9 speaking habits that will make you sound smarter

University of Exeter/flickr

There are four kinds of speakers in the business world:

1. The incoherent, who meander, use tons of jargon, and talk of things interesting mostly to themselves.
2. The coherent, who can verbally communicate facts and opinions but seldom say anything memorable.
3. The articulate, who speak succinctly and clearly but whose words are seldom persuasive.
4. The eloquent, who use language and body language to win the hearts and minds of listeners.

Eloquent people sound smart, regardless of how intelligent they are. The opposite is true as well. Smart people who are incoherent — like some engineers I've known — often come off as if they're of limited intelligence.

Fortunately, eloquence is a skill that can be taught, practiced, and mastered. Here are nine easily mastered techniques to quickly make yourself more eloquent and smarter-sounding.

Flickr/Brad Montgomery

1. Stand or sit with spine straight but relaxed

Eloquence is more than just how you use language. It's also how you use your body language. The position of your back is the foundation of your body language and therefore the root of your eloquence.

Slumping communicates a lack of confidence in yourself and your words. The other extreme, a ramrod straight back, says "fight or flight." A straight but relaxed spine puts you in a mental and physical state from which words flow smoothly and easily.

Flickr / David Goehring

2. Keep your chin up

The position of your head is just as important as the position of your spine, a fact reflected in many common expressions. To "hold your head high," for example, is to show pride and determination. To be "downcast" means you're already beaten down.

An upright head is essential for eloquence for physiological reasons as well. A tense neck — inevitable if your head is facing down — tends to strangle your words, preventing you from speaking clearly.

Flickr/US Department of Education

3. Focus on your listeners

Eloquence is meaningful only if people are listening to you, and they won't listen if you're thinking about something else or if your eyes are wandering all over the room. Eloquence without attention is mere speechifying.

Two special cases: Avoid glancing sideways — it makes you seem dishonest, i.e., shifty-eyed. If you must check your notes, use your eyes to look downward without nodding your head.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider