [ Avoid these negative body language gestures in a presentation ]

Looking to improve other aspects of public speaking? Refer to the following useful articles.

[ How to improve your speaking voice ]

[ How to project your voice and speak louder ]

[ How to use an appropriate tone of voice ]

[ Speech exercises to improve articulation ]

[ Public speaking postures to Adopt to project Confidence ]

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10 Tips for a Persuasive Presentation

Powerful presentation is persuasion. here's how to elevate your impact..

Posted May 11, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

Presentations aim to effect change. It's essential to be clear about what change you want to see.
Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience.
Substance and style both matter to create an audience-informed communication experience.
Persuasive presentations are relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant.

How many of us realize that giving a presentation or making a speech is all about persuasion , influence, and emotional intelligence ? Impactful presenters understand the power of empathy to understand and engage their audience, the efficiency and kindness of having a clear objective and message, and the importance of substance and style—all as a way to connect in a way that engages and inspires.

Much has been written on the power and behavioral science of persuasion, not least by expert Robert Cialdini. His bestselling book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion explains seven research-based universal principles of influence .

From my experience as a leadership coach working with thousands of people worldwide, I have compiled a list of ten essentials to elevate our presentation.

1. Maintain an "other" focus. What do you know about your audience and how can you find out more? Ask yourself what kind of a speaker will appeal to your audience, what arguments are likely to resonate with them, and what feelings you want to inspire so the audience will positively respond to your ask.

If your audience is predominantly data-driven, you may want to use more evidence-based arguments. If the audience is mixed, a combination of data, authority, and storytelling may be more appropriate. Extend Daniel Goleman’s three types of empathy to gather intelligence , understand your audience, and tailor your intervention to connect more profoundly.

2. Determine a specific objective. Presentations aim to effect change in some way. What change do you want to see in your audience?

For instance, gaining their approval for a certain investment, soliciting their buy-in for a change, or creating a sense of enthusiasm for an idea or initiative. The purpose of a presentation is to bring about change so make sure you are clear on what kind of change you want to bring about.

3. Design a grabber. Our attention spans have shrunk as we have more and more competing demands on our attention . If you want to get someone’s attention, you need to grab it at the outset and try and hold on.

You can do this in several different ways. Throw out a question that demands a response from the audience. Give a surprising fact or statistic, or quote from a well-known figure. Tell a story or an anecdote. A good grabber captures the attention of everyone there and makes them focus on what you have to say.

4. Crystalize your message and construct your arguments. Your message is the heart of your speech. Craft a brief phrase that clearly defines your proposal in 10-12 words—for example, “This post is about crafting presentations that inspire and engage others to elevate their presentations.”

Make it memorable by choosing inspiring words, symbols, catchy expressions, something that will remain in the audience's mind. As Brené Brown says: “Clear is kind,” and a clear message provides a path to develop your ideas.

When you have a clear and concise message, it helps you formulate your arguments. Think of developing your arguments using the rule of three —three compelling arguments to convince but not overwhelm your audience.

5. Prepare a call to action. Remember, we want to change our audience in some way, so we need to make our ask clearly and concretely. Consider your call to action in terms of what you want your audience to think/feel/do:

Think: “I want you to think about how you can improve your presentations.”
Feel: “I want you to feel enthusiastic and motivated so that you can elevate your power to persuade.”
Do: “I want you to try out some of these tips and tools for yourself.”

6. Craft a memorable closing. Close the speech in an elegant and memorable way. We need people to remember what we've told them, so prepare it well.

This is not the time to improvise. Try to connect your closing to your opening grabber, which makes the presentation more memorable. Good preparation means preparing everything to the very end—finish well.

7. Plan your delivery. A dynamic speaker draws listeners in by using vocal variety (tone, intonation, speed, volume, pace, pauses, silence) and body language (posture, gestures, expression, and movement) to highlight important points and hold the audience’s attention. Be intentional: How will you use your voice and your body to emphasize a thought or idea? Think about it: If you increased the time you spent on style or delivery by 20 percent, what would it mean for the impact you make?

8. Think about how you will engage your audience. You want the audience to feel considered throughout. Include pauses so they can process what’s being said; connect with individuals throughout the room and make deliberate eye contact while speaking, especially when delivering key points. Read and respond to the audience by changing how you deliver as you go based on the audience’s nonverbal communication .

9. Rehearse and practice. Practice is one of the most crucial elements of presenting—and probably the most neglected one. If this is new to you, start by reading your presentation in front of a mirror to get comfortable speaking your presentation.

Next, video yourself and watch out for nervous or distracting habits to eliminate them and identify any areas where you can improve your delivery. If you are feeling brave, practice in front of an audience and ask for feedback.

10. Prepare your success rituals and mantra. Public speaking and/or stage fright can feel debilitating for some. Have your calm-down ritual prepared and ready to go before you start your presentation. This might be a certain gesture, a power pose, breathwork, or a mantra.

Try this tip: Identify three adjectives to describe how you would like to show up during this presentation. This sets an intention and helps focus our cognitive and emotional resources on success.

Powerful presenters embrace and extend empathy to seek first to understand their audience. They use this intelligence to carefully make choices about substance and style to create an audience-informed communication experience that feels relevant, reasoned, real, and resonant and creates a pathway for change.

Palena Neale, Ph.D. , is a women’s leadership coach, lecturer, and founder of unabridged, a boutique leadership development practice.

