How to nail your virtual presentation
Over the last few years, taking meetings or giving presentations over Zoom has become the norm. For the most part, it’s as much a part of our daily working lives as in-person time. But despite the normalization of Zoom, for some reason it still feels a lot less engaging to sit through a virtual presentation than a real-life one.
But without the room full of people in front of you, it can be much harder to feel as energetic or engaging as you would be in real life. I’ve spent years helping clients connect with a room - and now I also help them learn to connect with a screen. It’s difficult, certainly, but not impossible. Here’s a checklist to make the most of your virtual presentation:
1) Curate your setup.
When you’re presenting in real life, you’re normally on some form of stage with a relatively plain background that doesn’t distract from your content. You should strive for something similar with your virtual calls.
Optimise your lighting. Make sure you’re somewhere well-lit, and that the light hits your face evenly. If you have a window, you should sit facing it, rather than having it behind you or off to a side. This will give the audience the best chance of seeing and connecting with you.
Raise your laptop or camera above desk height so that it’s level with your face. The upward angle isn’t a good look on anyone.
Put your presentation in present mode so that your slides take up the whole screen. Then swipe out of it, and when it’s your turn to present, select the window option that shows just your presentation. This will remove any awkwardness of your audience watching you swipe between windows to find your content.
Consider your background. It should be as neutral as possible so that your face is the focus of the frame. Use a virtual background only as a last resort.
Encourage your audience to change their slide/presenter view. The standard settings on Zoom are that your slides take up the whole screen with your face in a little box in the top right, but it’s a lot better if your audience sees your face and your slides taking up 50% of the screen each (you can adjust this in Zoom). Remember, YOU sell your slides, they don’t sell themselves. Give yourself the best chance of doing so by asking your audience to change their view ratio.
2) Keep your audience engaged.
It’s a lot easier for your audience to let their attention wander or surreptitiously check their phones during a virtual presentation, so it’s key that as presenters, we’re more engaging than ever.
Give your audience an outline. Include timing. People don’t like uncertainty, so your audience is more likely to stick with you if they know what to expect. Your outline can be brief, but should tell your listeners what’s coming, and how long it will take. I recommend something like:
“Hey everybody, thanks for dialling in. I’m going to take you through three steps to nail your virtual presentations: I’ll start by covering setup, then I’ll show you how to keep your content engaging, and finally I’ll teach you how to wrap up. The whole presentation should take about 15 minutes, and I’ll have 5 minutes at the end for questions.”
Encourage people to think of questions while you present, remind them to stay on mute until the Q+A, and you’re off to the races.
Tell a story. This is one element that is true for every presentation ever, regardless of whether it’s happening in person, virtually, or in outer space. Presentation storytelling is a whole other topic in itself but here are the key points: Craft your narrative arc (Where did we start, what happened, where are we now, what happens next), make sure you highlight your key struggles (“ow” moments) and key victories (“wow” moments), and always end with a call to action.
Land your point. On virtual calls, we all have a tendency to look at our screens (or ourselves…I know it’s not just me), rather than looking into the camera. That’s natural and it’s OK most of the time. But it also creates an opportunity to connect better with your audience when you have an important point to make. Whenever you’re covering a key message (an “ow” moment or a “wow” moment), look directly into your computer camera. To your audience, it will look like you’re actually making eye contact with them, and will make your point more memorable.
3) Be brief.
While you’re preparing: Edit. When you’re presenting: Say only what you need to say, and don’t pad your content. Now more than ever, less is more.
Go forth and Zoom! It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.