10 tech tips for webinars and online meetings

Short of time? Get to the tips.

As a presenter, it’s increasingly likely that you use webinar tools (like Zoom or Adobe Connect or Cisco WebEx) – or that you soon will. And you might well hold virtual meetings or training workshops using those or similar tools.

Whatever type of online events you run, you’ll find some useful tips in this post.

Still, you’ll want to choose which tips to use according to factors like the size of your audience and your comfort with running the online event in the 1^st place. That’s because some of the tips (notably numbers 6 to 10) require more effort than others.

You can click any of these links to scroll to a specific tip:

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Need to present a 1-hour slideshow in 30 mins? DON’T speed up! Do this instead…

Ever had to give your presentation in a much shorter timeslot than you’d planned? You know – like when one or more of the speakers before you at a conference or workshop runs over time, and the organisers want to start getting things back on track.

Recently, Rob Beisenbach wrote a great post about that, which inspired me to tell you about a rarely-used PowerPoint feature that can help you out in situations like that.

Practically perfect – the 6 “P”s of public speaking (from @BenjaminBallA)

Looking for a framework to make your talks more effective? Look no further than the “6 Ps of public speaking”. You’ll find them in a short post by Benjamin Ball, who runs a speaker coaching business in the UK, and I think they’re brilliant!

The original 6 Ps

In the table below, you’ll see those 6 Ps, with my thoughts on them. (After the table, you’ll also find a few suggestions that might make the 6 Ps even better. So as you read the list, see if you can think of any changes you’d make, too.)

Secret #6 of star presenters: 3 great benefits of pausing (by Keith Bailey of @DeckerComm)

Right now, why not take a moment to vividly imagine achieving these 3 outcomes whenever you present?

• Feeling relaxed.
• Influencing people more.
• Delighting your audience.

Those 3 are the Holy Grail of public speaking! No doubt you’d be glad to achieve any 1 of them, so to get all 3 would be bliss.

Well according to Keith Bailey of Decker Communications, you can achieve all 3 of those outcomes simply by pausing effectively.

In fact, in a quote of just 15 words, Keith encapsulates not only those 3 outcomes but also how simply (though not easily) you can achieve them:

5 free public-speaking courses (available worldwide)

Looking for free training
in public speaking?
Look no further!

In a previous post, I wrote about Ben Harvey’s free workshops on public speaking. Those are great if you’re in Sydney (like me), but of course the chances are very good that you’re not.

In this post then, you’ll find 5 free courses to help you with your presentations and speeches – no matter where you happen to live.

So here they are (in no particular order)…

Picture your talk as a shape… Now, what shape do you see?

Imagine sketching your talk as a simple shape on a piece of paper.
What would you draw?

If yours is like most talks, you can think of it as an arrow, pointing between your introduction and your conclusion:

That’s what blogger John Zimmer wrote in this great post.

Certainly, the arrow metaphor fits well with the description you sometimes hear of speeches as “taking your audience from point A to point B”. (Presentation experts like Jerry Weissman often use that phrase.)

Is there a better shape?

But John Zimmer goes on to suggest a better shape for your talk…

Free public-speaking class (in Sydney, via @AuthenticBen)

The best 2 hours I’ve ever spent…

Are you serious about wanting to improve your public speaking? If so, do yourself a favour and listen to what Benjamin J Harvey has to say about it. I did that last Wednesday night, and it was probably the best 2 hours I’ve ever spent on improving my presentation skills!

What a great move that was!

Ben’s a Sydney-based entrepreneur who offers occasional free public-speaking workshops. (Wherever you live, you might also like these 5 free public-speaking courses.) As I’m in Sydney too, and his workshop happens just every few months, I took the chance to go along. What a great move that was!

Why so great? There are 3 factors:

Secret #3 of star presenters: @NakedPresenting on preparing

Ask yourself, honestly: How long will you spend preparing your next presentation? It can be a long process of course. Yet, it’s likely you’ll often get distracted by your other work and not get to spend the time your talk needs. Or your slides may become so vital to your talk – or so detailed – that you spend nearly all your available prep time grooming them.

So with that in mind, consider this quote from Emma Sutton (formerly @NakedPresenting on Twitter), who’s a presentation coach and blogger in the UK:

When you speak, how often and how long should you pause? Best answer: “Try 1-2-3”

You might have heard public-speaking experts recommend pausing when you’re presenting. But how often – and for how long – should you pause during your talk?

Funny ad about speaking – uses just 3 spoken words [Video]

Here’s an ad about communication that you’ll likely laugh at, as I did. Yet it uses just 3 spoken words, and lasts just 45 seconds. I hope you love it as much as I do.