Zoom Presenting

It is far too easy to lose your audience on a Zoom call. 

I recently witnessed a member of my family searching the internet for vintage rum while on a conference call. He could not have been less engaged, but it was clear to see why. 

There were hundreds of people on the call, it was being hosted in a professional way, with a moderator introducing various speakers. The problem was that the content and structure of the event had not really been adapted to the medium of communication, ie Zoom. The in-person event had just been taken online, literally.

Here are just a few observations:

People are still over-reliant on slides. But slides on Zoom can completely take over, leaving the presenter in a tiny box while the screen shows a giant slide - typically still a script that the barely visible presenter then narrates. Your audience cannot read your slides and listen to you at the same time - they will do one or the other…

The call / event ran for an hour and a half and had three key speakers each presenting for 20-30 minutes each. This is far too long. None of the presenters had 20 minutes worth of engaging content. Less is more with Zoom.

Pretty much all of the presenters ended their session with the classic “And that’s it.” No conclusion to their presentations  at all.

If you need to make a presentation on Zoom, here’s my top 5 tips:

1. Less is more. Request a shorter slot - the audience always prefers a shorter, pithier presentation to a long rambling one. There is nothing wrong with a brilliantly memorable five minute talk. Never forget that the Gettysburg address was delivered in ten minutes.

2. Have clear outcomes - learning outcomes or calls to action.

3. Have a clear structure - with no more than three sections - McKinsey’s SCR structure works well for many business presentations:

Set up - Tell the audience the context for the presentation
Conflict - Outline the Problem
Resolution - Provide a Resolution

4. If you have a small audience, check in regularly for understanding

5. Lose the slides - unless you absolutely need to show your audience something that is impossible to explain or if you have a brilliant image that really brings your content to life.

Our coaching is not just about the technicalities of using Zoom, such as laptop camera angle and lighting, but also about the three core principals across all our programmes:

Structure your presentation - Engage your audience - Deliver with confidence

All three still apply when your are presenting on a Zoom Call:  Structure your presentation, verbally signposting your way through it and check in at key points with your audience. Keep people engaged with great content and learn how to apply this on Zoom. And powerful delivery techniques can also be applied with an online presentation.

If you want to make sure that your audience is not idly surfing the internet during your next presentation, get in touch!