Successful Online Presentations

With the opportunity to reach a wider audience at a significantly lower cost than in-person events, it’s no wonder online presentations have joined the ranks of other mainstream marketing programs. Online marketing events have gained momentum in the past few years, and marketing research studies show that participation will increase by 54% in 2011.

That’s a lot of webinars, virtual tradeshows, online training, and other types of events. If you currently take part in this medium or plan to add it to your marketing mix, one thing is certain: there will be increased competition for gaining and keeping the attention of prospects. So, once you’ve gathered an audience, how will you keep their attention throughout your presentation and ensure your message gets across?

Although the fundamentals remain the same, key differences lie between conducting an engaging face-to-face presentation and an online presentation:

Connection. Establishing a personal connection is easier when your audience can see you. When you’re just a voice coming out of someone’s computer speakers, achieving a level of intimacy with your audience is challenging. Personalize your presentation with a photo of yourself as part of the accompanying visuals to your introduction. You become a real person behind the screen, not just a faceless webinar host. Use humor-it’s a great way to release any tension you might be feeling, and is a strong way to open your presentation and grab your audience’s attention. Tell stories-they’re captivating and relatable, a great way to emotionally connect with your listeners. Stories are also memorable, increasing the likelihood that your message will be remembered long after the event.

Visuals. Use more of them. If the audience isn’t watching you, what will sustain their visual attention? Focus their attention on powerful imagery that supports and reinforces your verbal message.

• Keep it simple: your listeners should be able to follow your visual story alongside your audio. Complicated slides could confuse your audience and detract from your message. Try to focus on one key point per slide so that the audience doesn’t try to jump ahead of you and you control how your message is delivered.
• Keep it moving: release information in small bite-size pieces that are easier to absorb and understand. You will likely use more visuals during an online presentation to help maintain your audience’s attention and keep them entertained.
• Keep it real: the quality of your visuals speaks to the level of your professionalism as much as they speak to your message. Make sure you use vivid, relevant imagery that accurately represent you and your company, and are aligned with your brand.
• Keep text to a minimum: if your audience can read what you are saying, you become redundant, or worse, boring!

Interactivity. An important element of engagement is participation. At a minimum, include a question and answer session. You can also provide a chat feature for the audience to interact with you and with each other. During your verbal presentation, ask open-ended questions that will make your listeners think about what you’ll say next. Pause and ask the audience to watch a short video clip or to read what’s on the slide. This helps to break up your presentation while giving the audience a chance to be more active. Try to be more conversational in your address to establish a perceived sense of dialogue. Another helpful tool is to have more than one presenter to promote conversation.

Whether you are new to online marketing events or you’re a seasoned veteran, the rules of engagement remain the same. Get it right and you capture your audience in an instant. Get it wrong and they tune you out just as quickly.