SHRM Online spoke with experts about some strategies required to succeed in virtual scenarios. A link to the full article is at the end of this Daily News post.
Presenting Online:
Pick up the pace.
• Attention spans dwindle during virtual presentations.
Be proactive in guiding audience attention.
• Presenters should assume that some people are multitasking during an online presentation. Make sure the titles on your slides are more descriptive and capture the main point of the slide.
• Virtual presenters also should use their voices to guide viewer attention.
• Presenters should monitor audience attention levels by checking whether people are actively participating on chat features or submitting questions during a moderated Q&A.
Unnecessary flair can cause technical problems.
• The use of animation and complex transitions on slides might work well in person, but they can cause problems online. Experts say it’s best to go simple when designing slides.
Consider slide contrast issues and viewer screen size.
• Assume that many will be viewing your online presentation from smaller laptop screens or even on mobile devices. Design your slides as if you’re creating them for viewers in the back of a large auditorium, with larger fonts and plenty of white space, and don’t put things near the edges of your slides.
• Keep in mind that you won’t be able to see how your slides display on your audience’s screens, and your viewers’ computer settings for contrast, brightness and color may vary widely. Light colors can easily wash out online. Stick with high-contrast color designs, and avoid using subtle tone variations that can be difficult for virtual audiences to see
Leading Small-Group Virtual Meetings:
Leaders, mute yourself when others are speaking.
• In an online meeting, especially if you’re the leader or a person of higher authority, others often hear that and they stop talking, wondering if you wanted to interrupt to say something or even that they might have said something wrong. If you stay completely silent, it lets people complete their thoughts.
Watch how you position yourself on webcam.
• Don’t position yourself in front of bright windows, which will place you in shadows.
Raise your laptop so the camera is at eye level or higher.
Excerpts taken from: https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/technology/Pages/Virtual-Presentations-Meetings-Require-New-Approaches.aspx
For more information about supervisory resources, please contact your Campus HR Team at HSC.HR@untsystem.edu. For additional virtual professional development opportunities, please visit the Organizational Development & Engagement page at: https://hr.untsystem.edu/organizational-development-engagement-ode.