Albert Mehrabian’s 1967 communication research suggested that communication is comprised of 55% body language (visual), 38% vocal delivery (vocal), and 7% spoken words (verbal). While those percentages have been widely repeated—and frequently misapplied outside their original context—the underlying visual, vocal, and verbal elements remain important facets of effective communication.
Our takeaway: Effective communicators create alignment among what an audience sees, hears, and understands. Your words, delivery, and physical presence should reinforce rather than compete with one another.
VISUAL: What does your audience see?
Before your audience hears you speak, they see you. Everything from your posture and eye contact to subtle, repetitive fidgeting shapes how you are perceived. The goal is to project confidence and composure without appearing overly rehearsed.
Small physical habits add up. At a minimum, you want to come across as trustworthy, but the presence you project should also reflect the context and your goals. Much of this happens subconsciously, and you don’t have a mirror beside you when presenting. That’s why on-camera practice is a key component of our media, presentation, and executive communications training. Participants consistently tell us it is one of the most valuable parts of the experience.
Presenting yourself as grounded, engaged, and composed reinforces the impression that you are someone the audience can trust.
VOCAL: How does your audience hear it?
Speaking quickly may feel energetic or demonstrate familiarity with the material, but it can make you difficult to understand or cause you to appear anxious and rushed. A steady pace gives your audience time to process and gives you time to think, while purposeful variation shapes your delivery and makes it more memorable.
Ideally, even if audience members did not understand the language you were speaking, your pace, tone, and emphasis would still signal your most important points. Working with an expert can help you fine-tune these elements so that your delivery reinforces your message and creates the intended impression.
VERBAL: What are you actually saying?
Effective communication isn’t about saying everything you know. It’s about making sure your audience remembers what matters most.
Start by asking yourself: “What do I want them to remember?”
Knowing what to say—and how to make it stick—is a skill in itself. Our message development work helps leaders distill complex ideas into clear, memorable messages built around what their audiences actually need to hear.
The Bigger Picture: One Piece of Persuasive Communication
The lesson isn’t Visual vs. Vocal vs. Verbal. It’s Visual + Vocal + Verbal.
When what your audience sees, hears, and understands all reinforce one another, you become a more credible and effective communicator.
At Yes& CommCore, these three elements are only part of a broader persuasive communications methodology. Effective communication isn’t simply about how you look or sound—it’s about how all the pieces work together.
Want to see how the pieces fit together?
Yes& CommCore helps leaders and organizations put these principles into practice through media training, presentation coaching, message development, executive communications, and crisis communications training.
Contact us to learn more about the full Yes& CommCore approach to persuasive communication.
