Some people are hand talkers. Their hands move and gesture in well-choreographed synchrony with their voice. The arms pump away, the wrists rotate on pinwheels, and the fingers waggle like the tails of young puppies … an interpretive dance that emphasizes the spoken word and drives home visceral feelings.
For the rest of us ophthalmologists, however, the hands main purpose outside of the operating room is to hold eyelids open during applanation, and only get “expressive” during confrontational field testing.
Hand movements and gestures can be an important component of expression and becomes even more relevant in front of large audiences. Nervous hands fiddling in your pockets or holding the podium in a death grip … hands can convey many unintentional expressions that you hadn’t intended.
Gestures can be powerful as well. Your hands can pound on the podium, plead to the heavens, and point accusingly at the sleepy resident in the back row.
Consider taking those hands out of action
Unless you’re a great speaker and good at “hand talking,” consider taking them out of action. You’ve got enough to worry about during your talk, to be concentrating on hand gestures. This means giving both your hands something to do.
I like to use a handheld microphone in one hand and a laser pointer in the other. This keeps me from inadvertently scratching myself and these “powerpoint weapons” give me a ‘false’ sense of security.
Some people (not me) love podiums. You can use these as bullet-proof bunkers to hide behind as you shoot your audience with facts. They can even … you guessed it … give you a place to rest your hands.
Careful with that laser!
The laser pointer is an efficient pointer but can be dangerous. Don’t point it into the eyes of your audience by mistake (this makes retina guys especially nervous). Also, that little red dot wobbling all over the screen is annoying and will magnify your nervous hand tremor for everyone in the room to see! Only use your laser when needed.
If the projection screen is low to the ground, consider walking up to it and pointing with your finger … this is much more dramatic use of those hands!
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Comments and Feedback
1 Comment
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This is an outstanding website !!! thanks for sharing all these tips.
Comment by danah — June 23, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
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