ACTIONS  SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

Eye contact: This helps to regulate the flow of communication. It signals interest in others and increases the speaker's credibility. People who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth, and credibility.

 Eye contact creates a living connection between you and your audience. It helps to keep the audience’s attention. To keep the audience’s attention, you need to make direct eye contact with each audience member. Some speakers attempt to look over audience members’ heads at the back wall but the audience knows the difference. They can tell when speakers do not look at them directly. If the audience is too large to make eye contact with everyone, then you can “scan” the audience with your eyes gazing across each area of the audience working from left to right and closest to farthest.

Making eye contact allows you to gauge the audience’s reaction and adjust your speech accordingly. For example, if audience members appear confused, you may need to offer a follow-up analogy to help the audience understand your point.

Facial Expressions: The face is the biggest part of non-verbal communication. All of us "read" people's faces for ways to interpret what they say and feel. Make sure your facial expressions match the verbal message that you are sending. If you are speaking about statistics on how many people have died this year due to drunk driving accidents, your expression will be serious.

However, if you are telling a funny story, a smile would be appropriate. Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits happiness, friendliness, warmth, and liking. So, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and people will react favorably. They will be more comfortable around you and will want to listen more. Oftentimes the audience will even smile back. So make sure you smile but as always do not do overboard. Smile when it is needed. But make sure you smile when you meet the person at first time, when you shake your voters’ hand.

Posture:  You communicate numerous messages by the way you stand. The audience looks to posture to provide cues about you; posture can indicate aggressiveness, fear, guilt, or anxiety. Standing erect shows confidence and allows you to breathe easier so you can project your voice better.  So make sure especially when you are speaking at any engagements, stand straight!  But  please remember that in interpersonal communication situations, leaning forward communicates to listeners that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided as it communicates disinterest.

Space and Distance: Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interacting with others and not all cultures are the same. Cultural norms dictate how close people can get when communicating and how much touching is appropriate. Not all cultures are comfortable with a handshake, pat on the back, an arm around the shoulder, or a hug.

So you should look for signals of discomfort caused by invading the other person's space.  For example, if you’re standing too close, chances are that the other person will let you know by moving further away. For most people in the United States, someone standing very close to them makes uncomfortable. They feel their "space" has been invaded.

In American culture, Edward T. Hall, an anthropologist, identified four separate zones of conversational space at his famous book “ Beyond Culture”.:

• INTIMATE SPACE: 0-18 inches
• PERSONAL SPACE 18 inches to 4 feet.
• SOCIAL SPACE 4 feet to 12 feet.
• PUBLIC SPACE 12 feet and beyond (to the limits of visibility and hearing)

The "intimate zone" can vary from culture to culture. This zone is reserved for our closest friends. The “personal zone” usually is reserved for family and friends. The “social zone” is where most business transactions take place. The "public zone" is used for lectures.  And as you are in politics, you need to think over about your culture then design for yourself but overall the social and public space can be used in politics.

Vocal: Speaking can signal nonverbal communication when you include such vocal elements as: tone, inflection, pitch, rate, and volume. Vocal meanings vary across cultures. Intonation in one culture can mean support; in another culture, anger. Expand?

• Tone: The meaning of words can be altered significantly by changing the tone of one's voice. Tone expresses the appropriate feeling or emotion of the words you are saying. Think of how many ways you can say "no." By changing the way you say “no,” you could express mild doubt, terror, amazement, anger, among other emotions.  Let’s practice: Say “NO” – “YES” – “ I SEE” – “ I UNDERSTAND YOU” – “ I AM HERE FOR YOU”
• Inflection: By changing our voice inflection on certain words within a sentence, we can give a whole different meaning to the words we say. Take the statement, “I didn’t say that.” If you say, “I did not say that” and you place an emphasis on the word “I” then it insinuates  that you are not responsible. You can see that where you place nonverbal emphasis can cause many different interpretations. So the using the right words at the right place with the right tone is very important and always remember that!
• Pitch: By utilizing your optimal pitch, you can captivate the audience with your voice. If your voice is too high or too low it can be difficult for audience members to focus on the message because they are paying to much attention to your pitch. Standard conversational pitch is usually most appropriate. The best way to know what your pitch is to record yourself and listen. Or if you have already had a speaking engagement that had been taped before, watch it and see how you speak!
• Rate: To be a great public speaker you have to establish a comfortable rate. For example, Generally, a comfortable rate (speed) of speaking is approximately 150 words per minute. If you speak too fast, slow down. If you tend to speak too slowly, practice developing a faster, more conversational pace. However, using the same rate throughout the speech can make your audience bored and not interested in your subject. Try to use a variety in your pace to build enthusiasm or momentum. Pauses are also very powerful. For example, you could pause after saying a startling statistic that you want to emphasize. Look to your audience for a second later continue to your speech. Many times, politicians speak and leave no time for joy! You need to give some time to your audience to cheer you up, to congratualate you, to applaud.
• Volume: You have to master your volume which should be at a reasonable level. Make sure your volume is appropriate for the room size. Larger rooms or poor acoustics require you to project louder. Smaller rooms will require less volume. You will almost always need to speak at least slightly louder than your normal conversational volume. If you are too loud, tone down. If you are too soft, use breath support by focusing tone in front of you and articulating. Soft spoken people tend to feel like they are yelling when they try to project. Follow the cues of your audience; if the back of the room is getting restless or bored, it is probably because they can’t hear you.

A word of warning: GESTURES

Nonverbal cues can differ dramatically from culture to culture. For example, an American hand gesture meaning "A-OK" would be viewed as obscene in some South American countries. And just as there are variations in gestures between cultures, there are also variations within the same culture.

In the world of gestures, the best single piece of advice is to be aware of the many body signs and customs around you.