how to make your zoom presentation more interactive

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7 Fun Ways to Make Zoom Meetings More Engaging and Interactive

One semester in college, (yes, I know it has been a couple of decades, but I still remember it,) I had an 8 AM marketing lecture. At any given moment in the class, I could look around and see 60%+ of the class drifting off to sleep. A lot of my classmates showed up to the class in their pajamas. Very few actually showered and/or made themselves presentable. (Sound familiar?)

The next year, I drew an 8 AM Business Law class. I was expecting the same type of atmosphere. This class was totally different. No one wore a suit, but the entire class dressed in what is now known as business-casual. The professor didn’t just lecture us. Instead, he asked us questions. In fact, in each class, we were speaking almost as much as he did.

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So my question is, which of these examples describes your Zoom meetings?

1) Give Your Team Clear Instructions Ahead of the Meeting.

You can do this in the Calendar invite. Here is an example…

Doug Staneart has invited you to a Zoom Meeting. This will be an interactive meeting delivered entirely through Zoom. To participate, it is best to login via a computer or laptop versus a phone or tablet. Your computer will need to have video and microphone access to be able to interact with your teammates. We will try to wrap the meeting up within 30 minutes. See you there!

Usually, this warning ahead of time will fix many of the pajama, muffled hair, and 80’s Rock t-shirt challenges. If you find that one of your team members has a less than professional appearance, talk to that person personally. It’s okay to give a global suggestion during the meeting if multiple team members are creating a distraction.

For additional tips on virtual meeting fundamentals, see How to Deliver Great Virtual Meetings . This post gives a lot of great tips on how to organize the meeting and how to pick the right camera and microphone, etc.

2) Create an Agenda And Assign Roles Ahead of Time to Make Your Virtual Meeting More Engaging.

Identify the three to five major points that you want to cover in the meeting. Then, add these meeting points to the calendar invite. Don’t assume that just because you put “Project Reports from Team Leaders” into the agenda, that your team leaders will prepare a report. Instead, after you send the invite, contact each team leader to prep them. This can be done in a simple Slack or text message like, “Jane, can you give a 2-minute update on the Permian Project in the meeting tomorrow?”

If you don’t do this, you will get a lot of, “Nothing new to report,” or “Things are still great,” reports.

3) Break Up Non-Engaging Monologues with the “Can You Give Me An Example?” Question.

“That sounds interesting. Can you give me an example?”

This light coaching interrupts the boring recitation without embarrassing the speaker. Typically, you only have to do this a couple of times before the team catches on. Many of the upcoming speakers will start thinking of examples for their reports as well.

Here is an example.

“We have cut expenditures on all of our marketing campaigns because of reduced return on investment. The positive return is coming from social media, but it is small right now. Our marketing team is brainstorming new ideas though.” “Can you give me an example of what we are doing on social media?” “Yeah, the video team recently created a YouTube video that we really like. In fact, here, let me pull it up and show it to you…”

4) Use Zoom Breakout Rooms to Get Participants to Engage with Each other More.

For instance, let’s say that you have people from sales, marketing, logistics, and finance on the Zoom call. Each group has five or six team members. You as the leader can break the group into breakout rooms by their department. Give them five minutes to come up with the top three things that have happened since the last meeting. Have them nominate one team member (not the team leader) to give a report to the group based on the discussion.

This is just one idea. You can get creative and use the breakout rooms in really effective ways.

5) Use Collaborative Cloud Apps to Make the Meeting More Interactive.

For instance, you can set up a simple spreadsheet with the weekly sales revenue. Then each sales rep can enter his or her sales while the meeting is going on. As the numbers get added to the sheet in real-time, the total increases. Then, the sales manager can give positive comments as new additions are made.

You can also use PowerPoint or Google Slides as a storyboard. Participants can enter their ideas during a brainstorming session by accessing the document on their own computer. As they add ideas to the storyboard the entire team can also see these new ideas.

6) Make the Zoom Meeting More Engaging by Opening the Zoom Whiteboard.

If you have a touchscreen computer, this tool is pretty awesome. Just share your screen in Zoom, select the whiteboard, and start drawing on your screen. (By the way, if you don’t have a touchscreen, just logon a second time from your phone or tablet.)

Showing something on the screen from time-to-time breaks up the monologue. It gives your participants something else to focus on.

You can also use this as a way to poll the group without forcing their choices. When you use the poll function of Zoom, you have to pick the answers that people are likely to give. It is a multiple-choice option. However, using the whiteboard, you can ask an open-ended question and log the responses.

7) Add a Game to Make the Virtual Meeting More Fun and Engaging.

Create three different games that each have a “top-five answer question.” For instance, “What were the top five industries that we sold to last year?” Or, “What were the five most popular words that appeared in customer reviews last year?”

Divide the group into two teams. Flip a coin to see which team goes first. Give the winner the option to “play” or “pass.” If they decide to “Play,” send them to a breakout room for two minutes (or less) to come up with team answers. Make sure they know to list the answers in order from most-popular to least-popular. The Playing team gets to give answers until they get three strikes.

The other team can “Steal” if the first team gets three strikes and they can uncover one of the remaining answers.

If you want a list of fun games to play on Zoom with your team , click this link. This post from The Leaders Institute ® gives a few free games that you can play along with a few of the best premium games available.

Get Creative and Make Your Zoom Meeting More Fun and Interactive.

The key to online meetings is similar to in-person meetings. The more that the leader talks, the more the participants will hate it. So if you make your Zoom meetings more engaging (get the participants talking,) you will make them more interesting as well!

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15 Tips for Engaging Zoom Presentations + Examples

Your next Zoom presentation is a week away. And your mind is racing.

What presentation software should you use?

What if the other attendees can hear your neighbor’s loud music?

Will they find your presentation boring?

Relax and take a deep breath.

You don’t have to figure out the answers to these questions by yourself. This guide will cover everything you need to know about planning and delivering engaging Zoom presentations without stress and anxiety!

After reading this article, you’ll be brimming with confidence and competence on your next Zoom presentation.

Table of contents :

The science behind your Zoom presentation anxiety

• Downloadable Zoom presentation checklist

Part 1: Tips on how to plan and prepare for your Zoom presentation

Part 2: tips during your zoom presentation.

• How to share your Piktochart slide deck on Zoom
• Present with ease on Zoom using Piktochart presentations

Before we get into all the other Zoom presentation tips, perhaps the most important is to deal with your Zoom presentation anxiety. And you’re not alone – anxiety over Zoom presentations is more common than you think . 

A  2021 paper  on why students have difficulties learning during synchronous presentations over Zoom found that 80 percent of the students polled experienced anxiety and trouble focusing during their virtual classes. But what causes this worry? In a peer-reviewed article, Professor Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the  Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab , highlighted the  results of their research  and cited four primary reasons behind Zoom fatigue, stress, and anxiety:

• Your brain interprets excessive amounts of close-up eye contact during video chats as an “intense situation.”
• Like looking at the mirror, you become more critical of yourself as you see yourself on camera.
• Limited movements while you’re chained in your chair and table.
• Video chats require a higher cognitive load than face-to-face presentations. 

“You’ve got to make sure that your head is framed within the center of the video. If you want to show someone that you agree with them, you have to do an exaggerated nod or put your thumbs up. That adds cognitive load as you’re using mental calories in order to communicate,” shares Bailenson.

Finally, you have to consider tech troubles and presentation software fiascos, as well as dealing with the pressure of public speaking.

15 Zoom presentation tips and tricks to help you own the room like a pro

Now that you understand why Zoom presentations give you sweaty palms, let’s go through 15 actionable steps to prepare for the slides.

We created a checklist of the Zoom presentation tips so you can cross off each task.

Prefer video learning instead? Watch the video below.

The success of your Zoom presentation is the result of thoughtful planning and preparation.

Get ready for your online class, product webinar, or job interview on Zoom with the following pre-presentation tips:

1. Decide on the scope of your Zoom presentation

Before presenting on Zoom, ask yourself — what one particular idea or insight would you want your audience to learn from you?

“Defining the scope is the most critical step. What are the boundaries, what are the deliverables, what is the topic that you are covering?”, recommends Linda Parry Murphy , CEO of Product Launchers, Inc.

Trying to cover every subject will only make you more nervous.

Remember the Stanford study earlier about too much cognitive load as one of the reasons behind Zoom presentation anxiety?

Limiting the scope of your presentation can significantly reduce your cognitive load while keeping your audience focused on the key points.

2. Plan for the structure of your online presentation

It’s important to master the sequence and structure of your presentation as part of your preparation. Creating a framework guides the meeting participants so they understand what the data means, why it’s important, and what the implications are in this situation.

A solid structure in place also makes it easier to go back to what you’re saying. As a result, you will feel more confident because you can keep track of your talking points with a quick glance at your outline if you lose your train of thought.

Matt Abrahams, a lecturer in Organizational Behavior and author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out , recommends the following examples of presentation structures that you can use:

• Past-Present-Future – review a process or share a timeline
• Comparison-Contrast – show the benefits of a certain idea, insight, product, or service
• Cause-Effect – explain the rationale behind a decision
• Problem-Solution-Benefit – motivate or convince your audience
• What?-So What?-Now What? – convince people to do a specific action after your presentation

Another simple presentation structure you can work on is to start with an introduction, the meat of your presentation where you can highlight 3 points, and wrap up with the summary and call-to-action.

