The eyes are the windows of the soul. You of course need to use rock solid eye contact when you are speaking to a live audience or in one on one conversations. Also, modern technology presents challenges and opportunities for eye contact skills. The audience will perceive you as looking directly at them. People understand us better when we stay on track, talk in crisp clear sentences, and get rid of junk words.
Eye contact is the foundation of better focus and clearness in our speech.
I saw a wonderful juggling act recently - the Karamazov brothers. They juggled everything while talking, moving around, cracking jokes. They were like professional athletes who credit eye contact as the first step in mental focus which helps them stay in the zone. Blindfold me, and take me to a meeting. All rights reserved.