Before People Trust Your Ideas, They Decide Whether They Trust YOU

by Holly Mandel

Why communication begins lonnnnnng before your first slide

When people come to us for help with public speaking, they usually want to focus on their content. They want to refine the opening, strengthen the examples they use, better organize the ideas, or work on pacing. All of those things matter, of course, but there's something else that deserves as much attention, if not more: what audiences are deciding before a presenter has fully made their first point.

Researchers who study nonverbal communication have found that people form impressions remarkably quickly.

A well-known Princeton study found that people make judgments about trustworthiness, competence, likeability, and other characteristics in as little as 100 milliseconds -- roughly the time it takes to blink.

And...bad news here...giving people additional time didn't significantly change those first impressions. It mostly increased their conviction in them.

While that research focused on faces, it points to a broader truth about communication: audiences begin evaluating us long before they have fully evaluated our ideas.

There's lots of fascinating data out there -- evolutionary psychologists say that humans instinctively assess another person's hands when determining whether they are safe. Historically, hands were where tools and weapons were held, so visible hands became associated with openness and safety, while hidden hands could create uncertainty. Which is why we wave.

Obviously, no one is sitting in a conference room evaluating whether a presenter is carrying a spear or rock. Yet many of these ancient shortcuts appear to remain with us. Visible hands, open gestures, and relaxed body language continue to be associated with honesty and trustworthiness. When presenters hide their hands in their pockets, keep them behind their backs, or grip a clicker tightly throughout a presentation, they may unintentionally create a little more distance between themselves and their audience.

What I find most interesting about this research is that it reminds us that communication is happening on multiple levels all the time. Audiences aren't simply evaluating our ideas. They are evaluating us. They are asking whether they trust the person delivering the message before they decide what they think about the message itself.

This is one reason the most effective communicators tend to balance two main qualities: warmth and competence.

Warmth communicates that you are approachable, interested, and connected to the people around you. Competence communicates that you know what you're talking about and can be trusted to deliver results. Most people naturally lean more heavily toward one side or the other, but influence often comes from finding a balance between both.

The good news is that none of this requires becoming more polished or more performative. In many cases, it's the opposite. Genuine curiosity, visible engagement, open body language, strong eye contact, and clear communication all help build trust because they signal both connection and confidence.

The next time you're preparing for a presentation, spend a little less time obsessing over every word on the slide. Your audience is paying attention to far more than your content, and some of the most important signals you'll send never appear on the screen at all.

If you're interested in developing stronger presentation skills, executive presence, or communication confidence, we'd love to help!