You’ve got great ideas.
Your content can help your audience succeed.
Maybe you even have stories that illustrate how your audience can learn from your mistakes and wins.
But if you don’t understand these proven keys to delivering a great virtual presentation, you might miss out on the chance to positively impact your audience.
So what are these keys? Here are six of them…
1. Know the power of your technology.
Are you utilizing all the tools available in your webinar platform, such as the stamp tool, draw tool, type tool, chat box, breakout rooms, polling, etc.?
Are you incorporating videos, online quizzes and gamification tools?
2. Use a quality webcam and microphone.
Your audience will forgive bad video.
(But please don’t put them in that position. Invest in a good external webcam.)
They will not, however, forgive bad audio coming through your mic. Nothing is more distracting during a presentation. No matter how awesome your content is.
Invest in a solid external microphone to ensure that it’s enjoyable for your audience to pay attention to your ideas.
3. Use flattering lighting.
Don’t rely on fluorescent ceiling lights to be enough. Most of us will wind up looking like the Grim Reaper.
If you want lighting that not only flatters your face, but also allows your audience to experience your expressiveness as a presenter, invest in a ring light.
4. Record your presentation.
The thought of it might make you cringe.
None of us enjoy watching our recorded selves.
But if you’re willing to rewind the tape and look back at how the presentation went, you’ll realize things you never otherwise would have.
Were you using filler words? Do you have distracting gestures? Did you repeat yourself unnecessarily? Were your activity instructions not as clear as you remember them being?
Looking for (and changing) these issues are the only way you’ll be able to take your virtual presentation skills to the next level.
5. Create a handout.
Include blanks, checklists and other visuals.
It will give your learners opportunities to stay involved throughout your presentation.
And it will create curiosity in them as they desire resolution to what content belongs in the blanks.
Most importantly, they’ll be incentivized to hold onto their notes from the talk, so that they remember and apply your content long after your presentation.
6. Make your slides interactive.
Design your slides in a way that doesn’t rely on them to be the content.
Instead, they should reinforce the content visually.
If you’re running through steps in a process or checklist, don’t reveal the entire list at once on the same slide. Create a build slide that reveals one bullet at a time, so that you can focus on just that bullet and maintain your audience’s curiosity about what’s coming next.
Even better, create a new slide for each bullet with an image associated with that bullet. This will help reduce copy on each slide and make each bullet more memorable.
Most importantly, create “whiteboard” slides that leave blank space for your audience to use the annotate bar to stamp, type and draw on your slides.
So which of those six tips are you best at right now? Which one highlights an opportunity for you to grow as a virtual presenter?