3. Prepare your presentation visuals

Plenty of research and evidence shows that including images is more effective in getting your message across than written text or oral communications alone.

For instance, a captivating visual is  four times more effective  in conveying information than words alone. People remember 80 percent of what they see and do, compared to 20 percent through reading and 10 percent through hearing, respectively.

If your goal is to convince your audience during your Zoom presentation, you’ll also be delighted to know that using visuals can help you become more persuasive.

A Wharton School of Business research found that around a third of the audiences they polled felt that presenters who used visuals were more persuasive.

So remember that well-chosen images, even stock photos, can do wonders to augment your slides.

When making visuals for your presentation, use these questions as your guide:

• Is there an icon, illustration, or image that could represent your point in a more meaningful way?
• What types of diagrams , such as a timeline, flowchart, pie chart, arrows, or graphs, will help get your point across to your audience?
• Who are my target audiences? When choosing visuals for my presentation, are there certain cultural taboos or inappropriate humor that I should be aware of?

One more thing – consider using bullet points if you find slides with walls of text. They’ll be easier to digest without taking the focus away from you.

4. Eliminate clutter in your surroundings

Staying in one place with no room to maneuver probably doesn’t spark joy for anyone. KonMari your environment by eliminating clutter on your desk and in the space around you. This means extra keyboards, unused notebooks, pens, food boxes, and books can go.

Eliminating clutter gives your brain the impression that there’s more room for you to move around during your Zoom event.

If the space you’re presenting in makes it difficult to clear off clutter, you could find a plain wall to present against. And if that’s not an option, you can use a clean virtual Zoom background . Keeping your surroundings out of sight means it’s out of mind for you and your audience; one less thing to worry about while presenting.

5. Do a tech prep

Presenting in Zoom while you’re at home or traveling is a technological wonder in itself. But technology can be frustrating at times too.

Spending some time optimizing your Zoom settings by clicking in the toolbar while you’re in a Zoom meeting. Under video settings, you’ll find a few options that can help with the visuals, such as focus assist.

Before your presentation, double-check the following:

• Make sure that your laptop, computer, lighting, headset, webcam, microphone, and internet connection are working. Have backup equipment if possible.
• Familiarize yourself with the Zoom app and other relevant software you’re going to use during the presentation.
• Close unnecessary browsers, applications, or software before the presentation. Turn off your laptop or desktop notifications. The goal is to optimize and speed up the device to have a smooth presentation.
• Prepare a PDF version of your presentation slides and have an extra copy of your presenter notes in case of technical mishaps with your slides. It also makes sense to have a short link to your presentation that you can share with the audience.
• Position your notes in the right spot so you know where to find them while presenting.
• Check Zoom settings and do a quick audio and video check.

6. Rehearse your presentation

After taking care of your surroundings and equipment, the next step is to prepare yourself.

Practicing your Zoom presentation in advance can help boost your confidence. Here are some tips to help you rehearse well for your presentation:

• Screen record yourself. Afterward, check your recorded video for technical issues, your body language, and whether or not your voice is audible or not.
• Practice with a family member or friend who can give feedback on any distracting nonverbal communication habits like too many hand gestures.
• Rehearse in the same room where you’ll be presenting. Use the same lighting, computer setup, and everything.
• Practice speaking to the camera, not your computer screen.

If you’re not used to face-to-face presentations, you could record your presentation and watch it back. I know, I know – it can feel so uncomfortable watching yourself. But a quick analysis will reveal if you use too many hand gestures, that can be distracting, and also if you need to reposition your camera so it shows your upper body while presenting.

The time has come for presentation day! You already know the ins and outs of your presentation, and you’ve practiced your Zoom presentation skills to a T. A couple of checks you can do before you start are:

• Make sure you’re in a quiet area to minimize any potential interruptions.
• Do a test call with a friend to check the internet connection and if you’ll stay connected.

Take note of the following tips and hacks to make your Zoom presentation engaging and anxiety-free during your webinar or talk:

7. Dress the part

Wear clothes that are appropriate for your presentation and audience. It also helps to be more mindful of your accessories and hairstyle. The outfits and accessories you wear during your Zoom meeting will speak volumes about you as a person.

For example, if you’re presenting to your coworkers, wear work clothes. If you’re pitching to a group of angel investors, wearing a tie can help convey that you’re serious and trustworthy. However, this may not be a good idea if you’re presenting to a group that is more open to change and tends to be more relaxed when it comes to conventional standards.

Another benefit of dressing the part is what you wear actually impacts how you think. Wearing formal clothes can improve abstract thinking and give you a broader sense of perspective, which is influential in helping you make better decisions.

8. Ditch the chair

Standing up when presenting in Zoom rather than sitting down helps you become more confident because you’re not hunched down on your chair.

Standing straight with your shoulders back also enables you to breathe easily, making your voice sound more powerful and confident. Finally, it allows you to move more and make explanatory gestures which is a charisma boost.

The more confident you appear in your presentation, the more confident you’re likely to feel.

“When your mind starts to feel more confident and powerful — it starts to see those challenging situations not as threats but as opportunities,” shares Harvard psychologist professor Amy Cuddy.

If you can’t stand up during your presentation, try to sit straight in your chair and back up your camera a little to show your upper body and not just your face.

9. Have a memorable introduction

National best-selling author and founder at Science of People Vanessa Van Edwards specifically recommends opening your presentation with IISSAAQQ to make it more memorable. IISSAAQQ stands for: 

• I cebreaker
• I llustration
• S hort story
• S tatistic or surprising fact
• A nalogy or metaphor

Bonus points if you can weave in humor with some background information with a relevant fact. Research found that more popular talks used humor 12.92 times, whereas less popular talks used humor only 3.92 times on average.

You don’t have to force a joke – humor could just be a play on words or surprising the audience with a funny image or meme that contrasts with a statement. Nothing breaks the ice better than laughter.

10. Look your audience in the eye (or rather your webcam)

Looking your audience in the eye is easier during face-to presentations than Zoom presentations. It can be a little tricky during online meetings because we tend to look at people’s faces on the computer screen. Maintain eye contact by looking into your webcam.

“A good idea is to lower the monitor camera a little so that you don’t have to tilt your head back to gaze up at it. If you can’t help looking at someone’s face on the screen instead of their camera, it helps to move the Zoom window to the part of the screen nearest to the camera so at least you’re looking at approximately the right place when you’re looking at their face,” shares Carol Kinsey Goman , Ph.D., executive coach and international keynote speaker.

You could treat the camera as if you were doing a face-to-face presentation. This way, it’ll be a bit simpler to hold eye contact with your audience when you’re not looking at your notes.

11. Think happy thoughts

Find ways to boost your mood before your presentation. Aside from helping you feel good (which in turn can boost your confidence), you’re also likely to smile often with happy thoughts. 

When you smile at your audience, they will also likely “mirror” your action and think happy thoughts. 

“Mirroring is relevant to our tendency to be empathetic. When I see you smiling, my mirror neurons for smiling fire up, and I get your state of mind right away. I feel it as you feel it. We need that mirroring in order to create a full empathic response to other people,” describes Marco Iacoboni , author of  Mirroring People  and UCLA professor. 

When you’re having a good time and sharing enthusiasm with your audience, they’ll reciprocate through their nonverbal communication. This means fewer folded arms and blank stares and more nodding along and smiles.

12. Delegate the chatbox

Have someone else take care of Zoom chat or manage the waiting room to keep you from being distracted. This person could be the meeting host, a colleague, or someone you trust who has your back during your presentation.

13. Engage your audience

A boring presentation is when there’s no interaction, and you’re being spoken at (hello, university lectures). You’ll be able to tell from everyone’s body language in the meeting room.

Make your presentation a two-way street. Here are some ways to encourage interaction and participation amongst your audience during your Zoom meetings:

• Ask questions. For example, if you’re presenting a team productivity software in Zoom, ask your audience about their top productivity problems at work. You can also use this time as an opportunity to transition to your next presentation slide.
• If you have a small audience, remember each person’s name and address them using their first names.
• Use visuals like illustrations, infographics, or a short video clip in your slide show. Tool recommendation : Use Piktochart Video to transform a long video into short clips.
• Use interactive quizzes while presenting online to change the pace and keep your audience engaged.

14. Talk like a human and avoid too much jargon

Alright, what does talking like a human mean in Zoom presentations?

For a start, avoid talking too much jargon and corporate speak. It makes you more relatable, keep your audience’s attention longer because your points will be easier to understand, and also helps you stand out from other presenters.

Just because you’re presenting in virtual meetings doesn’t mean you’re not talking to people. The only difference is you’re sharing your presentation in front of your camera instead of in front of the lecture room.

Next, improve your visual storytelling skills . Your presentation will be more memorable if you briefly share a story and pair it with visuals. Sign up for our free visual storytelling course . Check out the teaser video below.

15. Slow down

When you’re anxious and not too confident about your Zoom presentation, you’ll tend to speak fast, which in turn will make you more nervous. It’s a vicious cycle.

