online presentation preparation

“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

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

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 :

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:

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:

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.

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!

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.

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:

Niiiice, a two-for-one combo!

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:

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…

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:

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

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:

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

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 as a result.

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

6 replies on “12 Tips to Give an Amazing Online Presentation”

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

Fantastic resource! I couldn’t ask for more.

Thank a lot Vannesa. You provide me excellent information.

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

Thank you so much Vanessa!

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!

Comments are closed.

If you liked this article...

More From Forbes

Best practices for virtual presentations: 15 expert tips that work for everyone.

In today’s COVID-19 world, virtual meetings and presentations have become the norm. While many presentation skills and best practices apply to both in-person and virtual presentations, expert virtual presenters understand the importance of adjusting their approach to match the medium. With in-person presentations, you more or less have a captive audience — you still need be engaging, but your audience is kind of stuck with you for the duration. But with virtual presentations, your audience has a greater opportunity to stray. You now have to compete for their eyes, ears, hearts, and minds against diminished attention spans, increased home and work life distractions, and conflicting priorities.

Here are 15 expert tips to set you up for success in your next virtual presentation:

1. Get the Lighting Right: As a presenter, it is essential that people can see you well. Make sure you have good front light—meaning the light shines brightly on your face. If your back is to a window, close the shades. While natural light is often the best choice, if your home office doesn’t have natural light and you do a lot of virtual presentations, consider purchasing supplemental lighting to enhance your image.

2. Choose the Right Background: Try to use a background that enhances your professional image and is aligned with your message. Avoid a cluttered background or anything that can be distracting. Learn whether your presentation platform enables you to use virtual backgrounds (like Zoom) or whether you can blur your background (like Microsoft Teams). Your background can either add to your professional presence or detract from it.

3. Know the Technology: Nothing kills a presentation faster than a presenter who fumbles with the technology. This is a performance, so make sure you know how to make it work. A dry run is essential so that you’re comfortable with the platform features. It’s best to have a co-host (or producer or moderator) assist you with the technology so that you can focus on your presentation. Make sure you practice with the same technical set up (computer and internet connection) that you will use when you deliver the presentation.

4. Play to the Camera: When you are the one speaking, look directly into your computer’s camera , not on the screen or at the other participants. This takes some practice, but it makes the viewer feel as if you are looking right at them. Some presenters turn off their self-view so that they aren’t distracted by their own image. Put the camera at eye level . Try not to have your camera too far above or below you. If it’s too low, then you run the risk of creating a double chin. A camera too high makes it difficult to maintain eye contact, as you may find your gaze dropping as you speak. If you are part of a panel or a team of presenters, make sure you are aware of when your camera is on. If you are not speaking but your camera is on, make sure you look like you are paying attention! Powerful presenters understand the importance of making eye contact with their audience, so this means you have to simulate the same effect virtually.

Best Travel Insurance Companies

Best covid-19 travel insurance plans.

5. Get Close (But Not Too Close). You want the camera to frame your face, neck, and shoulders. People are drawn to faces, so you don’t want to lose that connection by being too far away, but you also don’t want your face to take over the whole screen like a dismembered head because, well, that looks weird. Practice your positioning and distance.

6. Stand Up: If possible, use a standing desk or position your laptop so you can stand at eye level with your computer. Standing up provides a higher energy level and forces us to put our body in a more presentation-like mode. If you have to sit, lean forward as you would if you were presenting at a real meeting or as if you were a TV news anchor. Avoid slouching away from the camera, as that sends a signal that you are disconnected from the audience.

7. Be Animated: Just like in a live presentation, you want to present with a little energy and animation. Too slow or too monotone in your voice makes it easy for folks to disengage and tune out. Keeping people engaged virtually requires you to actually be engaging.

8. Pace Yourself: Without real-time visual audience feedback cues, getting the pacing right can be difficult. Even though you want to infuse some animation and energy into your presentation don’t pump up the speed too much. If you tend to be a fast talker in real life, practice slowing down just a bit. If you’re a slow talker, you may want to speed up just a bit.

