From office meetings to keynote speeches at large corporate events, virtual presentations have become a common feature in online professional spaces. For many people, this has meant quickly developing a new skillset. It turns out speaking in a live event is different than giving a virtual event presentation. If you’re new to giving virtual event presentations, read on.

What Makes Virtual Event Presentations Different From the Live Format?

Even if you’ve delivered dozens of live presentations, it doesn’t mean you’re prepared to present to an audience in a virtual environment. The event manager who has asked you to present expects you to be ready for the virtual platform.

Even if you’re doing exactly the same presentation as you’ve done for a live audience, there are some key differences when presenting to a virtual audience or in a hybrid environment. Once you know what they are, it’s relatively easy to modify your delivery to improve your online performance.

It’s Harder to Make a Connection

The biggest difference between live and virtual event presentations is your audience. Or rather, it’s where your audience is. At a live event, you’re speaking to a live audience who’s right there in the room with you. It’s much easier to develop a rapport with your audience when you’re in close proximity. You also have the advantage of audience-generated energy. This is the same kind of phenomenon that happens in a movie theater, where emotions are heightened because there’s a large group of people sharing the same experience. 

When you give a virtual presentation, you don’t get any of those benefits. Most of your audience are at home, while some may be at work. And most of them will be watching alone. Because your audience is fragmented, you don’t get the benefit of crowd energy, and it’s harder to create that rapport.

In short, it’s harder to make a connection with your audience. It’s therefore vital that you inject plenty of personality and warmth into your voice and your body language. That will help you connect with your audience, despite the physical separation.

It’s Harder to Engage 

Just as it’s harder to connect with your audience, it’s also harder to keep them engaged. An engaged audience is one that’s alert, focused, and receptive to your words. But online audiences may have distractions at home or work vying for their attention. This, combined with the physical distance, means it’s generally harder to keep an online audience engaged.

To help your audience stay engaged, you can modify your delivery in a few simple ways. For instance:

• Add visual elements. Slides, images, and even short prerecorded video clips can add visual interest that makes your overall presentation more engaging. You don’t need a large video production team. Just choose clips that highlight what you’re discussing, or use an infographic maker to organize content in a visually appealing way.
• Create natural breaks. Dividing your material into distinct sections can make it easier for your audience to follow.
• Talk to the camera. Rookies often make the mistake of talking to their laptop screen, instead of looking at the webcam. The most effective approach is to treat the camera as though it’s a person you’re having a one-on-one discussion with. Maintain “eye” contact with the camera as you would a real person, and it’ll help the audience feel more connected and engaged.

6 Tips to Effectively Engage a Hybrid or Virtual Audience

1. Dress the Part

Many people who attend professional events online do so in casual clothing. That may be fine for the audience, but when you’re giving a virtual event presentation, it’s important to dress like you mean business. That means professional attire, from head to foot—no pajama pants concealed out of sight of your webcam!

Dressing casually may help you feel more physically relaxed, but what does that do for your mindset? Do you want to feel casual and relaxed, or would you rather project confidence, competence, and professionalism? Your audience needs to know you’re taking yourself, and your presentation, seriously. If you look the part, you’ll feel it, and your audience will feel it too.

2. Get Your Equipment Setup Right

Along with the right clothes, you also need the right equipment setup. This will help you create an effect that’s visually interesting and engaging, without being overpowering. For instance:

• Webcam. If you’re using a webcam, the camera should be at your eye-level, with your head centered in the shot. This will let you maintain eye contact in a natural way. Remember, it doesn’t matter what your setup looks like at your end, as long as it looks good to your audience!
• Lighting. Natural lighting is the best option, if it’s available. If you do need to rely on artificial lighting, it should be medium intensity, diffuse lighting. Position your light source above and in front of you to avoid glare and backlighting issues.
• Background. If you don’t have a branded virtual event background to use, stick with a neutral color to avoid creating a visual distraction. You also have the option of using a green screen, or chroma keying technology. With the right setup, a green screen can be a great way to present slides and graphics, and add next-level professionalism to your visual presentation. If you don’t have access to this kind of setup, don’t worry—it’s one of those things that’s “nice to have” rather than strictly necessary.
• Event Website and/or Mobile Event App. Make sure you know how to navigate and maximize your event platform. 

3. Understand the Event Technology You’re Using

Virtual events rely on a lot of technological elements to operate. The success of your virtual event presentation relies on a stable and fast internet connection, good audio quality, and the right lighting, among other things. Nailing the tech setup helps give your audience an engaging experience, so it’s important that you’re familiar with your setup. If you have any tech troubles during your presentation, you need to be able to troubleshoot on the spot. Save time by thoroughly exploring your virtual event platform before the day of the event.

