Cheat sheet · The triangle
Eyes and mouth, not one fixed point.
Glossary
The triangle
Moving your gaze between someone’s eyes and mouth, instead of staring at one fixed point.
Instead of fixing on one eye, let your gaze move gently between the eyes and the mouth, a soft triangle. At close range, fixed pupil-to-pupil contact is uncomfortable for both people; the triangle keeps long conversations easy and still reads as attention. On video the same thing works across the face on the screen.
From the lesson
Where it is taught
- Day 3 · Eye Contact Without the Stare: How long should you hold eye contact in a conversation?
In practice
Examples from the course that use it.
Triangle and lighthouse
In Friday’s stand-up you use the triangle and finish each point with a different person. Two people who never speak ask questions.
Related terms
- Follow-up questionA question about what the person just told you. It proves you listened and keeps them talking.
- LighthouseIn a group, finish each thought looking at one person, then move to the next. Not a constant sweep of the room.
- BridgeA short phrase that buys you thinking time without “um”, like “The short answer is…” or “There are two parts to that”.