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By Dr. Maribeth Kuzmeski

The 7% Rule That Should Change How You Prepare to Communicate 

Most people know the saying. It is not what you say, it is how you say it. Nearly everyone nods along when they hear it. And yet when it comes time to actually prepare for a presentation, a meeting, an interview, or a difficult conversation, almost everyone does the same thing. They rehearse the words. 

They edit the script. They memorize the talking points. They perfect the wording. And then they walk into the room having practiced almost none of the things that will actually determine how their message lands. 

“The strongest communicators practice delivery, not just dialogue.” 

Research associated with the Mehrabian communication principle suggests that words account for only about 7% of how emotional meaning is interpreted in communication. The remaining portion comes from tone of voice, facial expressions, posture, eye contact, pacing, and overall physical presence. That means the majority of what your audience receives from you is nonverbal. 

Consider a simple statement like “I am excited to be here.” If your face looks flat and your tone sounds disengaged, nobody believes you. The words say one thing. Everything else says another. And your audience will trust everything else every single time. 

Your audience is not just absorbing your content. They are constantly evaluating you. Do I believe this person? Do they seem confident? Do they actually care about what they are saying? Do they sound authentic? Those questions get answered not by your vocabulary but by how you show up in the room. 

The shift that separates good communicators from truly outstanding ones is this: they prepare their delivery with the same rigor they give their content. They practice their facial expressions. They work on their tone and pacing. They rehearse their eye contact and energy. They treat the nonverbal elements of communication as skills worth developing, not afterthoughts. 

If you want your message to land the way you intend, start preparing differently. Your words are only the beginning. How you communicate them is everything. 

Maribeth Kuzmeski, PhD, President of Red Zone Marketing, is a marketing strategist, advisor to financial services companies, bestselling author of 9 books, and a professional speaker rated as a Top 25 C-Suite Speaker as seen in Meetings & Conventions Magazine. She speaks on topics including marketing, branding, sales, and customer service.

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