Remote Presentation Skills: Eye Contact

When you are talking to someone, or to a group of people, making eye contact can create a personal connection and convey confidence, sincerity, and respect. It also helps you know how your audience is responding, so you can make any necessary adjustments to your content or delivery.

Eye contact matters whether or not you are in person, but it is much more difficult to establish via videoconference. When you look at the people on your screen, what feels to you like eye contact can feel to them like you are looking away. Be sure to look into the camera to give your audience the feeling of eye contact. But also look at your screen periodically to see how they are responding. You need to do both.