There are a lot of things that can make someone an effective public speaker. They can play to their audience, speak clearly with an authoritative¹ tone, or even simply possess natural charisma² like Steve Jobs or Richard Branson. One thing that is universal is eye contact. All of the best public speakers use eye contact for a myriad³ of reasons and we’ll go over some of those now.

1.Eye contact helps you concentrat

眼神交流能帮你集中注意力

When your eyes are just scanning a room you end up taking in a lot of imagery. All those colors and shapes actually slow your brain down because it’s trying to concentrate on what you’re saying and also on all of this other stuff that your eyes graze over. By making eye contact every now and then, it allows your brain to focus on just one thing which clears it out to focus on what you’re trying to say.

眼睛看过整个房间之后会有很多种画面。所有的这些色彩、形状都会减慢头脑的反应速度，因为你既要试着注意你说话的内容，还要留心你眼睛所看见的东西。时不时的眼神交流会让你的大脑只关注你正在说的那件事。

2.It helps others pay attention

帮助别人集中注意力

Making eye contact with somebody is a good way to get them to pay attention to you. These days with smartphones, readily available WiFi for laptops, and other distractions⁵, it’s really easy for a crowd to start to lose focus. You can help restore this focus by making eye contact with people. If you look at them they will also look at you. This is especially effective for smaller crowds. It’s a simple formula. If you look at them then they will look at you and if you cannot then they probably won’t.

和别人进行眼神交流也是一种让别人注意你的好方式。现在的智能手机，预先为电脑准备好的无线网，以及其它的一些容易让人分心的东西，这些都很容易让人注意力不集中。你可以通过眼神交流来改变这一情况。要是你看着他们，他们也会看着你。这种方法对那些小群体尤其有效。这是一个很简单的道理。要是你看着他们，他们也肯定会看着你，要是你不看他们，那么他们也可能不会看着你。

3.It gives you authority

会让你显得更专业

This one is easy to understand once you’ve seen an example. Parents and police officers especially know this. If your child can’t look at you in the face when they tell you something, chances are they are lying or are ashamed about what they’ve done. The same can be said for public speaking with small variations. If you can’t make eye contact with your listeners, your listeners will subconsciously⁶ lose faith that you know what you’re talking about. This is why tech companies typically find the most charismatic person to give presentations .

看完一个例子之后，这点就很容易理解了。警官和那些为人父母的人都知道这一点。要是你的孩子在对你说什么的时候不看着你的脸，那就有可能是撒谎或者是害羞。公共演讲也可以这样说。要是你不能和你的听众有眼神交流，听众就会下意识的对你的演讲内容失去信心。这也是科技公司会选择让那种富有个人魅力的人来做演讲的原因。

4.Sustained eye contact can give you confidence

持续的眼神交流会增加你的信心

In the movies, you’ll see something akin⁴ to this in action. The man and the woman stare at each other for about 30 seconds and then they start kissing uncontrollably. Now we’re not saying that people are going to rush the stage and kiss you because that’s absurd. However, when you have eye contact with an individual you can give yourself more confidence.

在电影里，你会看到类似的情形。男人和女人互相盯着看30秒，然后他们情不自禁的就会互相亲吻。我们不是说那些人会冲上来亲吻你，因为那很无理。但是，当你和某个人进行眼神交流的时候，你会变得更自信。

5.It turns your listeners into participants

能让你的听众逐渐参与进来

When your audience notices that you’re look at them, it encourages them to respond using facial gestures. If you’re speaking and you look at someone who then frowns then you know something isn’t going right. This gives you a chance to change tactics. Looking at people, reading their expressions, and adapting after the fact turns your speech into a conversation with your audience.

当你的听众注意到你正在看他们，那就是鼓励他们用一些肢体语言来回应你。要是你正对着某人在说，或是看到某人皱着眉头，你就意识到你弄错了什么。这也会给你一些机会去应变。看着他们，看看他们的面部表情，慢慢地将你的演讲调整为和你的听众互相交流。

6.It will help you talk at a more pleasing pace

会改变你的说话速度

When you look someone in the eyes for about three to five seconds it will actually slow your speech down. This helps you talk at a more natural pace and makes it easier for others to understand you.

当你和别人进行眼神交流了大约4-5秒的时候，你的说话速度会慢下来。让你用自然的语速来表达，让别人理解你也变得更容易。

When you combine all of these things into a single package you end up with a pretty significant difference in your speech giving. You’ll be more confident and talk at a better pace with more concentration. It can be the difference in convincing the audience and not convincing an audience.

当你把所有的这些融合到一起之后，你的演说会有明显的改变。你会更自信，能更专注，也能用更好的语速来讲话。在说服听众和被听众说服方面也会有区别。