Webinars. Meetings. Training. Should you use Zoom? Teams? WebEx? Shadow puppets? Here’s the thing you probably haven’t been told before. To make a truly effective presentation in an online world, the tech you use is NOT the most important factor. In fact, it may be way down the list.
If that sounds confusing, stick with me.
Let’s start by asking a simple question. Why are you presenting your content?
Odds are you’re not doing it for fun. Or because you have nothing better to do. You are presenting whatever it is for a reason, with a desired outcome in mind. You want your audience to do something, or believe something, or take a specific action. That’s what will make this a good use of everyone’s time: if the objective gets achieved.
The platform you use will NOT guarantee that goal is reached. Two more important factors will:
- Is the information organized and presented for maximum impact and effectiveness?
- Have you made it easy for the audience to hear, understand, and internalize your message?
Organizing and presenting effectively
The biggest reasons audiences reject presentations isn’t because the person doesn’t know how to share slides or use a webcam. I'm not saying a speaker's lack of technical online presenting skills is completely irrelevant. But it's not what people tend to focus on the most. The top complaints include:
- The presentation is too long.
- There’s too much detail.
- Taking too long to get to the point.
- Not being relevant to your audience.
- Oh, and the presenter is monotone or distracted.
Before choosing which tool to use for your presentation, you must first organize its content for maximum impact and effectiveness. Among the factors you need to address before firing up Zoom are:
- Is your message and call to action clear and logical? The longer they sit asking, “Where’s this going?” the less chance of achieving your goal.
- Is it relevant to your audience? People pay attention to and act on things that are relevant to them.
- Can you make your case without giving too much detail?
- Is your evidence easy to understand?
Making it easy on your audience
- Do you have good quality sound? It is physically more difficult to maintain focus on a virtual presentation if the audio is not sufficient. People will tune out quickly.
- What level of interaction will your presentation require and how will you provide it? (Notice we DON’T ask about the presenter’s comfort. That’s not the point, is it?) Breakout rooms? Chat? Whiteboards? Polls? Which of these you’ll want to use may dictate your platform choice, not the other way around.
- Do you have visuals that will support your case and not distract viewers?
- Plan to take questions and clarify ambiguity throughout, rather than waiting until the end of your presentation. You may have lost them by then and won’t know it.
Decide the best way to organize your content to achieve your online presenting goal. Then you can give serious thought to the best way to deliver that content.
Great presentations begin with the end in mind. Choosing a platform with the most features doesn’t matter if you don’t use them. Conversely, a flawless presentation plan can quickly be derailed by the constraints of the cheapest or easiest tool. In the case of online presenting, content is always king.
0 comments