When you’re doing video conferencing via Zoom, Teams, or any other platform, where do your eyes look?
The natural tendency is to look at the image of yourself on
screen. When you’re not looking at yourself, you’re often drawn to look at the
faces of the other people who are attending and speaking, or at the slides that
you are sharing on screen.
However, if you want to connect and engage with your audience, especially if you are giving a presentation, you should be making eye contact with your people.
Why is eye contact important?
Whether you are presenting in person or virtually, eye
contact is an important part of your non-verbal communication. It demonstrates
your willingness to connect to the audience on a personal level. When you present, you are talking to
individuals, not an impersonal mass of people. You want each person to
experience the communication one-on-one.
Eye contact also demonstrates confidence and shows that you
know your content without an overreliance on notes. It shows that the knowledge resides in your
head, not your notes or the slides.
Additionally, eye contact conveys respect in Western
culture. Looking at someone directly
while speaking to them is a means of showing respect, regardless of any
difference in level or status (for example, a frontline employee speaking to
the company CEO).
How do you make eye contact when video conferencing?
To make eye contact with your audience when video
conferencing, you have to look directly into the camera. While this may feel uncomfortable at first,
it will look the most natural to your audience – like you are looking directly
at each of them.
Professional newscasters and sportscasters have mastered
this technique. They look directly at you by looking at the camera.
You can duplicate this in your home office by keeping your
camera at eye level or slightly above.
This angle will look the most natural and prevents you from looking
sharply down or up at the camera.
If needed, put your laptop or computer on a box or pile of books
if you need to elevate it so the camera is at eye level.
Yes, you may want to occasionally look at the faces of
people on screen to see their reactions, but most of the time, your eye contact
should be with the audience through the camera. (And by the way, if there are
multiple screens of attendees, it’s difficult to scroll through all of them
while presenting.)
It’s helpful to position the video of yourself and others
at the top of your screen near the camera so it is easier for you to return to
the camera after a quick glance at the videos of the audience.
You can practice your eye contact by recording yourself
presenting. First, deliberately look at
the camera and then let your eyes wander elsewhere. Then watch the recording and see how it looks
and feels as your eye contact changes.
One of my recent virtual program attendees described it
this way:
“Gilda, when you presented, I felt like you
were looking directly at me and talking to me. You are the only one who has ever made eye
contact with me while presenting virtually.
Other people are not looking at me – they are looking down or off to the
side or somewhere else on the screen. It made a real difference.”
The next time you’re presenting via videoconferencing, make
sure you make eye contact with your audience through the camera, so you can
connect and engage with your audience.
(C) Gilda Bonanno LLC 2021