Here’s why online presentations are not very effective–and three simple tips you can use when you’re in charge of presenting online. These tips are for you, whether you teach courses or do online listing and buyers’ presentations. 

It Doesn’t Work to Use the Same Delivery You Used in the Classroom

When we’re ‘live’, we can get away with some dawdling. We can converse and joke with our attendees, and that provides attention and focus in the room. However,

Problem One: The Class is Too Long

In the state where I live, the shortest clock-hour approved course we do is three hours. I just talked to a friend of mine who was doing a 4-clock hour course–on Zoom! My gosh, that’s an eternity. Afterwards, he told me he was exhausted. I’ll bet. I wonder how attentive the students were? You can be the best presenter in the world, but you can’t hold people’s attention online for 4 hours!

Solution: Cut your larger class into 45-minute segments. Yes, you can take the last few minutes for clean-up and questions. 

Problem Two: The slides are boring or there aren’t enough slides

Well, worse than that: You may not have ANY slides. Yes, you may be able to get away with that when you’re ‘live’. But, when you go online, you have to work much harder to keep their attention. Here are the rules for slides:

1. Use 40-55 in a 45-minute session
2. Keep a slide up for no more than 1-11/2 minutes
3. Make your slides interesting and provocative; you’ll need to spend some money, perhaps, by having your slides professionally done. I’ve been getting my slides done by Fiverr.  You can go online and see various PowerPoint specialists’ work.
4. Keep your slides simple–no more than 6 words per line and 6 lines. Use at least 36-point font.

Problem Three: The Presenter’s Delivery is Too Slow.

Think of it this way. Every minute, your attendee is trying to think of a way to escape that screen and go somewhere else (eat, another website, dealing with the kids, etc.). How do you combat this? Your delivery must be different from that you use in class.

1. Speak faster
2. Use more inflections
3. Don’t allow ‘dead’ space (use music, video, other presenters to provide sound variety)

Simple Solutions Deliver Great Results

Using these three tips, you’ll assure that your online class or presentation captures and keeps your audience’s focus.

Take Your Course Online with Confidence

If you’ve sat through those boring online presentations, you know there’s lots of work we instructors need to do to improve our game online. I’m creating Mastermind groups to tackle this question. We’ll work in small groups to translate your ‘live’ classroom course to a dynamic, vibrant, effective online format. Email me at carla@carlacross.com or call me for more information: 425-392-6914. I’ll help you slay the dragon and become a master at online presentations!