9. Do A Sound Check: If your sound is garbled, people will tune out. While people may forgive less than perfect video, if they can’t clearly hear you, they will leave. Practice with someone on the other end of the presentation platform. Make sure your sound emits clearly. Sometimes headphones or external microphones work better than the computer audio, sometimes not. Every platform is different, so make sure your sound quality is excellent every time. And again, you should practice with the same technical configurations and location that you will use for your presentation.

10. Plug into Your Modem: If possible, plug your computer directly into your modem using an Ethernet cable. This will give you the strongest signal and most stable internet connection. The last thing you want to happen during your presentation is to have a weak or unstable internet signal.

11. Incorporate Redundant Systems. If using slides, make sure someone else (another webinar co-host or producer) also has a copy of the slides just in case your internet goes wonky and you have to present by calling in. If you are using slides, make them visually appealing. Use high-quality graphics and limit the amount of text on each slide. It’s your job as presenter to deliver the content. The slides are meant to enhance your spoken words, not replace them.

12. Engage Your Participants. Just as if you were doing an in-person presentation, craft your presentation to engage the audience. Incorporate chats, polls, raised hand features, etc. Try not to speak for more than ten minutes without some sort of audience engagement. Use the participant list to interact with your participants by name. Have people chat or raise a hand if they want to speak. Keep track of the order of people and then call on them to invite them to turn on their mics or cameras.

13. Let Someone Else Check the Chats. Don’t get sidetracked by the chats during your presentation. You’ll be shocked at how distracting it is to your train of thought if you attempt to read the chats while speaking. Instead, have your co-host or producer monitor the chats. If you ask people to chat you answers or comments to a question you’ve posed, then pause your talking and engage directly with the chats by acknowledging them, reading them out loud, and commenting on them.

14. Evaluate and Enhance: If possible, record the session and take the time to play back and look for areas that worked well and areas that you might want to improve upon. Great presenters, whether virtual or in person, understand the value of continually honing their craft. Be sure to acknowledge your strengths as well as your areas of improvement.

15. Be Yourself and Have Fun: Again, just like in face-to-face presentations, audiences connect to authenticity, so be yourself! Let your personality show through. Have fun. If you look like you’re enjoying the presentation so will others. Research shows that happy people retain information better than bored or disinterested people, so model the energy that you want to create. The audience takes its cue from you.

Remember, whether you are presenting in-person or virtually, all presentations are performances. And all performances are in service to your audience. Their time is valuable, so honor that time by delivering the best presentation you can. No matter what kind of presentation you are giving, you must find ways to create authentic audience connection, engagement, and value.

About Stanford GSB

About the Experience

Full-Time Degree Programs

Non-Degree & Certificate Programs

Faculty Research

Research Hub

Research Labs

Research Initiatives

Welcome, Alumni

Admission Events & Information Sessions

10 Tips For Giving Effective Virtual Presentations

What to know before you go live.

September 26, 2016

An illustration of a computer screen with messy notes and graphs around it.

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.

An Illustration of two pictures of people.

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

Our favorite stories about careers and success in 2022, introducing the steps toward power to the nice generation, 12 stories about gender, power, and progress for women’s history month, editor’s picks.

Black and white portrait of Cynt Marshall smiling at the camera wearing glasses and business attire.

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.

This website uses cookies to improve the user experience. By using our website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our cookie policies included in our privacy policy.

Content Types

Presentations Keep your audience engaged.

Documents Formalize your branding.

Videos Add movement to your brand.

Infographics Share information visually.

Printables Create content for printing.

Charts and Graphs Bring life to your data.

Social Media Graphics Create scroll-stopping content.

Mockups Create high-quality mockups in seconds.

Branded Templates new Get a bundle of templates that match your brand.

Introducing Visme’s Shortcuts: A Faster and Sleeker Way to Design

Features & Assets

Interactivity

Free Educational Resources See All

Visme Video Tutorials Watch videos on how to use Visme.

Ebooks Read in-depth knowledge for your industry.

Graphic Design Videos Learn design principles & best practices.

Live Webinars Interact with the experts live.

Free Online Courses Get certified with free online courses.

Agencies & Consulting Manage multiple brands.

Education Use Visme in the classroom.

Nonprofit Bring life to your cause.

