It’s becoming increasingly common for meetings to be conducted via conference call, Skype or virtual online meetings in business. Of course it makes sense from a business point of view, saving lots of money and time.
But is communicating with remote audiences causing you to lose focus in your presentations? Is your message being diluted to cater to an audience you can’t see? Are you worried that your speaking style isn’t appropriate for remote conversations and presentations? Today’s post brings together the advice I’ve picked up from watching and talking to people who do a lot of remote communicating, whether conference calls, webinars or online courses. Read on to find out how to present to remote audiences.
1. Ask for attention
The fact is that when your audience isn’t in view, they’re going to be more easily distracted and tempted to multi-task – check their emails, get on with another job or surf the web – while they’re listening to you.
I’ve watched a few webinars by the creator of Firepole Marketing, Danny Iny. Every time, Danny asks the listeners to turn off their emails, put their phones away and give him all of their attention for 40 minutes.
By acknowledging the potential problem and asking people not to get distracted, I’d be willing to bet Danny keeps his audience’s attention better than a lot of other webinar leaders.
2. Mute if necessary
Remote meetings don’t feel the same as sit down presentations, which can be a problem when you have lots of information to share, and lots of people listening. If you’re getting frequently interrupted by your audience and feel that’s diluting the message you’re trying to share, it might be time to use the mute button.
Webinar leaders tend to mute everybody in a call except for themselves, so the audience can’t contribute. People can be unmuted at any time, but this can be really helpful if you’ve got important information to get through with an over-excited audience.
Frame the choice for your audience – don’t say “I’m going to mute you all because you’re annoying” (obviously). Instead, show the choice will benefit them: “while I’m presenting my findings, I’m going to mute your microphones so that we don’t get distracted/you don’t have to worry about making noise on your end”.
3. Change your speaking style
Speaking remotely is a lot like speaking to international audiences. Distractions, interference and poor microphones or speakers can all make it difficult to hear what you’re saying, so you need to make sure what you say is as simple and easy to understand as it can be.
Shorten your sentences, cutting out needless adjectives or details. Slow down the pace of your speech, and pause for longer than usual at the end of each sentence.
