Are remote presentations critical to your success in 2015?
For many professionals and business owners, the answer is indisputably “Yes.”
Communicating remotely with clients, prospects, and employees has become a fundamental part of conducting business. In fact, approximately 80% of corporate presentations are delivered remotely. Although essential communication is organized best with your audience in the same room and with petrol prices constantly rising, it is likely that your analytical proposal will end up conveyed through an online presentation.
Therefore, how do you make the most of your online presentation while connecting and establishing trust with your audience?
Recently, I conducted a webinar. I was comfortable with the content, however, I wanted the remote delivery to come across really well. To my amazement, the webinar was an astounding success. What made the webinar incredibly successful? Keep reading below to learn the principles I used to keep the audience engaged.
1) Stand Up
Did you know that your body posture determines the projection of your voice? If you are scrunched at your computer or huddled near the phone, your voice may not come across with authority and persuasion. Hence, you risk being perceived as unprepared by your audience. Imagine you are in an actual presentation environment. Give yourself some privacy. Place photos on the wall of people that you can make eye contact with. Stand up. Use a clicker to be effective with your slides. All these things will make a momentous difference to your presentation.
2) Accelerate the Content
How can you get the audience, who you cannot see, to really listen and focus on your presentation? It is a known fact that people will multitask during a webinar presentation. You cannot see them and they cannot see you. It is the nemesis of this particular way of communicating. Rather than disregarding the possibility of a lack of attention, use it as inspiration to communicate in a different way.
Design presentations that are visually content-rich so that they will not want to miss a single minute of the information you are presenting. What you do not want is the audience minimizing your webinar with their Inbox. A good tip is to alternate the volume and tone of your voice, creating auditory bursts and adding emphasis to your content. Humour is also a really good way to capture interest. Your audience will be captivated when they hear the passion and energy in your voice.
3) Present with a Partner
It is a good idea to share the accountability of presenting between two people. The interest of the audience will be invigorated each time the presenter changes. A new person usually implies a new topic, and the audience will inevitably tune in to hear more about it. Usually, the first few seconds after a transition of a presenter is a great opportunity to reengage the audience’s interest. Most importantly, plan the transitions ahead of time
4) Make it Interactive
Take advantage of the nature of the online world to collect feedback. Interact with your audience during the presentation. Most applications have installed extensive feedback systems so that the audience can ask questions. It allows the audience to feel included, chat, and submit live feedback. In the case that there is a large online audience, I recommend that you have an administrator to address the incoming questions and comments. You also have a great opportunity to extend the reach of your presentation by recording it and posting it. This will allow the audience to watch it (and pause it), in their own time frame.
5) Understand the Technology
Because there are many ways to deliver a presentation online, the applications used to display your content can be very different. I suggest hosting a rehearsal of your presentation in which you click through all of your slides. Sometimes the applications lose important features of your presentation. Remember, what works in PowerPoint may not work in the application that hosts your presentation.
The important principle here is to deliver your presentation with as much energy and enthusiasm as if the audience was sitting right in front of you.