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Research has borne this out for decades. UCLA Professor Albert Mehrabian’s landmark study in the 1960s examined how people derive meaning from communications. The release of the findings, still taught in virtually every university’s Communications 101 class, is still regarded as a watershed moment in communications. Dr. Mehrabian found that:

7 percent of meaning is derived from word choice. 38 percent of meaning is taken from verbal cues, such as volume, pitch and pace. 55 percent of meaning results from non-verbal cues, including body language, eye contact, gestures, and appearance.

NOBODY’S LISTENING TO YOU

Do these statistics mean that the media – or audiences – are hopelessly superficial? Well, let’s put it another way. Think about traveling to another country where the residents speak only a local tribal language. Even without words, you could still learn some very important things about a person – such as whether you like or trust them, whether they are warm or cold, welcoming or distant, smart or dumb.

The same is true during media interviews. Audiences will quickly determine whether or not they like you or trust you in seconds. If they don’t, they will effectively tune you out and disregard

university’s Communications 101 class, is still regarded as a watershed moment in communications. Dr. Mehrabian found that:

7 percent of meaning is derived from word choice. 38 percent of meaning is taken from verbal cues, such as volume, pitch and pace. 55 percent of meaning results from non-verbal cues, including body language, eye contact, gestures, and appearance.

NOBODY’S LISTENING TO YOU

Do these statistics mean that the media – or audiences – are hopelessly superficial? Well, let’s put it another way. Think about traveling to another country where the residents speak only a local tribal language. Even without words, you could still learn some very important things about a person – such as whether you like or trust them, whether they are warm or cold, welcoming or distant, smart or dumb.

The same is true during media interviews. Audiences will quickly determine whether or not they like you or trust you in seconds. If they don’t, they will effectively tune you out and disregard

ye contact, gestures, and appearance.

NOBODY’S LISTENING TO YOU

Do these statistics mean that the media – or audiences – are hopelessly superficial? Well, let’s put it another way. Think about traveling to another country where the residents speak only a local tribal language. Even without words, you could still learn some very important things about a person – such as whether you like or trust them, whether they are warm or cold, welcoming or distant, smart or dumb.

The same is true during media interviews. Audiences will quickly determine whether or not they like you or trust you in seconds. If they don’t, they will effectively tune you out and disregard

important things about a person – such as whether you like or trust them, whether they are warm or cold, welcoming or distant, smart or dumb.

The same is true during media interviews. Audiences will quickly determine whether or not they like you or trust you in seconds. If they don’t, they will effectively tune you out and disregard your message.

So it’s not so much that they’re not listening to you, but that they’ll listen only once you pass the non-verbal test.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

How can you improve your non-verbal communication skills? Here are three tips you can use immediately:

1) Maintain Strong Eye Contact – Before every broadcast interview, ask where to look. Sometimes it’s at an interviewer, others it’s off to the side of a camera, and sometimes it’s directly into the camera. Regardless, make sure you maintain eye contact through the entire interview. It may feel strange to speak naturally to a lens. But since your eyes will appear much larger on a 27” television set, any movement will be distracting to the viewer. Worse, they may think you slick, unconfident, or untrustworthy.

2) Smile – Unless you’re a representative for an airliner that just crashed, it’s usually a good idea to smile during an interview. Remember – you shouldn’t sublimate the things that make you charming in your everyday life. If people react positively to your smile or natural laugh in real-life, use that trait to your advantage during an interview.

3) Dress the Role – If you’re a spokesperson for a populist grassroots political group and show up in a three piece suit, you will confuse the audience. Clothes communicate messages, and you should consider care