Last week I published, “Powerful, Confident Body Language for Elegant Business Women – Part 1” which addressed the issue of how to convey power while sitting, for example at a business meeting. In today’s blog post and video, I share with you confident body language gestures for women when you’re standing. These tips will be handy for your networking events.
How to Convey Power and Elegance When Standing
Quite often, women are shorter than men. As height is a natural power advantage, women may sometimes feel less powerful simply because they’re shorter. Although I cannot swirl my magic wand and add extra inches to your height, I can reassure you that with the following tips you can still look and feel confident regardless of how tall you are.
1. Take Up Space With Your Stance
Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart (or slightly more), and place one foot slightly in front of the other. This is a classic power stance that can be used by both men and women and will not detract from your elegance. With your feet firmly planted on the ground, you immediately appear solid, reliable and comfortable in your own skin and surroundings.
2. Project Power With Your Posture
Posture is at the core of confidence, elegance and power. Push back your shoulders (just a little), expand your chest, lift your ribcage and keep your eyes up. Hold this posture whenever you are standing, even at the grocery store or walking down the street. Soon it will become second nature. Good posture shows that you’re proud of who you are. It opens up your body language, boosts your confidence and if you’re lucky, it may add an extra inch or two to your height.
3. Even Your Height With the Group
Occasionally you may literally be standing on uneven ground. To avoid an unnecessary height disadvantage, make sure that you always stand at the same level as everybody else in the group. Also, don’t lean. When you lean, you appear shorter, and more passive. That’s not the sign you want to send others if you’re trying to earn points for power and confidence.
If you adopt confident and elegant body language, people around you will see you as “confident” and “elegant”, regardless of how you may be feeling inside. You will pick up their reactions and vibes, you will see that others treat you as a confident person and this will shift your mindset; you will believe that you’re a confident, elegant and powerful businesswoman. You just need to start this process going, and hopefully these body language tips will help.
If you enjoyed this blog post, I invite you to take a look at the original post, “Powerful Body Language for Confident, Yet Elegant Women”.
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