online presentation experience

How to Give a Great Online Presentation: 11 Pro Tips

Giving a presentation online is much more difficult than presenting in front of a live audience.

People get distracted easily. You can’t read the room. Often, you can’t even see your audience.

Because of this, it’s hard to engage and captivate your participants.

Hard, indeed. But not impossible.

I put together these 11 tips that will help you turn your online presentation from good to great.

And don’t just take my word for it.

Among these tips, you’ll also find the wisdom of  Nathan Gold , high-stakes presentation coach, and seasoned keynote speaker, and Gibson Biddle , former VP of Product at Netflix, now a teacher, speaker, and workshop host.

Ready to take your online presentation to the next level?

#1. Cut the number of your slides and simplify them

Don’t overwhelm your online audience with too many slides or they may easily zone out. In case you have more material, consider splitting the presentation into two sessions.

Also, make your slides minimalistic. One idea, one quote, or one number per slide is ideal. This will make the information more digestible and draw attention to what you’re saying instead of forcing people to read.

#2. Use the rule of three

A good structure helps people follow your story and understand your presented content better. Gibson Biddle recommends following the rule of three because:

• 3 items are easy to remember
• They help you minimize your text
• 3 chapters provide guideposts for the content of your presentation

The rule of three will help you hold the message of your talk together nicely.

Apply it in the design of your slides (3 bullet points a slide), or use it to structure your whole presentation (three main takeaways).

#3. Fail to rehearse at your own peril

Improvisation has a certain appeal, for sure. But don’t leave your online presentation to a chance. Take your time and rehearse your talk well. Otherwise, your online gig might come across as unprofessional and messy.

I usually give as much as one hour of rehearsal time for every minute of my talk before any large presentation that I give.

Nathan Gold goes even beyond that. In this webinar, he says that whenever he trains TED and TEDx speakers, he asks them to commit to around two hours of out-loud practice for every minute of their talk.

Of course, the length and intensity of your preparation is entirely up to you. What’s important is that you’re confident about how you’re prepared. At least, though, run through your slides and content about an hour before your talk and rehearse your opening well so that you start strong.

#4. Start with a strong hook

Speaking of starting strong. Captivate your audience right from the start of your presentation. Open your talk with a powerful statement, story, thought-provoking question, or an eye-opening number.

See our new vlog below where I share 5 types of hooks to open your presentation with.

Another great practice is to actively involve your audience in your talk right from the beginning. Let the tech aid you there.

In his webinar on how to captivate an online audience, Nathan Gold kicked things off with an interactive word cloud : Using one word, describe how you feel about presenting online.

This way, he learned something more about his audience and was able to address their concerns throughout his presentation.

To make it more impactful, he repeated the same word cloud at the end of his webinar to see how his participants’ feelings changed after his presentation. The result was remarkable. Watch it here at 31:30 .

#5. Quiz your audience

A quiz is another brilliant way to start (or finish) your online presentation. Running a quiz is fun for your participants and allows you to connect and “talk” with your audience even if you can’t see them.

Prepare a short, four to six-question quiz on the topic of your presentation and let your participants guess away. You can even motivate your audience to participate by giving away some small treats for the winners.

Tools such as Slido allow you to create your online quiz in a couple of minutes and run it during your online speech, webinar, or workshop.

Read also: Step-by-Step Guide for Hosting a Great Online Quiz

#6. Use a backdrop or a virtual background

Even if the situation forces you to give your presentation from your home, avoid letting your audience peek into your kitchen or living room. You will appear much more professional against a plain wall or a special backdrop that you can install easily in your room.

If your video conferencing tool allows you to set up a virtual background (such as Zoom ), choose one that’s pleasing but not disturbing for your audience to look at.

Canva put together an awesome virtual background library, you can pick one from here .

#7. Position your web camera at eye-level

Even if you can’t always see your audience, that doesn’t mean you can’t be looking them in the eyes.

Nathan Gold advises moving your laptop/phone camera up so it’s approximately your eye level. This way, it will appear as if you’re looking right at your audience which feels much more natural.

You can also play around with tripods and stands to achieve the most comfortable position for you. For example, Nathan has his web camera mounted on a tripod in front of his computer screen which allows him to look at his slides while still being glued to the camera.

#8. Prepare secret notes

Here’s another great hack from Nathan Gold that will help you keep an eye-contact with your online audience.

If you want to keep notes to remind you about some important things you want to mention during your presentation, write them down on sticky notes and stick them behind your camera, close enough for you to read through them comfortably.

This way, your audience won’t even notice that you’re glancing at your notes (as opposed to looking down when reading from your notebook).

#9. Keep engaging with your participants

Throughout your presentation, space out several interaction points that will bring your attendees back in case they tuned out. Take inspiration from Gibson Biddle who likes to break the dynamic of his webinars and workshops by asking his audience questions through live polls .

Live polls offer you a great chance to open a conversation with your audience, get their instant feedback on your presented material, and collect their opinions.

Since people tend to lose attention when attending a presentation online, re-engaging them throughout your talk is even more important. When I present online, I space out live polls every about 5-7 minutes, as opposed to every 7-10 minutes in the live setting.

Another great way to interact with your audience is to let them ask you questions. Collect your participants’ questions using Slido Q&A and then answer their questions at the end of your online presentation.

#10. Have a wrap-up slide to summarize your points

By the end of your presentation, conclude your talk by summing up all the important messages and key lessons on a separate slide. You’ll draw the full circle and your audience will get a nice overview of what they learned.

Or, end your presentation with a call to action or a tangible next step for your audience to do. Encourage your participants to try practices that you shared, provide actionable steps they should follow, and share ways for them to keep in touch with you.

#11. Ask for feedback

Feedback is the best gift your attendees can give you in return for the learnings that you shared throughout your talk. Without it, you don’t know what your audience liked or disliked. In other words, you can’t improve.

Create a simple feedback survey and ask your participants to fill it out at the end of your talk.

Make it easy for your audience to participate in the survey. For example, during his webinar, Gibson had a QR code displayed on the screen and described in detail how the participants should scan the code and take the survey.

The feedback form can be really simple – three questions will do.

Try something like:

• On a scale of 1-10, how did you like this presentation? (Rating)
• What is the one thing that you liked about today’s talk? (Open text)
• What’s the one thing that could have been better? (Open text)

To sum it all up

I hope that by now you’re more confident about presenting online and that the above tips will make you a better online speaker.

See how Slido can help you make your next online talk more engaging for your audience. Try live polls, quizzes, or Q&A and take your online presentation from good to truly great.

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12 Tips to Give an Amazing Online Presentation

Whether you’re new to giving online presentations or a seasoned veteran, here are some tips that will launch your next presentation into the stratosphere!

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Do you have an online presentation coming up? I’ve given hundreds of virtual presentations, ranging from YouTube presentations to presentations for Microsoft. And from my experience, online presentations are a different ballgame than in-person ones.

In this article, I’ll share my top 12 tips and tricks to save you the trouble and ace your next presentation.

An online presentation is a prepared speech or talk in which a person or group provides information, pitches a new idea, or introduces a new product or service through a video call. Online presentations are given to an audience, usually in a business setting.

Ready to take a dive into the tips? Let’s go!

Start With Momentum

Virtual presentations are like taking a flight on an airplane. The beginning and ending are super important, but the middle’s kind of a blur. 

That’s why, if you’re going to prioritize any part of your presentation, you are better off spending the majority of your energy on the first and last minutes. Let’s focus on the first moments.

The beginning of your presentation is critical because it sets the tone—a good first impression makes you feel confident and your audience relaxed. This forward momentum will carry onto the middle part of your presentation where you’ll be presenting the bulk of your data/statistics/information—so if you don’t nail your first impression, you won’t gain that forward momentum you need for the rest of your presentation.

And believe me, people judge you almost instantly! Here’s what the science has to say about first impressions:

A 2017 University of Toronto study found that observers take as little as 5 seconds to determine whether a person is charismatic or not!

So when you’re delivering a presentation online, you should try to make your beginning as error-free and smooth as possible. This includes being prepared and removing potential roadblocks:

• Fix computer errors: ALWAYS double- or triple-check your equipment before giving a virtual presentation. Make sure your microphone, webcam, and internet is working. If you have to fumble around with technical details during the video call, your audience may have the impression that you are unreliable.
• Eliminate distractions: Silence your phone, turn off desktop notifications, get rid of loud fan noises, and make sure your room is kid/dog free. Keep in mind that your audience will likely be listening through their headphones, so even the tiniest of noises might be heard.
• Dress appropriately: Here’s an easy one that some people actually neglect. Have you ever been in a situation where you feel like you should have worn something a little nicer ? If you are giving a business presentation, dress in business appropriate attire (yes, even the pants, too!). It’s best to match your audience—and if in doubt, err on the side of professional! It’s also important to wear a color to stand out from your background, but not a color that’s too distracting.
• Be happy: Like it or not, we can’t hide our emotions. Research shows that people can hear your mood from your voice. So if you’re not in a good mood, try boosting it! Watch some funny YouTube videos or give yourself a small pep talk . Sounding confident and happy is the key to success, so make sure you are in the right mood before you go live.

Open With IISSAAQQ

What does this really bad spelling of Isaac stand for? IISSAAQQ stands for the best ways to start an online presentation:

• Icebreaker: One of the best ways to open up your audience is to give a virtual icebreaker. I always keep an icebreaker on hand that can be done over the computer before starting any online presentation—it’s one of the best ways to connect with your audience!
• Illustration: You can say to the audience “Remember when…” and provide a picture, or paint a scene by telling the audience to imagine a scene when xyzzy occurred.
• Short story: A short personal story or story about someone else can really grip people, but the key is to make it short and not drag on.
• Statistic or surprising fact: A really good statistic can get people thinking and challenge their perspective.
• Aphorism: An aphorism is a common phrase or saying, such as “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Add a twist to the aphorism for added effect (“an apple a day keeps the doctor away… except if you’re sitting with an apple computer for 8 hours a day.”
• Analogy or metaphor: Saying an analogy (“User interface is like peeling an onion”) can really break down complex terms into more simpler ones, making it more digestible for your audience.
• Question: Starting with an engaging question can add a great amount of audience engagement, or even asking a rhetorical question can get them thinking out-of-the-box.
• Quote: A great way to start your online presentation is with a quote–but it should be related to your presentation and from a credible source.

End With a Bang

The ending is the part where your audience is (hopefully) happy that the presentation is over, and they feel like they’ve learned something or feel inspired to change. If you’ve made it this far in your presentation, the LAST thing you want to do is crash and burn. So here are some tips to make an amazing presentation that will remain in your audience’s mind long after it has ended.

