Nothing breaks the connection with a viewer faster than a speaker whose eyes are darting around, reading off a second screen, or looking just below the camera. Eye contact on camera is a habit, not a talent, and there are a few simple tricks that build it fast. Here's how to fix your eyeline.
Why the lens, not the screen, is where you look
When you look at your own face on the screen, or at the person's video thumbnail, your eyes land just below or beside the camera. To the viewer, that reads as someone not quite looking at them, which subtly erodes trust without anyone knowing why. Looking directly into the lens is what creates the feeling of eye contact for the person watching. The lens is the viewer's eyes.
Use the sticky-note trick
The simplest fix in the world: stick a small sticky note right next to your camera lens, maybe with a tiny arrow or a smiley face pointing at the lens. It gives your eyes a target that's in exactly the right place. Your brain stops drifting to the screen because there's now something to look at where you're supposed to be looking. Cheap, instant, and it works on the first take.
Use the teleprompter view to keep your eyes up
MarketScale's recording rooms include a teleprompter view that puts your notes near the lens, so you can glance at your talking points without your eyes dropping away from the camera. Keep the notes to bullets, not a full script, so you're glancing rather than reading. The teleprompter holds your eyeline at the lens even when you need a prompt, which is exactly when most people's eyes wander.
Open and close on a held gaze
The first and last few seconds of a video carry the most weight for connection. Open by looking straight into the lens and holding it for a beat before you start talking. Close the same way: finish your last line, then hold the gaze for a second before you stop. Those held-gaze bookends make you look composed and confident and give the editor clean in and out points.
Try it this week
Before your next recording in MarketScale, put a sticky note next to your lens and turn on the teleprompter view for your bullets. Open on a held gaze, look into the lens while you talk, and close on a held gaze. Watch it back. The eye contact alone will make it look like a more confident, more practiced take.