When presenting in Zoom, be mindful of your pace. Slowing down will not only take the edge off your nerves but also make you appear more confident.

Don’t be scared of pauses or gaps between your statements. Sometimes, you might need a sip of water to hydrate your throat. Other times, you could use the pauses as extra emphasis to drive key points.

Slowing down and changing up your talking pace will help you deliver an impactful presentation because you’ll have more control and be better able to drive the point home.

5 presentation examples and templates

To make presenting your Zoom presentation easy, here are some presentation templates and examples for inspiration.

Quarterly finance update

Have a big meeting coming up where you need to share sales performance and revenue figures? We’ve got you covered with this template.

It’s equipped with graphs where you can easily drop your revenue figures in and share performance with customizable graphs. There are also template slides for customer feedback and if your team is planning to introduce new processes.

Marketing strategy plan template

This marketing strategy slide deck is perfect if you’re onboarding a new client and want to walk them through your research, analysis, and proposed actions.

Group project

Presenting your collaborative project in a Zoom meeting to your classmates? Take the worry off so you can focus on sharing the results by using this science group project template .

Despite the name, you can use it for any kind of school or university project because the structure works for any type of research presentation. The template has slides for:

• Group introduction
• Your hypothesis/basis for the project
• Your theory
• How you tested the theory
• Key takeaways

Buyer persona template

The customer buying journey is always evolving, and you might need to present a case study to leadership or your team on recent findings. Our template makes it simple to share your customer’s story, as the template has slides for:

• The customer profile
• Motivations/goals
• Personal insights
• Responsibilities

Team update in the all-hands meeting

It’s common for managers, or project leads to update the company with their results in company meetings. In these cases, you might just need a single slide to share your progress.

This work breakdown structure template does the job, giving you space to share what your team’s objectives were, what the key results were, who was involved, and what the shipping date was for these goals.

How to share your Piktochart slide deck on Zoom 

Step 1 : On the Piktochart editor, click Share to get the link to your presentation. 

By default, your presentation is not publicly visible.

Step 2 : Copy and paste the link into your browser bar. Then, click the Show Presentation button. This will launch in fullscreen presentation mode, and now you’re ready to shine. 

Step 3: Click Share Screen on your Zoom account and choose the browser with the Piktochart link.

For a visual demonstration, watch the short tutorial below with detailed instructions.

Ready to deliver your presentation? 

That’s it for our Zoom presentation tips; now over to you.

You have a brilliant idea or insight to present, and you need to share them with your audience in your next Zoom presentation. It’s high time you nail it with the virtual presentation tips we outlined in this guide. 

Take Piktochart for a test drive  today and create your next presentation slide minus the stress using our free presentation maker .

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Blog Marketing 15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

15 Interactive Presentation Ideas to Elevate Engagement

Written by: Krystle Wong Aug 04, 2023

As attention spans continue to shrink, the challenge of engaging audiences in a short timeframe has never been more significant. Let’s face it — grabbing and keeping your audience’s attention can be quite the challenge, especially when time is ticking away. But fear not, I’ve got the perfect solution: interactive presentations!

Believe it or not, creating an interactive presentation is easier than you might think. In this guide, I’ll show you how to effortlessly turn ordinary slides into captivating experiences with 15 interactive presentation ideas that will leave your audience begging for more. From quirky polls and fun games to storytelling adventures and multimedia magic, these ideas will take your presentation game to the next level.

Venngage is a game-changer when it comes to empowering interactive presentations. With just a few clicks, users can customize their favorite presentation templates , add multimedia content and create immersive experiences that leave a lasting impact. Whether you’re a seasoned presenter or a newcomer, get started with Venngage to elevate your presentation game to new heights of engagement and creativity.

Click to jump ahead:

What is an interactive presentation?

15 ways to make a presentation interactive, 7 best interactive presentation software, what are some common mistakes to avoid when creating interactive presentations, interactive presentation faqs, how to create an interactive presentation with venngage.

An interactive presentation is a dynamic and engaging communication format that involves active participation and collaboration between the presenter and the audience. Unlike traditional presentations where information is delivered in a one-way manner, interactive presentations invite the audience to interact, respond and contribute throughout the session.

Think of it as a two-way street where you and your audience have a friendly chat. It’s like playing a fun game where you ask questions, get live feedback and encourage people to share their thoughts. 

To make a good presentation , you can utilize various tools and techniques such as clickable buttons, polls, quizzes, discussions and multimedia elements to transform your slides into an interactive presentation. Whether you’re presenting in-person or giving a virtual presentation — when people are actively participating, they’re more likely to remember the stuff you’re talking about.

Interactive presentations leave a lasting impression on the audience. By encouraging active participation and feedback, interactive presentations facilitate better understanding and knowledge retention. Here are 15 innovative 5-minute interactive presentation ideas to captivate your audience from start to finish:

1. Ice-breaker questions

Start your presentation with intriguing and thought-provoking questions or a fun icebreaker game. These questions should be designed to pique the audience’s curiosity and encourage them to think about the topic you’ll be covering. By doing so, you create an immediate connection with your audience and set the stage for a more engaged and attentive audience.

For example, if you’re giving a business presentation about management and leadership training, you could ask audience questions such as “What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received, and how has it impacted your career?”

2. Live polling

Incorporate live polls during your presentation using audience response systems or polling apps . This allows you to collect real-time feedback, opinions and insights from active participants. Live polling encourages active participation and involvement, making your presentation feel like a collaborative and interactive experience.

3. Q&A sessions

Encourage the audience to ask questions throughout your presentation, especially for pitch deck presentations . Address these questions in real-time, which fosters a more interactive and dynamic atmosphere. This approach shows that you value the audience’s input and promotes a two-way communication flow.

4. Clickable buttons

Add clickable buttons to your slides, allowing the audience to navigate to specific sections or external resources at their own pace. For example, you could include links to your social media accounts or extra reading materials in your education presentation to give further information about the topic and get your students engaged.

By providing this autonomy, you empower the audience to explore areas of particular interest, creating a more personalized and engaging experience through your interactive slideshow.

5. Storytelling

Incorporate anecdotes or personal stories related to your topic. Storytelling is a powerful way to emotionally connect with your audience, making your presentation more relatable and memorable. A little storytelling along with a set of creative slides draws the audience in and keeps them engaged as they follow the narrative.

6. Interactive charts and graphs

Use interactive charts and graphs that respond to user input to make your presentation interactive. For instance, allow the audience to click on data points to view more detailed information or to change the displayed data series. Creating charts with interactive visuals help the audience interact with the data, fostering better understanding and engagement.

7. Animated infographics

Add animations to your infographics, making them visually dynamic and progressive. Animated infographics reveal information gradually, keeping the audience curious and attentive. This transforms complex data into an easily digestible and engaging format.

Venngage’s extensive library of infographic templates is a powerful tool to visualize data and elevate the interactivity of your presentations. Personalizing the visuals ensures a cohesive and professional look throughout your interactive presentation. The templates are highly customizable, allowing you to adjust colors, fonts, and styles to match your presentation’s theme and branding. 

8. Gamification

Introduce an interactive quiz, puzzles, or challenges related to your presentation content. Gamification adds an element of fun and competition, motivating the audience to participate actively and boosting their learning experience. Here are some gaming presentation templates you could use. 

9. Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR)

If applicable, leverage VR or AR technologies to provide immersive experiences. These interactive presentation tools transport the audience into a virtual or augmented environment, making your presentation more captivating and memorable.

10. Collaborative whiteboarding

Get your audience involved in your presentation by utilizing digital whiteboards or collaborative tools to brainstorm ideas collectively. This fosters teamwork and creativity, enabling the audience to actively contribute and feel a sense of involvement in the presentation.

11. Hyperlinked text

Keep the information in your slides minimal with a simple presentation and incorporate hyperlinks to direct viewers to relevant websites or blogs , resources, or additional information. This encourages self-exploration and gives the audience the opportunity to delve deeper into topics of interest.

12. Role-playing

Engage the audience in role-playing scenarios to explore different perspectives. Role-playing promotes active learning and helps the audience relate the content to real-life situations, enhancing their understanding and retention.

13. Embedded videos

Include video clips in your slides to provide visual explanations, demonstrations, or interviews. Videos add a dynamic element to your presentation, enriching the content and keeping the audience engaged. You can create these visual clips on a budget using a free screen recorder .

14. Audience-generated content

Encourage the audience to contribute ideas, stories or examples related to your professional presentation . Audience-generated content fosters a sense of ownership and involvement, making the presentation more interactive and personalized.

15. Slide transitions

Use slide transitions to create smooth animations between slides. Well-planned transitions maintain the audience’s interest and keep the presentation slides flowing seamlessly.

Interactive elements aside, enhance your presentation with these guides on how to summarize information for a captivating presentation and how to make a persuasive presentation to captivate your audience. 

If you’re looking to create engaging and interactive presentation slides that captivate your audience, these presentation software options are sure to elevate your game:

Prezi is renowned for its dynamic and non-linear presentation style, enabling users to craft visually stunning and interactive presentations. With an array of templates and animation effects, Prezi enhances audience engagement, making your presentations more captivating and memorable.

