Virtual Presentations: Special Podcast Episode

Usually, we present to you our guest for the episode here, but this time, we decided on doing something else. This entire episode is different from our other ones since it's not a talk with just a single guest. Instead, it is focused on a single topic that has become a big part of our lives over the past nearly two years. Since the beginning of COVID, people all around the world, from all job backgrounds, started doing online meetings and virtual presentations. The way we communicate and act virtually, or in front of a camera, has become as critical as any real-life meeting, be it a corporate presentation or a start-up pitch. And we believe people can do better with their virtual presentations. We even just published an eBook named Presenting Virtually: A Complete Guide To Online Presentations For Business Professionals to help people stand out from the crowd of plain lazy online presenters.

So now we want to present to you the latest episode of The World Of Presentations podcast dedicated to online presentations.

We decided to bring you to the best of our almost hundred episodes on the topic. We have selected parts of our episodes with John Zimmer, Dan Keldsen, Sally Z, Johnny Quinn, Jessica Chen, and Rob Geraghty to ensure you have not missed the most valuable tips and insights from their interviews.

John Zimmer and presenting online

John Zimmer was our guest in episode 94, called How To Make Your Audience Care. He is a Keynote speaker and speaking coach, and he will be one of the fantastic speakers at Present to Succeed 2022. With him, we talked about public speaking and business presentations, as well as presenting online.

John emphasized the importance of having your camera at eye level and shed some light on asynchronous presenting, which he believes is still underused. When you give an asynchronous presentation, you can easily record yourself giving the presentation, email it to your team, and everyone can watch it whenever it is convenient for them. Then everyone will arrive at the meeting already familiar with the topic, and you can begin actively working on it right away. Many companies might profit from online presentations in this way if they try it.

Dan Keldsen on your digital presence and professional social networking

Dan Keldsen is the co-founder and CEO of PlexiCam. He was our guest in episode 92, called Quality Online Video Presentations. In the episode with him, we talked about virtual presenting, online video, and he shared his interesting take on social networks and professional social networking for speakers.

Dan talked about how his internet presence landed him one of the most lucrative consulting jobs he has had. He shared that online you can plant the seeds to make it possible for people to see and find you easily. Do not be afraid to talk online about the topics you are interested in, you never know who might reach out to you. People will be googling you and might decide to contact you or not based on that. Put it out there and take advantage of it.

Sally Z and intentionality in the virtual space

Sally Z is a speaker coach and a fellow podcaster. Her podcast is called This Moved Me. We had her as a guest in episode 88, called Uncover the Power of Intentionality. With her, we talked about being more thoughtful about the space in which you present, and how to improve your virtual presentations.

Sally advises you to take the time to check how you can use technology and software like Ecamm Live for Mac, or OBS Studio for Windows, to make your audience not see your virtual presentation as just another Zoom meeting. A little intention from you as the speaker goes a long way in the virtual setting.

Johnny Quinn and virtual audience engagement tools

Johnny Quinn is a Presentation Consultant and Technologist who uses the latest presentation technology to help you communicate your message better. We had him as a guest in episode 74, called The Presentation Tools You Need. With him, we had a chat about presentation tools and the gadgets that every presenter should have.

Johnny encourages asking the audience questions to make them feel included. He suggested checking the free polling options that Microsoft Teams and Zoom have and using software like Kahoot or Slido, which are great audience engagement tools in general.

Jessica Chen and the different types of virtual calls

Jessica Chen is a trusted communications advisor to several elite tech leaders in Silicon Valley and Asia. She is the Founder & CEO of Soulcast Media, a top LinkedIn Learning Instructor, and an Emmy Award winner. She was our guest for episode 64 Virtual Communication, Leadership, and LinkedIn Learning. Moreover, she is going to be one of our highly-anticipated Present to Succeed 2022 speakers.

Jessica shared that there are different types of virtual calls which all require a different approach. There are online meetings with many people, then there are meetings where you are the appointed presenter and must take a proactive approach. The third type of meetings is those that are 1:1, where you have to build trust and connection first.

Rob Geraghty and presenting virtually

Rob Geraghty is the founder of Presenting Virtually, and he is dedicated to helping people design and deliver outstanding presentations. We had him as our guest in episode 60, called Presenting Virtually and Audience Engagement.

Rob shared some tips about how to encourage people to engage better online – involve your audience early and often. Involve them and hear their views, but do so by asking them questions one-on-one. Rob suggested that you start any question by saying first the name of the person who you’re asking. You’re directing the question this way, and the chances of your efforts to involve them being ignored are less. Plus it keeps people interested and alert.