3 Body-Language Lessons We Can Swipe From The King Of Tiktok
He doesn’t say a word in his videos. Ever. Yet he’s amassed a following of over 150,000,000 people and it grows by over 200,000 people per week.
Who on earth am I talking about and what does it relate to the world of public speaking?
I’m glad you asked….. 😉
I don’t use TikTok myself, but recently became aware of Khaby Lame, who is the undisputed king of TikTok. With over 150M followers and counting, he’s the most popular person on the Platform.
I was curious to see what he was all about and why he has so many followers. So I jumped on TikTok to check him out.
To my surprise, I discovered he doesn’t talk in his videos. EVER!?
The really interesting thing I found out is that this approach was – BY DESIGN.
Apparently, he wanted to reach as many people as possible. So he decided the best approach was *not to speak at all* and instead use the most universal language – body language.
This got me curious. I wanted to find out – how does he engage an audience with body language alone and how we can apply some of these techniques back into the corporate world?
Let’s dive into the Top 3 techniques he utilises well, over and over…. !
#1 – ANIMATED FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Whilst all of his videos are done without any actual talking, he says A LOT with his face.
His epic facial expressions mirror how he’s feeling and means he really doesn’t need to say *anything* out loud. You can see it written all over his face.
If you’re in the corporate world, here’s how I see you being able to translate this:
- If you’re not sure if you normally use many facial expressions, either record yourself speaking and watch it back or speak in front of the mirror (probably not as easy I’d say)
- See if you can introduce more facial expressions. Use your face to help drive home your messages. If something is surprising, you want to look surprised. If something is fascinating, show that you’re fascinated!
- Your eyes and your eyebrows can say a lot, as can your mouth
- It’s all about congruence. If you talk with no facial expressions, it’s harder to make sense of what you say
#2 – EXAGERATED GESTURES
Khaby uses his hands and body to help tell the story of what he’s sharing very well.
Whether it’s shrugging or pointing, he doesn’t leave you with any doubt about what he feels about a certain topic.
Gestures are so relevant for a professional context too.
Whether it’s counting out certain features / options / benefits using your fingers, or using your hands to gesture to ‘before’ or ‘after ‘ or ‘past’ and ‘future’, there’s a lot of ways your fingers, hands, arms or shoulders can support what you’re saying.
#3 – LOTS OF MOVEMENT
Khaby is hardly ever anchored to the one spot, standing straight up and down and still.
Whether he’s shaking his head, dipping his head to the side, bending his knees, or completely moving or acting something out, you will see a large array of movement from him in his videos.
What can we take away into the corporate world:
- Act out scenes if you can, to help people understand them (this doesn’t have to be ridiculous, but if you’re talking about people using a tool, submitting a request etc, you could pretend to do that so people are super clear what you’re referring to)
- Be dynamic and move more! Even small amounts of movement will be more engaging than sitting completely still, like a manikin
IN SUMMARY
For any of you that don’t feel like you’re that well understood (perhaps you feel your accent is very thick or obvious), or you don’t feel you’re that engaging, remember the most universal language is BODY language!!
Take even a small leaf out of Khaby’s book and use the power of facial expressions, gestures or body movement to help drive what you’re saying.
Let me know what’s resonated most, in the comments below.
Emily
Emily Edgeley is a Public Speaking Coach for the Technology industry. Since 2017 she’s run over 100 group coaching sessions, coached more than 200 people privately, and formally supported first time and experienced speakers at 10 Conferences, covering 1000+ people across the globe.
She’s on a mission to help anyone in the Tech arena learn how to speak with clarity, impact, and confidence, whether that’s at work or at a Conference. So they can share their ideas, build their brand and start to enjoy ‘public speaking’!
Recent Comments