2. Mentimeter

Mentimeter serves as an audience response system, empowering real-time interaction during presentations. Users can create interactive polls, quizzes, word clouds and more, allowing the audience to respond using their smartphones or other devices. This fosters active participation and provides valuable feedback instantly.

3. Google Slides

Google Slides is a free cloud-based presentation software that not only offers collaboration features but also enables real-time interactions. It includes add-ons and third-party integrations to further enhance interactivity, making it an excellent choice for collaborative and engaging presentations.

4. Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint, a classic presentation software, has evolved to incorporate more interactive features like live captions, real-time collaboration and interactive elements such as quizzes and forms. With its familiar interface and versatile functionalities, PowerPoint remains a reliable choice for interactive presentations.

5. Prezentor

Prezentor caters to sales-oriented presentations focusing on interactive storytelling and data-driven content. It offers analytics to track audience engagement and behavior during presentations, allowing you to fine-tune your approach and keep your audience hooked.

6. Opinion Stage

Opinion Stage is a visual and interactive data collection tool designed to engage and excite audiences whether sitting in a lecture hall, participating in a live Zoom, or watching an on-demand webinar. The Opinion Stage tools are simple and intuitive, making it easy to create attention-grabbing quizzes, surveys, and polls in minutes. A great way to spice up any presentation, encourage audience participation, and collect authentic feedback.

7 . Venngage

Venngage stands out as a versatile design tool that facilitates the creation of interactive infographics, data visualizations and presentations with ease. Offering various interactive elements and animations, Venngage empowers you to craft visually appealing and engaging presentations effortlessly.

With these interactive presentation software options at your disposal, you can unleash your creativity and deliver presentations that leave a lasting impact on your audience. So, go ahead and make your presentations interactive, captivating and memorable!

For more presentation software options, check out this blog on the 12 best presentation software for 2023.

Creating interactive presentations can be a game-changer for engaging your audience and enhancing your presentation skills, but steering clear of common pitfalls is essential. Here are some key mistakes to avoid when crafting your interactive presentations:

1. Overloading with interactivity

While interactivity is fantastic, bombarding your audience with too many interactive elements can backfire. Strive for a balanced approach that enhances engagement without overwhelming your listeners.

2. Ignoring audience relevance

Failing to tailor interactive elements to your audience’s interests and preferences can lead to disconnection. Make sure your interactions resonate with your specific audience for a more meaningful experience.

3. Not testing interactive elements

Skipping thorough testing of interactive features before showtime can spell disaster. Avoid technical glitches by diligently testing all interactive components in advance.

4. Poor timing and pace

Timing is everything, especially with interactive activities. Ensure seamless integration by planning your key points and the timing of your interactive elements carefully.

5. Lack of clear purpose

Every interactive element should serve a purpose and contribute to your presentation’s objectives. Don’t add interactions just for the sake of it — ensure they add value and align with your message.

6. Failing to engage beyond interactivity

While interactive elements are powerful tools, remember that content is king. Combine your interactive features with compelling storytelling and valuable insights to create an immersive and impactful presentation.

Incorporating animated slides into your interactive presentations enhances the overall appeal and interaction, turning an ordinary presentation into an engaging experience. Try it out with one of our animated presentation templates to get started. 

How do you start an interactive presentation?

Begin by grabbing the audience’s attention with an intriguing question or a surprising fact, setting the tone for a dynamic and engaging session.

Which type of presentation is the most interactive?

Workshops and seminars are often the most interactive types of presentations as they encourage active participation, discussions and hands-on activities.

How can interactive presentations enhance audience engagement?

Interactive presentations foster a two-way communication flow, involving the audience through polls, quizzes, discussions and multimedia elements, leading to increased interest, attentiveness and better retention of information.

What are some common interactive elements to include in a presentation?

Common interactive elements include clickable buttons, hyperlinked text, polls, quizzes, interactive charts, multimedia content and audience participation activities.

Can interactive presentations be used for educational purposes?

Absolutely! Interactive presentations are highly effective for educational purposes as they promote active learning, encourage critical thinking, and provide real-time feedback and knowledge exchange opportunities.

Need inspiration on how to give an engaging presentation ? Here are 120+ presentation ideas you could use. 

Venngage makes it easy for anyone to infuse interactivity into their presentations. From clickable buttons and hyperlinked text to interactive infographics and dynamic charts, Venngage offers a diverse range of interactive elements to captivate and engage the audience. Here’s how you can make your presentation more fun and interesting with Venngage:

• Sign up or log in to Venngage to access the platform.
• Choose a presentation template or start with a blank canvas to begin designing your interactive presentation.
• Add and edit slides in the Venngage editor to structure your presentation content effectively.
• Customize the design by selecting themes, fonts, colors and backgrounds to match your style and branding.
• Use interactive elements like buttons, links, pop-ups and hover effects to engage the audience during the presentation.
• Enhance engagement by incorporating interactive media such as videos and audio clips.
• Preview and test your entire presentation to ensure everything works smoothly before presenting it to your audience.
• Save your interactive presentation on Venngage and share it online or download it in various formats for presenting purposes.

Well, I hope these 15 5-minute interactive presentation examples can help unlock a new level of audience engagement for your next presentation. From fun quizzes and interactive storytelling to multimedia magic and gamified challenges, the possibilities are endless. So, don’t be afraid to experiment, tailor the ideas to suit your audience members and let your creativity shine.  

That said, remember to strike a balance and keep the interactivity purposeful and relevant. Some common mistakes to avoid when creating interactive slides include overloading the presentation with too many interactive elements and failing to align the interactive elements with the overall presentation goals and content. 

Got it? Great. Now let’s turn that boring presentation around!

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• Interactive Presentation

7 Zoom Presentation Tips to Bring Your Virtual Events to Life (Best Guide in 2024)

Anh Vu • 07 November, 2024 • 10 min read

Presenting can be extremely difficult, but virtual presentations (via Zoom or any other video meeting platform) offer their challenges.

After a couple of years of remote working, many team leaders and senior business managers are noticing Zoom fatigue amongst staff, so it’s time to reignite our presentations and ensure we’re creating engaging and memorable meetings.

Wonder how to make a presentation interactive on Zoom?

We've got you covered.

Here are 7 Zoom Presentation Tips to help you hold better Zoom events and fight off that fatigue – let’s make your next Zoom presentation the best yet!

Table of Contents

Tips for better engagement.

Let's find out how to make an interactive Zoom presentation with more Zoom presentation tips!

• Pictionary on Zoom
• Zoom Word Cloud
• Complete Guide to Interactive Presentation
• Bad presentation at work
• Easy Topic for Presentation

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

7+ Zoom Presentation Tips

For the intro, tip #1 - take the mic.

One of the most simple and effective ways to capture your virtual audience is to take control of the conversation and ease anxieties. This doesn’t mean dictating all conversation, it’s more about creating a comfortable environment where your audience can feel focused and contribute to the discussion. 

We’ve all been in awkward pre-meeting “waiting rooms” while holding on for the last couple of people to join. As the person running the session, you can remove people's meeting anxieties and instantly get them on your side.

As the presenter and (probably) host of the Zoom meeting, others will consider you a confident leader. Make sure you welcome people in as they join your Zoom presentation, use a meeting icebreaker , and show them your personality and that they are welcome to engage with your presentation. You will have their attention from the very start.

Remember, you are presenting for a reason. You are the expert on your topic, and they are looking to you to communicate that information – You’re the pro, and you’ve got this!

Tip #2 - Check your Tech

Mic check 1, 2...

Of course, sometimes, tech fails us, and we can’t always do anything about it. But you can help reduce the chances of that happening by checking in on your presentation software, camera and mic before the Zoom presentation starts and people join.

Also, check any videos or links you’re using to give yourself the best chance of delivering a wonderfully seamless presentation with preparation.

One of the best parts of a Zoom presentation is that nine times out of 10, there isn’t anyone else in the room. This has a massive benefit for anyone presenting - you can prepare. This does not mean writing a script and reading it word for word. Still, it allows you to have extra notes with any data and information you need, and it can be right on the screen for only your eyes to see – so you can browse your messages for answers to a question without looking away.

💡 Extra presentation tip for Zoom : If you’re sending out Zoom invites ahead of time, make sure that the links and passwords you’re sending out all work so that everyone can join the meeting quickly and without added stress.

For Punchy Presentations

Tip #3 - ask the audience.

You can be the most charismatic and engaging person in the world, but if your presentation lacks that spark, it can leave your audience feeling disconnected. Luckily, an easy solution to this problem is to make your presentations interactive.

So, let's discover how to make a Zoom presentation interactive. Tools like AhaSlides provide opportunities to include creative and engaging elements in your presentations to keep your audience switched on and involved. Whether you’re a teacher looking to engage a class or an expert in your business, it’s proven that interactive elements like polls, quizzes and Q&As keep an audience engaged when they can respond to each on their smartphones.

Here are a few slides you can use in an interactive Zoom presentation to pull that audience focus...

