I analyzed thousands of TED Talks. Talking with hand gestures makes you look more competent

"When people use hand gestures that visually represent what they're saying, listeners see them as more clear, competent, and persuasive. That's the key finding from my new research published in the Journal of Marketing Research, where I analyzed thousands of TED Talks and ran controlled experiments to examine how gestures shape communication. Talking with your hands Whether you're giving a presentation, pitching an idea or leading a meeting, you probably spend most of your prep time thinking about what you'll say."

"I grew up in Italy, where gesturing is practically a second language. Now that I live in the United States, I've become acutely aware of how cultures differ in how, and how much, people move their hands when they talk. Still, across contexts and cultures, one thing is constant: People do talk with their hands. As someone who studies communication, I'd noticed how some speakers seemed instantly clearer when they gestured."

Gestures that visually represent ideas, called illustrators, improve perceived clarity, competence, and persuasiveness. Examples include spreading hands to show distance, bringing hands together to show related concepts, and moving hands in a wave to show fluctuating trends. Cultural differences affect how much people gesture, but people in many contexts commonly use hand movements while speaking. A large-scale AI analysis examined 200,000 video segments from over 2,000 TED Talks and controlled experiments had participants evaluate entrepreneurs pitching products. The same pattern of results appeared across observational and experimental settings, supporting the role of illustrators in effective communication.

Read at Fast Company