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Open access
Published: 09 May 2024

Multimodal communication and audience directedness in the greeting behaviour of semi-captive African savannah elephants

Vesta Eleuteri ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7037-3529 1 ,
Lucy Bates ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4746-3312 2 ,
Jake Rendle-Worthington 3 ,
Catherine Hobaiter ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3893-0524 4 na1 &
Angela Stoeger ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6714-8291 1 , 5 na1

Communications Biology volume 7 , Article number: 472 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Animal behaviour
Social evolution

Many species communicate by combining signals into multimodal combinations. Elephants live in multi-level societies where individuals regularly separate and reunite. Upon reunion, elephants often engage in elaborate greeting rituals, where they use vocalisations and body acts produced with different body parts and of various sensory modalities (e.g., audible, tactile). However, whether these body acts represent communicative gestures and whether elephants combine vocalisations and gestures during greeting is still unknown. Here we use separation-reunion events to explore the greeting behaviour of semi-captive elephants (Loxodonta africana ). We investigate whether elephants use silent-visual, audible, and tactile gestures directing them at their audience based on their state of visual attention and how they combine these gestures with vocalisations during greeting. We show that elephants select gesture modality appropriately according to their audience’s visual attention, suggesting evidence of first-order intentional communicative use. We further show that elephants integrate vocalisations and gestures into different combinations and orders. The most frequent combination consists of rumble vocalisations with ear-flapping gestures, used most often between females. By showing that a species evolutionarily distant to our own primate lineage shows sensitivity to their audience’s visual attention in their gesturing and combines gestures with vocalisations, our study advances our understanding of the emergence of first-order intentionality and multimodal communication across taxa.

Red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus) adapt their interspecific gestural communication to the recipient’s behaviour

The sound of yawns makes geladas yawn

Dialects in leaf-clipping and other leaf-modifying gestures between neighbouring communities of East African chimpanzees

Introduction.

Animals communicate using vocalisations, gestures, facial expressions, scent cues, and other signals conveying information across different sensory modalities. Research on animal communication has focused on exploring signal types or modalities separately 1 , 2 . However, isolating a signal from its broader communicative context can limit our understanding of its function. For example, in human speech, we frequently use paralinguistic visual signals, such as facial expressions or gestures, to adjust the meaning of messages 2 .

Multimodal signalling is discriminated based on the production or perception of signals: multicomponent combinations involve signals from different articulators (i.e., production organs), such as vocalisations produced with the vocal tract or gestures with the limbs, while multisensory combinations involve signals conveying sensory information (e.g., visual and acoustic) perceived through different sensory channels (e.g., vision and hearing) 3 , 4 . Multicomponent and multisensory combinations may serve different communicative functions. In redundant combinations, signals convey the same information to facilitate its detection or enhance recipient response, while in non-redundant combinations the functions of component signals may be refined evoking a distinct response by recipients 5 , 6 . Outside of apes, research has focused on multisensory combinations during contexts including courtship (crickets 7 ; birds 8 ), agonistic interactions (frogs 9 ; Cichlid fish 10 ), and antipredator displays (insects 11 ; squirrels 12 ). For example, flies court by combining visual, acoustic, vibratory, and chemical signals 13 , while different bird species by combining elaborate visual displays with songs 8 . Conversely, research on primates has focused on multicomponent combinations showing some evidence of refinement 14 . For example, bonobos combine gestures with different facial expressions to convey aggressive or playful intentions, while in chimpanzees vocal-gestural combinations may serve as attention getters to gestures or to disambiguate their meaning 15 , 16 , 17 .

African savannah elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) represent a promising candidate to further explore the use and functions of multimodal communication. They possess a rich communication system including acoustic, chemical, seismic, visual, and tactile signals often combined in elaborate displays 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 . The most frequent call is the rumble, which contains information like individual identity 22 , 23 , sex 24 , age 25 , reproductive state 26 , 27 , and arousal 28 . Other common vocalisations during high arousal are trumpets and roars 21 , 29 , 30 . Additionally, the mouth, temporal glands, and genitals of elephants produce chemical secretions containing information relating to individual identity, reproductive state, or emotional state 19 , and elephants frequently investigate these body parts or their secretions with their trunks 20 . Lastly, elephants use many visual and tactile body acts across different behavioural contexts, suggesting vision and touch are particularly important in their communication 30 . However, it is not yet known if or to what extent elephants use these body acts to communicate flexibly and intentionally.

Intentionality is argued to underly the uniqueness of human language 31 . With language we choose to communicate an underlying thought to a partner, by taking into account their mental states 32 , 33 . The capacity for intentional communication can be distinguished into different levels 34 . Zero-order intentionality is attributed to signals trigged as simple reactions to stimuli, whereas first-order (or goal-directed) intentionality is attributed to signals produced to communicate goals and elicit behavioural reactions in recipients, and second-order intentionality to signals produced to change the mental states of recipients 34 . Most animal signals are suggested to be zero-order intentional 31 , 35 , 36 , and there is scarce evidence of second-order intentionality outside of humans (but see ref. 37 , 38 ). But first-order intentionality—an essential precursor to second-order intentionality—has been found to be widespread in other apes 39 . All apes use large repertoires of gestures to flexibly communicate goals, acquiring this capacity during infancy, similarly to the onset of speech in human infants 40 , 41 . One aspect of first-order intentionality is that signals are directed towards an audience: the signaller must be in the presence of a recipient, visually check the recipient, and show sensitivity to the recipient’s attentional state by selecting the appropriate modality of the signal (i.e., audience directedness) 42 , 43 .

Communicative capacities are adapted to the socio-ecological needs and sensory-motor systems of the species employing them. Other apes share our body plan and richly structured social lives, but to understand which social and ecological factors led to the evolution of first-order intentionality we need to also explore species more distantly related to us, including those with different sensory-motor systems 44 . Elephants are particularly good candidates because they are physically different and evolutionarily distant from us 45 , but share our long lives and multi-level fission-fusion societies 46 , 47 , 48 in which goal-directed flexible gesturing might mediate diverse social interactions. Moreover, wild elephants perform many body acts across different behavioural and social contexts 30 , and semi-captive elephants have been shown to adjust their use of visual gestures towards a human experimenter depending on her state of visual attention, suggesting evidence of first-order intentional use 49 . However, whether elephants direct gestures at conspecifics and which, if any, of their described body acts may represent first-order intentional gestures has not been systematically investigated.

