Have you ever realised why it is important to maintain eye contact during a presentation? This is so because it is a necessity if you are going to communicate successfully.
This week I will devote time to discuss the benefits that accrue from paying attention to this important area which enhances your presentation skills.
The following are some of the benefits of maintaining eye contact during a presentation:
It makes the presenter look confident:There is nothing as important as exhibiting that you are confident during a presentation.
Your audience will move along with you if they notice that you believe in what you are delivering. Maintaining constant eye contact will make you win your audience which will definitely be an advantage to you.
Maintaining eye contact makes you remain in charge of the presentation: As a presenter, you always need to be in control.
You can effectively do that by constantly maintaining contact with different sections of your audience. Being in charge of your presentation boosts your confidence and puts you in the driving seat.
Maintaining eye contact increases the status of the presenter: Since you will be the one who has something to say to your audience, you need to maintain that status.
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You always want your audience to respect you as presenter as well as the message that you intend to put across. Continuous gazing at your notes will not help you, but will result in your audience drifting away from you.
The audience gets a personal touch: Constantly being in touch with your audience through eye contact makes the audience feel that the presenter is addressing them personally.
That element of self-recognition persuades the individuals in your audience to pay more attention to your presentation.
It has been proved many times that a presentation delivered by maintaining eye contact can make a longer-lasting impression on the audience’s memory.
A smiling flash in the eye of a presenter makes the audience comfortable: There is need, therefore, not to belittle the power of eye contact.
If at all your audience is to benefit from your presentation, they need to be comfortable and prepare their minds and heart to be receptive to what you have to present.
It is thus important to remember that glancing away or down during a presentation portrays to the audience that you may be deceiving them, cheating or even lying to them.
There is need to bear in mind that to make yourself more presentable and affirmative to your audience, eye contact has to be maintained professionally.
Paul Nyausaru is a training and development practitioner.
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]. Views contained in this article are personal.
