I have been teaching online presentation skills for a very long time. Since I led my very first WebEx Introduction class almost 12 years ago, a lot has changed. Technology is better—I can’t remember the last time someone joined a webinar on a dial-up modem, and it’s actually harder to find a computer that doesn’t have a webcam than one that does. Here’s what hasn’t changed: … [Read more...]
Little Things that Add Up for Long-Distance Leaders
You might not have a favorite Greek philosopher, but I do. And you might not think someone who wrote at the time of the Roman Emperor Nero would be relevant to leading a remote team, but you’d be wrong. My boy Epictetus is still relevant. Particularly relevant today is this quote: “Practice yourself, for heaven's sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.” Yes, good … [Read more...]
Online Presentations: Be the Prosecutor not the Detective
This is the fourth and final installment of a series designed to make online presenting less intimidating and more effective. As online presenters, we are often distracted by the nagging fear that our audience is tuning out or just not getting what we are trying to share with them. I hate to tell you, but your fears are probably justified. And the reason has nothing to do with … [Read more...]
Reduce Multi-Tasking on Remote Meetings
This is the third in a series of simple presentation tips that will make your web meetings, webinars and presentations more effective. Your webmeeting platform has a lot of cool features. Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter much because you’re likely not using them. As a rule, 80% of people use 20% of the features of online presentation tools. Why not? Because most of us … [Read more...]
Where Are Your Audience’s Eyes Looking?
This is the first in a series of seemingly simple web presentation techniques. When you read this, you will probably say “duh.” But the next time you’re on a webinar or web meeting, see how often people don’t do these things, and how much it impacts your experience as an audience member. The next time you’re on a webinar or web meeting, pay attention to see if the speaker is … [Read more...]