• Have an easy solution: The last few slides of your presentation should not be too information-heavy. Keep that for the middle. Your last slides should be both convincing and easy-to-understand.
• Have a clear ending: Avoid the awkward “So, does anyone have any questions?” moment by providing an end slide to your virtual presentation. It can be a simple recap of the presentation, or a call to action.
• Include a digital goodie: Include a digital goodie at the end! Everybody loves getting things, and it shouldn’t stop just because you are online. Digital goodies might include a downloadable PDF or document that includes more statistics/research or a list of relevant sources related to your presentation.
• Lead with a call to action: Calls to action are driven by emotion. And they work because we often respond to emotion over logic. If your business is proposing a new solution to an existing problem, try focusing on the emotional benefits vs. the statistics—happier customers vs. less product returns, cleaner world vs. smaller carbon footprint, etc. You can also try this double method: start with the negative, which amplifies the potential bad that might happen if your recommendation is not taken. Then, you can add in the positive, which highlights the good that can happen when your recommendation is taken.
• End with humor: One of the best ways to end a presentation is to use humor. If you do it right, you can leave a HUGE impression on your audience that will last for days, weeks, or months! There are a few ways to end with humor. First, you can introduce a question in the beginning or middle of your presentation and answer it in a funny, surprising way at the end. Second, you can end a story you started but stopped in the beginning or middle of the presentation. Some really good people to draw inspiration from are stand-up comedians. One great example of callback humor is in the movie, Airplane! In the beginning of a movie, a passenger enters a taxi. The driver tells the passenger to wait for a bit, but the driver never comes back as he ends up on an airplane instead. In the closing credits, this scene is played, which recalls the intro of the movie in a funny but memorable way:

Show Your Face

Did you know that faces are attractive to humans? A study by Richard Fantz demonstrated that infants stare twice as long at human faces! We are just inherently born with an attraction to faces. In short: we love human faces, and yours is no exception.

If you’re giving an online presentation or even getting on video call for the first time with your new online networking contact, a super-easy bump in your likability factor is to simply show your face. Many video call programs such as Zoom or Skype allow you to share your screen while also showing your face. Here’s an example of my face in a webinar I hosted on how to thrive in a digital workplace:

Pro tip: you can even take it up a notch by backing up your webcam. This allows you to show your body language better! In fact, one of the most important nonverbal cues for charisma is your hand gestures . In the Toronto study mentioned earlier, the observers didn’t even need to hear a presenter talking; all they needed to do was see their body language! That’s how powerful body language really is. So push back your computer or phone or camera so your hands and upper torso are showing!

When you use your hands, you can also benefit from the following:

• Showing your wave hello (I ALWAYS do this!)
• Your explanatory gestures while you are speaking
• Visible hands while you are listening

Want more tips on how to make a better video call? Here are our 15 Tips for a Better Video Call !

Stand, Don’t Sit

Sitting is great. Standing is even better! One big mistake a lot of virtual presenters make is sitting down instead of standing. 

When you stand, you can utilize the full range of your deep breathing, therefore increasing your vocal power . You’ll be able to project your voice louder and deeper, and have stronger vocal variance when you stand. Standing also helps you naturally convey a more powerful posture if your chest is up and your back is straight.

If you can, try to utilize a standing desk to your advantage! If you don’t have a standing desk, you can use your kitchen counter or another higher position to place your laptop. If you absolutely must sit, remember to keep your back straight throughout the presentation.

Does your online presentation contain a juicy tip, great piece of advice, or free goodie?

Consider giving it out in the first 5 minutes of your presentation rather than keeping it until the end. This will give your audience a little dopamine boost of motivation to continue listening to your presentation!

“Simply put, people are obliged to give back to others the form of a behavior, gift, or service that they have received first.“ – Robert Cialdini, author of Influence

Leverage Visuals to Your Advantage

Have you ever wondered what is the best way to use visuals in your online presentation? Visual aids are used to:

• engage the audience
• allow the audience to remember the information
• axplain complex ideas in easier-to-digest ways
• add variety to your slides

I try to use visuals in ALL of my online presentations! The thing is, it’s really hard to keep your audience engaged and distraction free, especially if they are online. So if you’re boring your audience by using long lists of words… your message won’t be getting across. According to John Medina, author of Brain Rules :

• If we only read text, we are only likely to remember 10% of the information 3 days later.
• If we add in a relevant image, we are likely to remember 65% of the information 3 days later!

So there’s no easier way to have your information remembered than to add visuals! Here are some examples of visuals you can use in your presentations:

• stock photos
• Youtube videos
• hand-drawn pictures

In my articles, I like to use hand-drawn stick figure comics. That’s because they’re both funny and engaging! They also help nail down important bits of information I want my readers to take away. 

For example, here’s a random fact that you may not have known:

Alligators don’t only eat meat; they eat fruit, too!

Interesting, right? Now here’s an image to really drive in that fact:

I know, it’s not the best picture ever (I blame my lack of art skills!). But see how adding a simple image can really solidify a piece of information? You’ll remember this fact a lot longer by seeing an image rather than just by reading or hearing it. 

Now take the power of visuals and use it to your advantage—if you’re giving a business presentation online, sprinkling in a few key visuals throughout your presentation can help you drive in those really important points. 

If you’re debating whether you should use a visual, here’s a quick checklist to ask yourself:

• Does my visual help the main point of the slide?
• Is my visual appropriate for the audience?
• Is my visual too distracting?
• Does my visual help the audience understand complex information better?
• If a video, is it too long or short?

If your visual doesn’t meet one of the above checklist items, it’s best to cut it. And here’s something important you can write down for each visual you add into your slide:

The purpose for this visual is to ___.

If the purpose is not clear enough, consider removing the visual. Remember: visuals should only ADD value to your slide, not take it away.                                                                           

Add Interaction

A major downside to online presentations is that it’s hard to engage your audience. Besides nicely-placed visuals, you can add an element of interaction to your virtual presentations to make your audience more interested. Here are some interactive presentation ideas:

A great way to increase audience engagement is to use physical props. 

How do you use props in an online presentation? Props should be used to explain a difficult concept, demonstrate a product, create humor, or be memorable. They should always support your presentation, and not distract from it. And the key to using online props is to first make sure that people can actually SEE your prop.

This means if you are in a video call, avoid using small objects that everyone can’t see. If you need to, you can momentarily stop screen sharing and turn to your live video feed so the audience can focus on your prop. 

Pro tip: Don’t show the prop until it is needed. A bad move is to give away the goods and immediately take them away, causing your audience to remain in suspense and be distracted throughout your presentation!

Host Quizzes and Polls

One cool thing you could do during your presentation is to include your audience’s opinions using surveys. If I’m giving a presentation, I can insert a little quiz with a list of possible answers which my audience can then vote on. It’s really interesting to see how many people pick the right (or wrong) answer!

If you want to know how to create awesome quizzes for your presentation, check out our software section below.

Live Q&A’s

One technique I love to use for better interaction is to simply ask questions!

For example, if you have an existing product you are discussing, you might want to ask your team, “What are some common customer complaints about this item?” Your team will then give their answers, pitching ideas of some common customer complaints.

Here’s where it gets good…

You can then go to the next slide that addresses these problems individually. Bam! You’ve done two things: 

• You added interaction, and 
• You provided a nice transition to the next slide. 

Niiiice, a two-for-one combo!                

Cut the Presentation Bologna

What happens when you talk about the same things over and over again in a presentation? One bored audience, that’s for sure. And a whole lotta bologna on the side.

Repeating the same stuff. Facts that don’t need to be there. Extra words that make your eyes tired or are difficult to read.

I call this stuff Presentation Bologna. And it’s NOT the good kind of bologna (is there even a good kind?). Presentation Bologna includes:

• bullet points not relevant to the slide’s topic
• statistics or facts that reinforce already-existing data
• visuals that take up space rather than contribute value
• “fluff” words, or extra words that can be cut from a sentence without changing the original sentence’s meaning

Your goal is to make your presentation slides as small as possible, while retaining the most essential information possible. You can even write down notes on notecards to help assist you in explaining the points you have in your presentation or memorize what you will say altogether.

Online presentations should be simple and straightforward, like live presentations. The biggest difference here is that your audience will likely be straining their eyes, trying to look at their (potentially tiny) computer screens while you are giving a presentation.

That’s why it’s essential to cut the bologna. I usually do this step after creating the bulk of my presentation, but before practicing my presentation. Speaking of practicing, let’s move on to the next step…

#Screen Record Yourself         

The great thing about giving online presentations is that you can practice everything in the comfort of your own home. You can practice in the same room you’ll present in, with the same lighting, with the same computer setup, and everything. When practicing, make use of the screen recording feature! Screen record is an absolute must, especially for virtual teams . Most newer Mac and Windows computers have a built-in screen record feature already. 

When going over your video recordings, take careful consideration of the following:

• Do I use too many/not enough hand gestures?
• Is my body language unnatural or distracting?
• Do I sound loud and confident enough?
• Do I have any technical issues?
• Am I under the time limit or going over?

You can even send your presentation over to a friend or family member for them to review at their convenience. Yay for technology!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Pick Your Presentation Tools

When giving an online presentation, you have to have the right tools for the job. There are a lot of presentation tools out there—tools exist for: 

• making your own animations
• creating Infographics
• planning conferences
• creating mind maps
• finding great images for your slides
• making your entire presentation

Depending on your needs, you’ll need to choose the right tools for your virtual presentation. I recommend choosing one tool to create your presentation and adding in visual tools along the way, based on your needs. Here are 5 of my favorite online presentation tools I use:

Pixabay is by far my most favorite image-finding tool. This site has over 1.7 million free, high-quality stock images and videos you can use to insert into your virtual presentation. Using a stock image is a great way to break up text, add a little emotion, and make your presentations a little more exciting.

When I use Canva, I feel like I’ve been given a magic design wand. That’s because there are a ton of free infographics, logos, pictures, posters, and even presentation templates you can use and customize to your heart’s content. And they’re surprisingly high quality for being free! Canva  even has a section for Zoom Virtual Backgrounds that you can add to your video call when giving your online presentation!

Did I mention it’s free? I use the Premium version, although the Free version is great, too!

• Poll Everywhere

Here’s one that I mentioned earlier in the article. This is a great software I use to create live polls and quizzes for my virtual presentations! Whether it’s a multiple choice quiz, true/false test, or just a general Q&A poll, users can participate on their computers, phones, or tablets! It’s super easy to use and integrates easily with Keynote as well. 

