This chapter is adapted from Exploring Public Speaking: 4th Edition, by Kristin Barton, Amy Burger, Jerry Drye, Cathy Hunsicker, Amy Mendes and Matthew LeHew, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

How do I Prepare for Online Speaking?

Energize

Virtual speaking is different from in-person public speaking in that you are completely reliant on your voice, technology, and visuals, such as slides, etc.

We know that monotone and monorate speaking is horrible for face-to-face speaking, but it is truly the “kiss of death” for web speaking. To deliver a successful virtual presentation, you must appear and sound energetic—an energetic voice has variety and interest to it. Since we tend to have a lower energy level when we sit, some experts suggest that web conference speakers stand to approximate the real speaking experience. This suggestion makes sense.

As we have mentioned repeatedly through this text, it is important to prepare ahead for your speech. Preparing means to practice your speech orally and physically many times. A good first step is to audio-record yourself on your smartphone or other device during your practice, followed by critically and honestly thinking about whether your voice sounds listless, flat, low-energy, or likely to put your audience to sleep.

Visuals

Take great care in creating your visuals. Most of us are tempted to put far too much text and too many graphics on our slides, and since the slides are the primary visual the audience will see rather than your full body, the temptation is even stronger. If your workforce presentation is likely to be graph, data, and information-heavy because it is information that your audience must know, send the information in a report ahead of time. We’ve mentioned before: speeches are not the occasion to dump much information on an audience.

Therefore, keep your visuals simple. You do not have to have lots of clip art and photographs to maintain your audiences’ attention. One rule business speakers like to use is the “10-20-30 rule: no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 words on the slides, and no font smaller than 30 point.” Using 30-point font will definitely minimize the text amount. Inserting short videos and planning interactivity, such as polls, which the software supports, are also helpful.

Appearance

Also to prepare, be mindful about your appearance. If your physical appearance will be visible, be sure your background is appropriate. Many people perform webinars in their offices, and let’s be honest, some office backgrounds are less than optimal, such as being messy and disorganized or having distracting decorations. And, pay attention to what you are wearing. You don’t want to wear a white shirt with a neutral, blank, or white wall behind you because you will seem to disappear against this background.

Technology

Additionally, it goes without saying that the web speaker must master the technology, not be mastered by it. It is a fact of life that technology messes up. For example, included in this text’s appendix is an archived webinar given by an expert web speaker. During the webinar, the speaker’s Internet connection was lost! Even if your connection is strong, you must know what software buttons to push. For this reason, we advise that you have an assistant on hand to handle the technology and to make sure it works so that you can focus on your communication.

Here are a few more preparation tips:

1. Interruptions. Make sure you will not be interrupted during the web conference. This can be extremely embarrassing as well as ineffective. You have probably seen the priceless BBC video in which the speaker is interviewing an expert on Korea. The interviewer’s children photobombed the interview and then their mother tried to clean up the damage. It is hilarious, but the same situation won’t be for you. Lock the door with a big do-not-disturb sign and turn off the phones.
2. Notes. Place your notes and anything else you need right at hand.
3. Appearance. If you can be seen, be seen—use the technology to your advantage so that you are not an entirely disembodied voice talking over slides.

Humor

Finally, in preparing a live webinar presentation, think humor—it is a great attention-getter! Keep in mind that there is a limit to how much humor you use, and it must also be tasteful and relevant. Cartoons, short videos, funny anecdotes, and visual humor help you work against the audience’s temptation to multitask or daydream during your virtual speech. Plus, humor increases your own energy level and sense of fun. Indeed, humor is one of your best allies!

What Do I Do During the Web Speech?

Timing

First, it goes without saying that as the speaker, you must be logged in and online well before the meeting begins to ensure that the technology is ready to go and that your ancillary presentation materials are available and accessible.

And, you must start on time. This might seem obvious, but if you have ever attended an online meeting or webinar, it’s harder said than done–mainly because participants log on at the meeting’s start, and it sometimes takes a while for the technology to kick in. Therefore, one suggestion is to prepare a soft introduction for your punctual audience and a hard opening for the late-comers. Make the soft intro fun and attention-getting, such as an interactive video. Make the hard intro the “this is why the topic matters, so let’s get down to business” opening.

