Michelle Bowden Secrets to Effective Teleconferences and On-line Presentations...........
Business people are moving to webinars as a key enabler of communication across states and countries. Meetings can
be boring at the best of times or even more so when the presenter is in another country or region listening to you on
the phone via teleconference or watching you on the web.
How can you get people to pay attention when you can’t see them? The answer is it’s essential you make the
technology secondary to your human connections and communicate your message as if you’re in the room with your
audience.
Here are my top 10 tips for you to be great in this area in 2014 and beyond:
- Identify your purpose: What do you want to accomplish with this meeting? Have you chosen the right type of
media for communicating the message? Is a webinar or teleconference the best way to update your colleagues? - Learn how to use the software: Most of us don’t have any coaching before we have to log in and get started, and
invariably technological glitches ruin people’s focus. Learn to use the software so you can focus on the message - Send the agenda in advance: Send your agenda in advance, be specific about who should talk about each item.
Mix it up so people from different countries and regions are communicating every few minutes – this gives people
very little time to switch off (or put you on ‘mute’ and go to the toilet!) - Include a seating plan in the agenda and interact with attendees: A client of mine (a VP in a well-known IT
company) always submits a seating plan with his agenda. Seating was around one huge virtual board table. Although
people were in different countries and regions he sat them around the table as if they were all sitting at the same
table. During his meetings he refers to people by name and their position around the table. For example he says:
“Fred – at the head of the table”, then he says what he wants to say. He found because people were being asked to sit
in a certain chair – they did! Better still – they didn’t get up! - Create compelling content: What do you need to say to shift your audience from their current state, to your
desired state? Stick to only essential content. - Create stimulating slides: Slides can reinforce your key messages when designed well – keep them simple and
use mainly appropriate images from a photo library such as: http://www.istockphoto.com - Warm up your voice: When presenting online it’s critical we have clear, crisp articulation, rich resonant tonality
and strong vocal power, a variety of speed, volume and pitch. Learn how to warp up your voice so you sound as
credible and believable as possible when you speak. - Sharpen up your presentation skills: In particular tap into your personal store of charisma through
communicating your emotional objectives. There will be opportunity for your audience to be concerned, relieved,
optimistic and compelled at different times in your message – make sure your voice reflects the correct emotion so
your audience knows how to feel at different times. - Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse: Exceptional presenters rehearse – even in this forum. Jump online and practice
the whole presentation (ideally with someone who can give you some feedback on how you sound). - Make it interactive: The best way to stop people putting you on mute and doing their ‘real’ work is to keep them
interacting throughout. Ask lots of questions. - BONUS TIP - Get their sign-off! And make sure that every attendee signs to say they attended the meeting,
understood the content, participated to the best of their ability and will action the relevant action items. Happy
Presenting!
Michelle Bowden CSP is Sydney based and author of How to Present: the ultimate guide
to presenting your ideas and influencing people using techniques that actually work
(Wiley), and STOP! Your PowerPoint is Killing Me! For further tips and techniques to
dramatically improve the way you communicate, present and influence please visit
http://www.michellebowden.com.au