In this 31st session of the Story Spark series, the host (Speaker A) leads a coaching workshop focused on using purposeful body language to enhance storytelling. The session begins with a definition of gestures and examples of functional gestures (open palms for honesty, raised fist for determination, pointing to self for personal involvement, broad arm movements for magnitude). Participants then engage in a "gesture storytelling relay" where each line of a scripted story is paired with a matching gesture, practicing physical embodiment of narrative beats. The host contrasts functional gestures with distracting habits (e.g., fidgeting, ring twiddling) and emphasizes repetition to make gestures feel natural. After a guided practice with a short confidence‑building story, Alka creates her own personal narrative about being off‑loaded from a flight, visa issues, and a last‑minute rescue, attempting to map gestures onto key moments. The host provides feedback, noting missing gestures and encouraging video recording for further practice. The session concludes with motivational remarks about making gestures a subconscious part of speaking, a reminder to share videos in the group, and a preview of the next day’s session.
Chapters
Awesome! So thank you so much for joining day 31 of StorySpark session. And this week, which is week 6, is all about body language and related things which can make your delivery wow. So that is what we are going to practice. So today's theme, I put it as a gesture storytelling relay. We'll talk about that, what exactly is that. So first thing first, what exactly is gesture? Gesture is when you paint a picture with your hand, it becomes more easy for your audience to understand what you're saying. And that is why— and I'm gonna give you— give some examples of that. So you can see when you have open palms, it signifies that you are being honest and open. When you have raised fist, it represents determination or power. When you're pointing to oneself. It's expressing personal involvement. And when you have broad arm movement, it depicts something is big or expensive, right? So that is why these are some of the examples. And in today's session, what we are going to do is we are going to practice this gesture. So what— I'm gonna stop sharing here. What we're gonna do is we are going to actually take up one story and we'll take up turn by turn or one line by one line, and we can look at what could be a big gesture that can help in telling the story in a better way. So let's look at one story. So this is Gesture Storytelling Relay. The first sentence is I always dreamt of becoming a confident speaker. Every day I practice in front of a mirror. So what would be a good gesture for this one?
Like this: I always dreamed of becoming a confident speaker. Every day, every day I practiced in front of a mirror.
Yes, in front of a mirror could be like this hand, right? Okay, great. But one day, so I want you to read actually.
Yeah. But one day, fear struck me like a thunderbolt during a big presentation. So fear is like you get scared, you get, you get contract yourself like this.
Absolutely. You, you, you shrug your body and you said there was a big presentation, but I got fear. Awesome. Let's go to the next sentence.
I knew I had to overcome my fear, so I wrote down every word of my speech and rehearsed it endlessly. I knew I had to overcome my fear, so I wrote down every word of my speech and I rehearsed it endlessly.
Yep, I think the rehearse could be something like this where you're showing it like a cycle. So I rehearsed it So I knew I had to overcome my fear, so I wrote down every word of my speech and rehearsed it endlessly. Okay, let's go to the next sentence.
When the big day came, I walked onto the stage with my head held high. Yeah, so this is about confidence. When the big day came, I walked— I walked onto the stage with my head held high. And delivered my speech with confidence.
Yeah, you can do like this, or you can do the power pose as well, whatever.
On the, on the hips, right?
You said that Superman, Superwoman pose. So that also, like, delivered my story with confidence.
Correct.
Awesome.
Audience clapped. The audience clapped loudly. And I realized I could achieve anything I believed, if I believed in myself. Yeah, I believed in myself, I could achieve anything.
I can achieve anything if I believe in myself.
I— if I believed, if I believe in myself, right?
Awesome. So the next one I am going to give you, but we don't do these actions, you know.
I'm just realizing it.
Yeah, because it's not a natural thing, right? So we have to make it part of our speaking. So by default, we put our hands on the side, or the worst is we will do like this, we'll do like this, or we'll do knuckle, or we'll— I have this habit of sometimes I'll do use my rings, I'll keep on switching that, or I will do this and this. These are called distracting gestures. So this, this distracts from our message. But if we do this kind of functional gesture, it makes our audience feel the message. So what we are going to do now is I'm going to give this a prompt, and I want you to write down a story in maybe 2 minutes. And when you're writing down the story, think about the— not only the sentences, but also what kind of gestures you are going to use. So let's have the 2 minutes now. Let me know when you are done. Okay, I'm gonna stop sharing now. So did you write up a story of few sentences?
Two sentences only.
Whatever, how many, how much ever sentences you have written.
Very long, but anyway, I'll make it short. Yeah. So, um, the day that I was offloaded from the, from the plane, my husband went away and I was dejected and I was sitting at the airport and my husband sent messages to me, 'Go home, go home.' I said, 'No, I'm not going to go home.' And I was offloaded because of my American visa was not valid for about 1 day less than 6 months, whatever the reason was. And I decided that I'm not going to go home and I'm going to take the flight no matter what to Dubai. I went and sat in one of the offices of one of the travel agents, and this travel agent was our travel agent who had booked my ticket. And I did not feel that it was his mistake, but definitely he was— he could have been a little more careful. But I went and sat there and I told him that you have to send me today. And we called up many, many, many, many people. Out of 25 to 30 people, one lady, my friend, she told me, Alka, 'it is Friday today, Dubai is closed, nobody is going to be helping you today, please go home.' And then she calls me back, 'Are you still there?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm still there.' She says, 'I spoke to my friend in Dubai, that he said, yeah, it's a holiday, I can't do anything for her.' So she said, 'Please do it, she's my very dear friend.' And he went home from his home to his office, and he made that visa, or whatever that visa was not being valid, and he made it valid, and he sent it to me from the email or from there. From Dubai to India, and it was by 4 o'clock in the evening. I got my visa and I got my ticket from that same travel agent, and I flew to Dubai in the evening at 5:30, which was an impossible task actually. So I got reminded of that story.
Yeah, awesome, awesome. But I think one thing that was missing in the story was the gestures.
I forgot.
Exactly, no problem at all. Yeah, you can practice that and you can create a video, I think.
Yeah.
Okay, or maybe what you can do is you can practice couple of sentences here and then you can complete rest of the story as a video if you want to.
I was offloaded. I was so dejected and I was so unhappy. I didn't know what to do. I was almost on the verge of crying and my husband said, go home, go home. I cannot go home. I decided I'm not going to go home. I sat and I plonked myself in the travel agent's office. I told them, you've got to do what you got to do. And then as I was sitting quietly, something happened. A magical person came in my life, and this magical person was my friend. She rang up somebody in Dubai, and that person was like an angel to me. He sent me my visa, and there I was. In the evening, find— get ready to fly to Dubai, something like this.
I don't know. Yeah, nice, much better, much better. So first one was more of impromptu, the second one looks more polished, right? So this is what happens when you use gestures. It may not feel natural, but when you consciously start putting it, over the period of time it becomes your subconscious nature. So that is why Initially it is to go through the practice and being uncomfortable. So awesome. So story power to you, SPTY, story power to you. And that was day 31 of Story Spark session. I wish more people could have joined, but nevertheless we'll continue tomorrow at day 32 again at 6 AM. So thank you so much. And if you are watching it, then you can create a video with the gestures and share it in the group. So thank you, and we'll see you tomorrow.
Take care. Great, great, great exercise. I think I've been missing this point for a long time, this gesture making. Even when we talk on Zoom, I'm going to make gestures now.
Absolutely, do it over. So my coach says that first time when you're speaking, make over gestures. You will feel you're doing over, but it may not feel like for the audience. And once you start doing it over and over and again, It becomes part of your speaking. So even if you're speaking naturally, it will become— it will be there.
