WiserHours
Menu

Follow your curiosity

Polish the delivery · Lesson 9 of 11

What to Do With Your Hands When You Speak

Learn where to rest your hands, when to move them, and which habits to drop, so your gestures help your listeners instead of distracting them.

FREE LESSON
Cover picture for lesson 9: What to Do With Your Hands When You SpeakVideo coming soon
The video is not out yet. The written lesson below has the same content.
THE WRITTEN LESSONFollow along at your pace

Many beginners are not sure what to do with their hands, so they hide them or fidget. This lesson gives you a simple rule, a place to rest your hands, and the habits to drop.

Gestures help

Gestures are not just decoration. People in every culture gesture when they talk, even people who were born blind. And studies show gestures can help listeners understand, especially when they show something the words describe. So you do not need to hold your hands still. You need to use them well.

Three small figures wave a hand, beside a globe with the labels Everyone gestures and Even if born blind. A thought bubble reads Helps people understand, with the note Best when they show what the words describe.(opens the full-size picture)
Everyone gestures, and it helps listeners when it shows what you mean.

The simple rule

The rule is short. Let your hands move with what you say, and let them rest when you are not making a point. Movement then means something, because it comes and goes with your ideas. Hands that never stop moving, or never move at all, give your listeners nothing to follow.

Two cards. The left shows a hand with a rising arrow and the words Move with your words, When you make a point. The right shows a figure with hands resting at the waist and the words Rest in between, When you are not making a point.(opens the full-size picture)
Two states: moving with a point, resting between points.

A home position

Pick a relaxed home position to come back to. Two good choices are arms loose at your sides, or hands lightly together at waist height. Neither has been tested as the best, so choose the one that feels natural to you. Just avoid pockets or hands behind your back, because then it is harder to bring your hands up when you want to use them.

Two figures with green ticks, one with arms loose and one with hands together at the waist, and a note Neither tested as best. Two figures with red crosses, one with hands in pockets and one with hands behind the back, and a note Harder to bring them up.(opens the full-size picture)
Two easy home positions, and two that trap your hands.

Ideas with a shape

Use your hands for ideas that have a shape. Show a rise, a gap, two options, or three steps. Point at the thing you name. And keep your gestures in front of your body, where people can see them. A gesture low at your side or behind a lectern is wasted.

Four small cards of hands: a rising hand for A rise, two hands apart for A gap, two open palms for Two options, and three raised fingers for Three steps. A figure on the right has a dashed zone in front of the body labelled Where people can see.(opens the full-size picture)
Rise, gap, two options, three steps, shown in front of your body.

Make your hands match your words

When gesture and speech clash, listeners get confused. In one study, mismatched gestures led to many more mistakes. So do not sweep your hand sideways while saying “sales went up”, and do not chop five times while saying “three options”. Let the rising hand go with “up” and three fingers go with “three”.

Three cards. Sales went up with a rising hand is marked with a green tick. Sales went up with a sideways sweep, and Three options with five chops, are each marked with a red cross.(opens the full-size picture)
A rising hand fits sales went up. A sideways sweep does not.

Drop the fidgets

Drop movements that do not mean anything, like clicking a pen or turning a ring. To spot yours, record a practice and watch it with the sound off. Rehearse standing, out loud, with your hands free. And skip the power pose, where you stand with hands on hips: there is no good evidence it changes your body.

Three cards. Fidgets shows a pen and a ring with red crosses and the words Pen click, ring turn. A phone video with a muted speaker says Watch with the sound off. A figure with hands on hips, crossed out, says Power pose, No good evidence. A bar below reads Rehearse standing, out loud, hands free.(opens the full-size picture)
Spot fidgets by watching with the sound off.

Do not aim for perfect

Do not worry about doing it perfectly. If your hands feel awkward, go back to your home position and try again at the next idea with a shape.

YOUR TURN

Read more

Read the full lesson script

In this lesson, you'll learn what to do with your hands when you speak: where to rest them, when to move them, and which habits to drop.

Gestures aren't just decoration. People in every culture gesture when they talk, even people who were born blind. And studies show gestures can help listeners understand, especially when they show something the words describe.

The simple rule is this. Let your hands move with what you say, and let them rest when you're not making a point.

Pick a relaxed home position to come back to: arms loose at your sides, or hands lightly together at waist height. Neither has been tested as the best, so choose what feels natural. Just avoid pockets or hands behind your back, because then it's harder to bring them up.

Use your hands for ideas that have a shape. Show a rise, a gap, two options, or three steps. Point at the thing you name. And keep your gestures in front of your body, where people can see them.

Make sure your hands match your words. When gesture and speech clash, listeners get confused. In one study, mismatched gestures led to many more mistakes. So don't sweep your hand sideways while saying, sales went up, or chop five times while saying, three options.

Drop movements that don't mean anything, like clicking a pen or turning a ring. To spot them, record a practice and watch it with the sound off. Rehearse standing, out loud, with your hands free. And skip the power pose. There's no good evidence it changes your body.

So remember: move your hands with meaning, and rest them in between. Pick a relaxed home position. And make your hands match your words. Before the next lesson, mark two or three ideas in your talk that your hands can show. Next, you'll learn to make slides that help, not compete.