Trevor Noah Gives The Best Advice For Video Calls You Can Receive
In a recent episode of ‘The Daily Show With Trevor Noah’ the host imparts onto us a vital public speaking tip when communicating through an online platform, look at your camera.
While Noah was interviewing Jon Stuart, his predecessor host on the daily show, Noah interrupted the interview to tell Stuart to look at the lens of his camera.
In our day to day lives, when we communicate with people, eye contact is vital. So much can be said through simply the gaze. You can show respect, emotions, confidence, trust, and create bonds to strengthen relationships. It is essential in public speaking to connect with your audience through eye contact and this shouldn’t be dismissed when communicating online, and with an authority figure like Trevor Noah, who has 7.83 million subscribers, I think it is safe to say, he’s a good authority.
Here is the dialogue for the first interaction (I’ve cut out some of the uhms and ahhs from the dialogue, artistic license?)
The scene starts as Trevor Noah and Jon Steward are on a zoom call, Trevor is clearly looking at the lens in the camera whilst Jon’s gaze is lost as he is fixating his energy on his screen, probably looking at Trevor, perhaps himself.
Trevor: Do me a favor though and look at your lens and not at your screen.
Jon: But don’t look at you? As he points at Trevor on his screen Jon lifts his head, we see his eyes and a look of shame flashes instantly across his gaze.
Trevor: No no, don’t look there please.
Jon: I’m doing press now, for, it’s got to be a week straight. Junkets and everything from the same space, and this is how I’ve been doing it. Jon looks at Noah on the Screen and we lose his gaze again, while Trevor laughs, he continues. And for the first time since I’ve been doing this, someone had the decency, the kindness to go, you might want to look at the camera.
Trevor: Because our screens and cameras are not in line, this is not how we talk to each other.
The scene continues as they discuss science fiction and how the future had been imagined previously, swiftly after, they move on.
Find the full video here:
Trevor Noah, in the briefest of interactions, has fixed a major problem most people face when speaking through an online platform or a video conference, look at the lens, the lack of eye contact.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and even though you may not want people to see everything your hiding within, it’s polite to offer people a peak.
Throughout the lockdown, meetings, talks, catch ups have all been moved to screen platforms and more often than not, when we see people having conversations, the gaze is not fixed on the lens of the camera but mostly on the screen.
This small detail can create a big difference with the image that you portray in your online meetings and video calls.
If you’re finding it difficult to remember to look at the camera, don’t forget that people can’t see your computer, and two little stickers or bright post-its to make it easier to focus on the camera may help you keep your focus!
Thank you Trevor for this golden advice!
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