A really important part of presence is eye contact. I think that presence comes from making a connection with people, human to human. And to do that, it's really important to look them in the eye. Now, I know that if you're feeling nervous, this might be the last thing that you want to do. But believe me, it will actually help you feel calmer. It's one of the things that makes speaking feel more normal, more like conversation, if you will.

So don't be afraid to look at individual audience members. Look them in the face, and hopefully, they might smile back at you. And that will make you feel a lot better. But certainly for them, it will make it feel more conversational and more connected. And that's what we're looking for. We want to have more presence.

I often tell people just think about eye contact as being one person, one thought. So look at a person While you're having a thought, give that thought to them. And then when your thought is moving on, look at another person and give that thought to them. This stops us from doing a kind of lighthouse effect with eye contact, or a tennis match, which is also distracting for people. And certainly we don't want to look over the top of their head. We want to connect with people in everything that we're doing if we want to have more presence.

So make sure that you look people in the eye. Give them the time it deserves and create that connection.