Everyone’s working online right now but how good is your ‘Zoom-Ability’?
We’ve all seen those viral pics of on-screen networkers without their trousers or with something distracting in the background. All very entertaining – but the novelty has worn off and now you should be as professional on-screen as you would be in your office. But many people are still not aware of the impact their on-screen presence is having and the way it’s affecting their business. So here are some top tips to help you deliver professional business pitches and networking presentations with impact and style:
- Engage with your audience – right from the start. You’ve got 10 seconds/20 words to grab attention or lose your audience, so plan a powerful intro.
- Make eye contact. Without the personal presence third dimension, no eye contact means no engagement, so you need to make and maintain eye contact to keep your audience engaged and interested.
- Look at the lens - not at the screen. To make eye contact with your audience you have to look at the lens – all the time!
- Check the lighting – if your face is in shadow, you’re not making eye contact. And having a bright light behind you from a window or spotlights can be blinding for your audience.
- Speak slower than normal and more clearly. The sound on most video calls is compromised – often with the words and mouth movements out of sync. So consider this a ‘performance’ not a normal conversation.
- Look smart/professional – treat every presentation like a new business pitch. Your audience makes an instant judgment about whether you’re worth listening to – or not.
- Avoid visual distractions – no moving/busy backgrounds (or bold patterns/stripes on clothes). Without the personal presence it’s harder to keep your audience interested so make sure their attention is on you and what you have to say bot on what’s going on behind you.
- Don’t be boring – change the pace and tone of your voice and use ‘props’. Craft your content to be relevant to every audience.
- Don’t drown your audience in detail. Keep to the key points, you can provide more information in a follow up call or email.
- Be interactive. Involve your audience from the start to establish and maintain engagement.
Check out your ‘Zoom- Ability’ with our Presentations Coach, Debbie Catt and make sure your presentations are the best they can be. Call now: 0161 408 7888.
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