My clients tell me that one of the biggest barriers to delivering an effective online presentation is that you don't get the same level of feedback as you do when you present face to face.
COVID-19 has changed the way many of you deliver presentations or workshops and it is hard, especially if you have had no training on how to engage audiences in an online format.
You’re not alone. This is a challenge faced by so many businesses and it isn't going to go away.
The hardest part is that you often don't get to see or hear your audience because participants have to mute to avoid sound interference, and most people have developed the habit of turning their cameras off.
I hope you find my tips on how to manage online communication helpful.
Three simple tips to improve your engagement with online audiences
1. Look directly into the camera
It feels natural to want to look at your audience but staring at the camera will give the impression that you are making direct eye contact. This will assist you to build rapport and authority and help you to influence and engage them.
Ensure that your camera is stable and positioned at eye level.
2. Encourage participants to have their cameras on
It seems to have become the norm for audiences to turn their cameras off in online presentations, but why not simply ask your audience to turn their cameras on?
Seeing audience reactions and reading non-verbal cues are useful tools when presenting.
When you send out invitations to your presentation, mention that you encourage participants to turn their cameras on and then on the day of your presentation, mention it again.
By telling them in advance, this should mitigate audience members turning up wearing their pajamas. (Note though that it may not be possible for some people to use a camera due to bandwidth restrictions, camera availability and home office privacy concerns, but this should only affect a small number of people).
3. Don't read from your notes
If you read from your presentation notes word for word, your audience will quickly turn off. Prepare brief dot points to refer to rather than a word for word script so that you can look at your audience.
Be mindful of where you position your notes. If you have them on another screen to the side, this will be very distracting if you continually turn your head to look at them. This will cause you to quickly lose connection with your audience.
You can window your notes so that they sit just under your camera and when you glance down, it will not be very obvious. If you drag your document up so it is a narrow window at the top of your screen, you will still be able to see most of the audience.
Do you have an online presentation coming up? Are you looking for more strategies to enhance your presentation skills?
Contact me for a free phone chat to see if I can help you https://calendly.com/kerry-131/phonechatwithkerry