Web Presenting is Exactly the Same as Regular Presenting--Except When It's Not
Companies spend a lot of money teaching presentation skills to their people.That's great, but the way people present now has changed radically and that raises some questions. Sally is a VP of HR for a small business. Recently in conversation she told me, "I used to give nearly a presentation a week. Now I only get in front of people once a quarter, the rest of the time it's online and that's completely different". Actually, it's not.
There are some obvious differences between communicating online and presenting in front of live humans but there is more that is the same. Here are some common observations about web presentations and what's different -- and what's exactly the same as "regular" presenting.
I can't see my audience to gauge reactions. That's absolutely true, but I've sat through enough horrific PowerPoint festivals where the presenter disregarded the audience reactions to know that's no silver bullet. Audience reaction is critical to a presenter because it gives you important cues: speed up, slow down, I'm bored, I have a question, or even I have no idea what you just said.
What this means to web presenters is you have to actually, actively solicit feedback. Ask questions frequently. Use tools like polling and chat. Open phone lines whenever possible. These presentations don't have to be passive experiences, they just are usually run that way.
People will just put me on mute and answer their email. It's true that many people tune out on webinars. Some platforms even have a tool that can tell you exactly what percentage of your audience is multitasking. This isn't an indictment of webinars, so much as the people who run them. Are you bringing information to people who need and want it? Are you engaging them? Have you explained that you want and expect their input, and then go after it? Online presentations need to be tight, focused, engaging and SHORT.
The technology makes me uncomfortable. I'll give you that one. I often tell my classes that presenting online is just like giving a regular presentation -- while programming your Tivo at the same time. I also know that with practice (and less of it than you think you'll need but more than you want to do) you can get very proficient and the nerves go away. Don't believe me? you might not be old enough to remember when PowerPoint first came in and people said things like "you expect me to present with a computer? What am I a #@%$@% programmer? This will never catch on. While a world without PowerPoint might be devoutly to be wished, the dream faded in a hurry. You can learn this and then you are out of excuses- make it work.
Basically, presenting online forces you to be competent, focused, eliminate wasted time and be interesting. Are any of those NOT applicable to live presentations? Presenting online does have its challenges, but if you learn to do it well all your communication can improve as a result.
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photo by flickr user joe oconnell CC 2.0