Public speaking requires a unique set of skills and talents that most professionals have honed after years of experience. With the emergence of teleconference and screen sharing technologies, professionals are faced with new communications challenges related to capturing their audience’s attention. Online audiences may be less likely to focus and more likely to multitask, as there is little social pressure to set down their smart phone and pay attention.
Despite these challenges, teleconferencing has steadily increased in popularity as a cost-effective means of communication. Business professionals, clergy, activists, and educators can broadcast their message to a much wider audience than they could before without leaving their home or office. Whether you conference in real-time or record your presentations, there are a few techniques that can help maintain the attention of your crowd, in a good way.
Here are 4 tips on how to keep your audience engaged:
1) Be Animated
Maintaining a high level of energy is important whether your presentation is online or in person. Keep your audience excited by showing them that you’re excited. This is especially important when your audience can’t see you, because your voice is one of the only tools you have to convey your personality.
2) Control Your Voice
Because some of your audience may be listening to your presentation with low-quality speakers, it’s important to enunciate and pace your words carefully. Don’t be afraid to pause for emphasis.
3) Tell Personal Stories
Even though you can’t connect face-to-face with your audience, you can still humanize yourself by telling personal stories and anecdotes. Not only do anecdotes make your presentation more relatable, but storytelling is a great way to make a dry topic more interesting.
4) Use Great Visuals, but Don’t Rely on Them
With screen sharing or online meetings, a PowerPoint, infographics, or other visual files illustrate your key points and represent complex information, but your audience will get bored easily if you read directly from your slides. Your talking points should expand beyond the bullets on your PowerPoint.
Are you ready to reach a wider audience? StartMeeting’s teleconference and screen-sharing features are affordable and easy to use. Sign up for a free trial today at www.StartMeeting.com
