Resource Centre — Presentation Tips
Persuading with Your Eyes
Your listeners will believe your argument only if you look them in the eye.
Psychologists call eye contact an "approach behaviour". Through eye contact, others determine how you feel about them, and you detect how they feel about you.
Keeping eye contact is a type of game you play with other people, a game in which you take turns. You look at them sometimes, sometimes you look away, sometimes they look at you. You're checking to make sure the other person is listening.
In North America, individuals keep eye contact for an average of two seconds before one or both individuals look away.
When addressing groups of ten to twelve people, consciously move your eyes from person to person as you speak. Keep eye contact with each person for three to five seconds. This is long enough to show you're confident, and short enough to keep your listeners feeling comfortable.
The best speakers use their eyes to keep pace, along with the cadence of their voice.
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