Question:   What in the world can I do with my hands on stage??  I taped my last event a few weeks ago (BTW, do you ever see a video of yourself that you like?!  I can’t stand to watch myself on video!) and my hands were all over the place.  I realized I always have a hand held microphone, but this time I had a wireless one.  It was my first time to use one.  I felt like my hands were such a distraction to the message.  I cringed as I watched the video.  I am an animated person in general, but this was way too much.  I am glad I taped it!  

Answer:  I’ve been dealing with the exact same thing recently.  Not only did I notice the problem in a video, when pressured to tell me something to work on after hearing me speak, my sweet husband told me that I looked like I was about to take flight!

Our team was coached on presentation skills a couple of years ago.  Our instructor told us that our arms should hang comfortably by our sidewith occasional gestures.  I don’t know about you but “comfortably at your side” is an oxymoron.  I’m having to practice in the mirror as I also work to internalize my message.  I also really concentrated on being aware of my hands as I spoke last week.  It’s going to take some doing to unlearn my habits of either clasping or waving my hands.  I think practice and focus will be the only answers.

Have any of you had this problem?  Any tips for us?