@theandyharrington: Hide your palms and the room stops trusting you. This one has no words in it, and it does not need any. On the left, hands tucked in, palms turned away. On the right, palms open and visible. Same speaker, same stage, same suit. The audience reads two completely different people. Here is why. Long before anyone in the room has processed your first sentence, they have already scanned your hands. Open palms are one of the oldest signals we have that nothing is being concealed. Hidden palms send the opposite message, and they send it whether you mean them to or not. Most speakers who hide their palms are not hiding anything. They are nervous, so the hands go into pockets, behind the back, clasped low or wrapped round the clicker. It feels safe. To the audience it reads as guarded, and guarded quietly becomes untrustworthy. The fix is simpler than most people expect. When you make a point you want believed, let one or both palms turn up and out, at roughly waist height, as though you are offering the idea to the room. You are not performing. You are simply giving people the visual evidence they are already looking for. Try it in your next meeting rather than your next keynote. One open-palm gesture on the point that matters most. Watch whether people lean in or sit back. Where do your hands go when you are nervous? #PublicSpeaking #BodyLanguage #Gestures #Presenting #Trust

Andy | Business Speaker

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Region: GB

Monday 05 October 2026 18:00:51 GMT