• Home
  • About
    • Our Approach
    • Paul du Toit
    • Trudi du Toit
    • Congruence Training
  • Training
    • Present With Confidence System – Overview
    • Present With Confidence – customised
    • Presenting for Results – for Sales People
    • Presenting With Purpose – For Managers
    • Women Presenting Confidently
  • Public
  • Online
  • Books
  • Talks
    • Breakfast Talks
    • Keynotes
    • Seminars
  • Coaching
  • Testimonials
  • Clients
  • Blog
    • Latest
    • Past Articles
    • Past Tips
  • Contact

Blog Post

05
MAY
2018

Presentations: Why Eye Contact Is Critical

tag : advanced presenter, eye contact, presentation skills, presenter eyes
by : Paul du Toit
comment : Comments

Whether you’re chatting to one person or presenting to many, your authenticity will be established quickly – and instinctively. How? They’ll be watching you. Without consciously realising it, listeners will measure your levels of believability by the quality and intensity of your gaze – in other words how well you make eye contact. They do this very quickly indeed, in a matter of seconds. It’s a skill we start developing within days of birth. As the eyes begin to focus we learn to assess visually long before we understand the meaning of words.

woman-brown-eyes-595x240It’s very easy to mess up on eye contact, but it’s very important not to. For presenters, a high level of eye contact is not negotiable. But we often allow it to be undermined by distractions.

Presenters love visuals just about as much as audiences hate them. The more visuals, the more the presenter may look at the screen (bad!) or the monitor (not quite so bad!) thereby losing audience eye contact. This sin can be forgiven if the slides are well thought out and easy on the eye. That’s because if the visuals are compelling, people’s eyes will be fixed there, not on the presenter. During those moments eye contact is unnecessary. In order to be directing the show, our presenter should then verbally direct them “if you look here, you will see…” – thereby directing all eyes to the screen

Ideally, once a visual has served its purpose it should be removed or replaced so that audiences are not left staring at the last slide while the presenter’s talk has moved on to something different. In the absence of a new slide, a blank or black slide will do nicely. That will bring the focus back to the presenter who by then should be making full eye contact.

Version 2If the presenter uses just a few, or no slides it follows that there is less distraction and a higher percentage of eye contact. The potential traps are that the presenter may

  • Spend too much time reading notes
  • Look at the ceiling, floor, people’s feet (or knees), a table or the back of the room
  • Look upwards into the ether while searching for a word, phrase or thought

Notes should be brief, preferably on cue cards using trigger points. To be sure that you can remember what the trigger should be triggering, rehearse in advance.

Staring at objects is an unprofessional, bad habit. Get yourself into a good mood before the presentation – then connect with the people present from the start. For this your eyes play a key role.

If you’ve rehearsed your presentation 2 or 3 times in advance there should be no need to search for words. You’ll have planned them in advance, and your brain should replay what you practiced.

If it’s a large audience you’re permitted to break your eye contact into sections – left and right, or left, middle and right. For a dozen or less people, try and make eye contact with each one at some stage, more than once. This increases the connection you want and helps to achieve a favourable presentation outcome. They’re also likely to like you more.

The advantages of eye contact go beyond connection – it extends to gaining information. Use your eyes to gauge responses. You’ll soon know whether the audience is on your journey with you or tuned out and buried in electronic distraction. You’ll only know that if your gaze is on more than one person. This also means there’s less chance that they’ll stray. No one wants to be caught napping or unable to answer a question because they weren’t listening, so people are more likely to engage with you if you’re making eye contact.

By using eye contact to remain tuned in to your audience, you enhance the power of your presentation and its outcome. It may come as a revelation to many that our eyes have far more power than we ever imagined. It’s easy to train yourself to consciously use your visual power to your advantage.

  • Bio
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
Paul du Toit

Paul du Toit

Managing Director at Congruence Training (Pty) Ltd
A certified Speaking Professional, Paul du Toit is a presentation skills coach, the author of “You Can Present With Confidence” and co-author of “The Exceptional Speaker”. He is a founder member and past president of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa, and an early recipient of their Founders Award for service to the speaking industry. He is the MD of Congruence Training specialising in presentation and speaking skills. See upcoming open workshops London www.pauldutoit.co.uk | Johannesburg www.presentationskills.co.za
Paul du Toit

@pauldutoit

Follow @pauldutoit
Paul du Toit
Paul du Toit

Contact Us

Call our offices for training, information or coaching to improve your presentation skills.

Phone:
+27 11 804 3520 or
+27 82 929 5470

Email:
pdt@congruence.co.za

Enquiring about our in-house training courses? Please click on this button:

Course information questionnaire 

Present With Confidence Book

Purchase the book now (ONLY R190)

Book Interviews

SAfm Interview

Present with Confidence Book

Voice of America Interview

"Be More, Achieve More" Interview with Chris Cooper and Alan Stevens

​

More Recent Presentation blogs

Presentations: Advance Check, Avoid Crash And Burn

Presentations: Cut The Trash

Presentations: The #1 Reason For Failure

Tags

acknowledge advanced presenter anticipation anxiety anxious speaker apologising arguing ask for action ask for the business attire audience audience engagement audience interation audience rapport balanced presentation being in control business presentation business presentations close the sale death by PowerPoint eye contact fear great presentations great speech interesting presentation keynote microphone nervousness powerpoint practice preparation presentation presentations presentation skills presentation structure presentation tips presenting present with confidence public speaking question time rehearsal slide show speaker speech structure
Tel: Congruence Training: +27 11 804 3520 | Sharecall RSA only: 0860 503 191 | Email: pdt@congruence.co.za | Paul du Toit| Customer Service Training | The Exceptional Speaker