Make the most out of your virtual meeting, conference, or trade show by following a few tips that can minimize distractions and allow attendees to focus on your content.
Backdrop
With a neutral, aesthetically pleasing, and uncluttered background, your audience will focus on you and your presentation.
Ensure this by being mindful of the room you’re presenting in and removing objects that might be distracting or inappropriate. Dark backgrounds can be visually overpowering and can be distracting. A light or medium-colored background will be less distracting and will allow your audience to focus on you.
You can also blur your background or use one of Zoom’s many virtual backgrounds if moving room decor isn’t an option.
Presentation Materials
Attendees are most interested in what you have to share. Ensure your presentation conveys your important messages. Here are a few tips to consider:
- If you have an accompanying presentation or slideshow, make sure that all the content appears as it should. Be mindful that PowerPoint presentations may appear differently on a Mac and a PC. When converting PowerPoint to Google Slides or vice versa, watch for formatting changes that can change the size of fonts and images.
- Check alignment and readability of text, animation, and images.
- If your presentation includes charts, graphs, or tables, check the image resolution and font size.
- Avoid animation if you can. Since everyone has different internet speeds, animations can be distorted.
- If you have videos and audio, be sure to share your audio feed.
Audio
To ensure high sound quality, be mindful of where you’re going to be when presenting.
Avoid presenting in public or high-traffic areas of your home. Be aware of potential noisemakers such as phone notifications or background audio like fans, washing machines, and household appliances.
You can also sit close to your computer’s microphone to optimize sound quality. Using a plug-in microphone or headphones is a bonus and can help ensure you don’t experience a noisy feedback loop.
Visuals & Video
Sit close to your computer’s camera so your audience can see your facial expressions, nonverbal cues, and hand gestures. Take full advantage of a virtual or hybrid presentation, allow each attendee to see you closely and clearly.
You want to give your virtual audience a similar experience to an in-person audience.
Choose clothing in neutral colors such as brown, blue, and black. Avoid wearing an outfit with high-contrast colors and patterns. If you’re using a Zoom background, make sure your clothing doesn’t blend in or clash with the background.
Computer
Much like preparing your presentation, make sure your computer and pieces of equipment are ready and stable to reduce the chance of warning messages, pop-up notifications, and software update reminders.
Always avoid losing power, be sure your power adapter is connected to your laptop. You can also improve your computer’s internet connectivity by closing out unnecessary programs or applications, moving your computer as close to your wireless router as possible, and reducing network clutter such as streaming videos or downloading files.
Other ideas for keeping your attendees engaged
Every event manager wants to boost engagement for their virtual event. Maybe most importantly, before your event, always conduct a rehearsal. Doing so helps you detect errors that might occur and counter disruptions affecting the event experience for your attendees.
EVA’s Virtual Meeting Producers help with speaker preparation. Going beyond providing speaker guides, EVA’s team can pre-records sessions, conducts rehearsals, and build broadcast materials so that meeting organizers and speakers can focus on content and delivery. Let EVA’s team handle your virtual event tech so that you don’t have to.
Our event registration platform and virtual conference tools empower organizations to produce powerful and impactful virtual events.
