Keeping an online audience engaged takes work. Bruce Smith, Emerson corporate learning and development manager, provides a “how to” on giving engaging virtual presentations. No one wants to give a boring presentation Smith said. And to influence an online audience you must grab their attention early and be memorable. He developed appealing speaking strategies during his 25-plus years as training manager that can help spice up any online presentation. Smith engages his audiences by incorporating those same expert tips. He recommends these basic tips for designing an interesting slide deck:
- Follow a logical flow of information using an agenda
- Have a strong opening as an attention-getting strategy
- Keep the presentation to three main points
- Conclude the presentation with a strong summary
Today’s sophisticated media audience is stimulated by videos, games and social media while many presentations still use graphs, charts tables and text. Competition for time and attention is fierce so it’s necessary to use what engages most people today. Smith developed his successful presentation strategy by looking at newscasts -- the original virtual presentation -- and pulled out some of the news media strategies. Specifically, he studied the number of items on the TV screen and how fast they changed.
The most powerful presentations:
The good news is that virtual presentations allow so many interactive features and functions that can keep the audience engaged, including audio, video, shared screen, chat, polling and white board.Audience members are polled frequently during his presentations -- a key strategy for keeping the audience engaged and interested. The presentation was interactive and full screen. Also, the audience saw a newscast video showing how quickly the pictures and text changed.Finally, Smith urges everyone doing a presentation, whether solo or with a co-presenter, to rehearse, log in early and use a webcam. He said that the human face is engaging but if there’s a bandwidth issue, use a still picture instead to avoid technical glitches. Conclude the presentation with power. If there is a Q&A session, the speaker needs a summary afterwards that pulls together the highlights as a key takeaway and is the last thing the audience hears. His final message – don’t let them look away!
Bruce Smith’s presentation Conducting Virtual Presentations – How to Engage, Influence and Persuade was based on a PowerPoint template using Poll Everywhere for quick, appealing audience feedback. There are other presentation templates such as Prezi that can help bring online presentations to life. We encourage everyone to embrace and adopt new ways to keep their audiences engaged when making online or in-person presentations. Also, the Association for Talent Development is a good reference source.