Zoom: No Eye Contact, No Impact

We all know the value of eye contact.  The Windows to the Soul, everyone looks to the eyes first.  They communicate before we can even form the thought, let alone the words.  Our eyes are alive like no other part of our body.  Our aliveness is best gauged by gazing into our eyes.

And, eye contact can be very unsettling, for all of these reasons.  Many struggle with how to make and maintain "good eye contact."  We try to avoid looking away too often.  Failing to meet another's gaze is a disconnect and can even be an affront, an insult of lack of attention.

Lately, we're relegated to Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms to teach, to engage and to connect.  Watch just about any Zoom conference and you'll see people looking at the image of the speaker or gallery of participants on their computer screen.  When we speak, we naturally look at the person or group we're speaking to, even if it's on screen.  So:  the experience is that no one is making eye contact when they're speaking.  Yes, we all "see" each other but no one is looking at you when they speak--they're looking at the pictures of you and their eyes are clearly averted from the camera.  Our sense of eye contact is so refined that even a slight aversion from the camera is a complete disconnect.

It's possible to train yourself to look into the camera when you're speaking on Zoom and not the computer screen.  It's difficult, disorienting and only so effective because, while people feel that you are looking at them, you are not are not seeing them.  You are looking at the camera lens.

In our work, presentation and performance coaching and training, we sometimes use a teleprompter (ours is from https://prompterpeople.com).  This is a video monitor laying flat with the image reflected on special angled glass so the scroll of the speech or presentation is visible.  Behind the angled glass is the camera that records or broadcasts the image of the speaker.

I decided to try doing a Zoom call through the prompter.  We're using a Logitech Rally but any webcam should work.  I mounted the webcam on the prompter with the lens in the middle of the glass.  Before I start the Zoom call I set up the prompter video monitor as an extended display.  Starting the call, the Zoom window is move to the extended display and now shows on the prompter monitor.  

When I have a Zoom call, either with a group or a single person, their experience is that I am looking directly at them--because I am!  

Make this small change for a big difference.