Like other species living in fission-fusion societies, elephants regularly separate and reunite 48 , and may engage in greetings upon reunion. Greetings in animals are suggested to function to mediate social interactions 50 , 51 by reducing tension and avoiding conflict 52 , reaffirming existing social bonds 53 , re-establishing dominance dynamics 54 , or providing updated information on individuals such as reproductive or affective states 55 . Several species produce and integrate signals when greeting group members 52 , 56 , 57 , as do elephants. When they meet, wild male elephants may occasionally rumble and often direct their trunks to their conspecifics’ mouth, temporal glands, or genitals, apparently to facilitate positive interactions or gain socially relevant olfactory information 19 , 30 , 55 . Moreover, while unknown captive female elephants do not greet upon meeting, related or closely bonded wild and captive female elephants engage in elaborate behavioural displays apparently to facilitate recognition and strengthen social bonds 20 , 30 . Females may vocalise with rumbles, roars, and trumpets; spread, and flap their ears; touch each other; back into each other; and defecate or urinate 30 . The diversity of body acts and vocalisations makes greeting a promising context in which to explore audience-directed gestures and multicomponent combinations in elephant communication.

We explored the use of audience-directed gestures and multicomponent combinations of vocalisations and gestures during greetings in a group of semi-captive African savannah elephants. Firstly, we identified the range of vocalisations and body acts used. Secondly, we described which, if any, body acts represent audience-directed gestures by investigating whether elephants target body acts at recipients selecting their modality appropriately according to recipients’ visual attentional states. We predicted that elephants would use more audible or tactile body acts when recipients are not attending and more silent-visual body acts when they are attending 41 , 58 . We also explored whether elephants combine specific vocalisations (e.g., Rumble) with specific gestures or body acts (e.g., Ear-Flapping) and whether they would order them in specific ways within multicomponent combinations. Because elephant greetings are described as chaotic combinations of signals 20 , 30 , we predicted that specific signals would not be ordered when combined together in this context.

Finally, to understand the functions of multicomponent combinations during greeting, we investigated whether individual and social factors affected the combined use of vocalisations with gestures or body acts. Because of their more elaborate greetings in the wild 30 , we predicted that females would greet with common multicomponent combinations more frequently than males. Moreover, we predicted an order effect in the general use of vocalisations and gestures in combination: elephants would first vocalise and then start gesturing, possibly to elicit the attention of recipients to gestures to enhance the transmission of information 3 , 5 .

We found that elephants greet with specific vocalisations and body acts. Most body acts were targeted at recipients and their modality was selected appropriately according to the recipient’s state of visual attention, thus representing audience-directed gestures. Elephants combined specific vocalisations with gestures or body acts in specific multicomponent combinations and Rumble-Ear-Flapping was the most frequent combination, especially used among females. By showing that elephants produce audience-directed gestures and specific multicomponent combinations during greeting, our study expands the current knowledge on elephant communication and enhances our understanding of the evolution of first-order intentional communication and signal integration beyond the primate lineage.

Study site and subjects

Separation-reunion procedures are a useful way to promote greeting behaviour and study vocalisations in elephants 59 . While wild elephants are not used to being separated by humans and show high levels of stress if forced apart 60 , semi-captive elephants are regularly separated for short periods for training purposes, interactions with humans, or medical interventions. Moreover, recognising who is vocalising is extremely challenging in wild elephants, especially during their elaborate greeting behaviour where individuals often call together 20 , 30 . Therefore, we decided to conduct our study of elephant greeting behaviour on a group of semi-captive elephants.

We collected data in November and December 2021 with a group of semi-captive African savannah elephants in the Jafuta Reserve in Zimbabwe. The reserve consists of teak forest and grassland and is inhabited by other species, including wild elephants. The semi-captive group consists of 9 elephants (four males and five females) engaged by elephantCREW in non-invasive interactions with tourists and locals.

The STRANGE framework was established to identify sampling biases in studies of animal behvaiour that may affect reproducibility and generalisability of findings 61 , 62 . Originating from different wild herds and being in semi-captivity, our study subjects live in an artificial social group comprising adult males and females, which may impact their social behaviour and communication. In line with the STRANGE framework, we discuss our results by considering the sampling bias in our study 61 , 62 .

Data collection

Data on elephant greetings were collected from an elevated observation deck positioned next to a water hole, with clear visibility of the elephants for at least 200 m on all sides. To promote greetings between elephants we used a separation-reunion procedure. First, the elephant carers led two elephants more than 200 m apart from each other and behind vegetation so that they were no longer visible to one another. Then, after ten minutes, they led the elephants out of the vegetation and allowed them to freely approach each other. Individual elephants were only separated from each other once per day, and a maximum of two separation trials were conducted each day to minimise any stress to the elephants. Protocols were established to immediately reunite any elephants who showed signs of distress during the separation, but this was never observed so no trials had to be stopped for this reason.

Previous studies described elephants with stronger social bonds engaging in more elaborate greeting behaviour 20 , 63 . When we separated and reunited individuals with weak social bonds, they did not approach each other and greet. Thus, to have a sufficient sample size of greeting signals per subject, we selected for the separation-reunions 8 pairs of 6 elephants showing strong social bonds, ensuring that each subject had at least two possible partners. To determine the elephants’ social bonds, we assessed the association level of each elephant dyad in the group by calculating their Nearest-neighbour index (NN AB ) 64 using the field site’s focal data on associations between all elephants collected in the previous year.

The elephant carers collected nearest neighbour data by conducting all-day focal follows of each elephant twice a month, in which they noted the activity and nearest neighbour of the focal individual every 15 minutes. NN AB represents the rate at which an individual B was the closest to the focal individual A during the focal sample. We determined this index using the 15-min scan samples for each individual B to calculate the following proportion:

A f B nn is the number of 15-min scans in which an individual B was the nearest neighbour to the focal individual A when the focal individual A was being followed. A h is the total number of 15-min scans for A for the period October 2020 to Novermber 2021. We considered strong associates those individuals B who had NN AB indexes greater than one-quarter standard deviation above the mean of the NN AB indexes of all individuals B (Supplementary Data 1 , Supplementary Table 1 ).

