PRESENTATIONS

Speaking to a room full of people may be daunting, but for many, speaking to a monitor in an otherwise empty space is more so. You cannot see the faces of your listeners, observe their body language or gauge their comprehension or interest in your subject.

A virtual presenter must carefully consider the best way to engage participants so that they will be less likely to be distracted by office affairs. In the same way as there are techniques used to command attention during a live presentation, there are also some tricks to know when presenting online.

Engaging participants in concrete, practical activities such as skill development, project design, or brainstorming has been found to be most effective, especially in educational settings. Similar to live presentations, it is also crucial to provide visual materials in the virtual environment. Presentation slides can work well, allowing participants to follow the session better and helping the presenter stick to the strict time limits which tend to exist at online conferences.

However, as at any conference, it is still important that the slides be interesting and well presented so that attendees remain attentive. A good way to achieve audience
interaction is to make the slide presentation interactive. One idea is to begin with a virtual map of the country then ask participants to indicate where they are on the map, using the drawing tools that come with most conferencing software which can help to break the ice and stimulate some exchanges among participants.

Some other techniques include:

• Plan an activity such as questions or polls for every 5 or so slides presented. This helps to keep attendees involved and leads to discussion opportunities.

• As conferencing software usually includes a chat function, keep a chat room running for participants to chat amongst themselves, with a chat room moderator to answer questions and keep the discussion on track.

• Try to build live demonstrations into the presentation by using desktop application sharing to demonstrate software, or bring up website for all to see. This is a valuable tool which allows the presenter to broadcast to all participants whatever is done on his or her screen.