Intellectuals like professors, students, scientists, etc, tend to giv e great speeches . They have a firm grasp of their topic and they are used to thinking about an issue from a creative perspective. This is certainly the case with Mr. Flynn’s TED talk on society’s upward I.Q. progression, but there’s a key component missing .

What Mr. Flynn does extremely well is use metaphor and analogy to build his points during the discussion section of his speech. A wide variety of strange and creative contexts become organizational tools for Mr. Flynn’s thesis; a sharpshooter hitting a target and a martian archaeologist sifting through human artifacts t o name a few.

But what is missing from this speech is body awareness. You can tell the good professor has spent a lot of time in his head! His voice is booming , stentorian even, but he puts his hands in his pocket , shuffles about on stage without clear direction , avoids eye contact, and muddles his gestures. Not so good. It’s a statistic that has been trotted out quite a bit, but it bears repeating; 80% of our impression of a speaker is non-verbal .

The first step toward improving the way you present, is to be aware of what your body is doing while you present. I don’t mean being self conscious. I mean simply being aware. Do I saw the air when I present? Do I fold my arms across my chest? What is my body saying about me ? When you fidget on stage, make a mental note, and write it down later. Build awareness, first, and build power and nuance later. One step at a time!

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