Next up in this series of articles on Speaking with Confidence is the skill of effective eye contact and how it can improve your public speaking. You may be thinking that eye contact is not a skill, it’s just something you do. However, use of good eye contact can enhance the impact of your presentation. Remember that the physical skills (like Posture and Stance) involved in delivering a talk have a major impact on the believability of your message. They are paramount in giving your audience members the perception of confidence on your part.
How Eye Contact Can Help Your Public Speaking
So, what do we mean by ‘effective eye contact?’ Is it merely glancing up once in a while, or looking over the top of the heads of the audience? Not exactly. The key to good eye contact during a presentation is looking at a pair of eyes for one thought at a time. Pick out another pair of eyes for the next thought. Don’t stare—just meet those eyes for one thought and move on to someone else.
You can practice this by meeting one pair of eyes for four to five seconds straight, and then moving to another pair of eyes for the same amount of time. This will feel strange and artificial the first time you try it. However, it’s a good way to train yourself to hold that eye contact for longer than just a second. Soon you will feel comfortable meeting a pair of eyes for a thought at a time.
Another thing to consider here is which pair of eyes to meet. You want to move your eye contact from one part of the room to another. You don’t want to go in a fixed pattern. That could freak out your audience. If you go right down the line from one person, to the very next one, to the next, people will feel uncomfortable, like you are shooting down a row of tin cans one by one. Simply move randomly around the room.
Finally, one thing that can help you, as a speaker, to be a bit more comfortable, is to start with a friendly pair of eyes. However, be sure that you don’t only look at your friends and ignore a part of the room. You don’t want a whole section of your audience to feel left out!
The next time you are up in front of the audience, try meeting a pair of eyes for a thought at a time. You will feel more confident, and you will look more confident!
© 2018 Marcia R Harmelink, DVM
Rocking H Veterinary Consulting