3 Simple Ways To Upgrade Your Virtual Presentations

The world has CHANGED! "Back in the day", having a virtual meeting was a luxury and not a necessity. Companies flew their reps and agents all over the country and worldwide to have meetings...at great cost. But then...COVID! Everything shifted. And pretty soon, we started hearing new terms like "zoom fatigue."

We won't debate today whether or not "zoom fatigue" is a thing. There is evidence that sitting in front of a screen and looking at yourself for hours daily is a challenge. The jury may still be out on the full effects. However, digging further, I find one of the factors of any meeting or presentation fatigue is poor presentations. Put simply...BOREDOM!!

Unfortunately, poor presentations are not just limited to "zoom meetings." Many in-person presenters do a fantastic job of lulling their audience to sleep with data and tons of information (sarcasm detected). And even more unfortunately, many presenters and meeting facilitators take the same techniques to the virtual space. They figure if they have important information, it must be shared directly. But many presenters and virtual meeting facilitators lean into information and forget about the audience's attention. If you are going to keep their attention, you must figure out how to engage and get them involved.

To that end, let’s look at three tools and technologies to help get your online presentations to the next level.

1: Polls

If you’ve used Zoom or any other similar tools, polls are an included feature. The included feature is fairly simple and now with the Zoom Marketplace, you can add other apps directly to Zoom. If you want to add other polling features, one of my favorite tools is Poll Everywhere. You can add images, videos, display word clouds and much more. The more variety you can use, the more you can engage the audience in different ways. The name of the game is "pattern disrupt". Do not allow the audience to settle in to only one way of responding. Other tools you may want to consider include Mentimeter and Kahoot.

2: Teleprompter

When we think about teleprompters, a lot of people think about the clear plexiglass devices?that presidents and other politicians use to go through their speeches. But, there are many different teleprompters you can use. A teleprompter helps you keep focused on the message you are sharing and can even help you maintain eye contact with your audience while you are delivering content. I use teleprompters regularly especially when I’m making videos or doing online presentations to keep me on track. I can see the text right in front of me, but I can also look directly at the camera in order to look like I’m engaging with my audience.

The presidential teleprompter is one type of teleprompter. But, there are others which fit over or around a camera lens while reflecting words and/or images from an ipad or other information device. Since we are talking about virtual delivery, I recommend considering a teleprompter app. One of my favorite teleprompter apps is Teleprompter Premium or Video Teleprompter by Joe Allen. You can check that out!

3: Slides?

?If you happen to be using slides in meetings or presentations, you're most likely sharing your screen and the slides take up the majority of the screen real estate. The challenge is your audience doesn't really see you much nor do they get to interact with you. If they can't see you much, the tendency is for them not to want to be seen either...woops, cameras off!

I like to be able to jump back and forth between my slides without a lot of effort so the audience can connect with me and see how I interact or feel about the content. One of my favorite tools for this is PreziVideo. Tools like Prezi allow me to go back and forth between the slides, the text, the content on the screen and me. It helps with the purpose of looking the audience in the eye and physically engaging with them.?The engagement templates provided by Prezi also transforms generic Powerpoint content.

The bottom line is your audience. They really do want to love the meeting or the presentation. And, as presenters or meeting facilitators, our job is to do MORE than just deliver information. Our job is to create an experience that facilitates memory as well as movement. The more memorable the meeting is, the more likely they will move to action.

Combat "zoom fatigue" by being intentional about engaging your audience in a variety of ways.

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About The Author

Robert Kennedy III

Robert Kennedy III is a keynote speaker, corporate trainer and business storytelling coach. He is the president of?Kennetik Kommunications, a leadership communication training firm based in Maryland. He loves words and is passionate about helping leaders confidently connect and communicate.?If you want to learn more about presentations, public speaking and storytelling, join Robert in The Storytellers Growth Lab Community