Video Meeting Presentations.
Zoom and other video meeting platforms: are fantastic to have in a Covid world where in-person gatherings have been put on hold for many. Being able to see and speak with people over a large geographic area at the same time presents expanded opportunities and – Challenges!
I’m a presenter. When I speak at an event, I’m at the front of the room. I am the only person looking at everyone’s face. The audience is looking at me, and, the backs of others in attendance.
In a typical video meeting,Everyone is looking at Everyone’s face!
That’s a problem. Here’s why: WE CANNOT MULTITASK!
Multitasking is a myth.
MIT neuroscientist, Earl Miller notes our brains are “not wired to multitask well… when people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost.”
Example: When watching a cable news story you’ll usually see a “ticker tape” of information streaming at the bottom of your television screen. Read that information and you miss the story on the main screen. It is extremely annoying, isn’t it!
That distraction always goes away during commercials. Companies would pull their advertising if viewers were distracted from their message like that.
The first things we look at when “arriving” at a video event are the faces of others who are already “on screen.” It’s human nature to do that. We want to see who we know and who we don’t know. For ones we don’t recognize, we look at their screen name and compare that face to the one we know from FaceBook or LinkedIn. Sometimes they look the same, often they don’t.
When a new person appears, we divert our attention to that face and repeat the recognition process.
It is often not easy to survey all the faces.
Cameras can be pointed at strange angles
Lighting is sometimes too bright or too dark.
Backgrounds are often bothersome.
All this “Visual Noise” is distracting. When people, if their microphones aren’t muted, start talking, distractions are multiplied.
Bottom Line:
If audience members are looking and trying to listen to others, they are not giving the presenter, and their message, the attention needed to GET IT! GETTING IT! is the goal of all communication.
During the Presentation: The audience should be focusing on the presenter, slides, and message. Everything else is Clutter and Distracting.
Solution: MUTE and STOP VIDEO for better Video Meeting Presentations.
After your Introduction and in your Opening tell them why you’ll be doing this and those functions will be reinstated for Q&A and discussion.
Follow this suggestion for giving better video meeting presentations and I guarantee your next one will be absolutely, positively – NO SWEAT!
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About the Author Fred E. Miller is a speaker, an international coach, and the author of the books, “NO SWEAT Public Speaking!” and “NO SWEAT Elevator Speech!”
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They do this because they know:"Speaking Opportunities are Business, Career, and Leadership Opportunities."
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