1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to give better virtual presentations. 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: The most important thing to remember is that when you 5 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: are presenting virtually, everyone has the equivalent of an aisle seat. 6 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: You have to work a little bit harder to keep 7 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: them sitting there. When the pandemic swept through the world 8 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: last year, almost all in person conferences, workshops and classes 9 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: were canceled. A year later, these are slowly resuming, but 10 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: many people are still delivering a lot of their content virtually, 11 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: and you know what, that is not a bad thing. 12 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: There are some real upsides to not trying to convene 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: many people in one place. You save money on travel, 14 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: you don't pump so much carbon into the atmosphere, people 15 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: don't have to work out complicated childcare logistics, and people 16 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: who might not have been able to attend because of 17 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:18,040 Speaker 1: family or health issues can participate as easily as the unencumbered. 18 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: For all these reasons, I suspect many conferences will continue 19 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: to have virtual components, and some conferences that began over 20 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: the past year will always be virtual. However, as many 21 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: teachers have found over the last year keeping people engaged 22 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: through virtual presentations is just harder when you are all 23 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: sitting in an auditorium together. It's not that easy to 24 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: stand up from an interior seat, cross over all of 25 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: your fellow attendees, and walk down the aisle to the 26 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: door while someone is presenting. You're probably also not going 27 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: to multitask by taking a phone caller a thing like that. 28 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: From an auditorium, you aren't staring at a pile of 29 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: laundry that needs to be put away. But in a 30 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,920 Speaker 1: virtual context, it is easy to turn your camera off 31 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: and do something else. If you aren't engaged, you can 32 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: exit without anyone really noticing. The result is that with 33 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: virtual presentations, everyone has the equivalent of an aisle seat 34 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: in the back. It is very easy to slip out, 35 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: So if you are presenting, you need to realize this, 36 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: and you need to build your presentation with this in mind. 37 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: One of the best options is to be shorter. My 38 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: standard speech format used to be giving forty to fifty 39 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: minute keynotes for in person events. Now almost all my 40 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: virtual speeches are thirty minutes or less. When people only 41 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: have to sit through a shorter quantity of time, they 42 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: are less likely to check out. It also help to 43 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: be more interactive. For my talks, we usually fill the 44 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: balance of the time with a structured fireside chat. The 45 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: organizer has some questions queued up ahead of time, and 46 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: we discuss these topics to gather. Turns out people like 47 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: to hear other voices, not just one voice talking for 48 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: a full hour. You can do polls or ask people 49 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: to answer questions, and having people do exercises or write 50 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: specific things down can redirect someone who is about to 51 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: wander off to clean out the fridge without putting anyone 52 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: on the spot. And of course it helps to be 53 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: animated and to make sure your material is compelling. In general, 54 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: for speakers that means humor, or it means really good 55 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: dramatic storytelling. I've seen both work well, so just figure 56 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: out which best compliments your material. If you are presenting, 57 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: it helps to be able to see at least one 58 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: person on your screen who is listening to you, so 59 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: I usually ask to have an organizer or someone else 60 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: keep their camera on for me. If you can see 61 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: that person nodding, this can help you emphasize the right things, 62 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: and if they seem distracted, well may be best to 63 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: move on to the next topic. They were probably not 64 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: the only one. When everyone's got an aisle seat, you 65 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: need to plan things more carefully. Of course, a lot 66 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: of in person conferences would have benefited from better planning too, 67 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: but since people couldn't leave as easily, some of that 68 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 1: has been more of an afterthought. The shift to virtual 69 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: learning is forcing us all to rethink many things, but 70 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: I generally think that that is a positive. We all 71 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: need to improve that our skills and remembering that everyone 72 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: has an aisle seat can raise the caliber of any presentation. 73 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and 74 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, 75 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me 76 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with 77 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod 78 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D. 79 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,280 Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast 80 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com That Before Breakfast 81 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, 82 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is 83 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. 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