• Make a live quiz - Regularly ask audience questions they can individually answer via a smartphone. This will help you understand their topic knowledge in a fun, competitive way!
• Ask for feedback - It’s vital that we’re constantly improving, so you might want to gather some feedback at the end of your presentation. You can use interactive sliding scales to measure how likely people are to recommend your services or even gather opinions on specific topics. If you were pitching a planned return to the office for your business, you might ask, “How many days would you like to spend in the office?” and set a scale from 0 to 5 to gauge the consensus.
• Ask open-ended questions and pose scenarios - It's one of the best interactive Zoom presentation ideas that allows your audience to engage and show off their knowledge. For a teacher, this could be as simple as ‘What is the best word you know that means happy?’, but for a marketing presentation in a business, for example, it could be a great way of asking ‘Which platforms would you like to see us use more in Q3?”
• Ask for brainstorming .  To start a brainstorming session, you can learn  how to make a word cloud . The most frequent words in the cloud will highlight common interests within your group. Then, people might start discussing the most prominent words, their meanings, and why they were chosen, which can also be valuable information for the presenter.
• Play games - Games in a virtual event may seem radical, but it could be the best tip for your Zoom presentation. Some simple trivia games, spinner wheel games and a bunch of other Zoom games can do wonders for team building, learning new concepts and testing existing ones.

These engaging elements make a huge difference to your audience's focus and attention. Not only will they feel more involved in your interactive presentation on Zoom, but it will also give you added confidence that they are absorbing your speech and enjoying it, too.

Make Interactive Zoom Presentations for Free!

Embed polls, brainstorm sessions, quizzes and more into your presentation. Grab a template or import your own from PowerPoint!

Tip #4 - Keep it Short and Sweet

Where you can, you want to try to keep your Zoom presentation digestible. While most meetings or presentations are scheduled for an hour, it’s generally agreed that most viewers can only maintain focus for around 10 minutes . This makes it important to keep meetings brief, and where you can’t keep them short, ensuring your audience is engaged is vital.

You can maximise your audience's focus by not overcomplicating your slides. Text-heavy slides will have your listeners reading rather than listening to you, and they will burn out and lose stress much more quickly. If you need to give a lot of information, break it down into a few slides or use an illustrative graphic or interactive drop to talk people through it instead.

Tip #5 - Tell a Story

More interactive Zoom presentation ideas? We must confess that storytelling is so powerful. Suppose you can build stories or examples into your presentation that illustrate your message. In that case, your Zoom presentation will be much more memorable, and your audience will feel more emotionally invested in the stories that you tell.

Case studies, direct quotes or real-life examples will be much more engaging to your audience and can help them relate to or understand the information you’re providing on a deeper level.

This isn't just a Zoom presentation tip but also a great way to start your presentation. Read more about it here !

Tip #6 - Don’t Hide Behind Your Slides

Although it’s much more difficult to present your body language via Zoom than in person, there are still things you can do to help ensure that your Zoom presentation gets your message across effectively.

Camera on! It’s tempting to hide behind your slides, but having your camera on will make a huge difference. Not only will your audience be able to see you, but it will also communicate confidence and encourage others to leave their cameras on and hold the meeting in the open atmosphere of a live setting.

Although many workers remain remote, there is still a desire for that face-to-face connection we once had when working in offices and travelling for meetings and presentations. Sometimes, just seeing a friendly face will put someone at ease, creating a positive sentiment that they associate with you and your presentation.

As well as leaving your camera on, some people find that standing up to present is still effective - even on Zoom! If you have a large enough space and can find a way to make it work, standing up gives you added confidence, and it’s a great option if you're presenting virtually for a conference.

Tip #7 - Take a Break to Answer Questions

If you know you’ll be presenting for a long time, there's a lot to say about making space for a few breaks. Over Zoom, it’s not as easy to send everyone off for a quick coffee break because of how lengthy it can be to get everyone back and focused, so instead, you could end each section with a quick Q&A session.

Doing this has two advantages:

• To keep everyone up to speed by elaborating on points you may have gone over a bit too quickly.
• To give everyone a break from listening and looking.

On some live Q&A software , you can accept Q&A questions from your audience throughout your Zoom presentation and then answer them whenever.

These interactive Zoom presentation ideas can bring back your audience's focus as they anticipate that they need to interact.

5+ Interactive Zoom Presentation Ideas: Keep Your Audience Engaged with AhaSlides

Transform passive listeners into active participants by adding these interactive features, which are easy to add with tools like AhaSlides:

• Live Polls: Use multiple-choice, open-ended, or scaled questions to find out what people understand, get their views, and make decisions together.
• Quizzes: Add fun and competition with quizzes that track scores and display a leaderboard.
• Word clouds: Visualize the ideas and thoughts of your viewers. Great for coming up with ideas, breaking the ice, and outlining important points.
• Q&A Sessions: Make it easier to ask questions by letting people submit them at any time and giving them the chance to be voted on.
• Brainstorming Sessions: Let people share, categorize, and vote on ideas in real-time to help them brainstorm new ones together. By adding these interactive elements, your Zoom presentations will be more engaging, memorable, and powerful.

Now you can use AhaSlides in your Zoom meetings in two convenient ways: either through the AhaSlides Zoom add-in, or by sharing your screen while running an AhaSlides presentation.

Watch this tutorial. Super simple:

No time like the present

So, that's the zoom presentation tips and tricks! With these tips, you should feel ready to take on the (presentation) world. We know that presentations aren’t always accessible, but hopefully, these virtual Zoom presentation tips go some way to relieving the anxieties. Try to use these tips in your next Zoom presentation. If you stay calm, stay enthusiastic and keep your audience engaged with your shiny, new interactive presentation, it will be your best Zoom presentation yet!

Tips to Engage with Polls & Trivia

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Home Blog Business How to Ace Your Zoom Presentation: Tips for Successful Virtual Presenting

How to Ace Your Zoom Presentation: Tips for Successful Virtual Presenting

It’s your turn to speak during a Zoom social event in your company when your cat decides to make an impromptu appearance, climbing onto your keyboard and causing a flurry of emojis to flood the screen. Thankfully, everyone loved your feline co-worker and joked about the hilarious scene.

But what if it happens in a more meaningful setting, like a virtual sales pitch you’ve been looking forward to for weeks? You wouldn’t want to risk losing a client – and your job – just because a pet rains on your parade.

In this article, we will provide you with essential tips and tricks on how to ace your Zoom presentation like a pro. From preparing your visual aids and keeping your audience engaged to handling technical glitches with finesse, we’ve got you covered.

Table of Contents

Preparing Your Zoom Presentation

Tips for delivering a successful zoom presentation.

• How to Share PowerPoint on Zoom

Handling Technical Issues During a Zoom Presentation

Follow up after a zoom presentation.

Like in-person presentations, a successful Zoom presentation requires careful preparation to ensure you can send your audience the right message. Here are some tips to help you prepare presentations for Zoom.

Use Relevant Visuals

There are many ways you can present information besides plain boring texts. Sixty-five percent of humans are visual learners , so your audience might retain the information you share better if you present them in charts, graphs, images, or other visualizations.

You may use several types of visuals throughout your Zoom presentation, but make sure they are easy to understand in a virtual setting and are relevant to your subject.

For instance, if you present a new product, you may record a video demonstration highlighting its features. Using Zoom’s built-in video player, you can then embed the video into PowerPoint or play it during your presentation.

Use a Simple Presentation Template

A simple presentation template can help you create a cohesive and professional-looking presentation on Zoom. Choose a template that complements your content and aligns with your branding, but avoid overly complex designs that may distract your audience.

You may use a roadmap PowerPoint template or include an agenda slide to set the timeline of your presentation and provide an overview of the topics you will cover. Aside from it keeps the presentation flowing smoothly, it helps your audience orient their thoughts on what will happen in the meeting.

Make It Interactive

Just because you are the presenter doesn’t mean you have to do all the talking – you can let your audience speak too! One of the key aspects of delivering a successful Zoom presentation is to make it interactive and engage your audience.

Think of some icebreakers that will keep your audience involved. It can be a simple open-ended question or a poll to stimulate discussion. You can also use breakout rooms to facilitate small group interactions or collaborative activities.

Interactive presentations help to break the monotony of one-way communication and make your Zoom presentation more dynamic and engaging. Having no activities encouraging interaction makes losing your audience’s interest during virtual meetings easier.

Practice the Presentation and Timing

Aside from the content of your presentation, you also have to worry about the technicalities of presenting on Zoom, so having a dry run before the real thing is important to ensure a smooth delivery.

Practice your presentation multiple times before the event to ensure you are comfortable with the content, pacing, and timing. This will familiarize you with the Zoom platform and its features, such as screen sharing, chat, and breakout rooms.

You have a killer Zoom PowerPoint. Now it’s time to focus on delivering it effectively. Here are some Zoom presentation tips:

Use a Neutral Background

Your background in a Zoom presentation can impact how your audience perceives your professionalism and credibility. Choose a neutral background that is free from distractions and clutter.

If you have an office space at home, that will work even better. Pick from Zoom’s virtual backgrounds, preferably plain and clean. Make your background boring so your audience’s attention is drawn to you. Stay away from bed!

Dress Appropriately

Even though you may be presenting from the comfort of your home, it’s important to dress professionally for your Zoom presentation. It’s not bad to wear your usual duds when attending a casual game night with your team. But if it’s a formal setup, like a business proposal, you must suit up to invite success.

