What Does Your Face Say?

Facial expression is often the most difficult area of nonverbal communication to master because we are taught early that our faces can give us away. Often, you will only gain complete credibility with an audience when they feel you’re completely open and not masking anything from them. The viewer generally perceives the warmer, more vulnerable personality as being stronger and more charismatic.

Research shows that the eighty muscles of the face are capable of making more than seven thousand different facial expressions.

Let’s try something you probably never have done before.

Look in a mirror and study your own face. Begin to talk your presentation and see which part of your face moves and which doesn’t. Using the same subject matter, repeat the conversation, however, imagine this time that you are talking to a child. See if your face softens and if your eyes become more expressive and if there is a tendency to care more that the listener understands what you are saying.

Still looking in the mirror, think of something funny until you smile. When you do, see if your eyes smile as well as your mouth. It’s important not to try to make a smile but to concentrate until an incident or something someone said comes to mind which causes the reaction naturally. Dwell on that thought until your whole face smiles, including your eyes. Note carefully how your face smiles.