Here’s an excerpt from Spice It Up! 52 Easy Ways to Turn Your Safety Meetings from Bland to GRAND! For more information about this helpful tool visit:
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TIP #43
There are two main types of gestures: emphatic and descriptive. When you use your hands or body to punctuate a point, you’re using an emphatic gesture. Pounding a fist into an open hand is a strong example of an emphatic gesture.
As long as you don’t use the same one throughout the meeting, emphatic gestures help you “emphasize” your points. That’s why they’re called “emphatic gestures.” They’re not as powerful as descriptive gestures though.
Descriptive gestures, on the other hand, show your audience what you’re talking about. Watch a mime and you are seeing descriptive gestures at their extreme. A mime makes you think an object is there just by his hand and body movements. Of course, you don’t want to look like a mime, so back off a bit. But you do want to help your audience see the pipe or tank you’re talking about by opening your hands in a gesture that insinuates a round or a large area. If you’re mentioning seat belts, give a slight gesture that simulates putting one on.
Try to be fluid. Stiff gestures send the signal you’re nervous. One major benefit of using descriptive gestures is that they give you something to do with your hands rather than sticking them in your pockets or clutching them behind your back.