Want to eliminate distracting noises completely? Sometimes that’s not possible. But the closest thing I have found to help is Krisp. Krisp is a software that’s free to use (up to 120 minutes a week!) and works by blocking out all background noises so only your voice can be heard by other conference call members. You can download and install it, but I use the Chrome extension! It’s seriously worth giving a shot if you’ve got loud noise in the house.

Here’s the golden question: Should I make a Keynote online presentation, or a Microsoft PowerPoint one? Since I have a Mac, I use Keynote. It’s intuitive, easy-to-use, and it’s built into all Mac computers already. Keynote has a ton of presentation templates you can use, and you can even create tables and charts in the app itself! For me, Keynote is a must for my presentation-creating needs.

I compiled a list of the best tools my team uses. You can check them out here:

15 Best Remote Tools

Embrace The Fear

Have you ever been skydiving? Even if you haven’t, you can just imagine that pit-in-the-stomach feeling of jumping out of an airplane. And if you shy or a natural introvert , giving presentations is not so different than skydiving.

After giving hundreds of presentations—both in-person and online—my best piece of advice to those with presentation anxiety is to give up on trying to get rid of that fear. That’s because that fear will probably never go away . 

But here’s the silver lining: the fear does get better. The more you give presentations and get comfortable speaking in front of people, the less giving presentations suck . If you hate giving presentations like I once did, you might even turn to love them—once you learn how to walk with confidence and have the power to influence the way people think, you feel like you’re on top of the world! 

And that pit-in-the-stomach feeling? It changes to a good fear—the kind that makes you look forward to giving presentations! And the more presentations you give, the better you get.

Life is better when you build your social skills. As a recovering awkward person, I was terrible at socializing—I would often lock myself in the bathroom at parties just to avoid conversation! But now, I want to inspire people to take charge of social situations because I know that social skills are the key to a happier, more productive life. That’s why I gave all my secrets about how to be ridiculously likable in Chapter 5 of my book. Interested? Here’s a free gift for you today– click here for the free first chapter of Captivate !

Unlock the Secrets of Charisma

Control and leverage the tiny signals you’re sending – from your stance and facial expressions to your word choice and vocal tone – to improve your personal and professional relationships.

Succeed with People

Master the laws of human behavior. Get along with anyone, increasing your influence, impact, and income.

Bonus: Other Creative Presentation Tips

Congratulations, you have arrived at your destination!

As a thank you for taking this Science of People flight with me, I’d like to share with you some bonuses to take your presentation skills to the next level. 

Here are some techniques you may want to master:

All too often we end up using the same old social scripts and asking people the same questions over and over again. If you want to do a team icebreaker before, during, or after your presentation, use my list of conversation starters:

57 Killer Conversation Starters

People who don’t feel confident often believe that confidence is something we are born with. It’s not . Confidence is a skill that can be developed. If you are nervous about your presentation, try boosting your confidence with these scientific techniques:

11 Scientific Strategies For More Confidence

Not everyone can work from home. But if you find a way to do it properly, you can reap some pretty amazing benefits. Check out the 7 Deadly Problems of working at home and how to combat them:

How to Work from Home Successfully in 7 Steps

Finally, I put together a guide on how to manage remote teams. If you’re leading a team of remote workers, this is one guide you shouldn’t miss! Check it out here:

12 Reliable Tips to Manage Remote Employees

Popular Guides

24 thoughts on “12 tips to give an amazing online presentation”.

I’ve never seen such a detailed guide anywhere else! Excellent! In recent months, probably almost everyone who works or studies remotely had to make online presentations. I like that you emphasized humor and the different visualization techniques that can be used to diversify the monotony of the narrative. I also find some of the platforms that you mentioned very useful. Thank you! I am preparing for a big and important presentation and hope to perform at my best!

Thank you so much Vanessa!

Love your article. So much to learn from! I’m preparing a presentation in few months and you gave all I needed.

Thank a lot Vannesa. You provide me excellent information.

Fantastic resource! I couldn’t ask for more.

I usually give some advice to my engineering students for doing good presentations. This is a powerful resource. Thanks for sharing the tips.

Comments are closed.

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10 Tips For Giving Effective Virtual Presentations

What to know before you go live.

September 26, 2016

Presenting online? Try these suggestions to improve your results. | Illustration by Tricia Seibold

As audiences go global and you need to reach more people through technology (including webinars, conference calls and teleconference), you must consider the challenges to connecting with a virtual audience. Here I pinpoint 10 valuable best practices to ensure you communicate successfully.

1. Be Brief

Audiences begin to lose attention after roughly 10 minutes of hearing from the same presenter. If you have more than 10 minutes of content, use interactive activities to keep your audience engaged (for example, take a poll, give quizzes, or ask audience members for their opinions via chat).

2. Be Simple

Keep slides simple — avoid too many words, graphics and animation features. Less is definitely more!

Light yourself well | Illustration by Tricia Seibold

3. Be a TV Personality

Look straight into your camera, not the screen. Wear clothing that is neutral in color (no plaids or stripes). Light yourself well and from above. Be mindful of what appears behind you in the background. Invest in a good microphone.

4. Be Standing

Even though your audience cannot see you, stand when you present. This allows you to stay focused and use good presentation delivery skills such as belly breathing, vocal variety, and pausing.

5. Be Prepared

Practice delivering your presentation with your technology in advance of your talk. Make sure all of the features of the technology work. Record your practice using the recording feature of your tool. Watch and listen to learn what works and what you can improve.

6. Be Assisted

Have someone available to deal with technical issues and to field email/text questions. Also, if you have multiple remote audience members in one location, be sure to pick one of them to be your “eyes and ears.” Ask them to queue up questions and facilitate discussion on your behalf.

7. Be Specific

Ask pointed questions to avoid too many people answering at once. For example, rather than ask, “Are there any questions?” try “Who has a question about the solution I provided?” Set a ground rule that people state their names prior to speaking.

Imagine your audience | Illustration by Tricia Seibold

8. Be Synchronized

Transitions are critical. You must connect what you just said to what is coming next when you move from point to point. Transitions between topics and slides are good opportunities to get people reengaged to your talk.

9. Be Connected

Imagine your audience even though you can’t see them. You can place pictures of audience members behind your camera so you can look at people as you present.

10. Be Early

Encourage your audience to access your call or webinar in advance of the start time so you can iron out any technical issues in advance and get them familiar with the technology.

Matt Abrahams is a Stanford GSB organizational behavior lecturer, author, and communications coach.

For media inquiries, visit the Newsroom .

Explore More

Can we be candid how to communicate clearly and directly, directive speech vs. dialogue: how leaders communicate with clarity, balance, class takeaways — how to run a meeting effectively, editor’s picks.

April 04, 2016 A Big Data Approach to Public Speaking Key takeaways from analyzing 100,000 presentations.

November 19, 2014 Matt Abrahams: The Power of the Paraphrase An expert on public speaking shows how paraphrasing can help you navigate tricky communication situations.

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Online Presentation Maker for Engaging Presentations

Create Your Presentation

• Online presentation maker with 900+ slide layouts.
• Millions of images, icons and graphics to choose from.
• Dozens of chart types to visualize data and numbers.

Chosen by brands large and small

Our presentation maker is used by over 27,500,000 marketers, communicators, executives and educators from over 133 countries that include:

EASY TO EDIT

Presentation Templates

Avoid the trouble of having to search for just the right template or create your own slide design from scratch by tapping into our library of more than 900 slide design layouts for practically every content need, from diagrams, charts and maps to image collages and quote slides.

Create your presentation View more templates

Features of the Presentation Maker

Beautiful presentation themes.

Choose from one of our presentation themes with hundreds of available slide layouts for you to pick from and build a beautiful presentation. Find slide layouts to fit any type of information you need to communicate within your presentation and customize them to perfectly fit your brand or topic.

Build your presentation

With fully customizable slides, text blocks, data visualization tools, photos and icons to help tell your story, you can easily build creative and cool presentations as quickly as you need. Build the perfect slides with Visme’s easy-to-use presentation editor.

Customize every aspect of your presentation with your own images and text

Choose from over a million images, thousands of icons, dozens of charts and data widgets to visualize information in an engaging way. Apply a color scheme to all your slides with one click. Add animation effects, transitions, interactivity, pop-ups, rollovers and third-party content such as live websites and social media feeds.

Record yourself presenting

Once you’ve created your presentation, do more than only share or download it. With Visme’s Presenter Studio, you can record your presentation and share it with your audience.

• Record your screen, audio, and video, or switch off your camera for an audio-only presentation.
• Present asynchronously on your own time, at your own pace. Let your colleagues watch it at their convenience.

More Great Features of the Presentation Maker

• Stunning presentation themes and premade templates
• Millions of stock photos and icons to choose from
• Input your brand fonts and colors to create branded company content
• Easy drag-and-drop design tools, made with the non-designer in mind
• Search for slide layouts that match your presentation content
• Easily present online or share with your peers

Share Your Presentation

Visme makes it easy to create and share presentations online. Our presentation software allows you to present online by generating a link to access your presentation, share privately by sending a password protected link to friends and colleagues, or even turn your presentation into a lead generation tool by requiring email sign-in before viewing.

LEARN ABOUT PRESENTATIONS

What is a Presentation ?

A presentation is a sequence of slides that tell a story or teach an audience about a topic. These are often used in business as ways of demonstrating something and in the classroom as teaching aids. While PowerPoint long dominated the presentation industry, Visme’s free online presentation maker allows you to create even more beautiful and engaging content.

With Visme's engaging presentation maker, you can start with a template, dive into one of our themes with various slide ideas, or mix and match slides from different templates to create your own masterpiece.

Use the presentation maker to take the trouble out of presentation design.

Creating a slide deck for an important presentation can take several hours, if not days. Our free presentation maker provides a searchable slide library with 900+ layouts that you can fully customize. With so many options, you can easily find the exact slides that you need instead of searching for the right template or building a slide design from scratch.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED + MORE

More Than a Presentation Maker

Visme’s online presentation tools allow you to create an interactive online presentation that will blow your audience away. Add interactive elements, animate your slides and create a presentation that will have your viewers talking for days to come.

MAKE IT ENGAGING

Interactivity

Create interactive presentations with popup and rollover effects that allow your viewer to interact with your design to learn more information.

VISUALIZE YOUR DATA

Charts & Graphs

Share data, statistics, simple numbers and more in your presentation slides with Visme’s easy-to-use charts, graphs and other data widgets.

BEAUTIFY YOUR CONTENT

Stock Photos & Graphics

Choose from over a million stock photos, icons, illustrations, characters, lines, shapes and more to create an engaging presentation design.

