When you’re in front of an audience, strategic eye contact has the power to change how people think of you. Here’s why.
In a study done last month in the journal Environment and Behavior, researchers at Cornell University manipulated the gaze of the cartoon rabbit on Trix cereal boxes and found that adult subjects were more likely to choose Trix over competing brands if the rabbit was looking at them rather than away.
“Making eye contact even with a character on a cereal box inspires powerful feelings of connection,” said Brian Wansink, a professor at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.
So, if you want to connect with your audience, look people in the eye, one at a time.
Here are 4 reasons why presenters should look at people, one at a time, when addressing an audience of any size.
- Focusing your eyes helps you concentrate. When your eyes wander, they take in random, extraneous images that are sent to your brain, slowing it down.
- When you fail to make eye contact with your listeners, you look less authoritative, less believable, and less confident.
- When you don’t look people in the eye, they are less likely to look at you. And when they stop looking at you, they start thinking about something other than what you’re saying, and when that happens, they stop listening.
- When you look someone in the eye, he or she is more likely to look at you, more likely to listen to you, and more likely to buy you and your message.