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One thing I remember my father telling me when I a kid was to always look a person in the eye when I talked to them. To my father… this was not only a sign of trust, but also a way to establish rapport with the other person. It wasn’t until years later when I became a father that I discovered that this method was also a great way to tell if your children were fibbing.

When delivering a presentation, good presenters have the ability to establish eye contact and rapport with an audience of any size. In one-on-one communication or one to few communication, establishing and maintaining eye contact is relatively easy. When the audience size becomes larger, establishing rapport with eye contact becomes much more difficult. When presenting one to one or one to few, establish eye contact and maintain it for as long as possible. The longer the eye contact, the more intimate the rapport. Remember, ALL members of the audience must receive this contact to feel an emotional connection. You can’t just focus on one or two members of the audience. Make and share eye contact with everyone.

Eyes can reveal a lot of information to a presenter. The next time you’re involved in an “intimate” conversation/presentation, watch the pupils of the other person. When they start talking about things that make them happy or bring them enjoyment, the pupils get bigger. When talking about something that is sad, the opposite happens, the pupils get smaller. Eye movements of your audience will also reveal “tell-tale” clues as their thoughts. As you talk to your next audience member, watch their eyes. When you ask them a question, they will try to visualize an image of the answer. When this happens, their eyes will move in some direction to “see” the image in their brain. From your point of view…start with the assumption that the person’s past is to your left and the future is to your right. Usually, when a person thinks about the past, their eyes move up and towards their right… the future up and to their left. Since most people feel “positively” about the future, they’ll also be in a positive emotional state. By being in a positive emotional state, this would be the best time to deliver a key point of your presentation.

Eye contact, emotional connection and self-esteem are very closely related. The longer you can maintain eye contact, the more self-esteem you are perceived to have… not only by the audience, but by yourself as well. Positive eye contact is the best way to create an emotional bond and improve your “credibility/likeability” factor. When presenting in front of a large audience, establishing your credibility/likeability needs to happen during the first thirty to sixty seconds of your presentation. After that, the audience has turned you off. Establishing positive eye contact with the audience is paramount for success. For large audiences it’s difficult, if not impossible, to establish individual eye contact with each member of the audience. In this case, pick five spots in the audience… on the right side, front and back… on the left side, front and back… in the center, the middle of the audience. By looking at those locations while delivering your presentation, you are giving the appearance of having eye contact with individuals in those sections. In reality, you’re looking at the group, while they perceive to be having individual eye contact with you.

Remember, the eyes are said to be the reflection of one’s soul. During your next presentation… what do you plan to reflect?

John Fallon teaches Presentation Skills at Walhalla High School, hosts the free teacher PowerPoint resource site: http://www.PPT4Teachers.com and is an extremely motivating and inspiring speaker/presenter.

Tags: assumption, audience member, audience size, emotional connection, eye contact, eye movements, intimate conversation, presenters, pupils, reveal, share eye, start talking, talking about things, thinks, time youre, years later

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