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Make Presentations in 5 Steps

Whether you’re creating a presentation to pitch your business, to inform your industry or to update your team or supervisors, you want your slideshow to be equal parts beautiful and informative. Visme makes it easy with our powerful presentation maker.

Mix and match template styles and slide ideas, customize with your own ideas, insert design elements from our asset library, present online with presenter notes and more.

• Sign up for free or log into your Visme account and create a new project.
• Choose one of our beautiful themes under the Presentations content category or select a pre-designed presentation template.
• Add new slides from our theme library to help guide your presentation design.
• Customize text boxes, fonts, colors, photos, icons, charts, data visualization tools and so much more within your slides.
• Quickly and easily share or present your slideshow by clicking Share in the top navigation bar and viewing our share options.

How to Use the Presentation Maker

Before creating your slide deck, make sure to create an outline with all the major points that you need to include within your presentation.

Start creating your slides. You can easily use our free presentation slides and templates to help you create a well-designed and informative presentation.

Easily replace any image with millions of free images within our editor, as well as diagrams, charts, icons, illustrations and maps.

Insert your own text by clicking on any text box and typing in your own information (or you can simply copy and paste it from your outline).

Our free presentation maker online also comes with built-in animation effects. Add transitions, audio, pop-ups, rollovers and interactive buttons to wow your audience.

Use the Presenter View to rehearse your delivery. Use the timer to make sure you don’t go over the allotted time. You can easily add presenter notes that only you will see while you present.

Generate a public or private URL to share with anyone or embed your slide deck on your website or blog by clicking the Share button in the Visme editor.

Download as an editable PowerPoint or in HTML5 to keep all of your animations and interactivity intact for offline presenting.

Questions About the Presentation Maker

How can i create an account with visme, how much does it cost to create a presentation with the presentation maker app, can i create animated projects, is it possible to make interactive projects with the presentation maker, how do i present my slide deck, how can i create a slide deck in a few minutes, your presentations deserve to be beautiful and so does the rest of your content.

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No matter what industry or department you work in, public speaking is typically part of the job. And whether you need to present for two minutes on the results of your latest marketing and sales campaign, or thirty minutes on your team's goals and results for the quarter, it more than likely makes you anxious.

If you're scared of presenting, you're not alone. In fact, surveys have found some people rate public speaking as scarier than death — no big deal though, right?

Fortunately, there are skills you can acquire to become an expert at public speaking. Here, we're going to explore the 11 top ways to improve your presentation skills, so you can excel at your next meeting. Best of all, you can learn presentation skills to apply these same skills to your presentation whether you're working remotely or in-person.

How to Improve Your Presentation Skills

1. be brief..

The average attention span for people who listen to speeches is estimated to be somewhere between five to 10 minutes , so, if at all possible, make your presentation brief and concise.

Try eliminating unnecessary data or information that isn't critical to your main point. If your presentation needs to be over 10 minutes, break it up using quizzes, a brief poll, or asking for your audience's opinion on a subject.

Additionally, it's said that ideas repeated three times stick more clearly in our minds. Rather than trying to make each slide unique, try weaving one or two similar ideas together throughout the entire presentation to ensure those main ideas stick in your audience's minds.

2. If remote, focus on your atmosphere.

If you're presenting from a remote location, it's critical you pay attention to lighting, your background, and potential noise distractions.

Don't present in a crowded coffee shop, or in a bedroom with distracting posters behind you. Instead, find a clean background to minimize distraction, and bring a lamp closer to your computer if you think the space is too dark.

3. Prepare, prepare, prepare.

One of the scariest parts of public speaking is the fear of the unknown — What am I going to say? How is the audience going to react?

By practicing ahead of time, you're minimizing some of these fears. Prepare so you know what you want to say for each slide, and even present ahead of time for a friend or colleague to get their feedback. The more you prepare, the less stressed you'll be.

If you're presenting from a remote location, try recording yourself ahead of time and playing it back to evaluate areas of improvement.

However, it's important to note — abiding to a strict script during your presentation will only make you feel more anxious. You'll be worried about missing that one word in the third paragraph on the second note card, rather than trusting your ability to expand on ideas in-person.

Instead of memorizing each word, jot down some general ideas and use them as jumping-off points in your presentation.

4. Make your slides short-and-sweet, and expand on the information in your presentation.

There's nothing worse than a presentation in which each slide is jam-packed with crowded text, and the presenter simply reads each slide to the audience -- this is a surefire way to lose your audience's attention quickly, or stress them out with information overload.

Instead, make your slides short-and-sweet with minimal visuals and text. Then, you can always expand on the information in your presentation .

For instance, let's say you're reporting on your latest campaign results. On your slide, you might put a graph with a "+25% CTR" text. Then, in your presentation, you can explain the information in an engaging way — "We found, just two weeks after implementing our latest campaign, that the number of click-through rates increased by 25% on our landing page."

It's more interesting to say that out loud than read it back to your audience, don't you think? The Owl Labs State of Remote Work survey found that Vice Presidents and C-level executives are the least likely to be visual learners, so focus on the story you're telling with your speaking to have the greatest impact on high-level meeting attendees you're presenting to.

5. Be enthusiastic.

Most people would prefer to listen to an enthusiastic speaker over an eloquent one. On the day of your presentation, harness your anxiety and turn it into enthusiasm and passion over the subject. If you're excited about what you're presenting on, your audience will be, too.

6. Watch other presentations.

Before your presentation, get inspired by watching impressive speakers. Consider checking out motivating TED Talks or compelling commencement speeches . Take notes on the aspects of their presentations you find most engaging, including tone of voice, body language, and their ability to transition from one idea to the next. Then try some of those tactics in your own presentations, and see which ones make you feel more confident.

For both inspiration and humor, check out How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk .

7. Use positive visualization.

Positive visualization is an incredibly useful ingredient for success. In fact, The Journal of Consulting Psychology released a study in which they provided two groups with career counseling and interview coaching, but one group also received visualization techniques. After two months, 66% of those in the visualization group had found new jobs — compared to just 21% in the non-visualization group.

Visualization can help increase your confidence and make you feel more mentally prepared for your presentation. Before your presentation, try turning negative thoughts into positive ones — rather than thinking, "I might forget my information," think, "I've practiced a ton, so I know I'm ready."

Additionally, try imagining yourself as an impressive, engaging speaker right before you present. Ideally, your positive visualization will boost your optimism and confidence, and lead you to doing a better job.

8. Exercise.

Exercising can boost your endorphins and eliminate anxiety related to public speaking, so try going for a short run or attending a morning cycle class before your presentation.

When you're nervous, you're more likely to speak quickly and rush through points to try to get the presentation "over with" -- but you'll end up making yourself more nervous by doing this, as you run out of breath and lose control of your pace.

Instead, don't be afraid to pause. Pauses can help you emphasize important points, and will give your audience time to digest what you just said. Additionally, speaking slowly can make you seem less nervous and more in-control.

10. Acknowledge it's normal to be nervous.

If you fight your nerves or tell yourself "this isn't something I should be nervous about", you're ultimately only going to feel more anxious. Instead, embrace the energy you feel from your nerves. Tell yourself, "Yes, I am nervous because I want this to go well … however, I know it will go well. I am capable of speaking on this subject and I know what I'm talking about. I'm prepared and ready to go."

If you're feeling exceptionally nervous, you might also try EFT Tapping , which is thought to relieve anxiety due to negative thoughts.

11. Try power posing.

In one of the most popular TED Talks of all time, " Your body language may shape who you are ", social psychologist Amy Cuddy discusses a study she published with colleagues at Harvard University, in which participants were asked to sit in either a high-power pose or low-power pose for two minutes.

Ultimately, Cuddy and her colleagues found participants who sat in high-power poses felt more comfortable and performed better in interviews, compared to those who sat in low-power poses. Additionally, they saw high-power posers experienced increases in testosterone, and decreases in cortisol.

In other words, their body language alone boosted hormones attributed to the feeling of "power", while simultaneously quieting hormones attributed to the feeling of "stress."

Next time you're about to present, give it a shot. At the very least, power posing should help you feel more in control of the situation.

Ultimately, becoming a good public speaker requires practice just like any other skill -- but, ideally, these 11 tactics should help you eliminate your fears and become a more engaging and inspiring speaker for your next presentation.

Practice Online Presentations

Perfect your virtual presentation skills by practicing them in a realistic online exercise that mimics Zoom, Webex, and Microsoft Teams.

About the Exercise

As more and more companies accommodate remote workers, and with the growth in employees working from home, the need for effective virtual presentation skills has skyrocketed.

This online exercise allows you to practice your presentation skills over web-conferencing tools such as Zoom, Webex, and Microsoft Teams, by recreating the look and feel of them with a virtual audience.

After each practice session, you'll receive feedback on your performance, including on your pace, filler words, pitch, listenability, and more. You can repeat the practice session as often as you like to improve your skills.

Topics covered

• Presentation Skills.
• Web-conferencing tools.
• Confident Communication.

Accessing the exercise

The online presentation exercise can be accessed from your web browser, no installation or download is required.

Start Learning Today!

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Crush Your Next Virtual Presentation

A little prep can go a long way.

While virtual communication platforms help keep remote teams connected, they’re not always the ideal venue for delivering engaging presentations. It’s difficult (or impossible) to read your audience’s nonverbal cues over video and audio — if you’ve lost them, you might not even realize it. You’re also up against the many distractions inherent to working from home. Delivering effective presentations over video requires a little extra preparation. Ask a few people you trust to help you out before and after the meeting by being ready to participate when called on and by giving you actionable feedback afterward. Learn about your audience in advance and build in a short, relevant personal story that will make them feel included. Above all, be concise and clear.

My coaching client, an engineer named Carlos, is a magnificent in-person storyteller. He talks with his hands and tells lengthy, animated stories replete with humorous metaphors and plot twists. His wit and warmth used to be received positively.

• GS Gia Storms is a leadership coach and member of The Boda Group. She facilitates team and executive coaching from Los Angeles.

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14 effective presentation tips to impress your audience

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera July 15, 2022

An effective presentation can communicate key ideas and opinions, save time, and contribute to your overall success as a business, but good presentation skills don’t come naturally to everyone. In this blog post, you’ll find 14 effective presentation tips you can implement in your next presentation to make it a success. 

Whether you’re preparing for an important presentation at work or school, or you’re looking for ways to generally improve your presentation skills, you’ll find these presentation tips useful. We’ve gathered a list to help you impress your audience from the get-go. You’ll find tips for creating and presenting your slides, talking in front of an audience, and other effective presentation techniques to help you stand out. 

