Eye contact is essential for the speakers whether you are in a small meeting or addressing a crowd of 1000. Often, failing to use eye contact means you are losing one of the most important tools you have to connect and convince your audience about your message in the speaker audience relationship. Your position as the presenter will establish you as the leader of the group. Research shows that looking away from your audience may signal avoidance, looking at them signals approach and that audiences rate it highly.
Here are a few tips:
- Be sure you look at all sections of the room. Don't ignore one side or the other, or favor those in front without looking to the rear of the room. If you have trouble remembering to do this, write directions to yourself in your speech text. Look rear, look left, look right as reminders to yourself.
- Audiences can sense when you are not connecting with them. A helpful tip is to make contact with 2 or 3 people in the audience and try to focus on them. Make sure that all 3 are not in the front row, but all over the audience. It really does help to be at your workshop prior to the participants so that you will have time to develop a bond with them, introduce yourself and find out a little bit about each of them that you can refer to when presenting. It really does work in the meeting trainings I have facilitated with co-trainers.
- Eye contact can also emphasize an important point. Eye contact can be an important tool for visual learners, and can help audiences to remember and retain what you are saying. Use it to emphasize what you want them to recall, to indicate a specific group in the audience or to refer to what a speaker or participant pointed out.
- Remember, it's great to have a mini chat with your workshop or seminar participants before the training. It helps to address key members of your audience and refer back or to call on them during your presentation. Looking over the room and at certain individuals really helps to create a bond between you and your audience. It also help you, the facilitator to relax and to smile more.
- The most important part of this exercise is to remember to have FUN and to enjoy your presentation.
You will be pleased with yourself and participants will love you.
