With COVID-19 affecting everything from your personal life to your work life, there is only so much you can do to thrive through the pandemic. One of those things is knowing how to successfully give a virtual presentation. There are three main areas of focus: the preparation, the presentation, and the content.
Preparing for your meeting
Lighting: Make sure that you are facing the light, don’t have it behind you. This will reduce glares and help ensure that other participants are able to see you as clearly as possible.
Connection: Make sure that you have a stable internet and audio connection. If your internet seems to be unstable, call in separately so you don’t lose audio. TIP: In case of connection issues, have phone numbers before the meeting begins.
Background: Your background is your new “outfit,” so be sure that it’s not distracting. Try to avoid clutter and chaos that may disrupt participants’ attention.
Presenting in your meeting
Pace: Don’t pace around your office, set the pace of the meeting. Setting times on your agenda will help the meeting to run as smoothly as possible without being cut off. And if necessary, have a timekeeper.
Engage: As soon as the meeting begins, ask the participants a question so they know how to participate and feel comfortable doing so.
Breaks: Although it’s ideal to keep meetings at a reasonable time, it is not always possible. If this is the case, schedule breaks because nobody wants to mute themselves and run to the bathroom. Offer etiquette tips regarding this early on. On a break? Mute audio and video. Actively on the call? Video on, unmute when you want to talk.
Meeting Content
Introductions: Even if everybody knows each other, allow a minute or two for introductions. This will prevent the far too frequent “let’s give those who are joining late a minute.” Rather, start on time with a question, quote, favorite something- something that will get participants engaged and prove that you value their time.
Agenda: Always ensure that you include a meeting agenda that contains an overview of meeting topics, as well the key benefits and takeaways.
Rule of 3: Have three key concepts for a meeting. Also, only put three bullet points on a slide (excluding sub bullets). This is most appealing and will prevent participants from their attention going elsewhere.
We’ve gathered some of the best tips we can to help your virtual meetings and presentations be a success. Whether you’re on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, whatever it may be, these tips are applicable and will benefit you. At Corporate Technologies, we value our clients and will assist in any way possible.
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