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Want to
know how to make good eye contact with your audience during
a presentation? Just ask television news personality Bryant
Gumbel.
Gumbel
says "When I talk to millions on television, I
actually act as if I'm only talking to one person. And
I look right at that one person."
That's
what you need to do as well when you give a presentation. Focus on one person at a time and hold eye contact
with that person through a thought. Your entire
presentation should take the form of random
mini-conversations with as many individuals in the room as
possible.
If you're
speaking to a small group (less than 25), you should try to
make eye contact with everyone in the room at least once
during your presentation.
The
biggest “eye contact” mistake that people make during
presentations is “grazing”: sweeping across the room
with the
eyes, never looking at anyone directly.
Play The
Eye Contact Game
Here's a
game you can try with your colleagues to learn how to give
sustained eye contact during a presentation.
·
Seated in
chairs around the room, have each of your friends put their
hand in the air before you begin.
·
When you
begin speaking, make eye contact with one of your listeners
and hold it.
·
The
listeners should not put their hand down until they feel
that you have really connected with them.
·
The game
is over when you get every one of your colleagues to put their
hands down.
You'll
find that it takes quite a bit of work to get those hands
down. You really need to hold that eye contact for several
seconds to give the listener the sense that you've
connected.
At
Speechworks we help our clients learn how to communicate in a way that connects and persuades. If you’re
interested in becoming a great communicator give us a call
at 404-266-0888 or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net |
