Our guide to presenting at a virtual event

As presenting in the virtual event arena is the new norm, we’d like to share some of our top tips to help you get it right.

• Dress appropriately. Be aware of your clothing and how you wish to come across during the meeting. We wouldn’t recommend busy patterns. 
• Think about what’s behind you. Is the room messy? Where’s the light coming from?
• Make sure you have enough battery/​keep your laptop plugged in.
• Test your headset with someone prior to using it to make sure it is of suitable quality, and that it does not pick up background noise excessively (something with a mic that’s close to your mouth is usually good).
• Position your camera at eye level or slightly higher.
• Maintain eye contact. Try to keep looking at the camera on your device because scanning your screen looks like you’re disinterested.
• Reduce the size of the webinar app and position it as close to your webcam as you can to keep your eye line more natural.
• Put a post-it note with a message next to your webcam to remind you to look there.
• Close the door and let possible disrupters know not to enter the room.
• Ask other people on the same WiFi network to minimise bandwidth usage during your call, or prioritise using the quality of service (QoS) functionality within your router if possible.
• Sit near your router if you experience a poor connection as this often helps a great deal.
• Mute your mic when not speaking (on a call with three people or more) to prevent background noise creating a distraction.
• Try to minimise background noise in general (turn the washing machine/​TV/​radio off).
• Close down any unnecessary apps to stop them distracting you, be sure to also turn off sound notifications on your email or Whatsapp browser, if you need them on at all. No-one wants to hear you receiving notifications!

If you’re hosting a virtual event and would like some support with speaker management or coaching, get in touch with our team today.