Glad you liked the structure — you know who I learned that from.

1. “The video puts a frame around you which tends to accentuate the gestures.” Great point, thanks for making me aware of that.

2. Yes, I’m mostly moving from the elbow joint without also moving from the shoulder joint. I’ll work on this! (This might help my dancing too, hah hah.)

3. Yes, I was very stationary during this speech — I only moved once to go from the left side to the right side. There is not much space to move in this room without standing in the stream of the projector.

Next time, I’ll use fewer slides or black slides, and I’ll try to move around more.

I’ll read the article that you linked to. Thanks!

Here are my thoughts on your body language:
1. First be aware, that watching yourself back on video is a different experience than watching face to face. The reason for that is that the video puts a frame around you which tends to accentuate the gestures. So the repetitiveness that you see, is unlikely to have been picked up people in your live audience.
2. However, I do see what you mean about your gestures being a little restricted and repetitive. The reason is that you’re gesturing just from your elbows rather than using the whole of your arms. To free yourself up from your shoulders I suggest moving more. That is move around the stage. This should be deliberate moving – not just pacing up and down. I have some ideas on this in this post http://speakingaboutpresenting.com/delivery/9-ways-space-presentation/
Hope this is helpful.
Olivia

The challenge I’m having with body language is that my “natural gestures” don’t look so natural. They’re a bit stiff and choppy, rather than smooth and relaxed.

When presenting, I don’t think I look nervous, and I don’t feel much nervousness. But my body language seems a bit restricted and repetitive.

Here’s my most recent speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrpDo45PiaI

I’d really appreciate it if you could give me any tips! Thanks.

Regarding the Mehrabian research, I think it’s also important to note that, while the statistic is not necessarily relevant to meaning, it is to ‘likeness’ and first impressions. And because no person is perfect nor exactly alike, it’s easy to send contradictory messages, the focus of Mehrabian’s research. It’s often misused, but still important research that we don’t want to minimize – after all, who hasn’t used sarcasm once in a while?