body language in meetings

Reading Body Language
When it is your turn to you are make a contribution, the best way of staying in control and keeping the other participants with you is to keep them interested in what you are saying. Meeting participants who are not actually speaking don't usually think of themselves as being observed. Consequently, their body language is relatively easy to read.

Body language signals that you might observe among your meeting partners include: Resistance or disagreement can be implied if you observe a negative posture, with an impassive or slightly hostile expression, arms folded as if to form a barrier and legs crossed with the person leaning back. However, you should be careful to avoid making judgments based on observing one aspect of body language in isolation. For example crossed legs or crossed arms on their own should not automatically be read as a negative reaction. A neutral and open attitude is often accompanied by a neutral or slightly friendly facial expression and an upright or slightly forward leaning seating position.

As these people have not yet decided whether or not they agree with your main message you may observe a mixture of gentle nods and shakes of their head as you make your key points. Neutrals should be viewed as a positive resource; your main challenge is to win them over.
The ability to read body language signals will help you to judge who you have on-side, who is opposing your point of view and who has yet to decide. This should help you to focus your message where it can have maximum impact, talking round those that can be swayed, whilst keeping your supporters with you and trying not to alienate the opposition.

Encouraging Interaction
In order to make your contribution clearly and concisely, it is often advisable to include a question and answer session at the end, and make this clear at the outset. This will enable you to deliver your message and then end strongly, before entering the relatively unpredictable area of tackling questions from the other participants.
When you have finished preparing your contribution, read through it carefully, this is the time to focus on any areas in which your message is short of facts or vulnerable to being challenged. It is often possible to anticipate most questions that are likely to arise. When answering questions do so by speaking clearly and confidently, otherwise you will appear unsure of what you are saying. Don't let nerves draw you into responding hastily, always think about your answer before you speak and if necessary refer back to your notes in order to answer a question. If the question requires clarification then ask the questioner to do this, rather than risk answering a question that wasn't asked. When answering, address the entire meeting and not just to the questioner. Avoid getting into a protracted debate on any point that is raised. You may offer to see a questioner after the meeting to continue a point that is of specific interest to them alone.

Four Main Aspects
You need to be aware of your body language from the moment you begin to make your contribution to the meeting. The other participants will analyze your body language, even if they are unaware of this at the conscious level. A brilliantly prepared presentation delivered in an interesting voice will often fail to be convincing if it is accompanied by negative, intrusive or hostile body language. There are four main aspects of body language that you should consider; what to do with your eyes, what your facial expressions indicate, the positioning and movement of your body and limbs, and your hand gestures.

Positive Eye Contact
Eye contact is an essential part of any communication. Without it people are unlikely to relate to the message in a meaningful way. Not many people realize how important eye contact is, or how sensitive people are to it. Eye contact should be a positive form of body language communication, but if it is not used correctly it can easily become negative.

The face shown has a shaded area, which indicates the correct target zone for positive eye contact. Looking anywhere within this shaded zone represents positive eye contact. Think about where else you might be tempted to look at someone's face during a conversation or presentation. Which area of the face do you think would cause the most discomfort to the person being looked at? Looking at someone's face anywhere outside of the triangular target zone is likely to cause some degree of embarrassment. However, the two no-go zones shown are both associated with strong adverse reactions.

Zone A represents the intimate zone and by moving just a fraction below the base of the target triangle you will enter it. When this happens people typically react by feeling that the other person is staring at them, or that the observer looks shifty.
Zone B represents a dominant zone and by looking at the forehead of another person you are likely to invoke a reaction that you appear to be arrogant, that you are staring straight through them or more commonly that you are talking down at them.

As well as understanding how to make positive eye contact with an individual, in a meeting it is also important to ensure that your gaze encompasses all of the attendees. If you do end up looking at only one or two members of a group, they are likely to feel awkward whilst the others may begin to wonder if they need to be there at all. Whilst you may find it more difficult to engage members of the group who appear neutral or even hostile, it is important to include them, as you will often need to win them over.

Body Language and Stance
If your meeting involves standing up to make your contribution, then you should be aware that basic aspects of your stance can easily communicate subconscious messages - some of which you will want to avoid.
The sort of messages that your stance may convey include:

The forward sloping – this stance indicates a wish to dominate others. Often this stance is accompanied by an over-stressed point. The speaker may be attempting to impose a concept or point of view on their audience. This is made worse by aggressive or intrusive behavior - such as the use of hostile gestures.
The backward sloping – this stance indicates a speaker who is not happy with their situation. This defensive or submissive stance tends to indicate that they lack confidence in what they are saying and would rather not be there.

A bent posture is indicative of a person who is saying something without conviction. Saying one thing whilst meaning another - such as a salesperson giving an exaggerated sales pitch or a customer who wants to say no but has been placed in an awkward position. The upright posture demonstrates adult, assertive behavior with no hidden meaning or manipulations in the communication. This stance indicates that you have conviction and confidence in what you are saying. This is the posture you should practice and use when making your contribution at meetings. If you are going to be speaking for any length of time then move to the front of the room. This will make it easier for all of the participants to concentrate on your message and enables you to gauge their reaction to what you are saying.

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