How great public speakers use eye contact

Establish eye contact with your audience, because you communicate with more than your voice. Your posture, the movement of your hands, and eye contact with the audience is all part of your message.

It’s extremely easy to focus on your manuscript throughout your presentation. The feeling of loosing track of where you are in your script and not knowing what to say next is terrifying. Many people suffering from this fear will never develop their public speaking skills. They write out their speeches word for word and just read it to the group.

The problem with this is your audience expects a speech, not a public reading. And many adults take offense at being read to. The audience wants to hear “from” you, not just hear you read. If this is the case with you, handing out your speech as a white paper for the audience to read would be a better solution for both you and your audience.

So the question is – how do you establish eye contact with the audience?

Many speakers look at a spot at the back of the room because looking at the faces makes them nervous. This is better than staring down at your script the whole time. After all – projection is a big part of getting your message out there. Even if you are using a microphone your voice will be clearer if you speak “out” into the crowd rather than down to your script. The old actor’s motto of “performing to the last row” applies here. So – there is some value to this approach.

However, the most effective way you can get your message across is to make eye contact with the audience. Eye contact will create a bond which will make it easier to get your message across. And that is what you got up there to do in the first place.

Eye contact makes the audience look back at you. It keeps them attentive. To use eye contact to its maximum value, you should move your eyes from audience member to audience member and speak to that individual directly. That eye contact will actually be felt by everyone close to that individual and it rivets the listener to you. By becoming skilled at using eye contact as you speak to a crowd, you are taking control of the audience. And having control is a big key to success in public speaking.