While making a presentation before the VIPs in your company, avoid acting OA, pacing, or playing with your hair. Assume a relaxed, good posture (stomach in, chest out), and speak in a slow, modulated tone that’s loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Too much movement will make you seem anxious and agitated. Navigating Nonverbal communication Between the Sexes. These “distractions’ will draw your audience’s attention to them and deflect them from keeping their interest on you. Also, talking at a fast clip will backfire, too – not only will people have a harder time understanding what you have say, but your words will also have less impact on them. In fact, a study conducted by Peterson, Cannito, and Brown for the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management showed that “People rate speakers who speak more slowly as being 38 percent more knowledgeable than speakers who speak more quickly.”