Giving presentations, in general, are one of many people’s biggest fears. With all of the changes happening in the world, many people now have to learn how to do it over Zoom. It can be a little tricky for some, keeping their listeners engaged through a screen. It can also bring in other fear factors, like visuals, sound, etc… Like all presentations, Zoom requires preparation. In some cases, it is a more demanding way to give a presentation, so we need extra steps to really make it great.
Design a strong presentation. Every presentation needs strong visuals. Make sure that you have a well-designed and cohesive presentation put together to pair with what you’re presenting on. It will keep your audience much more engaged, and help them to better absorb what you’re teaching them.
Get rid of distractions. You should eliminate all possible distractions that could occur while you’re giving the presentation. This includes turning off or silencing all of your devices, such as phones, other computers, T.V.’s, etc. You should also make sure the room you’re in is quiet, and free of any other distractions. The last thing you want is for something to interrupt your live presentation.
Dress for success. Even though you’re only partially shown on video, make sure to wear something business casual or business professional! Not only will you look the part, but you will feel the part. Dressing the part will make you feel more confident during the presentation, and will help gain a respectable impression from your audience.
Check your audio and video. Before your presentation, log onto Zoom and do a test run to make sure that your audio and video are properly working. That way, you can avoid any potential problems before they happen.
Set up your background. Make sure you have a professional background set up with little distractions. Any office environment background or plain wall will do the trick perfectly. If you don’t have a suitable background, log into Zoom and head to ‘settings’ to find the option to customize your background. Choose from Zoom’s preset virtual backgrounds or upload your own!
Make it interactive. Incorporate collaborative aspects of your presentation to keep your audience engaged in your presentation. This could mean incorporating quizzes or multiple-choice questions or asking questions for them to answer throughout. You can even design some sort of collaborative activity depending on what you’re presenting on. Experiment with different collaborative aspects to figure out what you like best!
Be organized. Make sure that your presentation is well-structured and makes sense. If the information you’re presenting is unorganized, it may confuse your audience and cause them to lose interest. Before crafting the presentation, make a clear outline to ensure that everything is in order.
Be prepared to answer questions. When your presentation ends, you should always open it up to questions and comments. You should be as educated as you can be on the topic you’re presenting so that you can feel confident and ready when it comes time for questions. That being said, we can’t know everything, so it’s perfectly okay if someone asks you something that you don’t know the answer to. Just acknowledge that it’s a strong question, but something that you can’t confidently answer!
Practice! The best way to gain confidence is to practice. Practicing your presentation beforehand will make you more comfortable with the material and less nervous when it comes time to actually present. Try recording yourself presenting, and rewatch it to pinpoint what you are doing well and what you can improve on.