We collected video and audio recordings of the reunion event using a Panasonic AG-UX90EJ8 video camera and an omnidirectional Neumann microphone KM183 modified to record frequencies below 20 Hz (flat recording down to 5 Hz) and connected to a Mix Pre-6 sound device recorder at 48 kHz sampling rate at 16-bit amplitude resolution. We transferred videos and audio recordings to a MacBook Pro and synchronised the separate video and audio files using DaVinci Resolve version 17.

Definitions of signal types and modalities

We focused on signal production and defined multicomponent combinations as the simultaneous or overlapping occurrence of vocalisations with body acts that included visual, tactile, audible, and possible olfactory components. The core unit for the identification of body acts in our repertoire is the action, the physical movement that uniquely characterises a body act (e.g., Reach for extending a body part towards the recipient) 65 . We then defined body act types as instances of ineffective movement of a body part in a social context that were not used to perform locomotion, foraging, drinking, or self-directed activities (e.g., Trunk-Reach for reaching with trunk). To define different body act types we explored the ethogram of elephant behaviour available on ElephantVoices 30 .

As the purpose of greeting is not to elicit a particular response from the recipient that satisfies the signaller, we determined first-order intentional use based on evidence that body acts were targeted towards the audience and chosen appropriately according to the audience’s ability to perceive them. Specifically, we defined those body act types that met the first-order intentionality criterion of audience directedness as audience-directed gestures 36 . We required that: (1) the signaller performed the body act type in the presence of the recipient, for example when the recipient emerged from the vegetation and approached the signaller (i.e., social use); (2) the signaller produced the body act type above chance when showing visual attention to the recipient (i.e., audience checking); (3) the signaller manifested sensitivity to the recipient’s visual attentional state when selecting the body act modality 42 (See below for details on statistical analyses).

As all potential gestures have a visual component and can, therefore, be visually perceived, we classified body act types by the presence of any additional sensory modality (following 41 , 58 ). When the performance of a body act type did not involve an audible or tactile component in its production it was classified as silent-visual; when it involved an intrinsic audible component it was classified as audible; and when it incorporated physical contact with the recipient it was classified as tactile. Furthermore, due to the described use of olfactory behaviours in elephant greetings 30 , we defined olfaction as an additional potential category of modality for body act types that might be used to facilitate exchange of olfactory information (See Table 1 below). In our data, body act types produced with the tail (i.e., tail body act types) except Tail-Touch did not include audible and tactile information so they would be a priori classified as silent-visual. However, preliminary analyses suggested that these were consistently produced irrespective of the recipient’s visual attention. Thus, they could be either a) non-intentional body movements, or b) gestures used to convey olfactory information from the genital area to the recipient.

Data coding

We coded the synchronised videos with the video coding software Elan 6.2 and the audio coding software PRAAT 6.1.54. After the handlers left the subjects, we considered the greeting behaviour to start when one of the subjects produced the first vocalisation and/or body act after they started approaching each other. We considered the greeting to end when both subjects stopped signalling and rested or engaged in another behaviour (e.g., travelling). We annotated all vocalisations and body acts produced during reunions. We coded the videos at three levels of detail: i) the communication event, ii) the vocalisations produced, and iii) the body acts produced. Our coding method was based on the GesturalOrigins bottom-up coding approach 65 . The communication event included information on the greeting communication: signaller and recipient identity, signaller prior and post communication context, use of olfactory behaviours by the signaller. We then coded information on all vocalisations produced by the signaller (e.g., vocalisation type). Lastly, we coded information on all body acts produced by the signaller: body act type, the states of visual attention of the signaller and of the recipient at the onset of production of the body act, and the distance of the recipient from the signaller (See Supplementary Table 2 ). The average length of our elephants’ bodies was 3 m. We established the distance between the subjects by estimating the number of body lengths between them at the onset of production of any body act. Moreover, the position of their eyes on the sides of their head means that elephants have a potential visual field of 313 degrees 66 . However, to be conservative, we considered visual attention to occur when signallers were facing the recipient, were standing at a 90-degree angle to the recipient’s eyes, or were looking back at the recipient and the ears were not obstructing their view. Similarly, we considered visual attention to occur in recipients when they were front facing the signaller, their head was aligned at a 90-degree angle to the signaller, or they were looking back at the signaller with the ears not obstructing their view.

Inter-observer reliability was conducted on a subset of 100 signals coded by V.E and a trained coder, Mounia Kehy, on three variables: the signal type used (i.e., body act or vocalisation type), the state of visual attention of the recipient, and the state of visual attention of the recipient (attending = Yes, not attending = No). We found substantial to almost perfect levels of agreement on all three variables (Cohen’s kappa: Signal record K = 0.88; Signaller Gaze K = 0.80; Recipient Visual Attention K = 0.88).

Ethical statement

We have complied with all relevant ethical regulations for animal use. Data collection followed the ASAB guidelines for the treatment of animals during behavioural studies (2018) and the ASAB guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research and teaching (ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR, 135, I-X). Ethical approval for the study was given by the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Vienna (Ethical Approval No.2021-021).

Statistics and reproducibility

To describe the greeting repertoire of our study elephants, we retained all vocalisation types and body act types observed at least twice in at least two elephants during reunion to ensure the signals were representative of the group repertoire (following ref. 58 ). The visual acuity of elephants over large distances is not documented. However, as elephants can see a 2.75 cm object at the tip of their 2 m trunk 67 , we calculated that they would be able to detect a 2.5–3 m object, which represents the average height of our elephants, from around 180 m away. Similarly, we calculated that they could detect a 1 m object, which represents the minimum size of the body parts used to produce the body acts (e.g., tail, trunk), from around 70 m away. Thus, to be conservative, we excluded cases where the signaller produced a body act when the recipient was more than 100 m away. We further excluded cases where we were unsure whether the signaller was aware of the presence of the recipient. To explore the size of the greeting repertoire, we calculated the number of signal types used in relation to the number of signal cases coded and plotted the data to visually inspect whether the repertoire reached asymptote.

