How to Use Open Palm Gestures…Without Looking Silly
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 of the nuance we can use in showing the palms of our hands with more subtlety. As explained in the video, in western cultures, the palms of our hands are the ultimate symbol of genuine openness and honesty. We are quite literally saying, ‘I have nothing to hide/I am not hiding anything’ from a nonverbal perspective. Stay tuned for more short videos featuring Dr. Marono and myself as we explain some of the trickier nonverbals, and how we can update our body language for video conversations. Have a question? We will be hosting recorded, AMA once a quarter, please email us at: support@virtualsapiens-cbgycehwg9f5e4ac.centralus-01.azurewebsites.net with your questions!
Conveying Trustworthiness with Open Palms
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 our hands to ‘creep’ – our hands look for our phone, they look to click on some tabs, check out email etc. When we are doing other things and appear distracted on video, the other person can easily think we simply don’t care about what they have to say…or their time. One way to ensure your audience knows you are listening and fully present, is to show them your hands. As Brady says: “Verbal and non verbal cues that say “you have my attention” are more important than ever. When your hands are in the frame, they can’t be slacking. They can’t be replying to an email or searching the web.” So we asked Dr. Abbie Marono to share a bit more detail around this nonverbal, and how we can start to think about conveying trustworthiness, and active listening via hand gestures on video. https://youtu.be/FTa4QwccIwY Video requires a refined approach to nonverbal communication. We must be even more aware of what our audience might be experiencing on video, and do everything within our power to ensure the minutes on video are not wasted. Incorporating hand gestures thoughtfully is one new skill to consider – your Sidekick can help remind you during calls too:)
Yes! You Can, and Should, Use Hand Gestures on Zoom
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 a few reasons why professionals often don’t use hand gestures on video: They feel awkward Don’t know what to do with their hands Don’t realize that their hand gestures are not getting picked up by the lens May have gotten feedback not to use hand gestures because the are ‘distracting’ Hand gestures are a very human element in our communication. Hand gestures help build trust and they help add nuance to what we are saying. Our audience benefit more from a speaker who leverages all aspects of their communication toolkit in a way that is aligned with what they are saying. Necessarily, this must include effective use of hand gestures. Check out the 1 minute video below to hear more about how you can effectively build a hand gesture vocabulary, to increase the efficacy of your time on video. Our Sidekick can act as a helpful reminder on when you have been speaking, and not using your hand gestures effectively. Install your free trial and see for yourself on your next video call!
Debunking Body Language Myths
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 number one message to everyone when discussing body language, is that self-awareness always comes first. Be first aware of your own tendencies, understand them, and decide whether or not they are serving you. The very reason we started our Virtual Sapiens Sidekick with a user focus, as opposed to a broader focus on audience engagement, is because of the power we can tap into through our own self-awareness. When assessing other people, remember that context is king and a single behavior rarely leads to a sound judgement, but rather, to more insightful questions asked and overall deeper relationship building.
Facial Expressions and Building Trust on Video
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 was mentioned in a discussion here on LinkedIn this week, our facial expressions can greatly enhance rapport on video. There are a few reasons for this: Actively demonstrating you are engaged, alert, paying attention via your facial expressions – helps your fellow video participants ‘see’ that you are following on and digesting the call activity. Particularly when you are the listener, the speaker is more likely to trust that your reply/interaction takes their account into consideration – that you are a true partner on the call. Since we can lose other signals like taking notes, ‘mm-ing’ and ‘ah-ing’ (due to being on mute), showing how we may be considering other people on video is a necessary component to a dynamic conversation. A big caveat here…we do want to be sure our expressions are aligned with what we want to express, that is to say, with our intention. If we spend the whole time smiling, when really we are confused, it will come as a shock to the others on the call when we don’t behave as they would anticipate based on our nonverbals. As always, awareness is key in this equation. For many people, ‘frozen face’ is very common on video and we have to actively remind ourselves to keep our facial expressions engaged, active and in line with our intentions. This is in fact, the main goal of the Sidekick in-call nudges for facial expressions. If our Sidekick perceives you have been neutral in your facial expression for a period of time, it will send you a gentle, visual nudge reminding you to show you are still part of the virtual room. Check out your Sidekick in an upcoming call and see how you do when it comes to facial expression variation!
