The Lost Handshake: Nonverbal Communication in Video Conferences
You walk into a client’s office and shake her hand. You welcome a new employee by shaking his hand. You meet new prospects over coffee and shake their hands. The handshake has so much meaning: “welcome,” “I am excited to be here,” and even “we come in peace.” But in the last four months, with the lack of in-person meetings, the handshake has disappeared and with it went a bevy of nonverbal communication cues that helped us get our message across.
Many people may be lulled into thinking a video conference is the same as an in-person meeting, but there is an essential ingredient that is missing: THE BODY!
On video, if you’re lucky, you get to see everyones’ faces and even some hand gestures, but you don’t get to see their full body language. You’re missing a key ingredient in effective communication.
Professor Albert Mehrabian famously concluded in his book Silent Messages that people communicate 55% of their message through non-verbal communication. Fifty-five percent! If you are not using your non-verbal communication tools effectively, your message won’t fully impact your audience in the way you intend.
According to psychologist Dr. David Masumoto, one of the world’s leading experts on non-verbal communication, when we communicate in-person we receive a person’s “full non-verbal package.” The full package not only includes facial expressions but posture, body language, and hand and leg movement.
When appearing in a video conference, on the other hand, much of the full non-verbal package is missing. According to Masumoto, we are wired to interact in 3D and not in 2D, and video is a 2D medium.
While the medium itself is not conducive to nonverbal communication, on-camera presenters often exacerbate the problem. According to Dr. Masumoto, people actually refrain from non-verbal cues in video presentations because they can see themselves on-camera and thus are more reserved and less animated.
But the reality is, video conferencing is here to stay. Given this inescapable reality, how do you make sure your non-verbal cues are getting transmitted, both as a presenter and audience member? Here are few tips on how to be a more complete communicator in a virtual world:
Don’t Stop Gesturing: In order to be an effective communicator you need to gesture. Even if people don’t see all your gestures, they help you be a more engaging speaker. When you gesture you vary your tone, enhance your facial expressions, and infuse your presentation with more energy. To capture more of your gestures on-camera, zoom out or position yourself further back from your camera so that your audience can see more of your body.
Get On Your Feet: We sit a lot for video conferences. Experiment by standing up. Ditching the chair often elevates a speaker’s energy. It also provides space and freedom to be more nonverbally expressive. Two words of warning, however. First, don’t just tilt your camera up to adjust to your standing posture. Instead, be sure to raise your camera to eye level. Second, be wary of ‘happy feet.’ Your message won’t resonate if you are continually rocking side-to-side or back-and-forth throughout your presentation.
React!: When listening to a presentation, make sure to give non-verbal cues to the presenter: nod your head, smile, maintain eye contact, flash a quick thumbs up...send signals that acknowledge you are on the same page as the presenter. And if you are confused or disagree, you can nonverbally announce that as well. Any nonverbal feedback is far more helpful to the presenter than speaking to a sea of expressionless mannequins.
Record Yourself: Unlike face-to-face meetings, video conference platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebX, etc) allow participants to record their meetings and presentations. Take advantage of this technological benefit and record your video appearances and then review snippets to see how you come across. You don’t need to scrutinize every second of your 90-minute meeting. Rather, watch a minute from the beginning, middle, and end, and ask yourself a simple question--do you want to watch and listen to more of your presentation? If not, why? Look specifically at how you are gesturing, your facial expressions, and your posture. Are there areas for improvement?
Adopting these tips will help you become more aware of your non-verbal cues, and, because non-verbal communication accounts for over half your message, it will make you a far more effective communicator.