To consider body act types as audience-directed gestures, firstly we required that signallers visually checked the recipient at greater than chance frequency when producing them. Because with tactile body acts signallers can convey information to the recipients without needing to check them visually beforehand, we did not require tactile body act types to meet this condition. We also required that signallers produced silent-visual body act types at the above chance frequency when the recipient was visually attending them. This requirement was not applied to audible or tactile body act types because the recipient does not need to be visually attending them to receive audible or tactile information.

Then, to further investigate whether elephants choose their body act modality appropriately according to the recipient’s state of visual attention, we used a Multinomial logit model 68 . The response variable indicated the modality of the body act (i.e., silent-visual, tactile, audible) and the predictor variable indicated whether the body act was produced when recipients were visually attending or not. Because the signals were collected from the same individuals, to avoid pseudo-replication, we fitted the identity of the signaller as a random effect. We included the theoretically identifiable random slope for Signal modality within Signaller.

Additionally, following Hobaiter & Byrne 58 , to explore active adjustment of body act modality according to the state of visual attention of the recipient, we calculated the percentage deviation of silent-visual, audible, and tactile body acts according to recipient visual attention. To do so, we first calculated the proportion of silent-visual, audible, and tactile body acts in the entire repertoire. We then separated instances where the recipients were visually attending from those where they were not. Within these two subsets, we calculated the proportion of use of silent-visual, audible, and tactile body acts. Finally, we calculated the percentage deviation in each body act modality when recipients were attending or not using the equation: (β/α − 1) × 100. β represents the proportion of body acts of a specific modality (e.g., silent-visual) when recipients were in the specific state of visual attention (e.g., visually attending) and α the proportion of body acts in that modality in the entire repertoire. Positive deviations indicate that signallers actively adjust their body acts’ modality to the recipient’s state of visual attention (Supplementary Data 2 ).

We restricted analyses to those individuals who contributed at least one body act in each modality and excluded cases where the state of visual attention of the recipient was unclear. The final sample consisted of n = 670 body act cases.

Preliminary analyses revealed that tail body act types that could be a priori defined as silent-visual (i.e., Tail-on-Side, Tail-Raise, Tail-Stiff, and Tail-Waggling) were not used above chance when recipients were visually attending. Thus, to further assess whether these body act types could be gestures used for visual communication, we used a Generalised Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) with a binomial error structure and logit link function. The response variable indicated whether the body act was one of the tail body act types or a silent-visual body act (Yes = 1, No = 0) and the predictor variable indicated whether the recipient was attending when the body act was produced (Yes = 1, No = 0). Again, due to pseudo-replication, we fitted the identity of the signaller as a random effect. We included the theoretically identifiable random slope for Recipient visual attention within Signaller. Then, following Hobaiter & Byrne 58 , we calculated the percentage deviation of the use of these tail body act types in relation to the recipient’s state of visual attention compared to the normal distribution of the established silent-visual body acts (Supplementary Data 3 ). We excluded cases where the state of visual attention of the recipient was unclear. Doing so resulted in a total of n = 543 body act cases included in the analyses. Lastly, we explored the distances at which these tail body act types were produced to understand any alternative functions.

To explore whether elephants produce specific types of multicomponent combinations and orders during greeting, we compared the rates of occurrence of combinations of vocalisation and body act types using the linguistic method of Collocation analysis 69 . Collocation analysis is used to identify non-random word combinations in languages by comparing the frequency of co-occurrence of two specific words termed bigrams. Specifically, Multiple Distinctive Collocation Analysis (MDCA) explores the relative attraction (i.e., rate of co-occurrence) between signals within bigrams using one-tailed exact binomial tests on each possible bigram combination providing an estimate of the attraction of signals with each other. MDCA also allows to explore whether signals are used with a particular order within combinations. Because we were interested in whether elephants combine different signal types simultaneously, we ran this analysis on vocalisations and body acts where the durations overlapped. We excluded cases where the start timings of signals were unclear. To fully capture both the order and ways elephants combine vocalisation and body act types we conducted two separate MDCAs. A first MDCA was used to explore the order in which vocalisation and body act types are combined together. The start time of a signal following a signal produced with the same body part depends on the end time of the latter, affecting our ability to detect the order in which vocalisation and body act types are combined together. Thus, if a vocalisation A overlapped with more than one body act produced with the same body part, we included only the first body act overlapping with A (e.g., if Rumble overlapped with Ear-Spread and then Ears-Stiff, we included only Ear-Spread). A second MDCA was used to explore the general frequency of co-occurrence of vocalisation and body act types without taking into consideration any order pattern. Here we included the entire dataset of multiple co-occurring signals. The samples consisted of n = 337 distinct bigrams of vocalisations and body acts in MDCA1 and n = 403 in MDCA2. Collocation analyses were conducted using R scripts developed by Gries 70 .

To understand whether the elephants’ use of multicomponent combinations during greeting depends on individual and social factors, we fitted two GLMMs 71 with a binomial error structure and logit link function. In the first GLMM we explored whether individual and social factors affected the order of vocalisations with gestures or body acts in multicomponent combinations in general. In the second GLMM we explored whether individual and social factors affected the use of the frequent combinations of the vocalisation Rumble with the body act Ear-Flapping. In the first GLMM the response variable indicated whether the combination started with a vocalisation (1) or a gesture/body act (0). In the second GLMM the response variable indicated whether the combination consisted of Rumble with Ear-Flapping in any order (1) or of any other combination (0). In both models the predictors were: the interaction between the sex of the signaller and the type of sex dyad between the signaller and the recipient (i.e., same sex or different sex); and the strength of relationship between the signaller and recipient, for which we used their z-transformed average Nearest-neighbour index (See Supplementary Table 1 ). Because the samples of all models were composed of signals collected from the same individuals and from the same communication events, to avoid pseudo-replication, we fitted the identity of the signaller as well as the communication number as random effects. To keep the Type I error rate at 5% nominal level, we built maximal models in which we included all theoretically identifiable random slopes 72 , 73 . We included random slopes for Nearest-Neighbour index and for the interaction between Signaller sex and Sex dyad within Signaller, which was first dummy coded and centred.

