In the past, conducting meetings, interviews, presentations and conferences “face-to-face” was considered the best option when people had to communicate. However, in the present day, meeting together in the same physical space seems like a thing of the past.
We now find ourselves relying more on technology to communicate with one another and Zoom fatigue (or virtual fatigue as it’s also known) is real.
Trying to communicate when we are separated by screens and time zones can be difficult. It requires effort and can drain us of our energy.
Recently, at Slidesho, many of the PowerPoint presentations we’ve been creating for our clients are for the purpose of being presented virtually.
For reasons like these, we now find the need to improve our virtual communication skills to succeed in this new virtual environment.
To appreciate why we need to up our game when engaging virtually, we first need to understand the differences between face-to-face communication and virtual communication.
Face-to-face Meetings versus Virtual Meetings
- There are many cues we naturally receive when meeting with someone in a face-to-face environment. These are:
- a person’s tone of voice
- body language
- facial expression
- nonverbal cues (that exhibit disagreement or confusion)
We lack receiving the above cues in many virtual meetings which could lead to miscommunication and a lack of connection and engagement.
- Face-to-face meetings help strengthen bonds and connections between people. When together in the same space, people can converse spontaneously and share opinions and experiences which is harder to do virtually.
- People attending a virtual meeting or presentation are more likely to become distracted. Some examples of typical causes of distraction are phones, children, pets, delivery drivers arriving at the door and incoming emails.
- People are more likely to multitask during a virtual meeting and do other things, such as answer an email or do other work. This makes it much harder for the speaker to keep the audience’s attention.
- Inferior connections and equipment can blur communication and prevent the audience from receiving the intended message.
How to communicate better in virtual meetings
It has recently been reported that effective virtual communication is the highest rated “power skill” an employee can currently possess when it comes to their daily performance.
Communication is what connects humans and brings us together. Through good communication, we can create a shared understanding, work as a team, deliver and execute initiatives and grow businesses. Good communication is what helps people and businesses grow and transform.
Unfortunately, mastering communication skills is not easy, it takes time and practice… it’s a journey.
The following are some tips on how to become a better communicator when hosting a virtual meeting:
1) Maximise your voice
All good virtual communicators speak with clarity. They pace the rate of their speech and enunciate their words. They know how to capture people’s attention by:
- pausing at the right time to make a point or give the audience time to absorb the message (this tip also applies when delivering a PowerPoint presentation virtually).
- emphasising a word (or key point) by raising the volume of their voice
- increasing their rate of speech to convey urgency or excitement. This helps to motivate the audience or get them to take action.
2) Engage and captivate your audience
To be an engaging virtual communicator it is important to:
- Know your audience. When you understand the audience, you can structure your content and storytelling in a manner that is meaningful to them. If you’d like to know more about storytelling when delivering a PowerPoint presentation please click here.
- Greet attendees as they enter the meeting by saying hello and having a brief chat. This is advantageous to you as the host, as it not only helps you connect but it also helps to put your nerves at ease.
- Refer to the attendees by their name when you address them. When it comes to virtual meetings, this goes a long way in helping to stay connected.
- Prevent from looking distracted. During virtual meetings, it’s very easy to look distracted even if you are not. A way to avoid looking distracted is to describe your actions. For example, instead of looking around your desk in search of something, you can say to the meeting attendees, “I’m just searching for the report”. This will establish purpose and intent.
- Start the virtual meeting or presentation off with an ice breaker that will engage the audience and capture their attention immediately. You could ask a poll question or tell a story that is relevant to the topic of your meeting and have a PowerPoint slide designed especially for the ice breaker.
3) Avoid the “bystander effect”
The bystander effect is where you ask a question and no one in the meeting/audience speaks up to answer. This is usually because they feel uncomfortable speaking up in front of a group of people (or strangers). When this occurs, the silence can feel as though no one is listening or engaged. It does nothing for the hosts confidence and can be difficult to bounce back from. Avoid this by being prepared for it. If you are going to ask a question and you know some of the attendees, then call on them by name and invite them to answer or participate.
4) Know how to use all available features on your platform
When using certain features, make sure they are there to support you and are effective. Some feature options are:
- Virtual backgrounds – Zoom’s virtual background is a highlight feature and is among the most used by people. If you don’t want your audience to see your private space, or your room is untidy, you can use the virtual background feature to hide it. It’s important to choose a background that is not too distracting to your audience.
- Break out rooms – Breakout Rooms (on Zoom) allow you to divide participants into groups. Once a room is created, the host can assign a sub-host to each group. If you plan to use break out rooms, ensure you are well versed on how to set this up before the meeting.
- Turn off audio/video when required – It’s important to remember to (and know how to) turn off your camera and microphone when the need arises.
In Summary
Virtual presentations are here to stay, and they play a part in transforming the future of how we work.
No matter what you hope to achieve with your meetings and presentations, now is the perfect time to focus on developing communication skills to improve your overall virtual performance.
Do you need a presentation for your next virtual meeting?
Contact the PowerPoint presentation design experts at Slidesho
today!