Impression Management on Video
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 Expression Perceived Trustworthiness Conveying trustworthiness is one of the most important elements of impactful communication. After all, if someone doesn’t trust you, it’s unlikely they will listen or allow themselves to be influenced by you. According to Dr. Abbie Maroño, Advisor at Virtual Sapiens: “Judgements of trustworthiness are one of the first judgments we make about a person, this is highly automatic and unconscious. We make these judgments in less than a second of seeing a person’s face, and before any verbal interaction has taken place. Judgements of trustworthiness are also made prior to any judgment of confidence, competence, or likability, so as important as these judgements are, we should first focus on how we can appear trustworthy”. Your Sidekick has been designed to help you exhibit markers of trust from a nonverbal communication perspective. This translates to the following metrics: Expression of emotion (Facial expressions and active listening cues) Eye gaze (screen) Hand gestures Check out the video below from Dr. Abbie Marono, on why it is imperative to be aware of, and to develop these markers of trust, from the very first moment and onwards. https://youtu.be/ZUGXrLcKK10 Authority Impression When it comes to Authority Impression, we focus on: Posture Active eye gaze Face Touching Check out the video below on the specific nudges that fall under the category of Authority Impression, and how you can begin to think about leveraging these nonverbal cues to have the effect you want as a professional on video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr6iqwtCIgQ Energy and Expression The third communication theme at play in the Sidekick is Energy and Expression. This is a category that is very much centered on two things: Alignment between intention and expression Variation in dynamics Engaging meetings all have these two things in common. Whether in-person or virtual, when the speaker(s) is expressing themself congruently with a clearly established intention, the results are much more impactful. Similarly, an engaging speaker understands how to emphasize different points in a given presentation, or discussion with different facial expressions, hand gestures, postures and certain vocal cues. Your Virtual Sapiens Sidekick pays special attention to the perceived energy and expression levels you are generating on any given call. This translates to the following metrics: Facial expression dynamics Posture Face touching (emphasis on head in hand posture) Hand gestures Check out the video below for more on how you can think about ensuring your presence is supported by aligned energy and expression. https://youtu.be/c-jlAQILmO4 Keep in mind, these same nonverbal cues apply for in-person conversations as well! Particularly given the new ‘Power Skills’ for leadership and C-Suite positions as defined by Harvard Business Review, the Sidekick is here to provide the crucial feedback towards unlocking your professional superhero qualities. Having a Sidekick at your disposal is key to always be improving.
Where To Look, And When, On Video
One of the hardest habits to rewire when it comes to connecting over video, is where to look…and when. While many of us know we should look into the lens, the crucial detail we often neglect is the core difference between whether you are the active speaker, or not. The golden rule for eye gaze on video (and the way we have built our eye gaze thresholds at Virtual Sapiens) is: 👀 Look into the lens when you are the active speaker. 👀 Look at the screen (and yes, this can be at the other participants!) when you are the active listener. The reasons behind this logic are simple, and backed by nonverbal and neurological research recently confirmed by Stanford University’s Virtual Interactive Lab. Our eye gaze is a core nonverbal cue we depend upon as humans when it comes to understanding someone’s intent and emotional state. We look to someone’s eye gaze to determine trust – a HUGELY important factor in professional conversations. On video, if we are the active speaker, that is to say, we are the one who is sharing information, we have an imperative to clearly share the fullest impact of our message. On video, the best way to do this, is to look into the lens when talking. Since the lens aligns with the audience’s perspective, we can ensure our audience is seeing all that we have to offer as a communicator in that moment. In this way, we can more easily share confidence, we can share happiness, sadness and even anger. Conversely, if we are speaking and looking at someone’s image on the screen (especially if the direction of our eyes is downcast, or off to the side), we appear distant from our message. Our audience gets a less direct, less accurate and more scattered representation of how we may feel about a certain message. On video, we do not want to leave any room for uncertainty if we can help it. Looking into the lens when we are the active speaker helps us get our message across with more impact. Now, if you are an active listener, that is, not the one speaking in a given moment, you can feel free to look at your screen and the person who is speaking. This helps you better digest their message, especially if they are themselves looking into the lens (Which they should be). Two important things to note: If you are the active speaker, do not stare, unblinkingly into the lens. In short, this comes across as unsettling, and creepy. It is too intense an experience for the viewer, so be sure to keep your blink rate natural If you are listening, ensure your participants faces are as centered and close to the lens as possible. This allows the speakers in the group to feel more heard and seen when talking since you won’t be looking completely off to the side. Again, this can produce an unsettling feeling for others on the call. Although this all may sound unatural at first glance, the effects are incredibly powerful. When a speaker looks directly into the lens, as an audience, we feel seen. As a speaker, you can know that your message is landing with the utmost impact. By using Virtual Sapiens Sidekick, you can train yourself to look into the lens appropriately with our updated nudges:) Try it out for yourself today!