To explore the overall effect of the fixed effects, we used a likelihood ratio test comparing the full model with the reduced model without the fixed effects but including the control fixed effects and random effects 74 . We checked for multicollinearity using Variance Inflation Factors 75 . In both models the fixed effects had VIFs close to 1.0. We assessed model stability by comparing the full model estimates with those from models from which random effects were removed one at a time 76 . The first GLMM was fairly stable with respect to the interaction between Signaller sex and Sex dyad (estimate = 0.383; model stability estimates: min = 0.301, max = 0.574). The second GLMM was unstable with respect to the average Nearest-neighbour index and fairly stable with respect to the interaction between Signaller sex and Sex dyad. We present the bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals. In both models the sample consisted of n = 337 multicomponent combinations of vocalisations and body acts collected from the 6 elephants.

Reporting summary

Further information on research design is available in the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article.

What signals do elephants use during greeting?

We recorded a total of 1282 signal cases produced by at least two elephants a minimum of two times during 89 greeting events. Of these, 1014 were body acts and 268 vocalisations. Among these, we identified a total of 20 body act types and three vocalisation types. All signal types except Rubbing-Other were used by both males and females (Figs. 1 , 2 , Table 1 ). Examination of the cumulative frequency of the signal types revealed that the repertoire reaches asymptote (See Supplementary Fig. 1 ), suggesting that further observation would unlikely result in the identification of substantial numbers of new signal types.

The signaller (right) is displayed using different body act types in the panels: a Ear-Spread, Tail-Waggling, and Trunk-Shaking; b Ears-Stiff, Back-Towards, and Tail-on-Side; c Ear-Flapping, Trunk-Reach, and Tail-Raise. For definitions of the body act types see Table 1 . Illustrations were drawn by Megan Pacifici.

a Spectrogram of a rumble by the male elephant Doma; b Spectrogram of a roar by the female Hwange; c Spectrogram of a trumpet by Doma. For definitions of the vocalisation types see Table 1 .

Out of 89 greeting communication events, 71% involved the use of the olfactory behaviours Urination, Defecation, and Temporal gland secretions, while 24% showed no olfactory behaviours and in 6% it was unknown whether elephants urinated, defecated, or secreted from temporal glands (See Supplementary Table 3 ).

Do elephants produce audience-directed gestures during greeting?

Except for the tactile body act type Tail-Touch, all body act types were produced above chance by signallers when they were visually attending the recipient (See Supplementary Fig. 2 and Supplementary Table 4 ). Most body act types were also produced above chance when the recipient was visually attending them, except body act types produced with the tail (i.e., tail body act types, Fig. 3 , See Supplementary Table 5 ). We observed that 86% ( n = 344/398) of silent-visual body acts and 83% ( n = 209/253) of audible body acts were used when the recipient was visually attending. In contrast, only 58% ( n = 11/19) of tactile body acts were used when the recipient was visually attending. The Multinomial logit model revealed that signallers used audible body acts and silent-visual body acts more often than tactile body acts when recipients were visually attending them (Table 2 ).

“Yes” indicates that the recipient was visually attending the body act; “No” indicates that the recipient was not visually attending the body act. The letters preceding the body act names indicate the body act modality: A = Audible; S = Silent-visual; T = Tactile; U = Unknown (e.g., “A-Ear-Flapping”; S-Back-Towards; T-Ear-Brush; U-Tail-on-Side). n = 910 body acts.

Moreover, tactile body acts showed striking variation in use, decreasing when recipients showed visual attention and increasing when they did not. There was also a decrease in the use of silent-visual body acts when the recipient did not show visual attention. Audible body acts showed a slight increase in the absence of visual attention (Fig. 4 ).

Deviations above and below the 0 line show changes of modality according to the recipient’s state of visual attention from the overall use of body acts. “Yes” indicates that the recipient was visually attending the body act; “No” indicates that the recipient was not visually attending the body act. n = 670 body acts (Silent-visual: n = 398; Audible: n = 253; Tactile: n = 19).

The GLMM used to assess whether Tail-on-Side, Tail-Raise, Tail-Stiff, and Tail-Waggling could be gestures used for visual communication revealed that Recipient visual attention affected their use by elephants ( χ 2 1 = 11.025, P = 0.001). Specifically, these tail body act types occurred 13% less often (estimate = −1.858) when recipients were visually attending compared to established silent-visual body acts (Supplementary Table 6 ). The model explained a low proportion of variance (marginal R 2 = 0.010). Moreover, these tail body act types showed no percentage variation in use according to the recipient’s state of visual attention, and were actually less likely to be selected when the recipient was attending compared to silent-visual body acts (Supplementary Fig. 3 ). These results suggest that these tail body act types do not appear to be used in a way that is sensitive to the recipient’s ability to perceive them visually. Lastly, we found that, compared to the other tail body act types, Tail-on-Side and Tail-Raise were produced within 1 m from the recipient in most cases (Supplementary Fig. 4 ). As these results indicate that elephants do not adjust Tail-on-Side, Tail-Raise, Tail-Stiff, and Tail-Waggling to the recipient’s ability to perceive the visual information within them, we excluded them as audience-directed gestures (but see Discussion on their potential for exchange of olfactory information).

What types of multicomponent combinations do elephants produce during greeting?