Most common presentation mistakes

Before we list our top effective presentation tips, let’s explore the most common presentation mistakes. If you’ve made one or more mistakes in this list, you’re not alone. Most people have made at least one mistake. However, what’s important is to be aware of these errors and try avoiding them next time.

#1 A poor start

One of the most common mistakes people make is undermining the importance of the first few minutes or seconds of their presentation. 

Let’s say you’ve practiced your key talking points meticulously and gone over your slides a million times, but when you’re in the spotlight and need to say your first line, do you know exactly what to say to wow the audience? 

The start of your presentation is crucial. Not only because how you start sets the tone for the rest of your presentation, but also because people generally require around 8 seconds to decide whether they find the subject interesting enough to keep listening. Starting your presentation with a captivating intro is even more important than you think. To ensure you start off right, read our guide on how to start your presentation . 

#2 Lack of preparation

Yes, even though it’s clear that you should prepare before giving a presentation, it’s still a common mistake amongst presenters. Preparing content and talking points is an obvious start, but there are other steps that you might be overlooking.

Before you even join a meeting or walk into a room where you’re going to present, consider the technical requirements and get familiar with the equipment. If you’re presenting online, make sure to test-run your presentation and the visual aids you’re going to use. The last thing you want is a broken video link, poor audio, or a weak connection when you’re presenting. 

Also, consider the questions your audience might want to ask you about the topic. Think about how you’d answer those questions, or do even further research to really impress the audience with your answers. 

Explore other ways to prepare for a presentation to feel even more confident when presenting.

#3 Losing track of time

It’s great to feel passionate about your topic. However, you’ll have to consider your audience’s level of interest and knowledge. Some details might seem fascinating to you, and you’d like to talk about them for hours, but for your audience, too much information will drain their energy and lose their attention. 

Therefore, make sure to keep track of time. Also, consider your audience’s interests. A concise presentation is always better than a long one with a ton of information. Plus, you’ll have a higher chance of keeping your audience’s attention throughout the presentation. 

Effective presentation tips

Now that we’ve looked at some of the most common presentation mistakes – let’s dive into effective presentation tips that’ll help you excel in future presentations. 

#1 Tell a story

Stories connect, inspire, and empower people. Telling a story can entice action, help understand an idea, and make people feel connected to the storyteller. It’s also one of the most effective presentation tips. A study by organizational psychologist Peg Neuhauser found that a well-told story is easier to remember than facts, which makes it a highly effective learning technique. 

With that in mind, telling a story when you’re presenting can engage your audience and make it a more memorable experience. You can either share a personal story or a historical event, just make sure to have a clear connection between the story and the topic you’re presenting. 

#2 Work on your body language

Body language can make a huge difference in how your presentation is perceived. It’s one of the presentation tips you definitely shouldn’t overlook. 

Body language says a lot about a person’s confidence level, emotions, state of mind, and even credibility. For the audience, it’s a way to understand what the person is saying and how interested they are in the topic. 

Therefore, work on your body language to better convey the message you’re trying to communicate. Practice in front of a mirror before your presentation and be conscious of your hand gestures and facial expressions. 

#3 Understand your audience

Before crafting your presentation, you must know who you’re speaking to. Understanding the interests, demographics, professional background, and other valuable information of your audience is crucial in making your speech successful. 

If you’re speaking at an event, contact the organizers to get more information about other speakers and the audience. If you’re presenting at work, you may already know your audience fairly well. Use this information to your advantage and create content you know they’ll resonate with.

#4 Use high-quality visuals

What’s one of the most effective presentation techniques? Use of visuals. They play a crucial role in your presentation. However, only high-quality visuals will make a good impression and effectively communicate your message. Use high-quality visuals like images, videos, graphs, maps, and others to really land your point. 

Using visuals is a great way to convey your ideas as they’re easier to process than text. If you’re not sure where to find great visuals, check out our blog post on presentation visuals for five free resources.

P.S. the Prezi library holds a variety of images, videos, GIFs, stickers, and other visuals, including different charts and maps to spice up your presentation. It’s all available in your dashboard .

#5 Use data visualizations

Do you want to showcase statistics or other datasets in your presentation? Use data visualizations to make your data stand out and impress your audience. 

There’s nothing more boring than a bunch of data presented in a flat way. If you want to tell a story with your data, use interactive infographics or slides enriched with eye-catching visuals. Showcasing data will make your ideas appear more trustworthy and credible. 

Prezi Design offers a range of templates to choose from. You can start creating data visualizations from scratch or choose a template and edit the data there. 

#6 Make it engaging with interactive elements

It’s not easy to deliver an engaging presentation. People can easily get distracted or try to multitask, especially in the virtual environment. Sometimes, it’s difficult to focus on the speaker and the written text. Other times, the content just isn’t impressive enough to hold the audience’s attention. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can make your presentation more engaging for everyone by including interactive content like graphs and charts. With interactive data visualizations, you’ll make the data discovery process more engaging and exciting for your audience. 

Your audience will be able to hover over data points and click on certain icons or datasets to discover information on their own. Interactive visualizations will make the presentation more memorable and impressive. 

As you can see in the example below, you can discover different data by engaging with the infographic. 

#7 Stay consistent with fonts and color styles

You want your presentation to look visually appealing and highlight essential information. To make that happen, stay consistent with font styles and color schemes throughout your presentation. 

Use one or two fonts max to make the text easy to read and understand. Also, use a carefully selected color scheme that’s not too distracting. If you’re using Prezi Design, you can easily copy and paste styles by right-clicking on your data visualizations and selecting “copy styles.” This makes it easier to stay consistent and saves time when picking matching colors. 

#8 Structure your presentation properly

Before creating your presentation, think about its structure. What’s the main idea you want to convey? Use that as your starting point, and only include information that adds value to the narrative. 

Plan out the first topics carefully to properly introduce your argument. Add the essential information in the middle part of your presentation. Lastly, close your presentation with a summary of the main points and leave your audience with an afterthought. Also, plan when you’re taking questions and for how long. 

For more insight, watch this tutorial on how to structure your presentation:

#9 Practice your public speaking skills

Public speaking may not be your forte, but you can get better with practice. Don’t decline a great opportunity to share your ideas with a larger audience just because you feel nervous speaking in front of a group of people. 

One of the best ways to improve your public speaking skills is to practice in front of your family or friends – people you feel comfortable with. Also, focus on the topic you’re presenting and get excited about the idea you want to convey. This way you’ll appear more confident and feel less nervous about public speaking. 

Explore other public speaking tips from Jessica Chen, the founder, and CEO of Soulcast Media: 

#10 Show your slides next to you on-screen

If you’re presenting on Zoom or in a virtual meeting , think twice before you share your screen. The days of hiding behind slides are over. People want to see and connect with other people, not sit through another run-of-the-mill screen share. To do that, use Prezi Video to showcase all your content right next to you in your video feed. 

As a result, your presentation will look more engaging than a traditional virtual presentation . Also, your audience will have the chance to read your body language and follow along with what you’re saying even better. 

If you already have your slides prepared, don’t worry – you can easily integrate them into Prezi. 

See Prezi Video in action and check out our video templates to get started.

#11 Calm down before presenting

Being in front of an audience can feel nerve-racking. However, there are ways to calm down before presenting that will make you feel more centered and confident. The last thing you want is all your hard work to go to waste just because of stress. 

Try breathing exercises or a five-minute guided meditation before presenting. The trick is to remove all distractions and focus on the present moment so you’re not overthinking right before starting your presentation. Also, be fully prepared and know exactly what to say and when which will help you feel more collected. If you want to discover other ways to feel and look more confident, read how not to be nervous before a presentation . 

#12 Use transitions and animations 

Add movement to your slides with transitions and animations. You’ll make your presentation more visually appealing and engaging. However, be careful not to overwhelm your audience with your choice of transitions and animations. 

Choose a transition that matches your presentation visually and use it throughout your presentation. Consider what animations will be relevant to your audience and select a few to add to your slides. Don’t overdo it. Keep the focus on the message you’re trying to convey, and use animations to only support that message. 

#13 Be enthusiastic 

When you’re in a room with a positive and enthusiastic person, you can’t help but feel uplifted as well. High-energy people have this effect on others. Most importantly, a lot of people tend to mimic people’s behavior and mirror their energy when they feel a connection or relate to them. That’s called the chameleon effect . 

When you’re presenting, you want your audience to feel curious about what you’re presenting. You may also want to leave your audience feeling uplifted, interested to know more, or inspired. To have that effect on others, try to convey those emotions when presenting. Practice your speech, slow down your narration at times, or take a pause after you’ve delivered a statement, and use different presentation techniques to present your project and really drive your points home. 

#14 End your presentation in a memorable way

The first few minutes of your presentation are crucial for captivating your audience’s attention. However, don’t underestimate the importance of ending your presentation as powerfully as you started it. 

The way you end your presentation will play a crucial part in how your audience will remember it. You want to make a memorable impression by closing your presentation with a summarizing statement, a rhetorical question, a call to action, or another impactful way. Discover 10 ways you can end your presentation in our guide.  

There are a lot of factors to consider when creating and delivering a presentation. You want your slides to look professional and visually appealing while conveying your main points. You also want to look and sound confident even if you’re nervous about public speaking. Whatever your concerns may be, remember that preparation is essential. Practice and dedication are the keys to giving a successful presentation . Make sure to follow these effective presentation tips to excel in your future presentations. If you’re interested in creating a captivating presentation with Prezi, contact us to learn more or try it for free . 

Elevating presentations with Prezi AI

Embrace the innovation of Prezi to bring your presentations to life. With its unique platform, Prezi AI offers more than just visually appealing templates; it provides an immersive narrative experience, engaging your audience with a story-driven approach. By integrating Prezi AI , our platform’s capabilities are further enhanced, offering intelligent design suggestions and optimizing content layouts to ensure your presentations are not only beautiful but impactful. This integration is a perfect example of effective presentation techniques in action, using technology to create a more engaging presentation.

Interactive elements: transforming passive listening into active engagement

Prezi revolutionizes the way information is presented by incorporating interactive elements that invite audience participation. With Prezi AI, these features become even more accessible, suggesting ways to make your presentation more engaging through clickable areas, zoomable images, and dynamic visualizations. This level of interaction encourages exploration, making your message more memorable and transforming a standard presentation into an effective presentation.

