With the current climate and situation surrounding COVID-19, thought leaders are transitioning and adapting to virtual formats to continue sharing their ideas and solutions. There  are many tools and tips to help adapt a presentation to online, but one hurdle remains: how do you keep a virtual audience engaged when you can’t read the “digital room”? 

While speakers at live events can rely on reading audience reactions in a shared environment, virtual webinars and live broadcasts via Zoom provide a different and exciting challenge. Though it’s important to be mindful during these unprecedented times, speakers can still insert personality, and deploy humor into their presentations to keep attendees interested and online. Hey, at least there are no hecklers! 

We put together a few helpful tips to ensure your presentations are engaging and prevent attendees from clicking “leave meeting.” 

Start strong and set a common ground.

One element that we'll miss from in-person conferences is the shared event experience amongst attendees that we can bond over, like the breakfast spread or a crowded session room. Usually speakers can use shared environments as an opening to their presentations to create a common ground. Now that attendees will likely be tuning in from their own living quarters, make a point to set the stage and connect with your audience through a quick anecdote that is universal or relevant after introducing yourself—this will get them engaged from the first few moments. Remember, in most cases you won’t get an audible audience reaction, so practice saying it out loud beforehand to eliminate the feeling of awkwardness that might throw you off. 

Use that voice.

If you’re sharing your screen during a virtual session, your voice may be all you got. While you may be used to employing body language or facial cues to signal to your audience, it’s all about your tone over video. Practice tonation and how you say things to ensure clarity and make your presentation more dynamic. If you have the ability to use your nonverbal cues, fantastic! Be aware though that room setup and quality wifi count as “nonverbal” now too! 

Spice up those slides. 

In virtual events, slides become even more important than at in-person sessions. Additionally, unlike showing slides in large conference rooms (where it’s often harder to see, or audiences are seated further from the screen), virtual events allow attendees to see  presentations up close and personal. Take advantage of this and give your slides personality and an extension of yourself and your mind. Use clear but creative design, or add in bits of relatability and humor where possible. A great way to add humor throughout your presentation is through examples—and we know there’s no better way to drive a joke home than a perfectly placed visual. 

Leverage pausing, timing and transitions.

With work from home as the new norm, late-night comedy hosts are becoming pros having to adapt to a no-audience format and no laughs, but continue to use pauses and breaks to cue laughs. While most of our virtual events won’t be broadcast on a major network, we can learn from these hosts. Though you won’t hear or see your audience, don’t take an effective pause for granted and leave some breathing room for attendees to digest the content. Maintain the flow of your presentation with intentional pauses and smooth transitions. 

Close with a punch.

Take the closing of your presentation as an opportunity to bring it all together and state your call to action. Take a cue from the standups: make use of “call-backs” or previous humorous anecdotes or jokes that you can reference from earlier in your presentation as a final thought.