How Framing Affects Posture Affects Impression
Telling someone they should fix their posture usually results in an automatic eye roll. It takes us back to our childhood or teenage years when our parents, teachers, or even the odd stranger would tell us to “‘sit up straight!’ and ‘put your shoulders back!’ Telling someone they need to fix their framing…well that will almost certainly result in a completely perplexed expression. Framing? I’ve literally NEVER had to consider framing in any professional context. Even on video, shouldn’t my words be strong enough to make my framing irrelevant? WRONG. While it can be easy to discount the importance of posture in real life, it can be even easier to discount the importance of framing and posture in the virtual world. Yet these elements remain two of the most common issues our Sidekick picks up during calls. And they are related too. In the virtual world, our framing and posture translate immediately into body language cues sent to our audience. If your framing is off, your posture is likely to be off as well. For example, when your lens is too low (a very common mistake) you will be looking down at your screen, where your audience is. By taking the weight of your head off of its axis and stooping towards the screen, you place an exponentially larger strain on your neck. (Hello i-Hump!) This framing and posture combo translates into a poor body language impression for your audience. Similarly, if your lens angle is off, only your head will be showing. This means we are missing out on the benefit of your full body posture, and head gestures. Video is the only digital means of communicating a full message, one which includes the nuance of our tone and our body language. Don’t do yourself a disservice and silence a core part of your impact as a communicator. As you can see in the above pictures, the way we set ourselves up and the way we hold ourselves sends a strong message of our overall professional brand. See how our bodies send strong messages, without the use of any words? In a visual, video based context, our words are rarely louder than our bodies. While building the Sidekick, we intentionally built in a pre-call check, so you can set yourself (and your posture) up for success. We also show the framing nudge first because, once again, if your framing is off, that is likely the root cause of some of the other issues. Fix your framing, you may well fix your posture, your eye gaze, your use of hand gestures and so on. Once again, good framing, leads to good posture leads to a strong impression on our audience. In short, poor framing and poor posture lead to a poor impression sent directly to your audience. Don’t start a call from a point of weakness. Go the extra small distance, and nail your framing set up first – your audience will thank you, and it makes for a much more human connection in the end. Our Sidekick is available with a free trial here – install yours now!
Why Spatial Awareness Still Matters Over Video
One of my favorite nonverbal cues to keep an eye out for is called ‘proxemics’, more commonly known as spatial awareness. While many of us are familiar with the importance of respecting spatial awareness in person (ahem…6 ft please!), many of us completely throw this knowledge out the window once we find ourselves staring at a screen. There are four categories of proxemics we are familiar with in person: Public (25ft-12ft) Social (12ft-4ft) Personal (4ft – 1.5ft) Intimate (1.5ft-0cm) So what happens when you can’t meet in person?? The short answer – you have to treat your lens as though it is a person. By and large, we have poor habits around screens and tend to get closer than we need to. Being too close to the screen causes discomfort for our audience because it: Forces them into intimate territory with someone we likely don’t know Exaggerates any facial expressions as though they are under a magnifying glass. For example, I recently participated in a two-day virtual training. One of the facilitators spent the entire time with his face so close to the screen, staring into the lens without blinking that I felt incredibly threatened and kept wanting to look away. Check out these common mistakes that relate to spatial awareness with your lens… On video, you want to maintain a distance of at least 2 feet between your sternum and the back of your screen. Something more like this: Our Pre-Call Check in the Sidekick Whether you want to call this spatial awareness or simply, ‘framing’ is up to you. But it is a challenging thing to build awareness around. Framing is one of the metrics we provide feedback on with our Virtual Sapiens Sidekick. Whether your lens is too high, too low, uncentered, too close or too far, we have your back. Access a free trial of your very own Sidekick here.
Special Post on the Hopin Blog!
Hopin is a leading video conferencing platform with a mission to make the world feel closer. At Virtual Sapiens, we are working hard to help professionals feel comfortable, confident and connected on video so that they can drive the impact they want to see in the world. We have a firm belief that the effective use of video can help people connect, communicate and share. We are looking forward to amplifying the work of companies like Hopin in their pursuit of a closer world and are excited to see our early products make a difference in the future of work. Check out our article focusing on Body Language on video on the Hopin Blog!