Dressing up smartly may improve your mood and confidence. In a 2014 study , two groups of male subjects were asked to put on business suits and sweatpants before engaging in a negotiation task. Those who dressed up obtained more profitable negotiations than the other group.

As a rule of thumb, avoid wearing loud colors or busy patterns that may distract your audience.

Keep an Eye Contact

Maintaining eye contact is essential in any presentation, whether in person or on Zoom. Making eye contact helps you connect with your audience and convey your message more effectively.

The common advice you’ll get to achieve this on Zoom is to look directly into the camera to create the impression of eye contact with your audience. We agree with these, but as the speaker, you also have to read the facial expressions of your audience and see how they react to what you are saying.

If you are using a desktop or laptop, the simplest solution to achieving these two is to reduce Zoom to a smaller window and place it directly below your webcam. This way, you can glance at their faces occasionally while keeping the illusion of eye contact.

Keep Your Notes Minimal

If you are an expert in the topic you are presenting, it would be best to ditch your notes during Zoom events. Constantly looking down at your notes can be distracting for your audience.

But if the need calls for it, make sure to keep your notes minimal and stick them in the right place. You can use a second screen or a tablet, or position your notes close to the camera to refer to them without breaking eye contact. This way, you can stay focused on engaging with your audience and delivering your presentation smoothly.

How to Share PowerPoint on Zoom (Step by Step)

How to present on Zoom? Once you understand what Zoom presentations are and the tips for Zoom presentations, it is time to give the presentation using Zoom. Let’s see this step by step:

Step 1. Open the PowerPoint file you want to present.

Step 2. Join the Zoom meeting and click on the Share Screen icon in the meeting control panel at the bottom of your screen.

[Optional] You can customize who can share their screen in the Zoom meeting. Click on the small arrow in the corner of the Share Screen icon and select Advanced Sharing Options.

Select Hosts Only or All Participants.

Step 3. Select the window you want to share – in this case, the one that contains the PowerPoint slide – and click on Share.

If you are playing audio or video within your presentation, make sure to tick Share sound and Optimize for video clip.

Step 4. Click on the Slide Show tab in the PowerPoint window and begin the presentation by selecting Play from Start or Play from Current Slide.

Step 5. To stop screen sharing of PowerPoint, hover over the meeting controls at the top of your screen and select Stop Share.

It’s not uncommon for technicalities to derail a live Zoom presentation – video, Wi-Fi, or audio may fail. But there are things you can do to prevent them, or at least minimize their impact on your presentation when they happen.

First, test your equipment before your presentation and make sure everything is in place. You can join a meeting test on Zoom to check your internet connection, camera, audio, and microphone.

You may also send a PDF copy of your presentation to the attendees before the meeting if sharing your screen won’t work. This will allow you to carry on as you or your technical team figures out the problem.

If the technical issues persist, you should have a good Plan B and be prepared to continue on a different platform like Google Meet. Send the alternative link with the meeting invitation and give clear action steps when technical difficulties happen.

Following up after a Zoom presentation is a crucial step in maintaining momentum and maximizing the impact of your presentation. For example, if you are selling a product, you can use a follow-up email to make the final push of your sales pitch.

Start your email by expressing appreciation for their participation and summarizing the key points of your presentation. Include any additional resources, such as presentation slides or a video presentation recording, to reinforce your message. Offer yourself as a resource for further questions or discussions, and encourage feedback or comments from your audience.

Here’s an example of a well-executed follow-up email for a Zoom workshop event:

Conducting a virtual presentation sounds overwhelming as you must consider technical aspects in addition to delivering your message and keeping it engaging.

Remember, there’s no such thing as overpreparing when you have bosses or potential clients to impress. Follow the tips in this article to nail your next Zoom presentation!

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Zoom Presentation Tips for All: From Boring to Brilliant

Are you finding it challenging to transition your presentations from physical blackboards and meeting rooms to virtual whiteboards and Zoom meetings? Or do you sometimes feel as if your online delivery is boring, lacking the vibrancy of your in-person presentations? If yes, I assure you, you're not alone, and we've got just the things you need to spice up your Zoom presentations.

Zoom Statistics

Zoom hosts a staggering 3.3 trillion meeting minutes each year. In Q4 of 2020 alone, Zoom recorded 3 billion webinar minutes, marking an incredible 1,400% growth in webinars. Back in December 2019, Zoom had 10 million daily meeting participants. Since then, it has seen an explosive increase of over 2,900%, with the platform now averaging 300 million daily active users in meetings.

This massive adoption highlights Zoom's effectiveness, but how can one ensure their Zoom presentation is captivating, engaging, and far from boring? Here's a handy guide to mastering a Zoom presentation and transforming it from boring to brilliant.

The Advantages of Zoom Presentations

We all know how the global pandemic has nudged businesses toward remote working and virtual meetings . Online presentations are not just limited to the current pandemic but are also an integral part of business communication. 

Platforms like Zoom have gained considerable popularity owing to the flexibility, efficient video presentation tools, and expansive reach they offer. But how do you get good at presenting on Zoom ? And how do you relax and be confident on Zoom? Let’s tackle this.

Common Challenges in Online Presentations

Presenting online comes with unique challenges that you need to anticipate and plan for to prevent presentation-day mishaps. By recognizing these challenges early on, you can devise solutions and backup plans to ensure a smooth presentation. Let’s delve into these potential challenges:

Unstable Internet Connection

The backbone of any online presentation is a stable internet connection. An unstable connection can lead to broken speech or, worse, a complete loss of communication. Always check your connection by doing a quick speed test before the meeting. If possible, have a backup plan, such as a second device with a different internet connection ready, if required.

Technical Issues with Your Device or Zoom App

Familiarize yourself with both your hardware and Zoom application ahead of the presentation. Make sure your device’s camera and microphone are working perfectly. Also, confirm that your Zoom app is updated to the latest version to prevent any compatibility issues. It could be very disruptive to have to pause your presentation to figure out why your share screen option isn’t working or why you suddenly can’t hear your audience.

Timing Mismatches

Scheduling online presentations involving participants from different time zones can lead to timing misalignments. Your presentation should be planned at a time that is convenient for all. Using an online meeting scheduler that adjusts for time zones can help in preventing any confusion.

Audience Engagement

Maintaining audience engagement when you can’t see them is another challenge. People can get easily distracted in an online environment. This is where your presentation skills, visual aids, and interactive elements like quizzes come into play to keep your audience’s attention glued to your presentation.

Physical Surroundings

Unlike face-to-face presentations, where you control the meeting room's environment, online presentations are susceptible to unexpected interruptions. These can range from a colleague walking in, a pet making noises, children running around, to even sudden background noises. As much as you can, try and control your physical surroundings for the duration of the presentation.

Preparation and Planning: Your Guiding Stars

Before jumping straight into how to present on Zoom, it's prudent to discuss the need for robust preparation. First, tech prep is crucial. Spend time familiarizing yourself with Zoom settings, checking your video settings, and making sure your internet connection is robust.

Next, plan out your opening and closing, they’re as important as the actual presentation. Prepare your talking points, presentation slides, and presenter notes. Your slides should not be the focus, they should only supplement your talk. So, use a single PowerPoint slide to highlight key points when sharing your screen, and interact with your audience with the help of Zoom chat.

Enhancing Your Zoom Presentation Skills

Whether you’re delivering a business presentation to partners across the globe or giving a lecture to students, having refined presentation skills is essential for successful online delivery. The virtual platform throws in some unique challenges and hence, your traditional public speaking skills need to be fine-tuned for effective communication on Zoom.

Carving a Strong Impression through Body Language

In virtual meetings, good presentation skills are not always about what you say, but how you say it. Physical cues, such as facial expressions and hand gestures, carry substantial weight in conveying your confidence, engagement, and level of preparation. Non-verbal cues are particularly vital, even without the direct face-to-face interaction. While your audience may not see your entire body, they can still gauge your attitude through the posture and gestures visible on screen.

Sitting straight conveys confidence, but be careful not to come across as overly rigid, which can signal nervousness. Natural hand movements are effective, but excessive gestures can be distracting. Use them sparingly to emphasize key points or provide better explanations.

Holding Eye Contact Virtually

Unlike in-person presentations, maintaining eye contact in a Zoom presentation does not mean directly looking at the meeting participants. Instead, you have to hold eye contact with the camera. Regularly glancing at the camera creates the impression of direct eye contact with your audience, making your presentation more personal and engaging.

To ensure smooth delivery of your Zoom presentation, you might want to consider using a teleprompter app. Teleprompter app can effectively guide you through your presentation, facilitating a more polished and confident delivery. With some practice, it can be an invaluable tool in your virtual presentation toolkit.

Dress Appropriately and Create a Professional Environment

While you enjoy the freedom of working remotely, your attire should still adhere to professional standards. Dressing properly adds to your credibility and indicates respect for your audience. Dress as you would for a face-to-face presentation or a job interview.

Simultaneously, ensure your background exhibits professionalism. A plain wall or a professional virtual Zoom background is ideal. Try to set up your workstation in a well-lit space with natural light as it improves video quality and helps maintain focus on you as the presenter rather than your surroundings.