Enterprises Create visual content at scale.

Perfect For These Roles

Marketers Creative content that shines.

Human Resources Improve internal communication.

Sales Teams Close more deals with your content.

Training Development Create interactive training content.

Templates See All

Presentations 1000+ layouts and themes.

Chart & Maps Get data visualization ideas.

Social Media Graphics Browse templates for every platform.

Infographics Find the right format for your information.

Documents Templates for every business document.

Videos & GIFs Find the perfect preanimated template.

Other Templates

Website Graphics

Survey Results

Online Presentation Maker for Engaging Presentations

Chosen by brands large and small

Our presentation maker is used by over 18,235,768 marketers, communicators, executives and educators from over 120 countries that include:

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.

Buyer Presentation - Presentation Template

Features of the Presentation Maker

Visme’s free online presentation maker was built by designers for non-designers to help you create presentations that your audience will love, without needing an eye for design.

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.

Presentation templates available in Visme.

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.

A presentation template alongside stock photos and charts available in Visme's 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.

A presentation template alongside available transitions, color themes and graphs in Visme's editor.

Record yourself presenting

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.

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.

A selection of presentation slide templates.

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.

MAKE IT ENGAGING

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.

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.

How to Use the Presentation Maker

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Click the button at the bottom of the page and quickly create your free Visme account by signing up with your email address, Gmail or Facebook.

It's completely free to create, share and download your presentation. If you want to download it as a printable PDF or interactive HTML5 file (to conserve animation effects), then you can upgrade to a Standard plan.

Yes! You can quickly create animated presentations by adding transitions that automatically animate the entrance of elements onto your slides, or you can animate elements one by one.

Absolutely. You can add pop-ups, rollovers and hyperlinks and embed videos, maps, surveys, as well as any other third-party content.

Simply generate a private or public URL that can be viewed from any browser. You can also download your presentation as an HTML5 file and present from any browser without internet connection.

Click on the Create button in the left sidebar of your editor to explore 900+ slide layouts. Search for the exact slides you need and drag and drop the desired ones onto the right panel.

Your presentations deserve to be beautiful and so does the rest of your content

Create visual brand experiences whether you are a seasoned designer or a total novice.

Presenting online

Virtual presentation skills are important at both university and in the workplace. This resource provides tips on presenting to camera, including how to support your message using voice and body language techniques and maximise the impact of your visuals.

You may be asked to speak in a range of online contexts including:

This resource provides simple strategies to increase your confidence in presenting online. One key thing to remember is that the content (what you say), delivery (how you say it, e.g. voice) and visuals (how it looks) are all equally as important.

Presenting to camera

Make sure the audience can see your face. Look at the webcam lens or phone camera as much as you can to give the individual participants the feeling you are talking directly to them. This can be quite powerful. If it’s set up right, this should look like you are sitting just across a table from the audience.

Tip : Light yourself from the side, not behind – e.g. don’t present with a window behind you (too much glare).

Using bod y lan g uage

Even though the audience can’t see as much of you as in a face-to-face presentation, they will still see your face/head, shoulders and some of your hand gestures. It’s important that you use:

E.g. The first [hold up your forefinger] reason we do this … The second reason [hold up two fingers]

Tip: Position your device so the audience can see your head and shoulders, your hand gestures and the visual you are using (e.g. slides).

Using vo ice te chniq ues

When speaking online, your voice is really important because it is the focus of the audience’s attention. Keep in mind:

For example:

The first and most important reason we do this [pause] is that it’s proven to be effective and affordable. [pause] The second reason…

Tip : record yourself doing your presentation and watch it with the sound on to get a sense of your voice.

Watch it again, this time with the sound off – that will let you see what you are doing with your body, expressions and gestures.

Keepin g the message clear

A lot of clarity is achieved by using the voice techniques above, but you can also keep the message clear by:

Examples of signal language

The first section of my presentation deals with... The second … Finally ,...

Let me repeat , as it’s really a central part of what I’m talking about, …

There are three clear reasons we did this. First, …

This is important because...

Giving examples:

An example of what I’m talking about is …

To illustrate ...

Concluding:

In conclusion , it’s clear that …

To conclude ...

