Golden rules for think tankers for online presentations

It’s easy to join a webinar. It’s even easier to leave, far more so than an in-person event. 

During the Think Tank School, we work with communication trainer Laura Shields to offer our fellows an intensive training day on interviews and pitches. Below are her golden rules for online presentations and interviews, 15 quick tips to help you prepare and deliver your speaking points with an online audience’s attention span in mind.

1. Prepare speaking/interview points with oral delivery in mind i.e. do not write out a script if you are going to be on camera.
2. Respect your audience and fellow speakers by sticking to (or undershooting) your allocated speaking time.
3. Concentrate on a few key points and use concrete, real examples to make your arguments memorable and concrete for your audience.
4. Avoid or limit jargon and business language as much as possible. Even if your audience understands it, it still takes them longer to process, meaning they won’t get as much out of what you are saying as if you were using colloquial language.
5. If using slides keep them simple, use pictures and numbers that tell a story. Print them out so that you have a hard copy and make sure the organisers have the deck in advance so that they can control the slides if you lose your internet connection or something goes wrong.
6. Spend 5 to 10 minutes warming up in advance so that you can ensure a smooth performance while retaining eye contact with the camera and therefore the audience.
7. If using a laptop put books underneath it so that your eyeline is level with the audiences when you look into your webcam.
8. Put your slides into reading mode (if you have the option) before sharing your screen. The audience will see the first slide only (i.e. the beginning of the presentation) and means they won’t get a glimpse of your other slides as you go through the process of starting to play them. The reading mode icon (if you have it) is usually at the bottom right of your slide deck.
9. If you plan to play videos keep them short and ensure that you have clicked the share audio option when sharing your screen. You will need to do this every time you share your screen i.e. if there are any technical problems and you have to start the process again.
10. Adopt a BBC (Bottom to the Back of the Chair) posture whereby you sit towards the back of your chair with your feet firmly planted and incline forward slightly from your chest (not your shoulders). You should aim to look engaged but disciplined. Do not lean too close to the screen – it comes across as intense and invasive of your audience’s space.
11. Sit still before starting to speak. Most people unconsciously adjust when it’s their turn to talk but too much initial movement can distract from what you want to say.
12. Yes, you can use hand gestures but avoid huge unstructured ones which can be tiring for remote audiences if they go on for a long time.
13. Talk to the camera like it’s a person. The bulk of your eye contact should be on the webcam, so that the audience thinks you are engaging directly. A lot of the people don’t like the artifice of speaking into a camera (as opposed to an in person audience) but you will soon get used to and discomfort does not mean you are doing a bad job.
14. Relax, smile (if appropriate) and enjoy yourself. An engaged and interested speaker will always be more appealing than a technically perfect one.
15. Watch yourself back afterwards if you have the option. Even if you hate seeing yourself in action nothing beats it for making improvements to your delivery next time round.

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Laura Shields

Founder, Red Thread 
Communication Trainer

 

Laura Shields is founder of Red Thread. Based in Brussels, Red Thread provides hands-on, concrete and constructive media, public speaking and message training throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Background
Laura started her career as a journalist. After graduating from Cambridge University in 2000, she worked at CNN and CNBC in London, were she covered European business news and US politics. Laura moved to the BBC in 2004 where she worked as the Economics and Business Analyst and then as a producer for Radio 4’s World at One and PM programmes. She reported for Reuters TV from all the major EU Summits and as a communications consultant she wrote for Open Democracy, Huffington Post, Communication Director and Outsource Magazines.

Clients
Through Red Thread, Laura now provides communications training to a wide roster of clients, including European Commissioners and senior managers, EU and US Ambassadors, European government ministers, MEPs, Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies, trade associations, NGOs, thinktanks, scientists and philanthropic organisations. You can read some of their testimonials below.

Photo Credit: RedThread