Master the Art of Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication extends beyond just body language. It is about creating an experience for the audience through visual aids and voice modulation. Use presentation slides, pie charts, bullet points, and short video clips as visual aids to clearly communicate your points.

Your voice is a powerful tool. Modulate it to emphasize particular points and add a touch of enthusiasm to prevent a monotonous or boring presentation.

Interactive Zoom Presentation Ideas

Zoom and online meetings, adding interactivity can be the key to holding your audience's attention. It's the only difference between a mundane presentation and one that leaves a lasting impact. Incorporating interactive elements can transform your Zoom meeting from passive viewing to active engagement.

Another set of Zoom presentation tips is to integrate interactive elements into your presentation. Interactive maps and quizzes keep the audience focused and interested. Short video clips, bullet points, pie charts, and relevant visuals add an extra edge to your presentation. However, avoid being too exuberant with hand gestures; although they are necessary for non-verbal communication, too many hand gestures can be distracting.

Techniques to Keep Your Audience Engaged

When talking about an impactful presentation, your audience’s attention and engagement supersede all else. To extend the attention spans of your viewers, infuse your presentation with interesting and relevant facts or utilize captivating stock photos that resonate with your message.

Enhance engagement through the integration of visually striking elements, clear key points, and the concise delivery of information. This combination serves as the key to not only capturing but also sustaining your audience's undivided attention throughout your presentation, ultimately ensuring its success.

Do's and Don'ts to Consider on the Presentation Day

On the day of your presentation, it's crucial to adhere to best practices to ensure all your preparations bear fruit. Keep your speech natural and maintain a smooth flow, incorporating an impressive opening and closing note that captures your audience's attention. Pay attention to your posture, sitting or standing with confidence, which projects professionalism and self-assuredness.

Follow your presenter notes to stay on track and maintain a clear, well-structured presentation. Additionally, engage with meeting participants by encouraging questions, discussions, and interaction. These collective efforts greatly influence how your audience perceives and evaluates your presentation, ultimately determining its impact and effectiveness.

Implement These Zoom Presentation Tips

Finally, use these tips for your next online meeting or Zoom presentation. Practice and discipline can make you as good, if not better, at presenting on Zoom as you are in public speaking. Download that Zoom app, prep up for your presentation day, and brace yourself to impress your audience through a brilliant, not boring, Zoom presentation!

FAQs: Zoom Presentation

Q: how can i make my zoom presentation as engaging as face-to-face presentations.

A: To make your Zoom presentation as engaging as face-to-face presentations, focus on maintaining eye contact with the camera, use interactive elements like quizzes and polls, and ensure your slides are visually appealing and not overcrowded with text. Remember to use natural hand gestures and modulate your voice to keep your audience interested.

Q: What's the best way to share a PowerPoint slide during a Zoom presentation? 

A: To share a PowerPoint slide during your Zoom presentation, open your Zoom window and click on the 'Share Screen' button. Select your PowerPoint application from the options and ensure it's in slide show mode. This will allow your audience to see your slides clearly while you present.

Q: How do I handle technical issues during a Zoom meeting? 

A: Always test your equipment and internet connection before your Zoom meeting. Familiarize yourself with the Zoom app and keep it updated. If technical issues arise, have a backup plan such as a secondary device or an alternative internet connection ready. Communicate any issues promptly to your audience and provide an estimated time for resolution.

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The Ultimate Guide to Giving Virtual Presentations on Zoom

Part 1: an introduction to giving virtual presentations on zoom.

PART I Introduction 1 – Cool Zoom Features 2 – Virtual Presentation Do’s 3 – Virtual Presentation Don’ts PART II 4 – Presentation Purpose 5 – Structure & Flow 6 – Slide Design PART III 7 – Connect with the audience 8 – Audience Participation 9 – Sharing Content PART IV 10 – Video & Audio Recordings 11 – Post-production 12 – Your Phone as a Webcam PART V 13 – When Things Go Wrong 14 – How to Ground Yourself PART VI 15 – Advanced Techniques 16 – Zoom Webinars vs Meetings 17 – 23 Essential Settings

There are three things I hate about Zoom…

#1 the super awkward must-click-two-buttons-to-leave-the-meeting debacle.

You say goodbye, search the bottom-right corner of the screen for the red button, click the red button, continue to stare awkwardly at the corner of the screen because the call is still open and you need to click a second red button.

Never fear, this can be turned off. In General Preferences simply uncheck the “Ask me to confirm when I leave a meeting” setting and poof! One-click exits. You’re welcome.

#2 Inviting someone and never knowing what the difference is between these two options: “Copy invite link” and “Copy invitation”.

I can sense you nodding along with me.

Just remember that it’s “invite link” you want 99% of the time vs “invitation”, and you can set an option that copies the link to your clipboard as soon as you start a meeting.

#3 The dropdown to change video settings is part of the “Stop Video” button. What the actual?!

Are you trying to make me screw up my presentation?

I also love Zoom.

Why? Because it works.

A year into our forced isolation, Zoom fatigue has set in. We’re avoiding calls and talking about concepts like Zoom holidays, just to get a break.

But the answer isn’t fewer Zoom calls, it’s better Zoom calls. Almost every Zoom presentation is boring, ugly, terribly structured, poorly executed, and designed to make you fall asleep.

In this guide I’ll show you

• How to create beautiful slides that communicate with clarity and class
• Unknown and awesome features of Zoom that you can use to your advantage
• How to overcome your nerves and survive technical problems
• And how to look like a total pro every time you give a presentation—or run a meeting—on the platform we all love to hate.

Note: for the sake of brevity, unless I’m talking about Zoom-specific functionality, these tips are applicable to any platform that offers meeting and presentation software such as GotoMeeting, Google Meet, Webinar Jam etc.

There are instructional videos throughout the guide to demonstrate the best parts in more depth. You can binge watch the videos on the “Presenting on Zoom” video channel here , or read on for the word and pictures.

If you want to stand out from your peers it’s good to understand the full power of the platform and know the features most people don’t know about.

#1 Set up your own configurable ‘personal meeting room’

It can be really distracting to hear a bunch of people talking over one another when you kick off a meeting. A good solution is to use what’s called a Personal Meeting ID (PID) which gives you control of the Zoom environment right from the start.

Features of your PID include:

• Using the same invite ID and URL whenever you start a meeting, bypassing the need to repeatedly check the settings. Note: because it’s a permanent URL,you should uncheck the “Allow participants to join anytime” setting to prevent randoms dropping in unannounced.
• Placing participants into a “waiting room” which lets them in when you are ready to begin– either individually or all at once.
• Automatically recording your meetings on your computer. Having a video of your presentation is always a good idea so you can re-use your content.

#2 Press the ‘spacebar to temporarily un-mute yourself’

You can help to ensure a quality audio recording by placing everyone on mute by default. And while this feature is more appropriate for meetings vs. presentations, it’s a great thing to know about – and to tell your audience about. It’s easy to use, hold down the spacebar to un-mute yourself and let it go to turn your audio off again. It prevents people from forgetting to re-mute when they walk off to do something else forcing you to listen to their snoring dog or screaming baby.

Even if it doesn’t get used during your presentation (unless it’s a workshop you won’t want people to randomly chime in), many of your audience will thank you for learning this tip.

Note: You may need to enable it in your Zoom Preferences.

#3 Record ‘separate audio files’ for each speaker, host, or panelist in the presentation

If you have a host or a co-presenter there will be content in the session that’s not yours. Having separate audio recordings lets you use only the audio that was from your part of the presentation.

You can enable this in Preferences > Recording.

#4 Enable the ‘non-verbal feedback’ feature to allow audience interactions

Cool zoom feature #4 – enable non-verbal feedback.

To make your presentations interactive you can enable the non-verbal feedback feature. This allows participants to express reactions to your presentation.

This is not to be confused with ‘meeting reaction emojis’ which are temporary reactions that disappear after 5 seconds. To be honest, it’s hard not to be confused when there are two sets of interactions with different names.

Non-verbal feedback is for direct feedback to the speaker or host that others can agree with by clicking the same icon. The result is that the speaker can see how many people are expressing the feedback.

The options for non-verbal feedback are shown in the image below:

An example of how this would be used in a presentation is to ask the speaker to speed up or slow down. This might seem like a weird thing to be told during your talk, and if it’s just one person asking you’d most likely ignore it. But if 50 people are saying to slow down, that’s a pretty good indication that your current presentation style isn’t working for them.

It provides a pretty amazing insight – something I wish I’d had that feedback during an on-stage talk.

You can also use it to ask binary questions to the audience that they can respond yes or no to – a great way to segment the audience so you can tailor your content based on their responses.

Combine this feature with a QTINTA audience participation question for a really engaging experience. You’ll have to watch the video to know what QTINTA means.

#5 Use the Zoom ‘beauty mode’ to soften your appearance

Zoom includes a “Touch up my appearance” filter in the “Preferences > Video” settings, which gives your skin a softer appearance. There’s a slider that lets you control how much it applies the effect. It can look weird if you crank it too much, but having just a little can really help – especially if you’re looking a big bedraggled.

