Anyone who has attended my presentation/communication skills seminars has heard me cite Professor Mehrabian's study that communication is 93% non-verbal. Apparently, we students of communication have been misquoting him.
His communication study referred only to situations involving emotion. When listening to a list of words, people determined their like or dislike based on how they felt about the words.
So what can we learn from this? When an emotion is being expressed, the feeling behind the words is the actual meaning. A denial of anger expressed in a loud, aggressive tone means the person is angry. Period. If you believe the words and ignore the tone, the communication will break down.
But when speaking from the stage or giving a business presentation, the words are incredibly powerful and convey the meaning of the content.
Yet,as a speaker and speaking strategist I know that unless your body language and tone convey conviction and confidence, the audience will tend to doubt your credibility. And when it comes to selling, enthusiasm sells. For the actual study click here:
http://www.bobpikegroup.com/articles_view.asp?columnid=3618&articleid;=60069