Gaze sends a message of power. It also gives you control of the conversation even as the listener. To build rapport you need to gaze, looking and then looking away about 60 to 70 percent of the time. If you are not sure if you look enough ask yourself if your getting the attention and results from people that you want. Eye Contact sends the message that you are serious. If your still not sure ask the people you interact with wither you give enough eye contact.
You need to make good eye-contact with others. A lack of eye-contact can make you look dishonest, disrespectful, evasive, rude, incompetent, lacking in confidence or lacking in conviction. In North American Culture we expect people to look at us when we are talking to them.
If people find you overbearing I can bet your eye contact is part of the problem. If you look too long and don’t break away enough it’s intimidating. You want to gaze not stare. Gazing is very different than staring if you gaze more than that 70 percent of the time people are going to think you’re a bully, you’re weird or that they have spinach between their teeth.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
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