Virtual presentations can be challenging to deliver effectively, especially when you have to compete with distractions, technical issues, and limited attention spans. To keep your audience engaged and interested, you need to make your presentation concise, clear, and compelling. Here are some tips on how to achieve that.
Before you start creating your slides or script, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to say and why. Start by defining your main goal, message, and audience. Then, brainstorm the key points and supporting evidence that will help you achieve your goal and convey your message. Finally, organize your content into a logical structure that follows a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
Through my experiences, I have found that knowing your audience is a first step to presentation success. Each department, committee or manager have their own style and their own priorities so it is crucial to tailor your presentation to those who need it to make important decisions.
The 10/20/30 rule is a simple guideline that can help you keep your presentation concise and effective. It suggests that you should use no more than 10 slides, speak for no more than 20 minutes, and use a font size of no less than 30 points. This way, you can avoid overwhelming your audience with too much information, boring them with a long speech, or straining their eyes with small text.
Your slides should complement your speech, not repeat it or distract from it. To simplify your slides, you should use minimal text, clear visuals, and consistent design. Avoid using paragraphs, bullet points, or complex charts that can clutter your slides and confuse your audience. Instead, use keywords, images, icons, or graphs that can illustrate your points and enhance your message.
While I completely agree with the importance of having high level visuals in your main deck, it is equally important to have a few appendix slides that provide a more detailed view of the data provided. This approach not only demonstrates presentor's commitment to quality but also allows for more productive meetings by facilitating an open discussion.
Your delivery can make or break your presentation, so you need to practice it until you feel confident and comfortable. Practice your timing, tone, pace, and pauses to ensure that you can cover your content within the allotted time and avoid rushing or rambling. Practice your body language, eye contact, and gestures to convey enthusiasm, confidence, and professionalism. Practice your interaction, feedback, and questions to engage your audience and address their needs.
Virtual presentations can be unpredictable, so you need to be prepared to adapt to the situation and handle any challenges that may arise. For example, you may need to adjust your content, style, or format depending on the platform, device, or audience preferences. You may also need to deal with technical glitches, background noise, or connectivity issues that can disrupt your presentation. In any case, you should stay calm, flexible, and positive.
One of the best ways to improve your presentation skills and keep your presentations concise is to ask for feedback from your audience, peers, or mentors. Feedback can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, learn from your mistakes, and discover new ideas and perspectives. You can ask for feedback before, during, or after your presentation, using surveys, polls, chats, or emails.
Use more illustrations and animation, so you can cover main comms by visual not using text, as it will look boring and crowded, especially if your presentation must be in several languages.
Being concise regardless of virtual or in person is important when delivering content. Keep the point, the point, is what I was taught. My contribution is this, focus less on you and more on your audience. Sometimes the subject matter being shared deserves a lot of words, sometimes a topic is important enough to be verbose and to go in depth. I have seen 30 minute lectures put everyone to sleep, and I have also seen full day events where participants felt more energy coming out than they did going into the event. The difference? The person speaking focused on engagement, not on delivering content. Find ways to incorporate motion & emotion, get people involved and doing things, talk to and with them and not at them.