5. VIRTUAL PRESENTATION SKILLS: CAMERA AND COMMUNICATION ETIQUETTE

Presenters must understand the importance of adjusting their approach to match the medium. With in-person presentations, you more or less have a captive audience — you still need to be engaging, but your audience is kind of stuck with you for the duration. But with virtual presentations, your audience has a greater opportunity to stray. You now have to compete for their eyes, ears, hearts, and minds against diminished attention spans increased home and work life distractions, and conflicting priorities

Camera Etiquette:

• It is impolite to amplify the sound of you typing, or having your phone ring in the background etc. Ensure you use the “Mute audio” at the right time. When others are speaking, mute and unmute when it is your turn again. When someone addresses you on a call, and it takes a minute for you to unmute yourself, it sets the perception that you were busy with something else. You should pay attention when you are at the receiving end of a presentation.
• Get your tasks done before the meeting. Do not respond to emails/texts during a meeting.
• Be prepared, and do not read. Confidence is important.
• Dress for success: Be camera ready at all times. It is still working hours, and you must look presentable.
• Get the lighting right and be visible.
• Look straight into the computer as you would when looking someone in their eyes when speaking to them. Your audience is not sitting in your roof, on the floor or next to you.
• Pace Yourself: Without real-time visual audience feedback cues, getting the pacing right can be difficult. Even though you want to infuse some animation and energy into your presentation don’t pump up the speed too much. If you tend to be a fast talker in real life, practice slowing down just a bit. If you are a slow talker, you may want to speed up just a bit.
• Background distractions: Choose the correct background – it adds to professionalism. Doing a presentation in your kitchen or living room does not look professional. Make sure you get the right background and always have it on when presenting something or even when you are at the receiving end.
• Know the technology – Nothing kills a presentation faster than a presenter who fumbles with the technology. A dry run is essential so that you’re comfortable with the platform features.
  • Example: when you are sharing your screen, you cannot see who has their hands raised to ask a question – use 2 screens so that you can see raised hands or if anyone posed questions.
• Evaluate and enhance: Record the session and take the time to play back and look for areas that worked well and areas that did not work that well. Great presenters, whether virtual or in person, understand the value of continually honing their craft. Be sure to acknowledge your strengths as well as your areas of improvement.
• Be prepared before setting up the meeting, and ensure you know your audience. Ask:
  • The whys, the expectations, the required services and offerings etc.
• Set up the meeting with the appropriate parties and include an agenda so everyone knows what to expect in the meeting.
• Ensure you are the first one to be at the meeting.
• Do intros: Introduce yourself, position, background etc. Reiterate the reason for the meeting.
• Once the meeting is over, summarize what has been discussed and see if there is anything outstanding. Have a follow-up plan with the next steps and allocate responsibilities.

Remember, whether you are presenting in person or virtually, all presentations are performances. And all performances are in service to your audience. Their time is valuable, so honour that time by delivering the best presentation you can. No matter what kind of presentation you are giving, you must find ways to create authentic audience connection, engagement, and value.

In short:

1. Interact with the audience. The total lack of feedback from attendees can be unsettling. How do you fix it? Begin any virtual presentation by interacting with your audience. Ask a question to kick off this interaction.
2. Invite them on a journey.
3. Shorten your bio but have a bio. You’re important. You’re so important that we’re attending your virtual presentation. Make sure you have an introduction of who you are, what you do, who you work for and your colleagues. Note the important things.
4. Check your mic.
5. Play with your voice: On screen, you don’t have the luxury of talking with your whole body language. During virtual presentations, your audience will focus on your voice. You should change your pitch, speed, tone, and delivery style with what you’re presenting. Avoid being monotonous and never read. 
6. Cut Disturbances: Nobody expects your virtual presentation to happen without interruption. Be courageous: tell us about your pets, introduce us to your children, and integrate the distraction into your narrative. As an alternative, insulate your office from sound, close the windows and ask your partner to take care of your loved ones. Just don’t be awkward about it.
7. Dress for video.
8. Dress up your background.
9. Have lighting.
10. Look at your audience.
11. Close with a summary.
12. Bring energy and be yourself. Deliver with a high degree of confidence, with contagious positive energy and your own unique style.

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