Online meetings are part of the new normal. Even as businesses welcome back employees and desks are filling up again, the majority of businesses will continue to utilize online meeting platforms to connect teams remotely. Online meetings and presentations can be tough though, and many people find them much more difficult than in-person meetings.
Why? It comes down to interaction. When you are holding an online meeting presentation, many participants are multitasking and not giving you their full attention. It’s your job, as the presenter, to overcome that distraction by being as effective and engaging as possible. Here are five tips you can take to your next meeting to capture their attention and increase engagement.
5 Tips to Make Your Next Online Meeting More Engaging
1. Break up screen sharing with face-to-face engagement.
When you start a presentation or a meeting, the instinct is to start sharing your screen. As soon as you start sharing your screen, though, meeting participants will take that as an opportunity to multi-task. They’ll end up checking email, sending a quick text, or browsing through a report. If you want to get feedback or increase engagement, you need to turn screen sharing off occasionally.
Turn your camera back on and address your participants directly. They are more likely to stay engaged and respond when prompted if there is a human face on the screen. Otherwise, like you, they will be using screen sharing to hide.
2. Keep your sentences (and your slides) short.
No matter what you do during a virtual meeting, people will be tempted to multitask. Email, calendar reminders, and even distractions at home will pull their attention away from what you are saying. You need to overcome those distractions with your content.
That starts with keeping your sentences short and concise. Don’t launch into a monologue and expect people to follow along. Make sure every sentence you say has a purpose. Avoid rambling and end your sentences with a period instead of trailing off. This will help you keep your audience’s attention.
Practice the same technique with your slides. Only show the most important slides and keep the main point front and center on each one. If you end up using too many slides or showing them too much data, you’ll lose your audience.
3. Don’t be afraid of a little silence.
Silence will scare inexperienced presenters. They will end up trying to fill it or talk through it. However, professional presenters know that a little silence is a good thing. Learn to get comfortable with periods of silence in your presentations. Silence will encourage discussion and participation. It also gives your audience some time to think before they start speaking.
Your instinct to jump in and keep talking will be strong, so practice counting silently in your head while you wait. This helps you fill the time in your own mind, but it will also clue you in to how short those silences really are. Many presenters find that even three seconds of silence is enough to encourage discussion, but don’t be afraid to wait longer.
4. Be mindful of busy schedules.
You probably aren’t the first meeting on their list today. You probably aren’t the last, either. Make sure you are mindful of people’s time. We all know how too many meetings can end up eating away the day and cutting into actual productivity. That can make your participants frustrated from the beginning, as well as more likely to try to multitask while they listen to you. Keep it short and sweet when you can.
Along with that, make sure you know what you are doing in the meeting. That includes understanding how to put the technology to work. There is nothing worse than sitting through a meeting when the presenter doesn’t know how to use the platform. Practice if you need to so you know how to start videos, advance slides, and turn screen sharing on and off.
5. Make sure the takeaways are clear.
By the end of the meeting, make sure participants have clear goals or takeaways. If you need to make decisions, make them in the meeting or leave the attendees with action points about what will happen next. This makes the meeting feel like it was worth their time and gives them something to act on afterward.
A final slide at the end of your presentation with the main points written out is helpful and/or a follow-up email with action points, which will ensure everyone is on the same page, too.
Bonus Tip: Learn the art of interruption.
If you have a participant who is rambling or who has gone off-topic, learn how to politely interrupt them and get things back on track. For those who don’t like to interrupt, it may feel more difficult to do. However, if you don’t, you risk losing the attention of the rest of your participants while one person overruns your meeting. Plus, the meeting can end up being a waste of time when important topics aren’t discussed. A simple, “Okay, let’s redirect our attention…” will usually do the trick.
Still Struggling to Get Your Message Across in Virtual Meetings?
Are your Zoom, Teams, or other virtual meetings and presentations as effective and engaging as they could be? If you are looking for more tips and advice on how to increase audience engagement in your next virtual meeting, check out the online course “Public Speaking in a Time of Distraction: The A-Ha! Method.” Award-winning instructor Gabe Zichermann offers plenty of tips and tricks on public speaking, including:
- Crafting engaging openings and conclusions
- Using effective slides to capture attention
- Understanding the best methods to get your message across
And so much more. Each tip will help you level up your professional communications so you can capture attention and get your point across in a meaningful way. You can take the course at your leisure and put the included resources to use when you need them the most. Sign up for this professional speaking course today!
