Eye Connect
Say one whole thought to one person. Hold their eyes until you see them look back, then pause and find someone else.
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Jerry Weissman✦2009✦Author of Presenting to Win
The PowerPresenter
Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach
Stop performing for the room. Talk to one person, then the next.
Take the stageERAEye Connect, Reach Out, Animation: the book's three moves
1person per thought, held until they look back
100sof IPO roadshows coached by Weissman, a former TV producer
Act one · the idea
Not a performance. A conversation, many times over.
Jerry Weissman, the coach behind hundreds of IPO roadshows, argues that the best presentations are person-to-person conversations rather than performances. The book is about delivery: how to use your body, voice and words so the ease you have with one person survives in front of a room, built around his ERA of Eye Connect, Reach Out and Animation.
Weissman's starting point is that almost everyone is already a good presenter across a table. The trouble starts on a stage, where adrenaline speeds you up, the eyes start roaming and the gestures shrink. His fix is to bring the one-to-one conversation with you: one thought, one person, a pause, and the next person.
Reach Out
Move and gesture toward the person you are talking to, the way you would offer a handshake, not across the room.
Animation
Both together, scaled up for the line that matters most: more voice, more stance, more of you.
Eye Connect+Reach Out×scale=Animation
Interactive · the rehearsal room
Run your script. Talk to the house.
Paste a talk and it is split into single thoughts. Roll the prompter at your pace and say it out loud. In the pause between thoughts, pick one person in the house and hold them for the whole thought. Switching mid-thought, sweeping along a row, or speaking to no one all show up on your stage map.
A thought ends at a full stop, question mark or new line. Add / with a space before it to mark a pause inside a sentence.
Thoughts
- Roll the prompter to begin. Say each line out loud as it lights up.
The house is dark until the prompter rolls.
Every thought
Held one personSwitched mid-thoughtLighthouse sweepSpoke to no one
Coverage map
Take it to the real room
Stage map, cue script, cue cards.
Stage map
Your score, the house with every seat you spoke to, and each thought's verdict. Before a run, it shows the cue plan.
Cue script
One thought per line with a pause and a seat cue after each, timed at your pace. Read it from a phone or tablet.
Cue cards
Fill in your opening and your Animation moment below, then print the cards, one thought each, cut along the dashes.
Cue cards
The Power Presenter · Jerry Weissman · Eye Connect, Reach Out, Animation
Community insights · notes from the wings
What readers carried out of the room.
A presentation works best as a series of one-to-one conversations.
The ease you have across a table is the style to aim for in front of a room. Talk to one person at a time, and nerves have far less to grab on to.
Eye Connect: hold one person's gaze until you feel them look back.
A sweep of the room connects with no one. Speak a thought to one person, feel the click of them looking back, then move on to someone else.
Reach Out: move and gesture toward people, not across them.
Step toward one side of the room to talk to someone there, and gesture outward as if offering a handshake. It turns a speech into a conversation.
Animation is Eye Connect plus Reach Out, scaled up for the moment that matters.
Pick the story or line you most want remembered and give it your body, voice and stance. It takes nerve, and it is what people carry out of the room.
Adrenaline speeds you up; the pause slows you down.
Under pressure almost everyone rushes. A deliberate pause lets you breathe, find the next person and let the last point land.
Speak only when you are looking at a person.
Glance at the slide or your notes, then turn back and talk to someone. Talking to the screen hands the audience your back and your attention.
A filler word is the sound of the mind searching; silence does the same job better.
"Um" and "you know" fill the gap while you find the next words. Close your mouth and pause instead, and you look calm rather than lost.
Your natural conversational style is the one to bring on stage.
Most people become stiff and formal the moment they present. Weissman's method works by keeping the behaviour everyone already has: talking to another person.
Action steps · call sheet
Before the talk, once.
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Film a two-minute run
Record yourself presenting on your phone, then watch it with the sound off, looking only at where your eyes go.
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Mark your thoughts
Break your script into single thoughts, one per line, with a slash where you will pause and pick a new person.
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Choose your animation moment
Pick the one story or line that deserves your biggest movement, and rehearse it three times.
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Rehearse to people
Set three chairs, objects or friends around the room, and practise holding each one for a full thought.
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Plan the first ten seconds
Write your opening line and decide which person in the room you will say it to.
Every time you speak
Three habits for every room.
Look, then speak
In every meeting this week, start each point only after your eyes have landed on someone.
Swap one um for silence
Each time you catch a filler word, stop, close your mouth and let a pause carry you to the next words.
Rehearse out loud
Before any talk, run it aloud at full voice at least twice; reading it silently does not count.
Talk to one person, then the next. A room is only ever a set of conversations.HourLife note after Jerry Weissman Back to the library
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Frequently asked
What is The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach about?
Jerry Weissman, the coach behind hundreds of IPO roadshows, argues that the best presentations are person-to-person conversations rather than performances. The book is about delivery: how to use your body, voice and words so the ease you have with one person survives in front of a room, built around his ERA of Eye Connect, Reach Out and Animation.
What are the key takeaways from The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach?
Readers on HourLife most often highlight ideas such as: “A presentation works best as a series of one-to-one conversations.” “Eye Connect: hold one person's gaze until you feel them look back.” “Reach Out: move and gesture toward people, not across them.”
Who should read The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach?
It's a strong pick for readers exploring Confidence and The Art of Communication. HourLife distills its core idea into community-voted insights and one practical action worth trying.
What's one thing I can do after reading The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach?
Film a two-minute run — Record yourself presenting on your phone, then watch it with the sound off, looking only at where your eyes go.
How long does it take to read the The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach summary?
About five minutes. The HourLife summary distills The Power Presenter: Technique, Style, and Strategy from America's Top Speaking Coach into its core idea, 8 community insights, and 8 practical actions you can apply right away.
One idea and one habit, each Monday
One idea from one book and one small habit from another, at 7am where you are. Nothing else, and one link stops it.
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