In MDCA1, 20% ( n = 69) of the 337 bigrams consisted of combinations of the gesture type Ear-Flapping and the vocalisation type Rumble. The highest relative attraction among all possible bigrams was found between Rumble first combined with Ear-Flapping (pbin=10.103, n = 33, P < 0.001). The reversed order of Ear-Flapping first combined with Rumble occurred frequently ( n = 36) but had a lower relative attraction (pbin=5.288, P < 0.001). The second highest relative attraction was found in Rumble first combined with Ears-Stiff (pbin=7.607, n = 9, P < 0.001). The reversed order of Ears-Stiff first combined with Rumble occurred frequently ( n = 22) but had a lower relative attraction (pbin=1.953; P < 0.05). Significant relative attractions were also found for other combinations, mainly regarding body act types produced with the ears or tail (Table 3 , Supplementary Data 4 ). A similar pattern of results was found in MDCA2, where the highest relative attraction was of Rumble and Ear-Flapping ( n = 34; pbin=10.680, P < 0.001), followed by Rumble and Ears-Stiff ( n = 9, pbin=10.313, P < 0.001). However, the inclusion of all overlapping signal cases resulted in the identification of other multicomponent combination types in MDCA2 (Table 3 , See Supplementary Data 4 ).

Do individual and social factors affect the order of combinations of vocalisations with gestures or body acts by elephants during greeting?

Overall, the fixed effects of the interaction between Signaller sex and Sex dyad and the average Nearest-neighbour index did not affect the order of vocalisations with gestures or body acts in multicomponent combinations ( χ 2 2 = 2.839, P = 0.242).

Do individual and social factors affect the use of combinations of Rumble and Ear-Flapping by elephants during greeting?

Overall, the fixed effects of the interaction between Signaller sex and Sex dyad and the average Nearest-neighbour index affected the use of combinations of Rumble with Ear-Flapping ( χ 2 2 = 6.034, P = 0.049). Females used rumbles in combination with Ear-Flapping more frequently towards other females compared to males towards other males (Fig. 5 , Table 4 ). However, the model explained a low proportion of variance (marginal R 2 = 0.051).

The bars represent the probability of combination. The horizontal lines with error bars depict the fitted model lines and their bootstrapped confidence intervals for each combination of Signaller sex and Sex dyad. n = 337.

We present a comprehensive study of elephant multimodal communication during greetings, with evidence that elephants target gestures at their audience selecting their modality appropriately according to the audience’s state of visual attention. We demonstrate that elephants greet with specific vocalisations and gestures or body acts of different modalities, which they integrate into multicomponent combinations. Additionally, we present evidence that individual and social factors shape the use of rumble vocalisations and ear-flapping gestures in combination.

When elephants reunited, they greeted with rumble, roar, and trumpet vocalisations, with gestures like Ear-Flapping, Ear-Spread, Ears-Stiff, Back-Towards, Trunk-Reach, and with body acts like Tail-Raise and Tail-Waggling. Furthermore, elephants often exhibited temporal gland secretions and/or urinated. Our results are consistent with previous descriptions of the greeting behaviour of related or closely-bonded wild female elephants and of related female zoo elephants meeting after years apart 30 , 63 . However, the greetings of our male elephants differed from those used in the wild, where males typically only direct their trunks to scent-emitting organs and/or may rumbe 30 , 55 . Our males greeted both each other and females using the same elaborate greetings as close bonded female elephants 30 .

The functions of greetings are varied. In spotted hyenas, chimpanzees, or bonobos, greetings can signal dominance status, while in wild dogs and capuchin monkeys they may help promote group cohesion or coordination 56 , 77 . While the proposed function of the elaborate greetings of closely bonded female elephants is to promote recognition and strengthen social bonds 20 , 30 , a recent study suggested that male elephants direct their trunk to other males to facilitate positive interactions or assess chemical information upon reunion 55 . However, that study had no information on the males’ social bonds, but our subjects live in a tighter social group than males in the wild 47 . Our results suggests that social relationships flexibly impact the use of signals by elephants during greeting, and supports the hypothesis that elaborate greeting behaviour functions to strengthen social bonds upon reunion, including among closely bonded semi-captive males 30 .

First-order intentionality is a fundamental property of human language that allows us to express meaning and is an essential precursor to second-order intentionality 31 , 33 , 34 . Today we know that all non-human apes use large gestural repertoires with first-order intentionality 39 . However, evidence in other animals, including non-anthropoid primates 78 , 79 , 80 , is scarce and/or restricted to a few signals. For example, coral reef fishes use a referential gesture to indicate prey during cooperative hunting, while Arabian babblers use object presentation and babbler walk for joint travel 81 , 82 . A first step in identifying first-order intentional use is determining whether signals are directed at a specific audience 36 , 83 . We found that elephants targeted most body act types towards conspecific recipients after visually checking them, and used silent-visual and audible body act types when recipients were visually attending. Moreover, when recipients were visually attending, signallers were more likely to choose a silent-visual body act as compared to when they were not attending. In contrast, when recipients were not visually attending, signallers preferentially selected a tactile or an audible body act as compared to when they were attending. Wild chimpanzees show similar adjustment, selecting silent-visual gestures more often when recipients are visually attending and tactile gestures when they are not. In contrast, no adjustment is observed in their use of audible gestures, presumably because recipients can acquire audible information whether they are visually attending or not 39 , 58 . Our results therefore provide evidence that most body act types produced during greeting represent audience-directed gestures, supporting the presence of first-order intentionality in elephant gestural communication.

Some tail body act types that could be defined a priori only as silent-visual were produced regardless of whether the recipient would be able to perceive them and were, therefore, not considered as gestures by our current definition. At present, the alternative parsimonious interpretation is that these tail actions are non-directed cues or signs of emotional arousal. However, these tail actions were sometimes accompanied by urination or defecation, and some of them were most frequently produced when the recipient was a few metres away. These results raise the possibility that some tail actions in elephants may serve an alternative function as possible olfactory gestures by sending, emphasising, or inviting the recipient to access scent-based information in the genital area 19 .

