Many people ask me in training, where should I look when I speak in public? Some recommend looking over the heads of the audience, looking at them at the top, others say that you have to see the wall behind the audience and others say that it should best be seen only to the left and right. They are nonsense nonsense.
I summarize it in a simple phrase, “ The public looks where you are looking. That is one of the fundamentals of public speaking. If you look down, the viewers will too, if you look sideways or up they will. If you look at the audience while you speak, they will too.
Eye contact is crucial to establishing contact with people. From experience, I can tell you that most people find it very difficult to see other people in the eye, not because they are hiding something, but rather because of shyness. Achieving this requires a lot of training and practice.
If you want the public to pay attention to you, you have to see it
If there are hundreds of people in your group, of course you won't be able to spend as much time on each of them. When you find yourself speaking in front of a large audience, you have to locate attentive and receptive people.
Above all, choose several listeners well separated from each other to cover different parts of the room. And the people who are sitting around the key people will feel that the attention you give them is authentic, but do not fall into the mistake that beginners who do not know modern public speaking techniques usually make, they simply turn their heads towards certain groups of people and this is a mistake. If you want the public to pay attention to you, you have to see it strategically.
Show your face when speaking in public
Never turn your back on the public. This is a golden rule for actors, teachers, salespeople, and all those who have to speak in public. It is logical. When you turn your back you cannot see the public and the public cannot see you.
Eye contact is interrupted, your words will not be heard well and you will end up losing the attention and understanding that you have achieved. In case you find yourself surrounded by people, turn around to offer yourself in front of each sector and your back to the other sector, but only for a few seconds. It is a balance.
Always facing the public is vital for your public speaker communication. To face the public while you speak to them, is to serve them. People will feel that you as a speaker are interested and giving them the best of your time.
Advantages of public speaking
Many people in different parts of the world have been affected by not knowing how to communicate in public, thus missing important opportunities in their professional lives. Knowing how to speak in public is considered today, more than ever, as a skill in great demand in the job market, be it in business, in sales, in academic life.
Have you noticed that people who speak with confidence and conviction are leaders in their field? Being prepared and well trained to speak in public successfully will give you enormous advantages over those who cannot.
Advantages such as increasing your self-esteem, self-confidence, improves vocabulary for both speaking and writing, enhances your leadership, improves your memory, stimulates you, gives you vigor and energy, strengthens your spirit of competition, perseverance. Speaking in public will even make you appear smarter to others.
