The Eyes Have It, Part II

In our last Tip of the Month, we dealt with eye contact, specifically the idea of using eye contact as a powerful listening strategy. We reinforced the idea that most everyone loves a good listener, and that eye contact can help convey your interest in listening and learning.

In this TOM, we want to look at another powerful way to leverage eye contact - as a part of your presentation delivery skill set. As we have all probably heard before, an audience will learn and remember more from your non-verbal delivery than they will from your verbal delivery. Your use of eye contact allows you to show your audience that you are confident, prepared and passionate. So here are a few things to remember about using eye contact in a presentation:

• make eye contact with every attendee
• if you are presenting to a large group, make eye contact with individuals in each section of the audience
  donât skip around from one member of the audience to another too quickly
• in order for eye contact to be effective, you have to hold it for at least 2-3 seconds
• don't settle in on one person (it's easy to do when you find a friendly face in the crowd)
• don't avoid the gatekeeper (it's a natural urge)
• don't let your gaze wander (for instance, out the window), as it will cause your audience to wonder what you're looking at or look themselves
• focus your eye contact early and often on the decision maker
• rehearse effectively, so you can present the first few pages of the presentation while making strong eye contact instead of looking at your presentation
• when it is time to ask the closing question, focus your eye contact back on the decision maker.

Using eye contact is a skill like many others; to get better at it, simply practice it. The payback is worth it!