We found that elephants combined different vocalisations with gestures in different ways and orders. The most frequent combination was of Rumble vocalisations with Ear-Flapping gestures, with Rumble most often first and Ear-Flapping second. The second most frequent combination was of rumbles with Ears-Stiff gestures. However, the physical forms of Ears-Stiff and Ear-Slight-Spread are considered indications of listening behaviour in elephants 20 . Thus, elephants may slightly open their ears when vocalising to facilitate hearing a potential response rather than for communication.

Information-bearing combinations with syntactical properties have been identified in a few animal vocal sequences 84 . Some birds or monkeys combine functionally distinct vocalisations into compositional combinations whose function is related to the functions of the parts 85 , 86 . A recent study has suggested that the scarce evidence for compositionality in animal communication might be due to its exploration at the unicomponent level 87 . However, evidence that apes combine vocalisations with non-vocal signals to elicit different reactions in recipients and, thus, convey different meanings (or goals) is scarce 17 , 88 . Elephants combine different vocalisations in different orders, a pre-requisite of syntactic abilities, but whether these orders convey syntactical meaning remains unknown 89 . By showing that elephants combine vocalisations and gestures in specific ways and orders, our study represents a first step towards exploring syntactic properties in elephant multicomponent combinations.

Contrary to our prediction that vocalisations may serve as attention getters to subsequently incorporated gestures 15 , we found no order-effect within multicomponent combinations. Moreover, because greeting does not involve a request for a change in behaviour of the recipient, we were unable to determine whether specific multicomponent combinations and orders elicited specific reactions in recipients. We suggest, however, that Rumble and Ear-Flapping may be combined in a redundant way. Ear-Flapping is a single multisensory gesture conveying visual and audible information, as well as possible olfactory information from the temporal glands (e.g., individual identity, reproductive state, or arousal state) via scent wafting 19 , 90 . Rumbles contain information on individual identity 22 , 23 , sex 24 , age 25 , reproductive state 26 , 27 , and emotional state 28 . Thus, their combination may provide redundant multisensory information about the signaller salient to recipients upon reunion.

Much research on multimodal communication has focused on its function for reproductive purposes 8 . In particular, pair-bonded birds or primates use multisensory combinations to advertise and reinforce pair bonds 91 , 92 . We found that Ear-Flapping and Rumble were most frequently combined during female greetings, confirming previous descriptions in related and closely bonded wild female elephants 20 , 30 . In our semi-captive group, three out of four females’ strongest association partner was another female, mirroring natural social ties 46 , 48 . In addition, our elephants are all under contraception to avoid births in semi-captivity. Thus, the combination of Ear-Flapping and Rumble, and possibly of other gestures and vocalisations, during greeting seems more likely to serve enhanced recognition and bonding of socially bonded elephants upon reunion, rather than any reproductive purposes.

Our study shows that elephant greetings are a constellation of vocalisations, audience-directed gestures, and multicomponent combinations conveying information to various sensory channels that may serve to promote individual recognition and social bonding. Elephants are physically distinct and distantly related to our ape family, but they share with us a multi-level social system, a long lifespan, and sophisticated cognition 93 . Finding audience directedness, a core property of first-order intentional communication, in a range of elephant gestures, and specific multicomponent combinations of vocalisations and gestures as shown in other primates 14 , 39 , suggests convergent evolution of these capacities across distant species with similar cognitive and social niches. Future studies should explore the impact of social relationships on signal use in wild male and female elephants, the meanings of elephant gestures, and the use of multicomponent combinations in contexts that involve explicit changes in recipient behaviour. The impact of vocalisations and gestures in isolation, in combination, and in different orders on recipient behaviour could be explored to understand whether multicomponent combinations provide redundancy, communicative flexibility, or specific combinatorial meanings. Lastly, future research should explore the effects of multicomponent and multisensory combinations on recipients to help elucidate the functions of the production and perception of multimodal signalling in elephants.

Data availability

The datasets used to conduct statistical analyses are available on Github 94 . Source data underlying Figs. 3 , 5 , and Supplementary Figs. 1 , 2 , 4 can be found on Github 94 . Source data for Fig. 4 and Supplementary Fig. 3 can be found in Supplementary Data 2 and Supplementary Data 3 .

Code availability

The R code used to conduct statistical analyses is available on Github 94 . Statistical analyses were performed with R software version 4.0.2 and the following packages: lme4 version 1.1–23 95 , 96 ; MuMIn version 1.43.17 97 ; mclogit version 0.9.6 98 , stats version 4.0.2 96 . Collocation analyses were performed using Coll.analysis V 3.2a scripts provided by Gries 70 .

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the elephant carers and all the staff at elephant CREW for their assistance in the field. We thank Katharina Prager and Yvonne Nyaradzo Masarira for their assistance in data collection. We thank Megan Pacifici for her scientific illustrations of elephant body acts. This research was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [AW0126211] and the European Union’s 8th Framework Programme, Horizon 2020 [802719]. For open access purposes, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any author-accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.

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These authors jointly supervised this work : Catherine Hobaiter, Angela Stoeger.

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Department of Behavioral & Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Vesta Eleuteri & Angela Stoeger

Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

Elephant CREW, Jafuta Reserve, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Jake Rendle-Worthington

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK

Catherine Hobaiter

Acoustic Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria

Angela Stoeger

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Vesta Eleuteri: Conceptualisation, Investigation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing - Original Draft; Lucy Bates: Methodology, Writing—Review & Editing; Jake Rendle-Worthington: Resources, Writing—Review & Editing; Catherine Hobaiter: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing—Review & Editing; Angela Stöger: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing—Review & Editing.

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Correspondence to Vesta Eleuteri or Angela Stoeger .

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Eleuteri, V., Bates, L., Rendle-Worthington, J. et al. Multimodal communication and audience directedness in the greeting behaviour of semi-captive African savannah elephants. Commun Biol 7 , 472 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06133-5

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06133-5

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Here we will take a look at how to use your body language to enhance your message and make the most of your presentation.Â . Why Gestures and Facial Expressions Matter. Gestures and facial expressions are part of your nonverbal communication, which accounts for more than half of the impact of your message. It helps to establish rapport ...
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