Has anyone noticed the overuse of hand gestures when people are speaking in public these days? I personally find them a major distraction and it has really gotten out of control.

CEO’s, politicians, people in academia, vloggers, and law enforcement spokespersons all come to mind. Some gestures are subtle, for example, people who put their fingertips together as if they are contemplating something serious and they generally move their hands in tandem while they are talking. Less subtle are the ones that wave their hands around and move their arms about like a classical music conductor from Budapest.

The worst offenders are the ones that look as if they are holding an invisible basketball between their hands and move their hands at the same syllabic cadence as their speaking pattern. It is as if eve·ry sin·​gle syl·​la·​ble that spills out of their mouths are of utmost importance and MUST be emphasized. They don’t. It’s silly and looks like it’s a modern-day riff of follow the bouncing ball from Sing Along with Mitch circa 1961. So, am I supposed to follow along with the hand gestures and get seasick or am I to look at the face of the speaker? It can’t be both.

Maybe the speakers do it because there isn’t much content in their speeches, so they feel the need to make it more of a visual performance. Maybe it’s because the speaker has ADHD and needs to do something with their hands because they can’t use their fidget spinner while speaking to the general public which, coincidentally, would also signal to the audience that they are very uncomfortable and potentially untrustworthy. Or maybe it’s because some psychologist du-jour wrote a book about how hand gestures can indicate a level of confidence, passion, or expertise, or that the lack thereof indicates that you are not trustworthy or are indifferent. And since hand gestures fall under the larger category of body language, there’s just too much to unpack there.

Is it not okay to just not flail around when speaking in public these days? My opinion is that speaking in public does not need to be a form of visual entertainment; it just needs to be clear messaging whether it be a press conference or a commencement speech or a quarterly sales report in front of shareholders.

I do think I have a solution: Make lecterns and podiums mandatory for public speaking. Think about it. At the very least, they give the speaker somewhere to put their hands instead of waving them around like they are conjuring up a spell from the underworld. They are also useful for hard copies of the speech, you know, in case your i-something electronics fail, and they are also a handy place to slap on a logo because branding is so important these days! Remember to include the QR code to your organization and the Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter – er, make that X – accounts too! You don’t want to miss out on picking up a bunch of new trolls, um, followers, right? Right!

Now, I’m not asking public speakers to put their hands in their pockets either, that would definitely look ridiculous. I’m just asking for a little bit less emphasis of the moving of the hands all of the time and a little more emphasis on the content – just be honest to your audience.

On the other hand, universal hand gestures (including the offensive ones!) are always welcome because they speak truth.

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