Position your camera 18 inches to 3 feet from your face. You don't need constant eye contact on video calls. In real conversations, people make eye contact only 60 to 70 percent of the time, spending the rest looking away to think or read reactions.
Looks like I'm looking at them, I can't read their reaction, and how do you do this without looking shifty because you're trying to see them, then you're looking at them, and— This is real. This is a real challenge. Okay, let's get into the practicality of video. I want you to go home and I want you to measure the distance between your nose and your camera. It should be 18 inches to 3 feet away. It should not be too close and also should not be too far. So first, the distance matters. Also, that 18 inches to 3 feet away helps you have a little bit more flexibility with your eye gaze. Second is there's a myth about eye contact that it has to be 100% of the time. 100% eye contact is creepy. And so the other thing that happens on Zoom is when we're like making 100% eye contact, it's weird. So the good news is you do not have to worry about 100% eye contact. In Western cultures, it's 60 to 70% of a conversation. They have done that in person. So on Zoom, I'm kind of trying to mimic that number. That means that I have 30 to 40% of looking at them, looking at their reaction. Even processing, like if I'm asked a complicated question, I'll often be like, hmm, what is that? That is natural for us. So if you are delivering information and you want to see their reaction, look at them. If you are listening and they are speaking to you, give them eye contact. You can play with those percents, and you're absolutely right, you don't have to make 100%.
