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By James A. Baker
Founder and Chariman
Baker Communications
July 2009
The state of the current economy is putting pressure on organizations of all sizes in all markets to reduce expenses any way they can. Travel budgets are at the top of the cost reduction list. Travel is expensive to be sure, but in addition, many organizations can't afford to pull personnel out of the field to travel for meetings when they should be working key accounts or managing their teams. This accelerated need for efficiency and economy is driving companies across the world to hold meetings and deliver presentations to customers and team members via a Web-based online meeting portal.
Without a doubt, meeting or presenting online using an interface like WebEx saves time and money. However, the actual presentation experience itself can be dismal and boring, unless you remember these key best practices.
1. Sharpen your vocal delivery skills. Most people don't realize that in a face to face presentation, 60% of the impact is created through body language and facial expressions. For the most part, this important tool does not exist in a web-based presentation (we will discuss web-cams later). To compensate for the loss of body language, you must step up your vocal skills. The four important components of vocal delivery are:
a. Projection - You must speak up firmly and clearly. If you are the presenter or facilitator for a web-based program, it is imperative that you wear a good head-set to maximize the sound quality of your voice.
b. Pace - Pay careful attention to the speed at which you deliver your presentation. It is important to vary your speed. Going too slow puts people to sleep and going too fast makes it hard for people to assimilate the information you are sharing, but worst of all is to do either one exclusively. By speeding up and slowing down to add emphasis and excitement, you will hold your audience’s interest longer and they will remember more of what you are saying.
c. Pause - Nothing focuses the attention of your audience faster than the use of occasional dramatic pauses to help emphasize a key idea. Don’t overuse this technique, but be sure and integrate it at appropriate moments to keep your presentation from becoming monotonous.
d. Pitch - This refers to the relative “highness” or “lowness” of the pitch of your voice. Generally, as you speed up, your pitch should also rise slightly to add excitement. When you come to a key point, it is good to slow down, add a dramatic pause, and lower your pitch to make the audience sit up on the edge of their seats and take notice.
2. Make sure PowerPoint slides are balanced and easy to read. Your Power Point deck will do all the heavy lifting during an online presentation, especially since you will have no face to face contact, so pay special attention to the layout.
a. Stick to no more than 3 colors – the slides lose their impact if you try to be too colorful
b. For the slides, lighter backgrounds with a dark font look better. Darker backgrounds tend to have an ominous feel.
c. Titles should be around 40pt font, while the text should be at least 30pt.
d. No more than 6 lines of text, and no more than 6 words per line
e. On average, figure no more than 30 slides for a 1-hour presentation.
3. Using webcams – Webcam technology has come a long way. As long as you are using a stable high-speed Internet connection (not an aircard), a web cam can enhance the presentation by putting a face to your voice. Just remember these tips:
a. Make sure you “dress for success.” If you are going on camera, dress exactly the same way you would for a live presentation.
b. Make sure you look directly into the webcam when you speak, instead of looking at the screen or at your notes. Looking into the webcam is the only way to preserve the illusion of eye contact with your audience.
c. Because of the difficulty associated with trying to look into the camera and follow your notes, it is a good idea to do a brief intro with the webcam, then go back to your Power Point presentation, and maybe come back to the web cam for your final summary.
4. Keep up a steady interaction with your audience. The biggest downside to web-based presentations is the temptation your audience faces to multi-task by checking email, surfing the web, or even wandering away during the presentation. To keep your audience focused on your presentation, make sure you regularly interaction with everyone in the meeting if at all possible by:
a. Calling on them by name and asking them to interact with you.
b. Ask them to read slides.
c. Ask them to share experiences or opinions.
d. Ask them to give feedback on the answers provided by other participants
Follow these quick, simple tips and your Web-based presentations will be every bit as helpful and engaging as a face to face meeting, and you will be saving time and money for everyone.
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Presentation Quick Tip – Log On Early
When planning a Web-based presentation, make sure you are logged on to the meeting portal at least 15 minutes early, and encourage all participants to log in early, too. There are a variety of small technical glitches that might slow down the log in process, especially for your audience. You need to have all your pages loaded and have any special presentation features activated on the presentation portal at least 15 minutes early so you can assist participants who might have questions or issues with the log in process. Even seasoned online participants can occasionally encounter problems, but most first-time participants are likely to experience some kind of unexpected delay due to the need to load meeting software and applets. Logging in early allows plenty of room for error or delay, and gives you a chance to solve problems without delaying the start of the meeting.
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