by Gilda Bonanno LLC
When you’re giving a presentation using 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 people in your audience.
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 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 for you to scroll through all of them while presenting, so you won’t be able to see all of your audience easily anyway.)
It’s helpful to position the windows with the videos 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 an audience member 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.
© Gilda Bonanno LLC - Gilda Bonanno serves as a trusted advisor to executives and entrepreneurs to transform their communication, presentation and leadership skills. She has worked with companies on 4 continents, from Chicago to Shanghai and Rio to Rome. The instructional videos on her YouTube channel have received over 2 million views and her e-newsletter has reached subscribers in over 45 countries since 2008. For other articles or to receive Gilda's e-newsletter, visit www.gildabonanno.com