Body Language Lab - Virtual Sapiens, Inc.

Why Effective Nonverbal Communication is Critical for Founders to Master on Video

Since the start of the pandemic, what message would you share with startup founders concerning the importance of nonverbal communication when speaking to investors? This question, while directed towards startup founders, is relevant to anyone who has to show up and sell. This can be said for individuals during job interviews. It can be said for founders in …

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The Tell-Tale Signals You’ve Lost Your Audience on Video

By Rachel Cossar

There is a lot going on in video meetings. Particularly for multi-participants meetings, where people are presenting, taking polls and more, it can feel like you are juggling 10 balls at a time…and still have no idea of whether and when people are engaged with what you are sharing. Video conferencing technology tends to make …

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How to Achieve and Perceive Authenticity With Nonverbals

By Rachel Cossar

There’s a reason habit breaking and habit building are such tricky endeavors. Particularly in the world of communication, we often struggle between honing our communication skills, and feeling authentic. Speaking from my experience as a professional ballet dancer and athlete, I can share that building new habits and strengthening new muscles can often feel uncomfortable, difficult, unnatural. But …

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Face, torso and hands? Oh my!

By Rachel Cossar

A question many professionals are asking themselves in our world of video connection is: How do you combat the lack of “full body package” as you tend to only see a small portion of the body on video? In this short video, check out Dr. Marono’s perspective of the way we make up for any …

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How to Use Open Palm Gestures…Without Looking Silly

By Rachel Cossar

As a follow up to all of the activity featuring hand gestures on video, one of our community members asked our expert advisor, Dr. Marono: How we can make good use of open palm hand gestures, without looking like we are engaging in a criminal arrest? In this short video, check out Dr. Marono’s perspective …

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Conveying Trustworthiness with Open Palms

By Rachel Cossar

Hand gestures on video has become a hot topic. In this article, I shared the main reasons using hand gestures can feel awkward…and also some reasons behind why developing a hand gesture vocabulary is so compelling. Another reason is highlighted by Christina Brady, CRO at Sales Assembly in this post on LinkedIn. It’s easy for …

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Yes! You Can, and Should, Use Hand Gestures on Zoom

By Rachel Cossar

One of our user’s recently shared an important realization from their Virtual Presence Assessment experience. Here it is paraphrased below: “I didn’t realize I could use hand gestures on zoom…or that they could add such value to my virtual communication.” This professional is not alone – quite a few professionals have shared similar sentiments. There are …

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Debunking Body Language Myths

By Rachel Cossar

Nonverbal communication is a largely misunderstood area. While a powerful and essential component of communication and relationship building, it is not a magic wand. Check out this recent round up on Psychology Today, of the top ten body language myths from Joe Navarro and our very own behavioral science expert advisor at Virtual Sapiens, Dr. Abbie Maroño, PhD. My …

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Facial Expressions and Building Trust on Video

By Rachel Cossar

It is easy to disengage on video – and easier still to forget that we can be seen on video, even when we are not the active speaker. Research shows that having a ‘poker’ face on video, whether intentional or not, decreases our ability to build trusting relationships and makes it hard to effectively collaborate. As …

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Impression Management on Video

By Rachel Cossar

Impression management is a core component of what we aim to teach at Virtual Sapiens. The way we have designed both in-call nudges and post-call insights is around the various ways in which your audience can perceive you based on your nonverbal behaviors. The three main perception themes are: Perceived Trustworthiness Authority Impression Energy and …

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