Using eff ective grap hics

Effective graphics and visuals support, rather than distract from, your message.

Tip : make sure each of your visuals supports your key points

Pre-perfo rmance ch e c ks

Fi nal ti p

The keys for great presentations in any context are planning and practice . Know what you are going to say and how you are going to say it then prepare through practice. Get feedback on your voice, body language, message clarity and visuals.

Related resources

Explore all resources

Collection of resources

Speaking and presenting

Build your confidence speaking in tutorials or presenting your research by putting these strategies into practice.

Collaborating online

Strategies for collaborating online and getting the most out of discussions and webinars.

Looking for one-on-one advice?

Get tailored advice from an Academic Skills adviser by booking an individual appointment, or get quick advice from one of our Academic Writing Tutors in our online drop-in sessions.

Get one-on-one advice

Online Presentations Guide

Prepare for Your Presentation

Source: Oral Presentation Tips , GVSU.

Six Ways to Prepare for an Online Presentation

I was preparing for two presentations recently.

The first was for a group of three in which we discussed a presentation that they were to deliver to a prospective client. The second was to a group of at least 40 who were to listen to me speak about what I am doing to stay relevant in this surreal environment. Each presentation required a different level of mindset, preparation and delivery, yet both had one common thread – they were delivered online.

Even for someone who specialises in public speaking, presenting online has its own set of challenges, and with so many of us migrating towards online platforms to stay connected, presenting online is crucial for getting our message across. There are similarities with presenting to a live audience and the preparation / delivery process is much the same; albeit, with a few tweaks that start with your mindset.

1. Mindset

Working from home can, for some, induce a sense of relaxation. We can get caught in a trap of feeling lazy and consequently approach our presentations in the same way. Do not allow yourself to get caught up in this and prepare your mind. Remind yourself that the way you present, the way you speak and the way you approach the event will determine how well it goes – and your appearance can remedy a part of this mindset.

Just because you are speaking to a camera, doesn’t mean you are not entirely seen, so have a think about how you show up and how you look. You wouldn’t want to look undressed and lethargic in front of a live audience – and speaking online IS speaking to a live audience, sometimes to a global audience.

You may have heard the phrase, “picture the crowd naked” (which by the way, is not good advice!), but don’t reverse it! Make sure you are wearing pants and other relevant cover-up necessities, so people don’t see you near-naked. I’ve witnessed people reaching for a document or a glass of water and in doing so, showing me their ‘home comforts’ which led me to question how serious they were about the presentation. How you dress is all a part of your preparation which, like a live presentation, is just as important online.

3. Preparation

Before your online event, prepare yourself just like you would a real-life presentation. Understand your subject, your intent and your desired objectives. Do your research, have an agenda and have a plan for what you want to say. If you are presenting to a new audience, find out who is joining the event by looking at the registrations and familiarise yourself with who everybody is. The other part is being aware of how you present and everything else around you.

4. Awareness

One of the things you need to be aware of is your body language. Do you sit or do you stand? How far away from your screen do you sit? What’s too close? It’s also difficult to gauge the audience body language and therefore worthwhile checking in with everyone intermittently to ensure they are following you – especially with those who have no video. When presenting to small groups, it’s important to check in with anybody who hasn’t responded and for longer sessions, it’s a good idea to give everybody a break to relax their eyes, otherwise you and the audience may lose focus.

You need to also be aware of where you are looking. Depending on what you use (laptop, camera or iPhone for example) you may need to adapt to your tech to maintain eye contact. For recording videos, you have to look and focus into the camera lens (not the screen) – the little red dot on your device. Be aware of what you do too – remember if you pick your nose, yawn or roll your eyes – people can see you!

This sense of awareness should also extend into your own environment.

5. Environment

As we are now working from our place of comfort, we can be oblivious to our surroundings. Check what’s behind and around you, and if you need to clean up your surroundings. Do you need to move certain objects and reposition things? One way to check is to do a test run – set up your laptop / phone and see what your background looks like.