Web speaking is often scheduled for a longer time period than a face-to-face speech, which is not necessarily conducive to the audiences’ attention level. For this reason, your presentation must include time for questions and audience input. However, plan for this Q and A session at intervals, perhaps between main speech sections so that you are not being interrupted at inconvenient times.

Purpose

Going deeper, let’s address the first and most fundamental speech-preparation question: what is your purpose. What is your purpose in presenting your webinar speech? To educate? To persuade/sell? To contribute to or facilitate a decision? Something else? Everything you do to prepare for this virtual speech must come from the perspective of your specific intent or purpose, just like your face-to-face speech comes from your speech’s specific purpose. Ask yourself, what do you really want to accomplish from this meeting?

Audience

The other fundamental question concerns your audience. Who are they? Where are they? In some cases, the audience is in a different time zone! And that really matters to how a listener responds.

More suggestions to be aware of:

1. Smile. Along with standing up for your presentation, smile. People can hear a smile even when they don’t see you.
2. Anxiety. Your anxiety does not go away just because you cannot see everyone in your web audience or because you don’t know the people to whom you are speaking. Be aware of anxiety’s likelihood—it might not hit until you are live and on the air. As Ron Ashkenas says, “Anxiety in speaking is like static on the radio.” Plan ahead how to manage yours.
3. Questions. When asking periodic questions, be specific. The typical “Any questions?” Pause. “Let’s go on,” is really pretty ineffective. First, it’s not directed or specific, and second, people need time to formulate and to articulate their questions. Even saying, “What questions do you have?” is better, but even better is to ask specific questions about what you’ve been addressing. Many times, you can forecast possible questions, and use those.
4. Pauses. The issue of a question-and-answer period brings up a logistical question. Some participants will question orally through the webcam set-up. Others, with limited technology, will use the chat feature. It takes time to type in the chat feature. Be prepared for pauses.
5. Transitions. Remember the power of transitions. Many people think that slides don’t need transitions because, well, they change. This isn’t so. The speaker must tie the slides’ messages together.
6. Silence. Verbal pauses are helpful. Since a continual, non-stop flow of words will put audiences to sleep, silence, or a verbal pause actually gets attention.
7. Gaze. Look at the camera, not the screen. You will appear more professional if the audience can see you.

Ending

As mentioned before, web conferences and webinars can go on and on—don’t let this happen. End on time. Allow participants to email you questions if needed, but don’t take advantage of people’s time by entertaining questions longer than the scheduled time. Software allows you to record and archive your presentation, so let the audience know how to access the recording.

How Do I Speak for an Online Class?

Many educators teach online courses. These instructors usually prefer the presentation to be given in front of a live audience of a prescribed number of people and/or in a venue like a classroom, not the student’s living room. Many public speaking instructors do not believe this option is as good as an in-class speech. If, for whatever reason you are compelled to give a virtual speech, here are some tips.

1. Filming. Film your whole body—not just your head and shoulders.
2. Technology. Do tech walk-throughs to make sure your camera and audio are working well.
3. Record. Make sure to record your presentation and to supply your audience, including your instructor, with the link to the recording. You may not be able to send it through an email if the file is too big. Instead, post it to the cloud or to your learning-management system in some manner.
4. Clothing. Wear appropriate clothing. Not being in class may tempt you to wear something too informal. This is an opportunity to go a step beyond in your clothing. Make sure, also, that it looks good on camera in terms of color, lighting, and setting. Some patterns do not look good on camera.
5. Lighting. Since you probably won’t have professional lighting, get the room as bright as you possibly can, but do not point the camera in the direction of a bright light. The light should be coming from behind the camera.

Conclusion

As mentioned before, the nuances of virtual speaking are evolving. These tips and tactics should help you to avoid major problems and to successfully cross your effective presentation’s finish line!

Links that might help with this topic:

• Ten tips for giving great online presentations
• How to give a killer online presentation
• Great online presentation
• Five guidelines for effective online presentations
• How to bypass the 5 worst mistakes in online presentations
• 10 tips giving effective virtual presentations
• Presenting the perfect online presentation

References

Barton, K., Tucker, B.G. (2016). Exploring Public Speaking 4th Edition. University System of Georgia. https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/communication-textbooks/1/. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Media References

Unknown. Computer apple office social media flowers [Image]. Max Pixel. https://www.maxpixel.net/Computer-Apple-Office-Social-Media-Flowers-605503