
awareness
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3. Eyes that are . . . burrowed into your notes
The third no-no of eye contact is to spend too much time
delving into your notes when you could be looking at your
audience. This can happen when you don’t feel confident in
your material, or when it’s precise or complex information.
Like Edgar Mumble at the beginning of this chapter, burrow-
ing is a curse that often befalls those who use a lectern for
their speech. A lectern, aside from being a barrier between
yourself and the audience, offers a hiding place for poten-
tially limitless notes. The more notes you have, the more
confusing they will be when you’re speaking and so the ...