Battling the high price of gas with live presentations delivered over the Internet With gas prices seeming to hit new record highs each week, many professionals are re-evaluating their driving habits. It used to be that you just jumped in the car and drove to an appointment to make a presentation. With every trip now under review, many sales and service professionals are thinking about delivering some of their presentations via live web conference instead of in person. It’s a good thought, but one that needs more than a cursory examination. First, you need to decide if this presentation is a candidate for a virtual presentation. Some presentations are too important to not be there in person to read body language and other non-verbal insights. When might a virtual presentation be appropriate? Perhaps if you are early in the sales cycle with a new prospect and you are still determining whether there is a true fit for your products and services. Maybe a regular quarterly update on the status of your supplier relationship where everything seems to be on track. Or a monthly check-in with colleagues around the country to catch up on the latest news and share results. All of these situations are low-risk in terms of something significant being missed by not being there in person. If you aren’t already using a web based presentation service, you will want to investigate which one will best suit your needs. Some popular services include GoToMeeting by Citrix, WebEx, Microsoft’s Live Meeting and Lotus Unyte. It is far easier and more reliable to use a service than to try to set up a direct computer to computer connection. Most of the services have a free trial period to allow you to test them out. Look for a service that will support the types of sharing you want to do – presentation only, full screen to demonstrate software or web sites, whiteboard for freehand drawings, text chat, etc. Also select a service that has a pricing model that works best for you – per minute charges or a flat monthly fee for unlimited use. When you have the web meeting service set up, it’s not as easy as just using the presentation you would have delivered in person. There are certain elements of your presentation that don’t work well when delivered over the Internet. When someone is sitting at their computer watching your slides, they can easily have their attention wander by e-mail coming in and other distractions. You need to increase the interaction by asking open ended questions and regularly soliciting feedback that you would normally be able to see in their body language. Ideas for increasing interaction include: using the polling feature of the web conference service to get the audience’s degree of agreement with a statement or to see how they feel about a particular issue; showing an example of the issue being discussed and asking for their possible solutions or feedback; asking for people to contribute their own experiences on an aspect of the topic; and asking them how a solution would work or not work in their environment. All of these suggestions promote discussion over one-way lecturing. You will also want to eliminate any movement on your slides. This includes moving elements such as arrows or text, video clips and times you would point to something on the screen. Even though Internet connections have become faster, there is always a delay in transmission that causes movement to look jerky to your audience. If you really need them to see a video, send them a link to where it is posted on your web site or a video sharing site and ask them to view it before the presentation. Then you can use still photos from the video on a slide to remind them of a certain point that was made in the video. This works even if they were not able to watch the video since you recap what was said before making the point. Since you are not there presenting at a screen, you can’t point to something on the screen. Many of the services include a “laser pointer” like feature, but it suffers from the same issue as any motion being transmitted – it will not appear smooth and they may not see what you are pointing to. Instead use callouts on your visuals to direct attention and reinforce the key point you are making. Use arrows or circles to show the important spot on the visual. Build the arrow or circle using simple animation for an even better impact. When you deliver the presentation using the web service, minimize possible problems by using two techniques. First, use a standard screen resolution such as XGA (1024 x 768) so that the image being transmitted will look proper to your audience. Higher resolutions take longer to transmit and risk being distorted on different resolution computers. Next, set up a second computer on your desk and connect it as a participant to the meeting. Then you will be able to see what the audience is seeing and always be in sync with your visuals. Take advantage of the opportunities using the web service can give you. You will likely be connected to your corporate network, so feel free to access pictures or documentation that someone asks for. Drop out of your presentation and take them on a virtual tour of your website or tour the manufacturing process through pictures. Show them the results of your work with another client through a testimonial letter or e-mail you received. You have so many resources at hand, take advantage of the opportunity to be spontaneous during the presentation. Reigning in travel costs due to high gas prices is possible by using live, web-based presentations. Make sure you select the right presentations to deliver virtually and understand the changes you need to make to the design and delivery of your presentation through this medium. Dave Paradi is the author of "The Visual Slide Revolution" and co-author of two "Guide to PowerPoint" books from Prentice Hall. He is also a speaker, consultant and producer of a video podcast series and bi-weekly newsletter that is read world wide. He can be reached by phone at 905-510-4911 or by e-mail at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com. ©2008 Dave Paradi |