Do you have a business presentation coming up and want to make sure it’s a success? When giving a presentation in person, you have a captive audience — you still need to engage your audience, but they are stuck with you for the duration. However, with virtual presentations, your audience has a greater chance of wandering. You now have to compete for their attention, ears, hearts, and minds against shorter attention spans, more distractions at home and at work, and competing priorities.
Here are five expert tips for making your next virtual presentation a success:
- Get the Lighting Right: As a presenter, it’s critical that your audience can clearly see you. Make sure you have good front lighting, which means the light is shining directly on your face. Close the shades if you have your back to a window. While natural light is often the best option, if your home office lacks natural light and you give a lot of virtual presentations, consider investing in supplemental lighting.
- Know Your Technology: Nothing ruins a presentation more quickly than a presenter who struggles with the technology. This is a show, so make sure you know how to put on a good show. A dry run is required to ensure that you are familiar with the platform’s features. It’s best to delegate technology to a co-host (or producer or moderator) so you can concentrate on your presentation. Make sure you practice with the same technical setup (computer and internet connection) as when you give the presentation.
- Try animation: You want to present with a little energy and animation, just like you would in a live presentation. People will easily disengage and tune out if your voice is too slow or monotonous. Keeping people engaged virtually necessitates being engaged yourself.
- You should utilize multiple systems: If you’re presenting using slides, make sure someone else has a copy in case the internet connection goes down and you have to call in. Make your slides as attractive as possible if you’re going to use them. Use high-resolution pictures and keep the amount of text on each slide to a bare minimum if applicable.
- Be Yourself and Have Fun: Audiences connect to authenticity, just as they do in face-to-face presentations, so be yourself! Allow your personality to shine. Have fun with it. Others will enjoy the presentation if you appear to be enjoying it. According to research, people who are happy retain information better than those who are bored or disinterested, so model the energy you want to create. You set the tone for the audience.
Remember that all presentations, whether in person or virtually, are performances. And all of your performances are for the benefit of your audience. Their time is valuable, so make the most of it by giving the best presentation possible. You must find ways to create genuine audience connection, engagement, and value regardless of the type of presentation you are giving. You can also try inviting questions from the audience at key points during your presentations as well as making eye contact with individuals when relevant instead of speaking generally to everyone in attendance. We’re here if you need help creating 3D Virtual Production Set for any event! Give us a call today!