Unfortunately, such advice, if taken to heart, can make the speaker look robotic and even ridiculous. The novice speaker might mistakenly believe that if he can manage to control his body language, he will look confident and poised and no one will notice his nerves or worse yet, no one will notice that he really doesn't have much to say.

Think again.

Most people rarely focus on how they hold their body when speaking casually. Yet, put an inexperienced speaker on the platform and he immediately wonders what to do with his hands, arms, legs-how to stand, handle his props and move about the stage.

Yes, body language is important. Get it wrong and your audience will focus on your movement, not your message.

That being said, what makes a well-prepared speaker suddenly go wooden on stage?

Stepping into the public eye is a consciousness raising experience. We are flooded with awareness of the audience and of ourselves. Accepting this awareness is vital to the speaker. We need that feedback loop to tell us if we are making contact with the audience or not and how we must adjust ourselves to get the message across.

A wooden posture and unnatural body language is an indication that the speaker is trying to hide the awareness of his imperfections behind an overly perfect delivery, a futile attempt. What we try to hide only becomes larger and everyone sees it but us.

When you have to give a talk, align yourself with goodness, truth and beauty first. Pay attention to who you are on the inside and then attend to the external details -- where you put your hands, how you stand and so on.

In speaking, as in life, don't give the inferior more attention than it deserves.