Essay Sample on Body Language

Introduction

At the beginning of this course, my fear was that I could never get to use body language appropriately in supporting my argumentation. This was because, in the process of remembering my speech and integrating some of the statistics and examples in my written notes, my body would simply get so rigid that my body language would simply be off sync with whatever I would be saying.

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For instance, I could be talking about the number of people who have perished on the roads due to drunk driving and I would not be showing remorse in my face or I would be leaning on the table just trying to remember whether it is 20% or 25% in my notes. In the efforts to improve my body language, I would use one gesture over and over again- pausing. My fear was that I would never appropriately use body language.

This course has taught me a host of strategies on how to overcome that challenge, chief among them being the importance of practicing just like Kumar (2005) advises. Initially, I started with practicing in the mirror. The mirror made me practice my body language with minimal scrutiny. As a result, I was able to observe myself and notice some problems not only about my body language but also my fill words. For instance, it was through these sessions in the mirror that I noticed that I was overusing the sound "umm." From these sessions, I was able to correct some of those mistakes particularly by adding some facial expression and hand gestures on top of reducing the pauses I was making in my speeches.

Next, I was able to make the next step in my improvement by making my speeches directly to a couple of my friends. This was particularly important because the friends were able to offer some objective criticism. I remember in the first sessions, I told the group to clap whenever I made the sound "umm." Although it was irritating for them to clap, it helped me to realize that I was either not improving or I was improving very slowly. I did not give up because I knew it was important and I needed to do well in the course. While it was a bit tiring trying to work on a lot of these problems, I was at the same time having joy because I was replacing my fear of inappropriate body language with confidence. I needed the confidence for my public speaking.

This course will help me immensely in both my professional and personal interactions. According to Genard (2014) confidence is essential in both formal and informal conversations. The course will give me the confidence in talking in informal gatherings and conversations because now I know I have eliminated a lot of the inappropriate sounds I was making in trying to knit up a conversation together.

Secondly, it is the culture of modern business organizations and companies to organize tasks in groups. These groups need to have team leaders and it is my intention to be a team leader. As a team leader, I will use the skills that I have gathered in the course to lead and coordinate teams. I know the core of leadership is communication and whatever organization or situations I will find myself in, I will thrive because of the skills and practices that I have attained in the course.

References

Genard, G. (2014). Fearless speaking: Beat your anxiety, build your confidence, change your life. Arlington, Massachusetts: Cedar & Maitland Press.

Kumar, V. (2005). The art of public speaking. Elgin, IL: New Dawn.