Hey! You've Got Elvis Legs! And other Public Speaking Problems

Elvis Legs -- Noun. A problem that happens when making a speech, and your legs move, shake, shift, dance, and hips swing as you shift back and forth.Not everyone has Elvis Legs, but a lot of people do. And they don't know it.

People often do weird things when they get up to speak. Some people shift their weight; it looks like they're dancing. I've even seen pacers, blinkers and "pirouretters." I've also seen chronic fidgeters, jingling the change in their pocket. I've seen the "HOLDERS" -- those who need to hold something or play with something like a pencil, a paper clip, or a bottle of water.

I've seen one quite amazing pirouetter, who liked to turn circles to get to the power point screen. I've seen frantic pacers who frightened us all as they sprinted across the room.

And then, I've seen the Elvis Legs (Plenty of them.) It's not only the legs, sometimes people nod excessively, or constantly say "uh" "um" "okay" or "yes." These involuntary movements and sounds coming from your body can be very distracting to your audience. Even worse, the audience judges you as not being confident, in control. A result, they decide what you are saying is not worthwhile.

What makes us lose control of our body when we get up to speak?

I can answer that: Your brain doesn't know you are doing it.

So you have to show your brain. Then, changes start to happen. I was a frantic pacer. It wasn't until I went to a seminar and saw a speaker frantically pacing back and forth that I realized how silly I looked. It was then that I thought hard about bodily control.

I have a cure for that. I have a fix. I call it the "Lisa Jeffery Homeopathic Method of Correcting Mistakes." It works every time. It works with bodily control, with bad speech habits, even with accent reduction. It takes awareness of what your body does when you get up to speak. Somebody, in fact, has to TELL you that you have Elvis legs. Then it takes a plan of how to break bad habbits.

Steps for Perfect God/Goddess Like Bodily Control When Speaking

1. Find out your bad habit, but asking someone to monitor you.

2. Recognize that you are doing it involuntarily

3. Practice your presentation doing the bad thing PURPOSELY. Your brain will begin to recognize that you are doing it. For example, if you are a blinker, practice your speech by blinking constantly. If you are a pacer, practice by walking back and forth frantically. Then, do it again, and ground yourself.

4. Ground yourself by putting your feet about 1 foot apart, keep equal weight on both feet.

5. Lift up you body for perfect posture.

6. Hold nothing in your hands, bend your arms at your elbows and practice natural gestures.

7. THINK about good bodily control. Of course there are other involuntary things that our bodies do. For example, I've trained a couple of students who broke out with red splotches on their neck. "How can I control that?" They asked. This, you can't control, so I suggest wearing a scarf or a turtle next for women. You know it will happen, so be prepared.

So those are the tips. And finally, here is my confession. I love Elvis. I ADORE Elvis. I'm an Elvis fan. I even once went to the candlelight vigil of the anniversary of Elvis' death at Graceland in Memphis. We walked with a crowd of 10,000 crying people, holding candles, to Elvis' monument. Holding my candle, I was sporting a T-Shirt that said "Return to Sender." Elvis is the KING! I'll never deny that.But... he's they only one allowed to have Elvis legs!


"Lisa-isms"



I'm 'un-practicing' my Elvis Legs!
--Lisa