Before the presenter says a single word, the first form of communication with the audience is eye contact. Because so much information is transmitted through sight, eye contact is a significant factor for most human interactions.
The presenter must maintain constant eye contact with the audience:
The presenter must have both the introduction and the conclusion memorized so that he or she can focus on the audience during these phases. A presenter who must read his or her introduction will be appear insincere.
Outside these critical segments of the presentation, the speaker should, apart from cursory glances at the slides, be focused on the audience. The speaker should attempt to make eye contact with each member of the audience; however, this should be limited to at most five seconds. This will make the make the audience member feel as if the speaker is talking directly to that person without making the audience member uncomfortable by appearing to single him or her out.
A speaker who avoids eye contact by looking at the screen or computer will look unprepared. Looking either above the audience, at the walls, or at the floor will give the impression that the speaker is avoiding the audience. Both of these will cause the audience to lose faith in the presenter.
Sparse slides will also allow the presenter to maintain eye contact with the audience. The slides can be used by the speaker to remember the next point to be covered in the talk. However, if the speaker has to read 30 to 50 words, this will take a significant amount of time. Similarly, the speaker does not have to look at images, charts, data. If a slide requires the speaker to focus on it for a significant amount of time, consideration as to whether the speaker is moving from technical presentations to tutorials should be considered.
The easiest way for a speaker to maintain eye contact is to believe in the topic, understand the background material, be well organized, and want to explain what he or she has prepared.