Body language or Non-Verbal Communication, as we in the social science business call it, the basic the essense of competent communication. An articule provided by Business Week Online to Yahoo! covers the basic ideas.
Over 50% of all communicating is non-verbal and if you include all communication except the actual words used the total non-verbal/body language communication is well over 80%. As important as words are, if you really want to connect with your audience and "communicate," you need to pay attention to your body language.
Read the article above and then let me provide you some additional information....
Some additional information about communication and non-verbal communication.
Recognize you cannot rely that any actual communication has occurred unless there is a complete loop in the communication, which means: Party A sends a message, Party B receives the message. Party B makes a response to indicate to Party A the message was received. Party A responds to Party B to indicate that what Party B indicated to have received was, in fact, the intended original message from Party A. NOW you can rely that there has been communication.
We attended to and understood body language long before we understood words. We probably began to learn body language or to respond to it when we were still in the womb. Indeed, the Japanese have sold a record of abdominal sounds of a female to play to newborns. The idea was that the sounds are soothing to the infant because of what the child experienced in the womb.
As a child, long before we were efficient with words, we read, responded to, and use non-verbal communication. Grunting and gestures toward the cookie jar maybe got us a cookie from a parent. Hitting to show displeasure or caring (depending upon the type of hit). Touch is a powerful communicator, either of positive or negative. Why do we shake hands or hug when we meet someone? Because we need to touch to communicate. Let your thoughts begin to wander through ALL the communications you have had, even just today, and you will like become amazed at how much body language was occurring. And then, let yourself think about how you felt about each communication. Tie your reaction to the body language used and you begin to understand that words, while necessary and important, are insufficient to communicate beyond what an encyclopedia could do.
Take a cautionary note. There are dozens of books and articles which will suggest to you the "meaning" of any single non-verbal message. But be very careful. Any given piece of body language could be interpreted as meaning several possible different messages. YOU CANNOT ALWAYS RELY UPON BODY LANGUAGE ALONE TO DETERMINE THE MEANING OF ANY GIVEN MESSAGE! Trust me. Words are important. Take the words and the non-verbal together and sift in your experience with meaning and then hopefully you will get the correct message. And remember: The Loop. Check the meaning with the sender. A simple question or re-statement could greatly increase your understanding.