How to rock a remote presentation!

As we continue to navigate through the ‘new normal’ one challenge which has come up unexpectedly is that of presenting a deck to a large audience!

While this was much easier in an office setting in your swanky conference room, the entire’ remote ‘ scenario has removed the fun and excitement of delivering a presentation.

 I have been both on both sides-having sat amongst the audience and also delivered a disastrous presentation , I can definitely share some lessons learnt :

•  Be on Video!

While a very simple and seemingly basic tip, not being on video when you are presenting can take away valuable brownie points from your overall ‘ how well you did’ score.

Your facial expressions and body language speaks much more you realize and can provide the much needed impetus when you are presenting something.

P.S-Dressing up in formals with your hair properly done adds more visual appeal.

• Partial planning

Plan your presentation however leave the finer points to that very moment , gauging the audiences’ reaction.

For eg-Plan what you are going to speak to each slide however leave the exact time you intend to spend based on how your audience reacts. If you feel that a particular slide is generating more questions than you anticipated spend more time on that point while skimming through the others.

For an introvert like me who is big on planning I learnt this the hard way wherein not everything goes according to plan and you need to think on your feet to create an impression!

•  Keep it light!

I can’t emphasize this enough. Peppering your talk with humor and personal touches is essential to keep the presentation lively.

If you don’t have a witty sense of humor, keep some harmless jokes ready with you which you can use for your slides.

While talking minimize reading from the slides, instead try explaining it in a very simple manner to your audience. Try to tell a story wherever necessary, use relatable analogies ( current affairs, movies, web series).Use someone from the audience while giving an example. When you use relatable names the audience is forced to pay attention.

Always remember, the slides you create are going to sit in the ‘Knowledge section’ folder in 99 percent of your audience’s laptops. However what you say and the stories you tell will always be remembered ??

•  Engage!

The big differentiator between presenting in a remote setting and in person is that the audience can be easily distracted.

While you cant mandate too many rules like in a school or college , introducing some fun polls is always a good idea. It keeps the audience engaged and can be a respite from a heavy technical topic.

You can also take a small break by asking them to be on video and then clicking a picture !

Anything to keep the ball rolling ( and to keep people from falling asleep!)

Also whenever possible, keep on changing speakers so that people also get to listen to a variety of voices.

•  Ask!

One idea of ensuring that your audience is engaged is to send them a quick survey to gauge their interest levels on the sub-points you are going to speak about.

Knowing what your audience wants can help you to prepare your slides and talk on things which interest your people and are useful!

While this may not be always possible, its definitely worth the extra efforts so whenever possible do try it out.

The results may surprise you ??

 To sum it all, there is no right or wrong way to deliver a presentation and definitely   a ‘ one size fits all’ formula works will never work here.

The trick is create your own brand based on your own experiences. Each one of us has an inherent unique style which should always define your presentation.

Learn from your mistakes, observe what good speakers do and ROCK the stage ( or a teams/zoom meeting in this case !)