Adding a personal touch in digital presentation with video

Prezi Video stands out by seamlessly integrating your content alongside your video feed, bridging the gap between traditional presentations and personal engagement. This feature is crucial for those looking to follow presentation tips that emphasize the importance of connecting with your audience on a more personal level. Prezi AI enhances this experience, ensuring your content is displayed in the most effective way possible, making your virtual presentations feel as though you’re directly conversing with your audience.

Mastering presentation artistry with Prezi

The journey to becoming a skilled presenter involves continuously refining your approach and embracing tools that elevate your ability to communicate effectively. Prezi, enriched with Prezi AI, is one such tool that transforms ordinary presentations into captivating experiences. By leveraging these advanced features, you can deliver presentations that are successful, memorable, and truly unforgettable, embodying the essence of tips for presentation mastery.

Whether you’re an experienced speaker or preparing for your first presentation, Prezi equips you with the tools to succeed. Engage your audience, tell compelling stories, and deliver your message with confidence and creativity. Following effective presentation tips and exploring how Prezi AI can transform your next presentation is a step towards mastering the art of impactful communication. Delve into the features and begin your journey to presentation mastery today.

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Virtual Presentation Guide: How To Deliver An Outstanding Online Session

Let’s face it: we’ve all attended a lot of meh, formerly live now virtual-only events over the past 18 months. But we mostly cut everyone some slack, because, after all, the world was catapulted into the world of digital-only experiences in 2020 with very little warning.

But thanks to inventive event professionals and the rise of  new virtual event technologies , online and hybrid event experiences have significantly improved this year and can now easily replicate—or even improve upon—many of the most beloved aspects of in-person events. Combined with the  notable benefits of virtual events  and continued uncertainties around the future of work, experts agree that virtual and hybrid events will  remain popular throughout 2022 and beyond .

While many event planners have focused on enhancing the virtual event attendee experience, one area that could use some work is the quality of support they provide to their event speakers. Even the most seasoned in-person conference speakers will encounter new challenges with virtual or hybrid presentations. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get ahead of these obstacles and deliver an outstanding online presentation.

In this blog post, let’s explore how virtual event speakers should prepare for their sessions, including our tips for success based on expertise from the #ContentChat community and my recent virtual event speaking engagements for MarketingProfs, CMSwire, and more.

The Key Differences Between Virtual and Live Event Audiences

While no two event audiences are alike, it’s crucial to remember that all virtual audiences are often more distracted than in-person attendees. This means online event speakers need to take extra steps to actively engage their virtual attendees throughout their sessions.

In my most recent online and hybrid speaking engagements, I’ve noticed three main differences between virtual attendees and in-person attendees:

• Low crowd energy:  An in-person audience has a natural energy and excitement that the speaker and attendees alike feed on. Virtual audiences, however, are harder to read. At best, as a virtual speaker, you are looking at a sea of webcam streams without audio or the ability to readily parse any non-verbal reactions from those attendees. But more often than not, you are literally talking to an image of yourself and your slides on your screen.
• More distractions:  Online attendees are more responsive to digital interruptions on their phones or laptops during your session. At a live event, attendees still have these devices in hand, but they are more likely to just use these devices to take notes and share Tweetable moments during your session.
• Less patience:  Virtual attendees are a little bit more impatient than in-person attendees. After all, they haven’t rearranged their schedules and hopped on an airplane to focus on their professional development for a few days. They are in their usual work environment with many competing priorities. These attendees are more likely to click out of a session than an in-person attendee is likely to walk out of an in-person presentation.

Our friend and marketer  Maureen Jann , co-founder of  NeoLuxe Marketing , says that speaking to a virtual audience can feel a lot like talking to yourself, so “you need to be super comfortable with telling an invisible person a great story, and that’s tough.”

Don’t view these audience differences as a major hurdle in delivering an engaging online presentation, though. They are simply elements that you should be aware of—and we explain how to overcome these challenges next.

6 Details To Confirm Ahead of Your Online Speaking Slot

Thorough preparation is key for a successful virtual event speaking session. The virtual event technology landscape is diverse, and each event platform or setup will carry different considerations for speakers.

Your goal will be to use the features and functionality at your disposal to engage your audience throughout your session. It’s important, as you draft your script and presentation deck, to design each element of your presentation to maximize its value and accessibility and enable attendees to engage with the content.

To do so, ask each of these questions as you start to work on your presentation, so you maximize the engagement tools at your disposal:

Are sessions live or pre-recorded?

Will you present live-streamed to an audience, or will you pre-record your session? If you are presenting live, you will need to thoroughly practice your presentation to avoid potential day-of issues with your slides and to make sure you leave enough time for audience Q&A. If your session is pre-recorded, you can plan to spend your session slot engaging directly with your session attendees through the event platform’s chat capabilities as your recording plays.

What is scheduled before your session?

Does your session follow a short break, a long networking lunch, or a prolonged set of back-to-back break-out sessions? This context can help you understand what mindset your attendees enter your session with. If your audience has been sitting for a while, you will have to work harder to get their attention, so it’s great to start off with audience participation like a poll or short activity. If they’ve been in social mode before your session, start off with a startling piece of data or other Tweetable insight, to seamlessly meld into their social activities while shifting their focus to your session.

Is there a dedicated audience Q&A time?

How much time from your session is designed to be saved for answering questions from attendees? This will help you effectively time your presentation. When you have an engaging session, and introduce numerous new ideas to your audience, it’s only natural they will want to ask follow-up questions. If the schedule doesn’t allow time for live Q&A, offer up your preferred social handle or method of content as a way to keep the conversation flowing.

What are the participant-to-speaker chat capabilities?

How can session attendees engage with you and session attendees? Does the event platform have a built-in direct messaging feature? These details can help you understand how you can directly engage with session attendees during the flow of the presentation.

Is there a moderator?

Will a moderator from the event team join your session to help coordinate audience Q&A? Or, are you expected to keep an eye on text chat and answer questions throughout the session? It’s also important to know if attendees are able to ask questions live via voice, which usually works best at the end of the session.

Will the session be available for replay, and when?

Will session replays be available for all attendees? If so, when will they be available and where are they posted? This can help you set attendee expectations for when they can review the content, and give you a timeline for your post-event promotion strategy.

Once you know the answer to each of the above questions and have reviewed any speaker prep resources from the event hosts, you are ready to start building your presentation.

How to Engage a Virtual Presentation Audience

Once you confirm the core details for your session, you can begin to build a presentation that fits within those time requirements and within the event platform’s technical capabilities. While there’s no denying the innate challenges of presenting to a virtual audience, the #ContentChat community has shared a number of ways to effectively engage virtual audiences. Here are a few of the most-mentioned activities designed to drive engagement during your virtual presentation:

• Add polls and audience questions.  Include polls and questions in your presentation. If presenting live, wait for answers in your live chat before moving on. If your session is pre-recorded, schedule a Tweet with poll functionality to go live roughly when you will get to that part of your presentation.
• Be available for live Q&A.  If your session is pre-recorded, be available for live chat questions on the event platform or via social media to engage with questions both during and after your session. If you are presenting live, time your session to leave 10 minutes at the end for Q&A, and provide alternative methods of continuing the conversation with you after the event. For example, I always share my Twitter handle, and invite attendees to join a future #ContentChat Twitter chat.
• Create a collaborative doc.  If your event platform provides basic capabilities for messaging and attendee collaboration, consider creating a shared document that everyone can access and brainstorm on. If it doesn’t have those capabilities, create a Google doc and share the link in your presentation deck.
• Offer post-session meetings.  Maureen Jann recommends you offer a 30-minute meeting with attendees to answer any questions they have. Share a Calendly link for attendees to easily schedule time to meet with you.
• Use personal or “fun” images and examples.  We do not recommend you include gratuitous pictures of puppies and kittens to keep your attendees engaged, but strategic and relevant use of cute or fun images or pop culture examples can keep your audience engaged. For example, when I talk about working from home, I often share a photo of my home office mates—who just happen to be adorable bulldogs.
• Provide a session roadmap.  As simple as it may sound, you want to tell your audience what they will learn right up front, including what resources you plan to share. Then, provide waypoints as you go so they know you will deliver on your promise. This can help alleviate attendee anxiety and enable them to fully focus on the presentation. Otherwise, you may have a flurry of questions throughout the session about things you haven’t gotten to quite yet in your presentation flow.
• Use unique visuals or props.  Most virtual presentations are just the speaker talking to their webcam with an accompanying slide deck, which is perfectly OK. However, anything that deviates from this standard will naturally grab your audience’s attention. Consider using custom visuals for your slides, or use props that complement your session content. I still remember the surprise and joy of seeing Ann Handley present virtually using a set of hand-drawn slides.

The above are just a few key ways to engage your virtual audience, but there are so many other ideas you can explore. What engages you as an online event attendee? Do you have examples you can share? Let us know in the comments or Tweet us  @ErikaHeald .

A Day-of Speaking Checklist for Hitting Your Online Presentation Out of the Park

Regardless of whether your virtual speaking session is pre-recorded or live-streamed, there are several steps you want to take on the day of your session to maximize its success (and limit the potential for last-minute hiccups).

Be sure to check off each of these steps on the day of your presentation:

• Update your computer so it does not update and restart during your presentation.
• Sign in to your event’s video conferencing software and double-check your surroundings. Declutter anything that is in view of your webcam that doesn’t make a positive impact.
• Run through your presentation one last time, ideally with a trusted colleague or team member who can provide feedback. This is especially important if you had someone help you build your deck or write your script.
• If you consistently run over the allotted time for your session, remove a portion of your presentation and include it as a bonus resource for download.
• Pre-schedule social media posts that promote your session. Create posts for the morning of your event, 15 minutes before your session starts, and the start of your session. And don’t forget to add some Tweetable moments to go out during your session, too!
• Verify the event hashtag and any associated social media communities that you should monitor.
• Double-check the links to and permission settings of any resources you plan to share with attendees.
• Breathe. You’re going to do great.

How to Extend the Value of Your Digital Session

It takes a lot of time to prepare and present at an online event. And you don’t want your efforts to be one-and-done with your return on investment.

Once your session is over, repurpose your slides and script to create a series of social media posts that spotlight actionable tips from your presentation. If you created any attendee downloads, be sure to re-share those on social media, too.

If you were unable to answer all of your attendee questions, or if attendees seemed especially interested in specific parts of your presentation, create new content that explores those areas. This can include a detailed blog post, an e-book or workbook, or a conversation on social media.

If the event hosts allow it, you can even share your session transcript as a blog post so that anyone can find and access your presentation’s insights.

Practice Makes Perfect With Virtual Presentations

Although this may sound cliché, virtual presentations truly get easier with practice. It can feel awkward or uncomfortable to see yourself on camera at first, but I promise this gets easier with time.