It’s also a good idea to familiarise yourself with the environment. Familiarise yourself with your chair, get a drink and place it somewhere easily accessible; if necessary adjust your screen so you feel comfortable with its position. Make sure you have everything you need within distance, so you feel totally at ease with your environment – this includes understanding the system you are presenting from.

6. System Check

A system check is vital to mitigate any issues. Check your connection, your sound / microphone, your camera, slides and PPT. You can upload your slides and screen share to talk through them on your presentation platforms (feel free to reach out if you’re unsure how to do this).

Check how long your software facility will allow you to present. Most of us would be familiar with Zoom, which is great for one on one calls, however they have a limit of 40 minutes for larger meetings. The last thing you want is to be on an important presentation and you get cut off!

Once you are prepared, checked and ready, it’s time to get comfortable being slightly uncomfortable! Whether it’s to three or forty, the basic principles of speaking to a live audience still apply – know your content, keep it simple and deliver it with confidence.

Think of this as practice – while we are in isolation use this time presenting online to hone your skills to improve and gain some more experience to have a better understanding of mindset, preparation and delivery for when you are next asked to present to a live audience.

Shil Shanghavi Public Speaking and Presentation Specialist

If you are interested in learning more about Shil and his workshops on Essemy, please visit this link .

Stay Connected

Quick links, get regular tips and articles from our experts.

Organisation *

IMAGES

How to prepare for a presentation
4 Proven Steps for Preparing Your Presentation
Presentation Preparation Step1: Collect information in 2021
Online presentation tips
Presentation Preparation
12 Essential Apps to Prepare Your Presentations in 2021

VIDEO

Presentation Preparation Pusom 2022😇
Maximise Opportunities With Preparation
Effective presentation
How to Make an Effective Presentation
Make presentation that's gives you 5 by 5 sessional 😂
How to give Presentation

COMMENTS

10 Tips to Prepare Yourself for COVID-19
The United States declared a national emergency on Friday, March 13, in response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Now, the World Health Organization (WHO) is advising people of all ages to protect themselves during th...
How Can Someone Prepare a Management Account?
To prepare a management account, make sure to have the most up-to-date statistical and financial information; reports can be generated weekly, biweekly, monthly and even quarterly.
What Are Some Good Prepared Devotions for Meetings?
The Indiana District of the Lutheran Church has prepared devotions on its website, and users select the topic most appropriate for their meetings, including “A Taste of Life” during times of trouble or “Move Closer to the Light” for the new...
How to Give an Effective Online Presentation From Home
1. Simplify the slides of your online presentation. · 2. Prepare for your online presentation. · 3. Eliminate distractions. · 4. Dress for your
12 Tips to Give an Amazing Online Presentation
Start With Momentum · Fix computer errors: ALWAYS double- or triple-check your equipment before giving a virtual presentation. · Eliminate distractions: Silence
How to Give a Great Online Presentation: 11 Pro Tips
How to Give a Great Online Presentation: 11 Pro Tips · #1. Cut the number of your slides and simplify them · #2. Use the rule of three · #3. Fail
Best Practices For Virtual Presentations: 15 Expert Tips That Work
If using slides, make sure someone else (another webinar co-host or producer) also has a copy of the slides just in case your internet goes
10 Tips For Giving Effective Virtual Presentations
1. Be Brief · 2. Be Simple · 3. Be a TV Personality · 4. Be Standing · 5. Be Prepared · 6. Be Assisted · 7. Be Specific · 8. Be Synchronized.
Free Online 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
Free Presentation Slides & Maker Canva
How to make a presentation · Open Canva. Start a new presentation by opening up Canva. · Browse professional presentation templates. Explore Canva's wide range of
Presenting online : Academic Skills
The keys for great presentations in any context are planning and practice. Know what you are going to say and how you are going to say it then prepare through
Prepare for Your Presentation
Prepare for Your Presentation · Organize your thoughts. Start with an outline and develop good transitions between sections. · Have a strong
Six Ways to Prepare for an Online Presentation
Before your online event, prepare yourself just like you would a real-life presentation. Understand your subject, your intent and your desired
How to Design & Deliver a Great Online Presentation
13 tips that will greatly improve your online presentation skills. ... even more 04:21 - • Prepare analog (paper, sticky notes, etc.)