The challenge we all have in using Zoom is that the audience is highly distracted. Everything we do must be aimed at focusing their eyes and their minds.  The Opening plays a crucial role in that. 

Research indicates that an audience listens more intently in the beginning of a presentation. So, a good opening must grab the audience, communicate the key points, and indicate why those points are benefits before you move on to the next section.

While this is true in live presentation, also, you need to work harder to hold the audience when on Zoom.

Some presenters like to tease out the information over the course of the presentation, and then make a big reveal at the end.  It’s much better to front load your presentation with the key information people need. Give your audience as much information as soon as possible. Don’t hold them in suspense.  If on Zoom, assume you will lose their attention pretty quickly.

The more they know, and the faster they know it, the more they’ll pay attention.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that attention is the new currency.” And this was before Zoom.  You can only imagine how challenging it is now.

Your audience will listen better when what you say is immediately seen as a benefit to them.  We used to think the challenge in a presentation is to be interesting, but in today’s world, your audience is multi-tasking even as they sit smiling at you.

Tell them how what you are espousing is a benefit to them.

Looking confident is the key to a good presentation. On Zoom your face is magnified so the audience can quickly tell whether you are faking it or not. When the audience senses you are confident in what you are saying, they are more likely to agree with you. 

It’s hard enough in a Zoom meeting to keep the audience glued to your content.  Don’t make it easier for them to stray.  Keep strong eye contact with the lens. Sit up.  Get stoked.  Look and speak like you want to be there. Tell stories. Smile.

Research indicates that people making on-line presentations rehearse less than if they were presenting face to face. Zoom presentations, especially with PowerPoint, require more rehearsal to get the timing of the slides down.

1. Offer content in smaller bites

2. Animate bullets in PowerPoint

3. Focus on Opens and Closes

Zoom presentations work better when you deal small amounts of content a little at a time.  For example, in a PowerPoint animate the content so that you can show and discuss just one line at a time.

Zoom presentations need to be shorter and cover less material. It helps to cover that content repeatedly from different angles.

I’m a big advocate of using pauses in a presentation.  But, in a Zoom meeting the pause sounds like a technical problem and people start to try to adjust their computer.

Remember, your audience’s attention span is worse on Zoom than in real life (it’s not great in real life). So, move the meeting along.

• Do a fast introduction of who from your side is on the Zoom call.  Just names, not title and job function.

• Do not have your PowerPoint already pulled up and on the screen.  That takes away from seeing all the people in the meeting.  It may be your only chance to connect with them.

• Before getting into your PowerPoint, do a little preface to say what they are going to see.  It might spark conversation, which is always a goal of an business development pitch.

• Go into your PowerPoint pitch.

• Every few minutes check in with the audience for questions and comments.

• When the PowerPoint is done, close it up so you can see everyone again.

• Now, say something like “I have a few closing remarks I’d like to make, but first, let’s open this up to Q&A.

• Allow Q&A to run for as long as the prospect has questions.  Then deliver a fast summary of what you presented today and ask for the business.

Zoom, for better and worse, is becoming more and more prevalent. Eye contact still counts.  Look into the camera lens when you present. Your image on the other end will appear to be looking directly at your clients and coworkers. And smile!

1. Eye contact. Look at the lens of the camera as you speak, not the screen.

2. Smile. It’s still an easy way to connect with the audience.

3. Get Stoked.  Look like you want to be there.

4. Volume. The audio is crucial in a Zoom presentation.  Use a microphone and headset.

5. Postures/Gesture. Don’t sit slumped over when you present.  We encourage hand and gesture use, but keep your hands close to your body and don’t flail.   It makes you look wild on the screen.

In the Zoom world, it is difficult to get attention, so you need to refresh the audience frequently.  You can refresh with a break in the way you are presenting, showing a video refreshes, asking questions and having a conversation is a good way to refresh.  We need to do  these things because the audience’s attention is straying, no matter how good their intentions.  

One of the most important segments in a presentation is the close.  It could contain a Q&A session as well.  If only to refresh the audience, when you get to the close and don’t need your slides anymore, close the PowerPoint which then allows all of the participants to fill the screen and see each other.  Now let’s talk.  Have a Q&A, then make your close, which might include a call to action of some sort.

A close is much better done connecting with the audience (to the extent you can) and not a more limited view because the PowerPoint is blocking everyone.

• Animate the bullets. Discuss one bullet line at a time before you move on.

• Cover less material, but cover it deeper and more repetitively. 

• Follow rules for a strong open and close format (see my Opening tips).

• Build in redundancy.  Show slides with progress information.