The pandemic has forced people around the world to work from home, intensifying the need to adapt and connect in a virtual world. To stay in touch with customers and prospects, we are now learning how to use online video meeting apps. Virtual speaking is crucial for the business of communicating to live audiences, customers, and prospects. Furthermore, learning how to succeed at virtual speaking has become a top priority as many of our favorite industry conferences have converted into virtual events. Last week, we touched on how to attend virtual events and maximizing your outcomes. Today, we will look at ways to successfully master presenting and speaking at virtual events. Here are six tips that can make a big difference in your virtual speaking appearance as you gear up for this year’s virtual conference season.
1. Set up a space that makes you feel comfortable
It’s natural for human beings to fear the unknown, including in situations that involve public speaking. In this case – speaking to an audience via the computer. Find a space in your house or office that you use consistently to take your online meetings. The space should be removed from busy areas of your household including kids’ rooms, kitchen, and windows. Regardless of the quality of your camera, if there are windows, the lighting changes throughout the time of the day.
2. Choose a visually appealing background
You should always be mindful of your background. Cluttered rooms make presenters come off as disorganized. Distracting elements such as busy wallpapers or background colors will take attention away from you. It’s important to find a background that is simple to reflect your professionalism. A simple background could be as easy as a shade of grey behind you with a nice plant or fireplace. Picking your location ahead of time will help ensure you are putting your best face forward.
3. Correctly position your framing
Framing should be an important consideration as you prepare for your next virtual speaking event. The ideal framing is to position your camera so that it is approximately at your eye level. If you are using a laptop, you can raise the laptop camera to eye level with a few books or boxes. The ideal framing for your shot is from the chest up, with your face filling the center of the frame.
4. Test your sound quality
One of the best ways to feel secure and confident while virtually speaking is setting yourself up to sound good. If you are consistently doing virtual speaking engagements and meetings, one consideration is buying an external microphone. This will remove the tin-like sound quality and make your voice sound crystal clear. Another factor to consider is your Wi-Fi connection. Take a moment beforehand to run a speed test or arrange for a wired connection. An on-camera presentation takes up a lot of bandwidth. With a slow connection, you might run into audio problems like feedback, echoes, and having a robot-like voice.
5. Look your best with good lighting
To look your best during virtual speaking engagements, you should optimize your setup and know how to get the best lighting. Open up your windows to let natural light in – just make sure that all the light doesn’t hit your back. If you’re presenting at several big virtual speaking engagements, it might be a good idea to invest in a ring light. A ring light is an easy-to-use lighting tool that helps smooth out your shadow and diffuses flattering soft light evenly on your face. Their circular design helps to contour your features and hide blemishes. The soft light produces a halo effect around your face, capturing your best features, and bringing a professional and cinematic look to your appearance.
6. Maintain eye contact directly with the camera
Talking on camera is definitely not a natural skill. It might feel uncomfortable to look directly into your camera while you are virtually speaking. However, by avoiding looking at the camera, you risk coming off as less confident to your customers, prospects, managers, and colleagues. It’s natural to look at the other person’s video or picture and that may feel like you are making eye contact. However, it doesn’t read like you are making eye contact with that person at all. In fact, it comes off that you are not paying attention at all by looking at the corner of your computer screen. With everything being in the virtual world now, the small things like this matter to connect with people. Mastering effective eye contact during your virtual speaking presentations will help you continually build your reputation and maintain lasting relationships.
Navigating the world of virtual speaking
As the equipment finance industry converts to a virtual world, these six tips will enable to you look more visually appealing. By following these key tips, you will come across as more poised, controlled, and will clearly strengthen your message to the audience. The LTi Technology Solutions team hopes to see you at an industry virtual event soon!
