Have you ever met someone who fails to look you in the eye when they speak?  What do you think of their presentation skills? Worse, have you attended an important presentation but found the speaker looked away from their audience? Making eye contact during public speaking is an important, even foundational, aspect of presentation skills.  Eye contact is all about connection. In most audiences a large percentage of people are people-oriented and they want eye contact to feel connected to you. Others who may be more data oriented will appreciate eye contact as it helps them feel you are credible and trustworthy. What are the Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to holding eye contact as it relates to presentation skills? And are there tips that can help us make this special type of connection look natural? Read on for top Do’s and Don’ts!
Do Make Contact for 2 Seconds
In presentation skills, the guiding principle for eye contact is to make contact with everyone in the room, and hold your eye contact for 1-2 seconds. In a board room its easy to slowly move your eye contact around the table ensuring that you are seeing the eyes of each member seated in the room. Of course, in a larger auditorium it may not be possible to make eye contact with everyone if your audience numbers in the hundreds. However, it is advised to sector the room into smaller chunks so that you can make a point of looking at each sector – giving the crowd a sense of connection with you.
Do Vary Your Contact
It’s important to vary your eye contact around the room. Some inexperienced speakers seem to look only to the right side of the room, or only to the left. Others fix their stare on people in the front row but fail to look to those in the back row of the meeting space. Still others stand sideways which has their gaze naturally fall on a smaller slice of the audience, effectively excluding those off in the sidelines. Do ensure that you vary your eye contact to all corners of the room, and that you include those in the front and those in the back of your environment.  The ability to vary your eye contact bolsters your overall demonstration of presentation skills, and your
Don’t Stare
Even if you find someone in your session interesting, or intriguing, it’s important to guard against staring at them for longer than 1-2 seconds. Staring at an audience member can make them uncomfortable and definitely dis-connects you from the rest of the crowd. Be aware too, that this tendency can occur with your boss or other authority figure in the room. Namely, you may have a tendency to stare at them to try to read their reaction to your presentation. However, staring at the boss for signals of approval or disapproval is a practice that is best avoided, as it excludes others in your audience.
Don’t Read
There’s nothing worse than clearing your calendar to attend a presentation only to discover that the speaker is reading their notes word for word. Don’t bore your audience to death by reading your notes or your slides. Make sure that you have organized your material and rehearsed well enough that you can look at the audience not your notes. It’s okay to glance at a prompt or note from time to time, but the ratio of time with the audience’s eyes should be 9 to 1.
Don’t Look Up or Down
Some speakers have a bad habit of looking away from people when they are thinking. For example, its not uncommon to see an inexperienced presenter looking at the ceiling during their remarks. You may also see a newer speaker answering questions while looking down at the floor, or towards a wall or other inanimate object. Analytical people are more likely to look away from the audience when thinking – whether it’s about their speech or an answer. However, this habit up looking up at ceilings or down at floors does not help the presenter connect with the crowd. Become more aware of where you are looking and train yourself to think while looking at people’s faces.
Summary
Eye contact is an important means of connecting with the audience and establishing trustworthiness. It also helps you to engage folks more easily, and read their reaction to your remarks. Think of all you would miss if you weren’t looking at the audience while you presented to them. By learning the Do’s and Don’ts of making and holding eye contact you can grow your presentation skills to the next level. The Executive Level, that is.  Keep practicing and see how a improved connection with your audience helps your effectiveness and your career grow.
