Date: Fri 17th April 2020
Speaker: Sally Hindmarch
Business: Partners with you
Topic: Online presentation tips
1. Set-up: “Can I be seen and what can I see?”
- Lighting – have a window in front of you, not behind.
- Background – avoid dirty laundry and household items; if in doubt, have a wall behind you, or even better, set up a Virtual Background to promote your business (if applicable).
- Practise – set yourself up on a Virtual Meeting beforehand to check how you look.
- Camera position – raise your PC to eye-level; a view up your nose is never a good one!
- Clothing – avoid bright whites/all blacks (cameras have difficulty picking this up).
Oh, and do wear clothes! Just because you’re working from home, doesn’t mean you can work in nightwear…or no wear at all!
2. Sound: “Can I be heard clearly?”
Don’t just rely on your microphone – practise your diction and clarity beforehand with a few verbal warm-up exercises such as:
“Unique New York”
“Red lorry, Yellow lorry”
“Ken Dodd’s dad’s dog is dead”
[Note: no animals were harmed in the making of this rhyme].
3. Etiquette: “Would my onscreen etiquette be permissible face-to-face?”
- Don’t peer into the screen – it looks weird!
- Don’t eat on camera – drinking tea/coffee is usually OK…alcohol less so in a business environment).
- Follow the agenda – however, if there isn’t one, normal etiquette prevails; i.e. MUTE yourself when not talking, stick to the agreed timings…etc.
- Ask permission – e.g. if you need to turn off the camera to preserve bandwidth.
CONCLUSION
It’s easy to forget yourself when you’re sitting at home in front of your computer, since this is very normal.
However, just remember that you’re on camera and effectively not in your own home but on show to all!