The COVID-19 coronavirus crisis has revolutionized organization workflows like never before. The world is going virtual and businesses are adapting virtual gatherings. Today, a considerable proportion of the workforce is working from home and managing daily office operations. Moreover, in-person meetings and presentations didn’t stop. People are going virtual through online meetings. Creating and presenting an offline presentation is different from an online one in many ways. Since you’re not physically present in front of your audience, it’s just your presentation they’ll see. Unlike live presentations, where you have a physical room and a sitting audience, it creates a group-like feeling. Achieving that in your online meeting can be difficult since distracting factors in online meetings are many. You can keep your remote viewers engaged only when your presentation is out of the box.
Since Zoom and Skype meetings have become the new normal, it’s imperative to create a better viewing experience for your presentation. The ingredients to success in online presentation meetings are simple. You just need to inculcate thoughtful planning, encompass a superior design in your presentation and ensure nimble, interactive delivery of the same. Time has come, your online presentation needs to be more clear and concise than ever. Since online presentations don’t go longer like traditional ones, you have to make the best of your limited time. Giving a presentation has always been about sharing ideas. The concept hasn’t changed for online meetings, it’s just some minor tweaks are to be done to ensure that your message is shared across and there are engaging takeaways for your viewers. Let’s move ahead and see how you can create meaningful presentations for your online meetings.
How to get better at creating virtual meeting presentations?
Gripping Content:
Since distraction is the biggest challenge during virtual meetings, you can only captivate your audience and make them stick to their screens when the presentation has brilliant content. Content rests at the centre of any presentation. While performing research for your presentation, you should understand that the content needs to be factual, accurate and it should be well-organized. Like mentioned above, you’ll be having a limited time on the stage. If your slides and content within aren’t well organized, your audience won’t be able to relate to the topic and can easily deviate from it. You should also provide references and figures while your slide is pitching something to your audience. This boosts the trust factor and motivates your audience to know more about the subject matter.
Keeping your slides simple, clear & efficient:
Just like in traditional templates, slides containing a lot of text are challenging to interpret. The same is true for your virtual meeting but with the same challenge increasing manifolds. In online meetings, a presentation which is easy to understand and explains all the facts lucidly is a winner. The slides should act as a brief reminder of the topic and not the topic itself. Setting the typography and following a minimalistic design approach can do wonders for the presentation. You can also follow the 10-20-30 rule of presentation making. Remember, no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes of talking and set the text to 30 font size. Keeping content short and to the point can help you ace your business goals in today’s time-sensitive environment.
Use professional templates:
Professional ready to use PowerPoint templates can open-up your world to amazing presentation opportunities. These templates can be instantly used and you can create an attractive presentation in a matter of a few minutes. SlideModel.com is one of the biggest readymade PowerPoint template providers on the internet. Entrepreneurs, businesses and individuals can leverage these PowerPoint templates for their online meetings. For instance, templates such as Corporate Governance, SWOT analysis, Pyramid Diagram, Roadmap Concept, etc. can be used in online meetings with added ease. These templates can be imported in Google Slides and you can edit them on the go. Hence, not only you’ll be saving ample time and resources, but your virtual meetings can also have greater collaboration than ever before.
Include attractive visuals:
It would be evident to mention that content is being transformed into visuals every day. Gone are the days when we used to get satisfied with some status post or article. With the advancement of technology, infographics, charts and high-quality images are available in the market which can be customized and created as per the presentation topic. You can consider including a good number of visual elements. These engage the audience at a whole new level and it’ll also save you a considerable amount of time. Since you no longer are required to create diagrams, charts, tables from scratch. You can simply download visual elements and put the data in. This will aid your online meeting in unimaginable ways. Always remember that your audience is thirsty for well-designed slides and information.
Visually reinforce key points:
In traditional presentations, you can easily get away with fewer slides because whenever you stop speaking, your body language, voice and expressions are all comprehended by your audience. In online meetings, your audience will be seeing the slides alone, if you stop speaking for a couple of seconds, chances are high that you leave your audience in the dust of confusion. For this, you can create visuals and place them at slides or places where you’d naturally stop speaking. This will make sure that your audience is at the same level as you. Moreover, the human brain is more receptive to images. When you reinforce key points through visuals, your audience is more likely to remember the information.
While creating a presentation for online gatherings and meetings, you should never forget the importance of font size, colour contrast, infographics & self-explanatory charts. If the above-mentioned tips are followed right, your online presentation will be powerful enough to woo your viewers and help you accomplish your goals.