In Public Speaking, Use Eye Contact to Show You Honestly Care
Want to learn a vital lesson in public speaking from the CIA? Make eye contact with your listeners.
Failure to make eye contact is often a sign of deceit, says Lindsay Moran, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer and author of Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy.
Another expert, Derrick Parker, who served with the New York Police Department for 20 years, agrees that shifty eyes are evidence of a shifty nature.
So make eye contact with your audience, frequently and sincerely.
The most important time to look your audience members in the eye is when you begin your talk.
Your mother isn't the only person in the world who insisted that you look at her when she was speaking to you.
Looking your audience in the eye is common courtesy, around the world.
Someone looking you in the eye deserves a look back.
I know this is difficult.
I have been speaking before large audiences for decades, yet, just recently, I had a battle looking at my audience.
I had to stand in front of a group of people and make an apology.
As I shuffled my notes, preparing to start talking, I noticed that I was reluctant to look anyone in my audience in the eye.
I was ashamed, and my shame showed.
I had to fight my fear and raise my head and look my audience in the eye before I could hope to have them accept my apology.
Another important time to look individual audience members in the eye is when one of them is asking you a question.
Look at them for the duration of their question.
Show them your undivided attention.
Then direct your answer to the whole group.
Also, when you are about to make an important point, pause, look up from your notes, and make eye contact.
Make sure you look at your whole audience, from the left to the center to the right, and from the front to the middle to the back.
Each person in your audience should know that you are speaking to them individually, because your eyes say so.
I once sat through a sermon delivered by a preacher who directed his message to the clock on the wall at the back of the hall.
His message literally went over my head.
He spoke as though I wasn't there.
What he said to me that day I cannot remember.
Failure to make eye contact is often a sign of deceit, says Lindsay Moran, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer and author of Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy.
Another expert, Derrick Parker, who served with the New York Police Department for 20 years, agrees that shifty eyes are evidence of a shifty nature.
So make eye contact with your audience, frequently and sincerely.
The most important time to look your audience members in the eye is when you begin your talk.
Your mother isn't the only person in the world who insisted that you look at her when she was speaking to you.
Looking your audience in the eye is common courtesy, around the world.
Someone looking you in the eye deserves a look back.
I know this is difficult.
I have been speaking before large audiences for decades, yet, just recently, I had a battle looking at my audience.
I had to stand in front of a group of people and make an apology.
As I shuffled my notes, preparing to start talking, I noticed that I was reluctant to look anyone in my audience in the eye.
I was ashamed, and my shame showed.
I had to fight my fear and raise my head and look my audience in the eye before I could hope to have them accept my apology.
Another important time to look individual audience members in the eye is when one of them is asking you a question.
Look at them for the duration of their question.
Show them your undivided attention.
Then direct your answer to the whole group.
Also, when you are about to make an important point, pause, look up from your notes, and make eye contact.
Make sure you look at your whole audience, from the left to the center to the right, and from the front to the middle to the back.
Each person in your audience should know that you are speaking to them individually, because your eyes say so.
I once sat through a sermon delivered by a preacher who directed his message to the clock on the wall at the back of the hall.
His message literally went over my head.
He spoke as though I wasn't there.
What he said to me that day I cannot remember.
