The ability to clearly deliver your message – both in-person and virtually — is critical to driving business results. But, if we present online in the same way that we do in person, we are missing out on opportunities to get our messages across, connect with our audience, and meet our business goals.
You may have heard that an audience evaluates our presentations through three different lenses – from a visual, vocal, and verbal perspective. It boils down to coming across authentically and making sure that our body language matches the words we are saying. The good news is that the distance between us and our audience is up to us to decide.
We have a whole toolbox of tools that we can use to improve the way we come across when presenting online to make a strong connection with our audience that gets us the results we want.
Tip #1: Make Your Camera Eye Level
From a visual perspective, we want to maintain good eye contact during our presentation. When we present online, it helps us do this if we have the camera eye level. Put your laptop or tablet onto books or a box, or adjust your chair, so you can look directly into the camera. You might also want to tape a picture of a family member or friend behind the camera as well as a reminder of where to look while you are speaking. Looking into the camera ensures good eye contact with your virtual audience and maintaining good eye contact is important for connecting with our audience.
Tip #2: Make Sure You Sound Clear
Our audience needs to hear us to understand the words we are saying so you want to make sure your sound is coming across clear. Try out different rooms in your house to see if one is better than another. Generally, if a room has carpet or furniture to absorb sound, it will usually produce less “echo” for your audience. Depending on how often you present online, you may also want to invest in an external microphone if you do not like the one that comes with your computer.
Tip #3: Hook Your Audience Right Away
When we present online, we need to give our audience a reason to pay attention to us right away and keep them from multitasking. In the first 60 to 90 seconds of our talk, we want to provide a compelling reason. This can be a promise of what they will learn, a challenge we will help them overcome, or any other benefit they will have on the other side. Basically, we want to lay out right away what is in it for our audience if they give us time from their busy days.
Learn More About Presenting Online
If you want to learn more tips for giving online presentations, I have a class on Skillshare called Delivering Virtual Presentations: Strategies for Success. It goes through our framework for building a strong presentation from start to finish. If you are not familiar with Skillshare, it is an online learning platform with thousands of great classes available on business, design, photography and more. While you normally need to pay to access the course, this special link will allow you to access the course for free.
Photo by Ben Mysc on Unsplash
