PAPER making! g FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL Volume 6, Number 1, 2020 Remote presentations give you important advantages as a speaker, such as:
x Enabling you to reach a wider audience via internal networks, the internet, and social media sites x Letting you interact with your listeners in new ways — including taking and answering their questions, following their comments online during the talk, and conducting contests. Thanks to chat-room capability, you can adjust your presentation on the spot. On the downside, there’s always the possibility of technical difficulties in giving a remote presentation, such as poor audio or video quality. Or listeners may have trouble joining the presentation. But most important, if you’re delivering your talk through audio only and not through Skype or other visua l conferencing media, you can’t make eye contact with all your audience members. Even with visual conferencing, you can’t see their body language, and they can’t see yours. Without that all-important nonverbal communication, your listeners may feel disconnected from you. As a result, they may have difficulty trusting you or lose interest in your talk. These disadvantages make it harder to win — and keep —your audience’s attention during a remote presentation. In fact, a survey examining what people do while they’re attending webinars revealed that they spend more time checking e-mail than actually watching the presentations. Captivate your audience To make your remote presentation more interesting to your listeners than their inboxes are, you need to: x Simulate physical connection . Use props to make believe you are seeing your audience before you. x Excel at audio . Use your voice creatively. x Remove distractions . Anticipate and remove visual or auditory annoyances that could distract you or your audience from your talk. x Lure and re-lure your listeners . Regularly create a sense of contrast and offer intriguing bites of content in your talk. x Delight your audience . Show that you’re having fun, and display your individuality. Simulate physical connection Seeing your audience helps you feel more connected to them. And when you feel connected, you adopt a warmer, more intimate, conversational speaking style that will hold your listeners’ attention. If you’re looking into a Webcam during your talk, your audience can see you —but you won’t see them. Use a photo to remind you of your audience: Just under the camera on your computer, tape a photo of your actual audience members. If you’re speaking to a huge audience, use a photo representing your audience. As you talk, look steadily into the camera and include the audience photo in your gaze. If your audience will only be able to see your slides, make sure each one is uncluttered and shows only one idea. That way, the slides will be less distracting. They will also give listeners the sense that you, as a person, are organized and clear-thinking. That makes listeners trust you — which inspires them to keep listening. Excel at audio In remote presentations, audio trumps visuals for holding an audience’s attention. So use your voice creatively. For instance: x Stand up while delivering your talk . When you stand, your chest cavity fills with more air, making your voice richer and more rounded. You can also gesture more freely, which helps you speak in a more natural way. x Vary your voice . Vary the pitch and volume of your voice to reflect your message — such as using a higher pitch to convey excitement about an idea you’re discussing. Use pauses to convey a sense of drama and to make listeners curious about what you’ll say next. x Bring in other voices . If appropriate, invite other people to deliver parts of your talk or to engage in some casual conversation with you as you deliver your presentation. Hearing more than one voice is more interesting than hearing just one voice, especially during a lengthy presentation.
Article 15 – Remote Presentations
Page 2 of 3
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software