It’s likely you’ve heard some questionable advice about looking at your audience members while giving a speech: “Just look over their heads at the wall” or (worse) “Just pretend your audience is naked and don’t stare.” Not only are these suggestions awkward, but they are ineffective as well because competent speakers are aware of the power of their eye behavior.

As we noted in Chapter 4, eye behavior is a crucial aspect of nonverbal communication that can be both effective and appropriate when a communicator considers the cultural context in which he or she is communicating with a relational partner. For example, in the United States and many other Western cultures, a lack of eye contact can make a speaker seem suspicious or untrustworthy, making direct eye contact one of the most important nonverbal actions in public speaking as it signals respect and interest to the audience (Axtell, 1991). But how can a speaker make and maintain eye contact with a group of individuals?

One way is to move your eyes from one person to another (in a small group) or one section of people to another (in a large group), a technique called scanning. To use it, picture yourself standing in front of the audience, and then divide the room into four imaginary sections. As you move from idea to idea in your speech, move your eye contact into a new section. Select a friendly-looking person in the quadrant, and focus your eye contact directly on that person while completing the idea (just make sure you don’t pick a friend who will try to make you laugh!). Then change quadrants and select a person from the new group. Tips for using the scanning technique are offered in Table 14.1.