I realized that in my desire to connect with the audience, I was looking into their face on the screen, but failing to look into the camera which shows eye-to-eye contact. On the contrary, if I looked at the camera briefly, I was missing the audience’s reactions, which forced me to look downward to see their faces. It was a constant struggle! When this happens, the audience are looking at my forehead mostly with a downward gaze (droopy eyes). In a way, they may perceive that I am not looking at them, but focused on my computer screen looking at something else. And this happens on both sides!

Then a thought ran through my mind.  Since I am a genuinely conscientious person who makes every effort to connect with my audience on video calls and YouTube videos, and am struggling, then this might be a problem for millions of people out there.  People who are interviewing, making a sales pitch, teaching, etc. must be having the same problem.  A cursory search showed that this indeed was a problem as there were already ample articles on the importance of eye contact during video calls, verifying eye contact can make or break a scenario depending on the context. In a panel interview, the applicant failing to make a genuine eye contact could send wrong signals to the interviewing panel. The panel who was watching the applicant’s facial expressions could easily draw negative conclusions. I found this to be true in so many other examples relying on video conferences to meet business objectives.