Eye contact is the cement that binds the speaker with his/her audience. It is not a vague, unfocused or “sweeping over” look. Make sure to look into their eyes long enough to make contact with them.

A powerful and persuasive public speaker should know the effective use of eye con-tact. By maintaining it, you show sincerity and respect. A lack of eye contact suggests you are nervous, afraid of the audience and don’t care about them. So here are a few tips:

As you reach the lectern, start with a smile, pause and look at the audience. The first eye contact prepares the audience to listen.With small groups, make sure it is maintained with all the members. Do not stare at one or two persons. They will feel uncomfortable and the others will feel left out and neglected.

With large groups make sure that all sectors of the audience get the eye contact – front, middle and rear. Eye contact – frequency and duration – varies with gender, personality and culture. An intent eye contact may be perceived as staring or aggressive.

Too long eye contact constitutes hostile and domineering behaviour. So avoid it. Linger a second or two and then move to another and soon you will find friendly faces.

Maintain eye contact by knowing your speech well. Be less manuscript-bound by keeping your notes brief. By observing your entire audience, you get the signal if the message is getting through.

When giving a speech, look at your audience as much as possible. They will accept your message and will rate you a good speaker.

<B>Dharamjeet Bucktowar</B>