Forty years ago communications expert Albert Mehrabian did a little study that got an outsized reputation -- and is often misunderstood.  Here's what he actually found, and what it means, in a short video from a speech last year.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Comments

[Pat Burns]

An image is that you hand each of the people in your audience a cup at the beginning of the talk. How much is in the cup depends on the content of your talk. How much they drink depends on the visuals and audios.

If there is no content to your talk, then there is nothing for the audience to drink no matter how good your body language.

Often speakers in technical fields take the opposite approach: turning a fire hose on the audience in the hope that something accidentally gets in their mouths.

[Nick Morgan]

Hi, Pat -- I love the image, and it's a good reminder that the whole point of getting your body language right is so that it reinforces your content, rather than undercutting it. The point is to communicate. Good, consistent body language serves that end. Thanks for the comment.