By following the steps we detailed above, you’ll have all the preparation you need to confidently present your virtual session and extend its value well after the event is over.

If you have more questions about how to prepare for a virtual presentation, or if you’d like to explore how virtual speaking opportunities can support your thought leadership efforts,  send me and my team a message . We’re here to help!

P.S. For even more tips + tricks for creating an engaging virtual presentation, head over to Twitter and check out Tweets from  our recent conversation on the topic .

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More From Forbes

The game-changing tool that will give your online presentations a major upgrade.

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Being a public speaker (and now an online public speaker) I’m eager to try any tool that will enhance the audience’s experience. In fact, I’m always searching for the absolute latest presentation tech. Last year, a few months into the pandemic, my quest for the latest innovations was in high gear. When my speaking events went from standing on a stage to sitting in my living room, I was eager to find the best way to deliver magnetic, compelling online presentations.

You might think that if you’re not a keynote speaker, you don’t have to deliver powerful presentations. Nothing could be further from the truth. After all, every time you give a presentation, you’re receiving a slew of wildly valuable career-enhancing moments. But a presentation can either be a personal brand builder or a personal brand buster. So getting the tech right is important, especially when you’re delivering presentations in the virtual world to an audience that’s participating using the same device that constantly chimes with reminders about all of their other work. The key to creating stellar online presentations is to focus on the Three Ms:

• Magnetic – Instantly grab your audience’s attention
• Mesmerizing – Keep their attention
• Memorable – Continue to inspire them long after the presentation is over

One day, when I was searching to maximize these three Ms, I stumbled onto [strangely named] software called mmhmm. It promised to help anyone deliver a lively online presentation experience that rises far above the standard Zooms—you know, the snooze-inducing ones you’ve been attending several times a day since last March.

At first, I was dubious about the product’s lofty promises, but those doubts vanished when I dove in. The most important distinction between the standard online meeting and mmhmm is that mmhmm puts you in your slides—allowing people to connect with you as if you were at the front of the room delivering a dazzling live presentation. And, of course, that’s a boon for personal branding. Mmhmm founder and CEO Phil Libin says, “Being charismatic on video is different, and the style of a traditional presentations wrongly puts the emphasis on the slides, not on the presenter.”

Indeed, when you are delivering a presentation in person, your slides are there to reinforce and enhance the experience that you’re delivering, but the most popular presentation platforms that exist today make your slides the star and relegate you to supporting role, occupying a postage-stamp-sized square on your audience members’ screens. You’re little more than an extra in a Netflix series.

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With mmhmm, you’re the star, so you can impress your audience and make a giant deposit in your personal brand bank. That one innovation is enough to make this product game changing, but there are so many additional features that you can use to create truly one-of-a-kind presentations that stand out. Mmhmm just announced their latest release (V2.0), which provides even more opportunities to make your mark and mesmerize your audience. It’s called mmhmm Chunky.

This new version allows you easily to integrate live sessions with recorded video to enhance the engagement levels. It lets you to include others in your presentation who may not be available live and to integrate some of your best recorded work into the presentation you’re delivering.

Another innovative feature, Copilot 2.0, allows you to engage with another person on the same stage (even though they could be thousands of miles away). This enables you to incorporate colleagues or even audience members into your presentation—having a side-by-side chat, seemingly on the same set. This feature is sure to make your audience take note and remember.

And mmhmm’s new release allows you to stream both live and prerecorded presentations directly from within mmhmm. So when you’re making a pitch and want it to be available to your entire online community, you can.

To be clear, online presentations come with a lot of impediments. Staring at pixels just isn’t as visceral and engaging as attending in-person events. There are too many things that get in the way online. But the closest thing I have seen to delivering on the three Ms also begins with the letter m: mmhmm. This uniquely named product raises the bar for your online presence—and that raises the bar for your brand.

William Arruda  is a keynote speaker, author, co-founder of  CareerBlast.TV  and creator of the  LinkedIn Profile Type Indicator  (LPTI) which measures your LinkedIn profile likability and credibility.

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5 Virtual Presentation Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Virtual events and webinars have exploded in popularity. It makes sense that these kinds of get-togethers have obvious advantages. For example, virtual events allow presenters to reach hundreds, if not thousands, of people around the world at the same time. They’re also much more affordable to produce.

But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. There are certain virtual presentation challenges you’ll need to overcome to succeed with this communication channel.

In this article, we’ll outline a few of these challenges and give you proven ways to eliminate them. By the end, you’ll have the tools you need to host highly effective virtual events .

Table of Contents

Common Virtual Presentation Challenges

Webinar marketing can take your business to new heights. But you have to overcome the five virtual presentation challenges listed below before you can experience the benefits.

1. Technical Difficulties

The first virtual presentation challenge we’ll tackle today is technical difficulties .

What if your computer crashes? Or your external microphone won’t pick up the audio? Or your internet connection drops out at random intervals and your video feed is grainy? These issues can completely derail an otherwise successful live virtual event.

Even worse, they can make you and/or your company look unprofessional in the eyes of your audience. So, you must do what you can to minimize technical difficulties. Here’s how:

Test, Test, Test!

Take time before your virtual event starts to test your equipment. You may be able to catch potential issues this way and remedy them before you go live. At the very least, you’ll have confidence knowing you did everything you could to prevent technical difficulties.

Better Equipment

If you have faulty equipment, replace it immediately—especially if you plan to host virtual presentations regularly. Now, you don’t need to drop thousands of dollars on the latest gadgets. But you should be using reliable gear to help avoid malfunctions.

More Experience

Sometimes technical difficulties are caused by a lack of experience. Overcome this challenge by regularly hosting webinars . That way, you can get comfortable with both your software and hardware and learn how to quickly fix issues when they come up.

2. Distracted Attendees

One of the biggest virtual presentation challenges you’ll have to overcome during your webinar is distracted attendees. It can be difficult to keep your audience’s attention when Google, Instagram, and their email inboxes are just a click away.

Another common distraction is multitasking. Many attendees believe they can get work done—respond to an email, research a report, etc.—while they view a presentation. Unfortunately, this just leads to a misunderstanding of the information shared.

We’ll be honest, there aren’t a ton of things you can do to eliminate distractions. Your attendees are responsible for themselves. But here are a few tips that might help:

Ask for Attention

There’s nothing wrong with asking your audience to give you their undivided attention for the duration of your webinar. Let them know that you have valuable information to share and you want everyone who attends to get the most out of your presentation .

Shorten Your Webinar

Most people’s attention spans are short. If you drone on for two hours, your audience will get bored and seek a distraction. Or they’ll just leave your event altogether. Combat this by crafting to-the-point content that’s easy to understand and remember.

Give Key Takeaways

One of the ways to make sure your content is easy to understand is to share key takeaways throughout your presentation . What do you want your audience to know? Deliver this information to them in the form of periodic bullet points.

3. Impersonal Experience

Webinars are amazing tools because they allow you to interact with attendees in a face-to-face manner. But let’s be honest, it’s still not the same as having an in-person conversation. Because of this, virtual presentations can feel less personal.

If you’re not able to connect with your audience on a real, human level, you’ll experience visual presentation challenges like distracted attendees (mentioned above) and a lack of attendee engagement (mentioned below.) Neither is ideal.

Make your events feel more personal by:

Presenting with Passion

A little passion goes a long way. If you’re excited about the material you’re sharing, your attendees will naturally feel closer to you. Your exuberance will rub off on them. Passion can help with audience engagement too which we’ll talk more about below.

Limit Attendance

It’s easy to feel like just another face in the crowd when you attend a virtual event with 1,000 other people. Try hosting smaller gatherings to make your presentations seem more personal. If this isn’t feasible for you, take advantage of your webinar software’s breakout rooms feature.

4. Lack of Engagement

A lack of audience engagement is one of the toughest virtual presentation challenges to overcome. Why? Because all of the other challenges we’ve already talked about affect it.

A rush of technical difficulties will leave attendees feeling disengaged. Constant distractions lead to poor engagement as well. And impersonal experiences? You guessed it: a major breeding ground for disengaged audiences who couldn’t care less about your content.

Fortunately, we have a few proven tips to help:

Involve Your Audience

The best presenters don’t speak at their audience, they speak to them. It’s a dialogue . Sure, the presenter does most of the talking but they’re constantly checking in with their attendees to make sure they’re understanding and enjoying the content.

You can do this too by choosing a webinar software that includes polls, surveys, and chat features . That way, you can get real-time feedback from your audience.

Use Visual Elements

You know what’s not engaging? Your face on your attendees’ screens. It doesn’t matter how good-looking you are or how interesting your topic is, if you are all your audience sees for an hour straight, they won’t be able to engage. That’s why you need to use visual elements.

By visual elements, we mean slideshows, screen shares , videos, graphs, charts, etc. Include these in your presentation and you’ll connect with attendees on a deeper level.

5. Flying Blind

If you sell 100 tickets to an in-person presentation, you can be confident that roughly 100 people will show up on the day of the event. This isn’t always true in the virtual world.

Many people register for webinars but don’t take the time to watch them.

Your self-esteem might plummet if you expect to host a webinar for 50 people and only 15 attend—especially if you have marketed your event as a large gathering. Low self-esteem often leads to passionless, forgettable, and subpar presentations.

“Flying blind” isn’t fun but there are things you can do to minimize these feelings:

Cancel Recordings

Webinar recordings will allow you to connect with people who can’t attend your live event. They can also be edited and turned into additional pieces of content.

But if your audience knows they can access your content at any time, they’ll be less inclined to view it live. Tell your webinar registrants that you will NOT be recording your next webinar and see if attendance improves.

Offer Incentives

If you hate the idea of canceling recordings (we don’t blame you!) try offering incentives to people who attend your virtual presentation live instead.

Your incentive can be anything that will interest your audience. A few ideas include gated pieces of content, bonus material that won’t be included in the webinar recording , and even one-time discounts on your products and services.

Better Presentations

If your webinars are really good , people will rearrange their schedules to attend them live.

Make sure you speak on topics that excite your target audience, present with passion, work to engage your attendees with polls, surveys, and more, and use visual elements during your virtual presentation. These things will help draw a crowd to your online events.

Professional Presentations with ClickMeeting

ClickMeeting is an easy-to-use webinar platform that packs a serious punch. With our platform, you’ll be able to overcome each of the virtual presentation challenges outlined above. You’ll also benefit from a few industry-leading features like:

Custom Branding. Make sure your event looks like YOU . ClickMeeting allows users to add logos, images, and custom color schemes to their event rooms.

