What do you do if your virtual presentation lacks interactivity?

Vital in ANY presentation to grab the audience's attention with the first few words or images - and even more so in a virtual world where your audience can easily become distracted and mentally log off to your delivery. There is no one fixed answer to how you make that initial engagement, but whatever your approach start in a lively and upbeat way to at least demand the initial attention of the audience.

I advise to grab your audience′s attention even BEFORE the start. Send out a short teaser a couple of days beforehand about the presentation with pointers such as - who is this for - why should they care - what will they get out of attending Take the time to analyze your audience and their needs and provide some nuggets to spark their interest, and maybe some cliff hangers. Understanding their challenges is key to setting yourself up for success. You can also include a personal note in your early engagement which is relatable and makes them curious about you as the presenter too.

To invigorate a virtual presentation that lacks interactivity, elements that encourage active audience participation can be incorporated. For instance, integrating real-time polls to gather opinions, arranging question and answer sessions to stimulate debate, adding entertaining quizzes to assess knowledge, utilising breakout rooms for thematic discussions, enhancing slides with interactive visual aids or simulations, and promoting the use of a specific hashtag on social media to broaden the conversation. These strategies not only capture the audience's attention but also enhance the learning experience, turning a one-way presentation into a fruitful dialogue.

Short but powerful advice: switch between digital content and analoge content. E.g.: - go out of your powerpoint every now and then and just talk - mix it up by drawing on a whiteboard - have preprinted images that you simply show

So many virtual presentations are really, truly, very dull indeed. Adequate presenters in a face-to-face environment appear to believe that the same skills will work online - and the truth is that they often don't. So use imagery that can easily be read on a small screen, use the screen mouse as a pointer, use animation to hold the audience attention, and augment images with animated shapes to support your delivery. None of this is difficult to do - and any or all of the above will hold the attention better.

I nearly always use breakout sessions for any presentation longer than 15 minutes. A breakout session can be as easy as taking 3 minutes in pairs to discuss a certain question or reflect on a situation. Breakout sessions can be done both with in-person presentations and virtual. Get started by: 1. Consider a topic, question or situation you want them to go deeper on 2. Decide how big you want the groups to be. I advise 2-5 people per group 3. Be clear about the frames of the breakout session. How long time? Will they be asked to share? What is the purpose? 4. Build up to the breakout session by sharing your knowledge and then inviting them to the breakout session. 5. Start the breakout session!

Start by determining whether you want questions throughout the presentation, at a Q&A session at the end or half way, or questions to be send in afterwards e.g. by email. Having questions throughout can be engaging but also disrupt the flow, so consider this carefully and inform your audience. If a question arises that you do not know the answer to, this is a great way to have a reason for follow up after the presentation. If you do not get any questions you can always flip it by asking them questions. Another great way to clarify points of interest is through an interactive quiz.

Be personal and not a robot. Giving presentations is not about sending, it is about creating interest, sharing insights and knowledge and planting seeds for new ideas. Far too many presenters have a powerpoint presentation that they rush through in order to "get through" the whole presentation. Instead, if you get stuck on slide nr 2 the whole presentation due to questions or conversations - that′s great! Think of what you really want to achieve. Share personal stories and insights. Why is this important to you? What has the knowledge enabled you to do, or what has it changed in your life? This is where we as presenters can really deliver value.