Speakers use it, too

As a speaker, you use body language for better or worse. You might not think of it that way, but that's what it is. Researchers have estimated that a person is capable of twenty thousand distinct gestures, each of which has its own meaning. This vocabulary, if we can be justified in calling it that, dwarfs the working vocabulary of the typical English-speaking person.

According to American Speaker, a program for speakers and speech writers, research by a leading communications expert has shown that the visual impact of a speech accounts for an astounding 55 percent of the audience's impressions. This compares with 38 percent for vocal impressions—the speaker's tone of voice, range, enunciation, and so forth—and only 7 percent for verbal impressions. So, are we forced to conclude that what a speaker says is less important than how he says it or how he looks while saying it?

Not at all. The point is that verbal, vocal, and visual impressions combine to create an effective, memorable speech. The vocal and visual elements of the speech affect how the verbal message is received. If the vocal and visual elements are favorable to the speaker, the message has a better chance of being well received and fulfilling its purpose. Words convey information; nonverbal communications add meaning to the information. Sometimes, body language can tell us more than words alone can say.

The key to a good speech is for the verbal and nonverbal language to say the same thing. The old cliche´ from a long-forgotten western movie, ''Smile when you say that, Podnuh,'' gives us the incongruous picture of angry words emanating from a smiling face.

When you listen to someone on the radio, you have no visual element to consider, unless you happen to know what the speaker looks like. Even then, the image you have is static. However, you'll likely form some sort of image as you listen, based on the vocal elements I've mentioned. Your impressions of the speaker affect the way you receive the messages of the program. That's because the speaker's voice, perhaps as much as his or her actual words, are part of the message.

If the speaker sounds sincere, confident, relaxed, and knowledgeable, we tend to believe what he says. If he mispronounces words, if he sounds phony, if his voice is thin and high-pitched, if he talks too fast or too slowly, or if he speaks indistinctly, the words are sure to be less credible.

If nonverbal aspects of a speech account for 55 percent of the audience's impression, as the research cited above indicates, then the importance of nonverbal communication cannot be overstated.

Let's go back to what is commonly called ''body language,'' which is defined as gestures, mannerisms, and movements. Communications experts have written books about body language. Most body language is unconscious, which is to say that it's something we do without thinking. Psychologists tell us that just by the way we sit or stand or use our hands, we may unknowingly convey aggression, openness, hostility, defensiveness, sincerity, fear, or other attitudes and emotions. For example, standing with your arms folded across your chest is said to be a defensive posture.

The study of body language is called kinesics. It is not, by any means, an exact science. A certain body movement may mean one thing in one culture and quite another thing in another culture. There's also evidence that body language varies with the spoken language. Thus, German body language might be different from English body language.

I don't pretend to be an expert in kinesics. I can, however, offer some practical suggestions about how to make body language work in your favor and how to avoid certain habits that may detract from your public-speaking persona.