4. Avoid too Much Visual Detail

Visual interest is a great thing to add for a virtual event presentation. Slides are an effective way to provide background information, present data, and serve up bite-size pieces of information. But if your slides have so much detail that they could give the presentation without your help, then they’re probably too detailed.

You don’t want your audience to get bogged down in reading everything that’s on your slides. Instead, design your slides so that they support and enhance what you’re saying, rather than doing all of the talking for you. 

5. Let Your Audience Be Part of the Presentation 

If your presentation takes place before a live audience, inviting their participation is a highly effective way to boost virtual engagement. When people know they might get a chance to offer input, they’re much more likely to focus when you’re talking. One way to do this is to write in one or more points where you can ask the audience a question.

For instance, if you’re giving a product demonstration, you might focus on what kinds of problems your product can solve. At this point, you can allow attendees to give their own examples in the live chat. Or, you could ask the audience what solutions they’ve tried, and then use that as a jump-off point to talk about how your product provides a solution.

Using an online event platform also means you have a couple unique opportunities to bring your audience into the conversation:

• Take advantage of live chat. Most virtual event platforms have a live chat option. While paying too much attention to it can be distracting, you may want a system in which someone makes sure you see the most important questions. Showing that you see and respond to attendees’ questions can help keep listeners engaged.
• Mention social media mentions. If your event has had a significant presence on social media leading up to the event, mentioning interesting conversations and social media posts from event attendees also increases interest in your words. People want to be seen on social media. That’s why they’re posting.
• Use live polls. Another way to engage your audience is to ask a question in a live poll format. Watch as users answer in the moment. Not only do you gain long-term data, all of your listeners experience the discovery with you.

6. Rehearse Until You’re Rock Solid

Keeping your enthusiasm and energy high is important to maintain audience engagement, but it’s hard to do that when you’re giving a presentation to a computer. Practice is absolutely key to giving a good performance, especially if you’re new to virtual event presentations. 

To get ready for virtual sessions, aim for one or more complete runs, with a virtual audience if possible. Grab a couple of friends or work colleagues, and have them watch via Zoom or another video conferencing platform, while you give your presentation. They can give you feedback, not just on your material, but also on how you’re coming across to your audience.

Another option is to record yourself while you practice. You can then watch those recordings and figure out what your strengths are and where you might make improvements.

4 Tips Specifically for the Hybrid Event Presentation

Hybrid events are ever more common in the events industry. When presenting for a hybrid event, you have both a live in-person audience, and a live streaming one. All the rules about presenting for a virtual audience still apply—but you also have the people sitting in front of you to consider. You can’t ignore all the best practices for an in-person event either. Each audience has slightly different needs in terms of what’s engaging and interesting to them, so you must be able to strike a balance that satisfies them both.

1. Greet both audiences

For instance, it means you need to be able to project plenty of warmth and personality into your delivery for your virtual audience, but without overdoing it for the people sitting in front of you in the lecture theater. One way to help with this is to start out by greeting your remote audience personally, and addressing them separately from your live audience. 

2. Maximize your physical space (without going off-camera)

Another way to help your virtual audience feel connected is to use the physical space you have. If you’re on a stage, move around as you speak. This helps because your movement makes your visual presentation more engaging. And if you make a point of moving closer to the recording camera at intervals, it helps communicate interest and inclusion to your remote audience. However, if you make this kind of movement part of your presentation, make sure to run some practice sessions beforehand. This will let you determine how far you can move in any direction and still stay in camera shot. There may be some areas of the stage you need to avoid in order to make sure you don’t move out of view. 

3. Balance your eye contact with both audiences

One of the most difficult things to get right is eye contact. When giving a hybrid presentation, you’ll be switching off between making eye contact with audience members and making eye contact with the virtual audience via camera. It can be difficult initially, but once you get the rhythm down it gets easier, and with practice it’ll be something you can do automatically.

4. Practice, practice, practice

Practice, of course, is key to giving an effective hybrid presentation. It’s not necessarily easy to make your audience feel included when you have two audiences to consider! But practicing elements such as eye contact and movement definitely helps, and once you get them down, giving a great hybrid presentation will be second nature. Check with the event organizers to see if you can access the space where you’ll be presenting ahead of time, so you can test the actual technology and physical space limitations.

Plenty of Practice Is the Best Path to Success

If you find the idea of giving a virtual event presentation intimidating, you’re not alone. But like most new skills, the key to giving a great presentation, whether it’s online or at a live event, is practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the more confident you’ll feel when it’s time to present for an audience.