The other day I had the privilege of facilitating an excellent workshop featuring some internationally-trained professionals who are at the top of their game. The subject matter was fascinating, the insights penetrating, and the presentations …could easily have been taken from standard to stellar with just a few tweaks.

And this is such a common theme: How to translate complex ideas into something simple and, ultimately, memorable? How DO you engage with an audience when you’re reduced to a 2cm x 4cm avatar, talking about a list of bullet points above your head on a bunch of slides, with highly technical or even jargony language?

Allow me to assist. I’m going to talk about preparation, structure, and delivery. There are easy hacks - yes I’m going to call them that - that will pretty much instantly elevate your presentations and increase your callbacks.

There’s not too much you can do about the format, since you’re only as creative as the software allows - minus your skillset, the host’s skillset, and the familiarity with it by the participants attending. But there’s a whole lot you CAN do.

PREPARATION

Like almost everything, half the job lies in the preparation, preparation, preparation.

Connectivity. You’re spending all that time on your slides, but not bothering to make sure that * you personally * also make a good impression. So make sure you’ve got the right link. Test it with the host the day before. If YOU’RE the host, be sure that all of your attendees have the link at least 24 hours in advance so that they can test their systems, too. Be sure that whoever is hosting is also the one creating the meeting link and sending it out to attendees. Include an agenda and a roster of speakers. Create a What’s App group where people can contact you (especially if something is going wrong) before, during, or after your call. Ideally this chat will be monitored by your tech assistant - but always be sure your teckie stays around. If tech can go wrong, it will.

Camera. Besides making sure that it’s on (and if you use a variety of video conferencing programs, they may have a tendency to cancel one another out) - ensure your focus is good. On you, not your background. If you haven’t used the program before, give it a test run with the host, especially if you’re in charge of loading and advancing your slides.

Chat. Decide who’s the boss of the chat, and make sure someone is not only monitoring it, but is adding value there. Make it clear whether Q&A can happen throughout and will be addressed by the speaker, or whether they will be gathered from the chat and addressed at a later point (at the end of the session, in a future session, etc.).

Audio. So many places to check and ensure volume and quality are spot on, especially if you’re recording. It’s not just your speech output you need to test-test check-check, but also the input. Ensure your various sound and volume buttons are properly calibrated for the room and ambience you will be actually delivering from. Do not assume that because that this one automatically follows suit - especially if they’re different platforms.

Background. I’ve seen people get on calls “ready” to present with messy closet doors open behind them; kids, dogs and grannies running in and out of the frame; or distracting angles and colours that take the attention off you completely. Virtual backgrounds are good, they exist for a reason. Don’t pick one that places you in Disneyland or Martha Stewart’s kitchen. Choose something that’s professional, neutral and speaks to your industry. Perhaps there’s a branded background with the company logo (yours or theirs) you can have pre-loaded.

Lighting is everything. As every influencer and aging beauty queen knows, this is the maker or the breaker of first and lasting impressions. There’s nothing worse than finding a great virtual background and having your face incongruously shadowed in the foreground. People subconsciously read all kinds of things into how you look. In fact, because we’re reduced to “talking heads” in that 2cm x 4cm square, the imagination goes into overdrive, desperately searching for context and clues about expertise, personality, believability and status. Watch out for overhead lights that make you look bald, under-lighting that turns you into Frankenstein, and side lighting that gives you Pinocchio face. Square on, front, is best. Make it not too harsh, not too blue, and be sure it doesn’t flicker.

Positioning. Make sure your head and shoulders are within the frame and nothing is cut off. We should see a bit above the top of your head, and both shoulders to just above your elbows. You should be able to bring your hands up naturally to make a point, without them disappearing suddenly as weird, dissociated entities with a life of their own. You’ve all watched popular podcast hosts … it doesn’t take much effort to do the same. Look at some recordings by people you admire in your industry, and at least try to match that level. You might be one of the many people who find that they just present better when they’re standing. Try it out.

STRUCTURE

Now for the structure of your presentation. This is what will make the content of your presentation easy to receive, easy to remember, easy to relay.

1. So … do you HAVE to have slides? Personally, I hate them, but most audiences tend to expect them. Unless you are having a very high-level discussion between peers that know each other fairly well, you’ll likely want to have around 3 -5 slides to help focus people’s attention. Their retention will increase if they are able to process in different modalities simultaneously.

2. If you don’t have a template provided to you by your host, be sure your slides are branded. There’s nothing stopping anyone from screenshotting and pirating your stuff, but looking on the positive side of things, having your logo and name on every slide will help underscore your intellectual capital.

3. Start at the end. Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Give them some kind of story arc to follow that will anchor your points in a familiar scene. Don’t generally go beyond 5-7 ideas. The human brain simply cannot chunk more, especially if it’s novel information. Less is more - especially if you want them to ask questions, reflect, participate, engage.

4. Revisit your story arc when you conclude, and provide the “happily ever after” - the “So what and who cares” part. They had better walk away knowing exactly why they should care and why they just listened to what you had to say. Your value proposition must be unambiguous, just like when, and where, and how to contact you should be

DELIVERY

What, though, is the main factor that causes “Death By PowerPoint”? (It’s a real diagnosis. I have fallen apoplectic from this deadly virus many a time and oft).

The number one slot has to go to overly wordy slides that people simply read verbatim. Why should I show up if you’re just going to read your slides off to me? There has to be some added reason for showing up. Otherwise, just email the slides and save me an hour of my life!

Reading in a monotone is a very close second. You can be absolutely brilliant in your field, but if you’re not able to enunciate, pause appropriately, and use inflection to engage your audience, you’re going to bore them to tears.

If you are presenting in a second, third, fourth language, then be very sure you’re pronouncing things correctly. No one has corrected you thus far because that would be just rude, so use a text-to-speech program to practice. You’re going to be surprised, I promise you. I’m chuckling as I recall a common mispronunciation of “focus groups” LOL

Don’t just slap up a graphic. Those that are distracting, low-res, or poorly designed will distract your audience from your message as they try to figure out what on Earth you’re referring to.

Don’t give a lecture. Stick to the point, stick to the topic, and answer the question you set out to. If you have more to say, write a book.

Too many bells, whistles and animations, flashing lights, and dancing bears.

Too technical, too jargony - acronym assault.

You don’t know the level of understanding of your audience.

Talk WITH the people there, not AT them. They want to engage with YOU, so ensure there is time either during or afterwards to do so. You can even invite them to connect with you on LinkedIn right at the outset so they don’t forget. Put your link in the chat.

Always finish on time. Your co-presenters will appreciate it, your host will be thankful, and your audience will love you. It shows that you’ve prepared.

If you’ve followed the formula for preparation, structure and delivery, you can even just have fun and enjoy

About the Author

Anna is an organizational psychologist and executive coach, with a special interest in all things technology. We’re part of the team at Garleff Coaching and Consulting Group. If this article has struck a chord, please let us know.
Anna Garleff Cell: +1 587 224 3793 / anna@garleffcoaching.com
www.garleffcoaching.com