Using visuals on conference calls or web-meetings may cause confusion with your audience. Frequently, presenters jump ahead, causing audience frustration and uncomfortable stoppages. Exercise patience and use delays and pauses to your advantage.
Whether reviewing a document during a conference call, or using a PowerPoint presentation in a web meeting, the challenge is to keep people on the same page. One great way to do that is to plan your transitions effectively:
- Tell the audience you’re finished with that visual and you’re moving on.
- Offer a transition statement to cover the visual changing on screen, if appropriate.
- Direct them to the next page or item (“now skip page six, but move to the middle of page seven”), then pause two seconds.
- Check in to see that they have found the document, or are looking at the right visual on their screen (slow Internet connections mean dense graphics don’t appear instantly).
These tips not only reduce frustration, but build in opportunities for interactivity and questions that will keep these presentations from becoming dull.
Interested in learning more virtual meeting tips? Check out our virtually delivered program, Virtual Meeting Skills:
