PRESENT TO SUCCEED LESSONS LEARNED

Win Trust & Gain A New Credibility with Mark Bowden

PRESENT TO SUCCEED LESSONS LEARNED

Win Trust & Gain A New Credibility with Mark Bowden

Mark Bowden is the number one body language expert in the world for the last couple of years. During the debut edition of our Present to Succeed conference, he shared with our audience the wonders of nonverbal communication.

He explained how you can stand out, win trust, and gain credibility every time you communicate in this new standard – the video conference, or video meeting, from your WFH office.

So, what is nonverbal communication? Do you wonder why we respond to cameras and video the way we do? How can you capitalize on that?

Easy in, easy out

Think about it – you get into any video conversation super easy – simply at the click of a button. And while it is a brilliant opportunity, there is a downside – it is also super easy to get out.

It is a low-risk opportunity for you – you did not have to travel by plane, train, or car to attend our conference and Mark’s session. You put little to no resources into it and because of that, you already rate the content lower than when you have put more risk into it. So, what are your options?

As a solution to that, Mark recommends welcoming your audience into your house in an engaging interaction right away. Keeping it social brings you closer and creates a social obligation for them to stay and listen.

Moreover, every time you stand in front of a screen to watch another human being, you expect to watch and not interact. Your audience does the same, they show up ready to be passive. You have to break that pattern by engaging them and getting them invested. But how do you do that?

Introduce them to a community in which you are involved, Mark said. Invite them to the social space you have created. We are in each other’s homes. Imagine somebody came over to your house and said nothing at all. That would be odd, right?

A capture from the speech of Mark Bowden at Present to Succeed

By pointing at his friends printed on his The Behavioral Panel coffee cup Mark is welcoming the audience into a community.

Let your audience see you

Eye contact tells your audience that they are safe and paid attention to because we all have a bias towards a person who holds strong eye contact. Let yourself be visible and look at the camera.

Then Mark explained the power of the Duchenne smile, where both sides of your mouth turn up and your eyes wrinkle, and how it triggers your audience into feeling that you already have an intimate relationship with them.

What Mark also does is a lot of open hands gestures that follow the beat of his speech. Why is that useful? It aids the audience to understand you through your movement as well. It helps them grasp the words you are saying when they can sense words not just on your lips but also in your motions. Your audience’s brains love to see hands move and get thrilled when they see individuals being dexterous.

A capture from the speech of Mark Bowden at Present to Succeed

Mark explains that strong eye contact is linked to increased dopamine levels in the body – the “neurotransmitter of optimism”.

The background

If you think that your background is not that important – you are wrong. We establish a personal relationship with the individual and the environment in which we see them.

It gives your viewers an understanding of your values and helps them judge you properly. For example, if you display books, it suggests that you respect information, and if you have a photo of your kids in view, it implies that you value family, and so on.

When asked about virtual backgrounds, Mark stated that he does not mind them but advised to avoid using any picture with which you have no connection. You’d be losing on the impact it could have because you can let your audience see in seconds something that would take minutes to explain.

We could not stop ourselves from asking about Mark’s lamps in the background. He says that they serve two functions – they offer the audience a sense of space ownership which equates to authority, and the second reason is that they make a room feel brighter, warmer, and more welcoming. This is something that film has been using for decades, and art has used them for millennia.

A capture from the speech of Mark Bowden at Present to Succeed

Place a smiley face behind the camera to get triggered to smile at the audience.

Let’s summarize

Make people feel welcome, especially if you present from your home. Bring your camera to eye level. Make lots of eye contact. A smiley face drawn on a sticky note placed right behind your camera can help and remind you to smile at your audience.

All in all, whether you are an employee, manager, or company founder, the way you communicate your ideas with your body language helps your audience understand you a lot better. You might miss out if you do not use body language to your advantage.

What could you do? Start with some of Mark’s advice and let us know what a difference they make for you!

Here are some extra resources to check for yourself:
The Importance Of Being Inauthentic: Mark Bowden at TEDxToronto
The Behavior Panel – YouTube
And by the way, you can always check our own Quick Guide To Online Presentations for free from our shop.

Join Present to Succeed - the biggest presentation skills conference in the world

Whether you are part of an organization or running a business, how your slides look will always factor in your success. Learn how to become an influential speaker by joining our 30+ industry-leading speakers’ sessions.

Start engaging your audience better and influencing them to embrace your concepts, hire you, or buy your products. Now is the best moment to get your ticket!

Join Present to Succeed - the biggest presentation skills conference in the world

Whether you are part of an organization or running a business, how your slides look will always factor in your success. Learn how to become an influential speaker by joining our 30+ industry-leading speakers’ sessions.

Start engaging your audience better and influencing them to embrace your concepts, hire you, or buy your products. Now is the best moment to get your ticket!