3 Steps to Engage Your Online Audience from the Start!

Facing an unseen audience can be daunting. You may be half way through your presentation and wondering – is anyone even listening? Here are three quick and easy techniques to engage your participants from the start:

1)    First – just be human.

No one wants to see a boring talking head, ever. You need to connect with your watchers on a human level or else they will tune out, start answering emails, get a snack or just walk away.

Instead of kicking off the session by introducing your topic and panel, set a conversational tone by just saying hello! Welcome your viewers and thank them for taking the time to join you. Help them to feel safe and comfortable by explaining that you really want this session to be interactive so they get the maximum benefit from your time together.

Start by ask them easy questions such as: How are you feeling today? Where are you watching from? What is one challenge you are having in this area that you want help with today? Tell them where to find the chat function and encourage them to ask questions throughout the session. Plant someone in the audience to provide the first response and get the conversation going. And be certain that you acknowledge all responses and welcome those who took the time to reply by name.

2)    Provide a roadmap.

It can be easy to get completely lost during an online program. Help your participants follow along by briefly laying out the agenda, explaining what you are going to cover and how. Make sure it sounds interesting so they will want to stick around. If it doesn’t sound interesting to you, think about what else you need to include or to change for their benefit.

Using uncluttered PowerPoint slides to visually illustrate key points will also help keep them on track. You can provide the more detailed papers, bios and resources either before or after the presentation. Then your audience will have all of the information they need without trying to read small print online while also trying to listen to you.

3)    Make it as interactive as possible.

To make an immediate connection with your viewers, look in the camera when you are talking and have a conversation directly with them. Remember: you need to engage adult learners every 5-8 minutes to hold their attention.

Interactivity proves that communication is taking place, so if you see that your audience is not responding, you may be losing them. Prevent this by using non-threatening forms of communication to warm them up – take a poll, ask simple questions (such as yes/no, do you agree?). Be more of a mentor (and less of a lecturer), ignite people’s interest, be inspiring!

If you can see your participants, ask them to turn on their video and then you can engage with them as if you were together in person. Leverage the technology you have, get familiar with it in advance, test it and use it to its fullest extent.

Good luck on your next online presentation and I hope you find this information helpful. I would love to hear from you if you used these tips and to hear how they worked for you!

Jill Mayer is an experienced and award-winning producer of strategic business conferences and professional development content. Please contact Jill if you need help to create an inspiring and dynamic annual conference or professional development project.