Engagement Tools. Audience engagement will make or break your event. Captivate attendees with virtual whiteboards , screen sharing , and polls and surveys .

Social Streaming. When you host an online event, you want to connect with as many people as you can. Steam your webinars on Facebook or YouTube to reach them.

Webinar Recording. ClickMeeting webinars are easily recorded and distributed. More than that, recorded events can be turned into automated webinars that run on autopilot.

Analytics Dashboard. Want to know who attended your virtual event, where they attended from, and which device they used to watch? ClickMeeting will tell you .

Does ClickMeeting sound like a tool you’d like to use? Give it a try for free for 30 days and get access to all of our platform’s features—no strings attached!

Wrapping Up

There you have it, the five most common virtual presentation challenges and how to overcome them. If you host virtual events, implement the tips above.

When you do, you’ll experience fewer technical difficulties, eliminate distractions, and be able to engage your audience in a much more authentic way.

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Creating engaging online presentations with keynote.

Transform your online presentations into captivating experiences with the power of Keynote. Discover how to craft visually stunning and engaging presentations that keep your audience hooked from start to finish.

Why Keynote for Online Presentations? 

Online presentations are now commonplace. Whether it's a teacher delivering a lecture, a workshop facilitator conducting professional development, or a graduate student defending their thesis, Keynote offers numerous advantages for creating engaging presentations. Features like speaker text formatting and playing the slideshow in a window enhance the presentation experience. This post provides tips for using Keynote effectively for remote presentations, including professional development sessions, online classes, and research presentations.

Optimizing Keynote for Online Delivery

Play Slide Deck in Window

• Select Play → Window → Play Slideshow to play the slide deck in a resizable window. This is useful when using a web conferencing app to share your screen, allowing you to tile your web conferencing windows in a control center format. 

• Display speaker notes in a window by selecting Show Presenter Display in Window if they don’t appear automatically. Adjust the text size for better readability on your device. More information on this and other Keynote features can be found in the Apple Education Learning Center .

Modify Speaker Note Text Formatting

• Emphasize key information by adjusting text formatting. For example, if you want to accentuate a word, you can bold or change the color of the text.

• Use different text colors to distinguish parts if you have a co-presenter.
• Use brackets and colors to give yourself stage directions or to indicate the speaker. This can be particularly helpful if the timing of your slides is important.  

Enhancing Slide Content with Visuals

Using Shapes and Images Effectively

• Rely on shapes and images to convey metaphorical or informational meaning, reducing text on slides.
• Keynote offers a wealth of shapes and clip art, which can be modified in size and color, and animated subtly to create movement.
• Avoid using unnecessary images or shapes that serve only as eye candy. If in doubt, large-font words or phrases work best.

💡 Accessibility Tip : Explicitly describe shapes, images, clip art, or animations in your presentation to draw attention to their conceptual meaning and aid visually impaired participants.

Customizing Rehearsal Display

• Customize your rehearsal display to show the current slide, the next slide, and speaker notes. This feature is crucial for maintaining the flow of your presentation.
• Use speaker notes to emphasize the core message you convey through your script.
• Use large fonts, high-contrast colors, and minimal text to improve readability on small screens.
• Ensure text fills the screen in large font sizes. Think in phrases or short sentences rather than bullet points. Place detailed information in the speaker notes and share it contextually, perhaps with examples or anecdotes.

Other Considerations for Maximizing Online Impact

Simplify and Engage

• Cut the number of slides and simplify content.
• Break content into smaller chunks and pause between sections to check for understanding or questions.
• Start with an icebreaker or a quick poll to engage your audience from the beginning.

Leverage Interactive Features

• Use chat or Q&A features actively. Encourage participants to ask questions or share thoughts during the presentation. Have a co-host monitor the chats to avoid getting sidetracked. When you ask for responses, pause to engage directly, acknowledge, read out loud, and comment on them.

Use Appropriate Text Formatting

• Use large, readable fonts and avoid overly decorative fonts. Ensure text contrasts well with the background.

Ready to elevate your online presentations with Keynote? Start experimenting with these tips today and transform your next remote session into an engaging and impactful experience. Share your experiences and any additional tips you have in the comments below! Let's learn and grow together.

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July 28, 2024

Super tips for online presentations. So important in today’s world of Zoom, Webex, Meet! We are often presenting from afar and your optimization suggestions for impact and engagement are very helpful. Thanks Michael!

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Audience Engagement: A Must-Do List for Online Presentations

• Audience Response Tools

Your presentation is vital to the company , and you have important information to share. But you know that online presentations are notoriously dull and poorly received. Even with an interesting topic, it’s tough to craft a presentation that drives audience engagement. Audience members often find themselves fidgeting, multitasking, and getting distracted by other things, like texting and checking email, social media, and push notifications, while “listening”.

It’s tough enough to engage an audience in person. Trying to do it online can feel impossible. We can help you create and deliver a presentation that grabs and keeps your audience’s attention.

We have here the top tips for keeping your audience engaged during your online presentation.

Best Practices for Audience Engagement

To help your virtual presentation succeed , you need to establish a few things from the beginning. Here we offer some best practices for those involved in your presentation.

For Administrators

• While you may not want to go through everything, you should test your equipment before every call. You wouldn’t be the first person who was positive a microphone was working, only to find it’s now on the fritz.
• Send out reminders before your meeting. Even with good intentions, people forget.
• You should introduce the presentation two minutes after the starting time . This will ensure a prompt start and help the presenter to know when they should begin.
• Before the presentation begins, explain how questions will be asked and answered. This will avoid disruptions during the talk.
• Do a follow-up Q&A discussion . Your event attendees will have questions and comments following the presentation.

For Presenters and Speakers

• Remember, you’re talking to real people and trying to turn them into an engaged audience. Asking questions, showing pictures, and sharing interesting real-life examples are great ways to generate engaging content.
• Practice. Practice. Practice. Read your presentation out loud and do a software run-through while you’re at it.
• Be early. You will have a calmer demeanor if you aren’t rushed at the beginning.
• Don’t distract your audience from your presentation. Don’t eat or talk too quickly, and keep your background clear.
• Talk to the camera as much as possible, especially at key moments. This builds trust and connection with the audience. It’s a must if you want to master audience engagement.

Related: Top Interactive Online Meeting Ideas

How to Keep an Online Audience Engaged

Here’s the meat of it. With these 12 top tips, you are sure to increase engagement during your presentation.

1. Be Prepared

As smooth as you think you are, people know when you haven’t adequately prepared. Put the time and effort into your presentation that is worthy of the topic. Honor the time and expertise of your audience and bring them valuable, well-researched information. Consider the tips we’re sharing here to make the presentation as engaging as possible. No cheating.

2. Be Visible

Few things are as engaging and fascinating to us as the human face. Add to that how much of our communication is nonverbal. We rely on gestures and facial expressions to say so much. It’s challenging to feel a connection with a disembodied voice. Your audience needs to see your face as clearly as possible.

3. Keep it Simple

Because you don’t know what devices your audience will be using or the website speed you’ll be working with, keep your slides simple . Design them to work on smaller screens so attendees or website visitors using mobile devices will feel just as included as desktop participants. Keep your graphics crisp and simple, and don’t go crazy with the animations.

Consider the number of slides you use. Each slide should represent about 1 to 3 minutes of material, and any more than 15 to 18 slides is just too many. If you have much more than that, consider splitting your presentation up into two sections — Part I and Part II — with a break in between.

4. Begin on Time

This is always tricky. You want to begin on time, but not all of your audience has shown up yet. So how do you reward your on-time people, while not punishing late-comers? Two openings. Do a “soft” opening at the start time to engage your audience, while not revealing too much of what is to come. Reserve all vital information for the “hard” opening when everyone you’re expecting has arrived.

5. Use Visual Aids to Highlight New Content

Using visual aids and carefully chosen words to reinforce essential points is a smart strategy . These will help your audience remember what you’ve said and create a sense of added value as they recall the experience. Sharing user-generated content is another engagement effort that can be high-yielding, and can easily become part of your brand’s digital marketing strategy, too.

As you speak, use words that create pictures and engage the senses . For example, “This is as heavy as a _____,” “It feels like _____,” or “It has a flavor similar to _____.” In addition to word pictures, use images and graphics to re-state the information you want them to remember. You can create great content by playing to your audience’s senses. ‍ ‍

6. Send Preview Materials Before the online Presentation

Sending out materials before your presentation can help your audience become familiar with your material, increase interest, and build anticipation. It’s not required, but if you want to establish a foundation of knowledge with your audience, it’s a nice touch.

7. Use Your Words

Without your physical presence to carry some of the load, your voice must do most of the work. Vary your tone and pace, speak clearly, and smile when appropriate.

‍ Record yourself speaking and analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Then do the work of improving your voice and vocal presentation. There is plenty of information online on making the most of your voice.

8. Plan Virtual Activities

The average human attention span is low — and it’s worse for goldfish and online meetings. Planning a little something for the beginning and end of your presentation won’t be nearly enough. You need to build interactive activities into your presentation — designed to make people want to listen and stay focused.

This might seem a lot, but having some form of interactive activity every 5 to 8 minutes, will keep event engagement up. These activities may be questions , white-board sessions, or quizzes.

‍ Related: 20 Interactive Presentation Ideas

9. Reinforce Key Points Visually

We need repetition and visual reinforcement — that’s a fact. Don’t mistake your audience’s silence for understanding. For the end of every section, prepare a summary slide that will re-state all the critical points of that section. And at other transitions, ask questions to make sure everyone is keeping up.

10. Get Comfortable with the Silent Pause

Every speaker knows the power of the pause. It lends distinction to your last comment and allows the audience to consider your words. Don’t be afraid to pause; it won’t cause the audience to become distracted. It is likely to make them lean in a little more.

11. Encourage Conversations

At the start, encourage your audience to ask questions and type comments in the chat area throughout the presentation. Seeing the online activity can be encouraging as you can see how engaged the audience is, and it also helps the audience to remain a part of the conversation.

12. End the Presentation on Time

When the conversation seems to be going well, it’s tempting to carry on past the stated end time — don’t do it. You have made an agreement with these people on  a certain schedule, so be respectful of their time. People will have other things planned and will need to leave. If there is more information to share, let them know that you will make other arrangements to go over the rest. Send them links to review the presentation and any other links they need.

Related: Ultimate Guide to Avoiding Online Meeting Burnout

Boost Audience Engagement

As you use these tips, your online presentation will be a more enjoyable and productive experience for you and your audience.

Contact MeetingPulse to make your online meetings more productive and successful.

Get started with MeetingPulse today!

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