Have you ever led an online meeting or teleconference and had trouble getting input from participants? Does it feel like nobody is responding or participating? I’m going to guess that the problem isn’t whether you are asking for questions and feedback, it’s how you’re asking. Most of us honestly try to engage our audience and give them a chance to participate. We often ask, … [Read more...]
Dead Air Won’t Destroy Your Virtual Presentation
Here’s another in a short series of simple tips to make your virtual presentations, meetings and sales demos more effective. This one involves shutting up and thinking about hippopotamuses (or is it hippopotami?). Yes, I'm serious. One of the biggest complaints audiences have about online presenters is they talk too quickly. They insist on giving their entire presentation … [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...]
A Crazy Solution for Your Remote Communication Problems
What is the biggest complaint remote workers have about remote communication their colleagues? If you guessed too many emails, or being barraged by Slack messages, you’re in the top ten. But when we recently asked people “What’s the thing that drives you craziest about working with remote workers?” the answer was a little surprising. “I hate talking on the phone. I prefer … [Read more...]
Hello, Is Anybody in There? 6 Ways to Elicit Feedback in Web Meetings
One of the most frustrating things about leading virtual meetings is not being able to answer a simple question: are they out there and just listening silently, or are they silent because they aren’t really paying attention? The problem is that they can sound the same to your ears. How do you know the difference? Here are just a few simple ideas to help you get the feedback … [Read more...]