On Cue with Kafui Dey: Look up

As the football world turns its attention to the FIFA World Cup, millions of fans are watching players do something remarkably simple. They look up. Before a pass. Before a cross. Before a shot. The best players lift their heads and see the field.

Imagine a striker receiving the ball, immediately staring at the grass and then attempting a forty-metre pass. His teammates would have questions. His coach would have concerns. The supporters would have opinions.

Yet many public speakers do exactly this. They stand in front of an audience and spend the next ten minutes staring at the floor, their notes, the ceiling, their shoes, the projector screen, or some mysterious point in the distance known only to them. Everyone gets attention except the audience.

Welcome to one of the most common public speaking problems: poor eye contact. Eye contact is one of those communication skills that sounds simple until you try it. Most people know they should do it. Many people avoid doing it. Some people treat eye contact the way cats treat bath water.

They want no part of it. The result is a presentation that feels strangely disconnected. The speaker is physically present. The audience is physically present. Yet somehow they seem to be participating in entirely different events.

One reason people avoid eye contact is nervousness. Looking directly at another human being can feel intimidating, especially when there are fifty, one hundred or five hundred of them looking back at you. Your brain begins asking unhelpful questions.

“What if they don’t like me?”

“What if they look bored?”

“What if somebody frowns?”

Instead of facing the audience, many speakers seek refuge elsewhere. The floor becomes fascinating. The slides become irresistible. The back wall suddenly deserves intense study. Unfortunately, audiences notice. And when audiences notice, they often interpret the behaviour incorrectly. The speaker may simply be nervous. The audience may conclude the speaker lacks confidence. The speaker may be knowledgeable. The audience may assume otherwise. That is the problem with poor eye contact. It affects perception.

People trust people they feel connected to. And eye contact is one of the fastest ways to create connection. Imagine meeting someone who spends an entire conversation looking at their shoes. You would probably wonder whether they were interested in the discussion at all. Now imagine speaking with someone who looks at you attentively while listening and responding. The experience feels completely different.

Public speaking works the same way. Eye contact tells your audience:

“I see you.”

“I’m talking to you.”

“We are in this together.”

Without eye contact, a presentation can feel like a recorded announcement at a bus station. Technically informative. Emotionally empty. The good news is that eye contact can be improved.

One of the simplest exercises is the Three-Second Rule. Choose a person in the audience. Look at them for about three seconds. Complete a thought. Then move to someone else. The goal is not staring. You are delivering a presentation, not conducting an interrogation. Three seconds is usually enough to create connection without making anyone wonder whether they should call security.

Many speakers make the opposite mistake. Their eyes move so rapidly around the room that they resemble spectators watching a tennis match. No connection is established because nobody receives attention long enough. Slow down. Connect. Move on.

Another useful technique is the Triangle Method. Mentally divide the audience into three sections: Left. Centre. Right. Speak briefly to each section before moving to another. This ensures that everyone feels included.

It also prevents a common problem where speakers spend the entire presentation talking only to the people sitting directly in front of them. The audience on the left begins wondering if they accidentally bought tickets to the wrong event. The audience on the right starts considering a refund. The Triangle Method solves this problem beautifully.

A third exercise sounds slightly unusual but works remarkably well. Speak to photographs on a wall. Place photos at different points around a room. Then practice delivering a presentation while making eye contact with each photo. It feels silly at first. Many useful exercises do. Fortunately, embarrassment during practice is far preferable to embarrassment during a presentation. The exercise trains your eyes to move naturally and confidently. And confidence comes from repetition.

Eye contact also helps the speaker. Most people assume it only benefits the audience. Not true. Looking at real people provides feedback. You can see whether people are engaged. You can tell whether they understand. You can adjust your delivery accordingly. When speakers stare exclusively at slides, they lose access to all this information. They are essentially driving while refusing to look through the windscreen. Which rarely ends well.

So the next time you stand in front of an audience, remember the footballers currently competing on the world’s biggest stage. The best players look up. The best speakers do too. Because whether you’re passing a football or delivering a presentation, success often depends on seeing the people you’re trying to reach.

So look up. Connect. And watch your presentations improve.

Stay on cue.

Kafui Dey is a media and communications trainer. Email him at [email protected]

The post On Cue with Kafui Dey: Look up appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.

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