Settings are maintained when you quit so you can expect to look the same way every time.

#6 Use Zoom ‘video filters’ to add a cinematic high-contrast appearance

We’re all familiar with Zoom backgrounds, but a more impressive feature in my mind are the video filters. You can access them via the “Stop Video” dropdown arrow. Yes, there are some silly ones which can be funny when in a meeting, but for presenting stick to the non-silly ones. They can help improve the quality of your on-camera look. I particularly like the first option “Boost” which kicks your contrast up a notch removing any bland washed out lighting, it also removed some warmer tones which I like as it reduces the redness I often have in my skin.

You can see that it increases the contrast but also cuts down on the redness in my face.

Unlike the “Touch up my appearance” feature, your video filter settings are not maintained between sessions, which is a frustrating extra step each time if you found a setting you like.

#7 Encourage attendees to use ‘side-by-side mode’ to view you and your slides

This can be a good setting if you want to make your talk feel more personal. It shows your camera video beside your slides, and viewers can resize the videos as they see fit.

It can be a good idea to point this out as not everyone will know.

E.g. “You should be viewing this presentation in side by side mode so you see me and the slides. If you want to make the slides bigger (or smaller) you can resize them by dragging the slider between my video and the slides.”

#8 Use Zoom ‘annotations’ to mark up your slides live, or a ‘whiteboard’ for a blank canvas

A really cool feature of Zoom is Annotations. This lets you write or draw on top of the screen you are sharing. Once the feature is activated , you can access it from the menu at the top when you are sharing your screen.

This is really helpful when you have a complex slide and you want to focus people’s attention on different areas of the screen as you talk. When presenting live on a stage you can gesture towards a particular area, but it’s not as easy in a virtual presentation which is why it’s handy.

There is also a Whiteboard feature that gives you, well, a whiteboard. This could be useful if you find that you need to dig into a point you’re making in a more detailed way or discover during your talk that you need a different way to explain it.

You might want to take a quick screenshot when you’re done if you happened to get some interesting ideas marked up.

Rock open a whiteboard and sketch a diagram. Having a tablet and pen would be very helpful for this, versus trying to draw with a mouse. It might be wise to use the non-verbal feedback feature to get folks to say “Yes” to a “Let me know if you’re ready to move on” question.

Note, this is a screen sharing feature, so in order to get to the whiteboard, you need to stop sharing your screen, then share once more but choose Whiteboard as the option. Then you’ll have to stop sharing and share your slides again. Make sure you’ve practiced this if you think you’ll be using it.

#9 Use ‘closed captions’ to increase the accessibility of your virtual presentation and video recording

Zoom has transcription features that let you add closed captions to your session. You can do it manually for free, but that means someone will have to type them live, which is a pretty specific skill to have, and requires someone to do it for you.

If you have a paid Zoom account (roughly $20/month) live transcriptions are included. An alternative is to integrate with a platform like Otter.ai, to add closed captions in real time. You can also use Otter for transcribing any other audio or video files you have which makes it a much better value.

There are several reasons why closed captions are a good thing to do.

• No headphones: if an attendee doesn’t have or forgot their headphones and they’re in an environment where they can’t have the volume on, closed captions are a life saver that could be the difference between them staying or leaving.
• Accessibility: Captions allow meetings to be accessible to all. For the deaf, hard of hearing, or non-native speakers, they are an absolute necessity to understand what’s going on.
• Attention and recall: closed captioning can increase the amount of your content that an attendee comprehends and remembers. This is because they are getting it using two senses, and you have to focus more intently when you are reading.

You can check out Otter here to set up live captions.

#10 Use Zoom ‘breakout rooms’ to split workshop participants into groups

Without question, one of the most popular Zoom features is Breakout Rooms. They are exactly as they sound, allowing you to break out attendees into separate rooms. This could be for hosting a multi-track event where there is a speaker in each breakout room, or more commonly it is to allow groups to work together away from the “Main Room” and then come back in to rejoin you as the speaker.

This is a wonderful feature if you are running workshops that require groups to work through some of your worksheets or tasks for example.

There’s a good demo of how to use Zoom breakout rooms here.

#11 Use a Zoom ‘waiting room’ to hold attendees before you let them in at the same time

Nobody shows up at the same time to a presentation, and you don’t always want to start until an acceptable threshold of attendees have arrived. Particularly if the beginning of your talk is fundamental to your big idea.

The waiting room is basically a holding area where attendees are listed as they show up. They get to see a simple welcome screen (annoyingly simple really – I’d much prefer to have the options to have a fully custom slide in there), and you can admit them one by one, or all at once, when you are ready to begin.

It also allows you to block people from entering, although for the most part there’s not much reason to do this when you are presenting to a large audience. Useful if someone becomes disruptive for any reason.

Caution: it’s very easy to forget about the waiting room and have people sitting around unable to get in after you’ve started. I recommend assigning this task to your co-host.

Cool Zoom Feature to Avoid – ‘Present with your PowerPoint or Keynote slides as a virtual background’.

This is an interesting feature that’s worth discussing both for why it’s cool and why it’s uncool.

What it does

Instead of a regular screen share, it takes your slide deck and sets it as the background much like any other Zoom background. As such it places a ‘mini you’ floating on top of the slides in cutout mode which is kinda fun. Kinda.

To access the feature (beta at time of writing) click the “Advanced” tab in the “Share Screen” popup, and select “Slides as Virtual Background”.

This is what it looks like from the attendee’s perspective. And yes, you appear twice on the screen. Once on top of your slides, and again beside them. Silly.

Note: you must download a local copy of your slide deck to your computer as it doesn’t connect to cloud-based slides.

If you have audio and video in your slides, checking the “Share Sound” option at the bottom-left of the share popup should make that transmit to the audience. However, it doesn’t. In fact I couldn’t get any video or audio to play at all.

There’s also a second “Split Video from Slides” option which kinda defeats the purpose. As you can see below, you are back with your regular background in a separate window, and you are only on the screen once.

With the split setting in place, it would be a fair to wonder why you’d use this feature as it looks just the same as the regular view.

There are however, a few key differences.

The major difference is that you don’t need to have your slides in fullscreen mode on your computer. In the screenshot below you’ll see that I’m looking at a Zoom window with my slides inside it. I can now move through my slides while having other windows open such as the chat and participant windows. This is actually pretty great as the audience doesn’t see your layout, they see what they would normally see.

A nice side effect of this setting is the audience won’t see the awkward moment at the start of your talk where your whole screen is visible until you start the slides.

Looking at the main window, you can clean up the view a bit by having attendee video off by un-checking “More > Allow Participants to Start Video” in the Participants panel, and then selecting “Hide non-video participants” from the “…” menu on one of the participant video boxes.

You can take it a step further if you select “Hide self view” from the … on your video thumbnail. This will give you a view of just your slides. As much as the layout annoys me (I’d rather pop the self view out to the side with the chat), it can be important to see yourself to make sure you’re not moving out of frame – particularly if you are speaking standing up.

However, at this point in the beta it’s just not usable enough to be a serious and professional solution because of a few technical failings:

• It’s buggy like most beta features are
• It doesn’t show any animations or slide transitions
• If you are recording the screen, the merge view while fun, is a little unprofessional looking
• Audio and video didn’t work at all for me, despite there being a setting to allow slide audio to work. I think this might be because the videos didn’t play.
• When you start the share it has to process the slides before it starts which causes a delay if you aren’t expecting it.

Overall, it’s a feature with some exciting elements, although to be perfectly honest, the good aspects are nothing to do with the feature itself, but are side effects. I’d prefer to see a new feature that allows you to avoid presenting in fullscreen to allow a much greater degree of presenter screen setup.

The chapter title says it all. Do these things and your virtual presentations will be better. If you don’t, your presentation won’t be better than the last one you did, missing an important opportunity grow your skills as a virtual presenter.

Seriously. Do these things.

#1 Test your slides from the ‘attendee perspective’ using another laptop or tablet

Your slides might look amazing on your retina laptop or 5K monitor, but not all screens are alike, and your super-detailed tiny-text “revolutionary new marketing method” process diagram might look more like a dot-matrix printout to someone with a lesser screen.

Viewing your slides on a smaller or alternative screen isn’t enough. You also need to view them on Zoom on that screen, because virtual presentation software tends to change things you wouldn’t expect.

The golden rule of presentation QA is to run through every slide on the platform you’re going to be delivering on (Zoom, GotoWebinar, etc.) watching out for the things below:

• Any virtual presentation platform will add small visual artifacts to the video stream—they’re imperfect degenerative medium where some quality will be lost in transmission. As a result, your slides will never be quite as sharp as directly viewing your slides.
• If you have audio in your slides, check that the audio levels are balanced and not too loud or quiet. Remember to also test it with headphones on as that’s a common listening scenario for your audience.
• If you have video in your slides it may not come across well when presenting virtually. There’s usually some lag or choppiness that makes it skip frames. This can make the audio look out of sync.
• If you have multiple slides with audio, set them at the exact same level so people don’t get deafened. A common problem in that scenario is that the attendees will turn down their audio if you blast them, and then the next time you have audio it’s too quiet to hear properly. Your presentation software will have a setting for the audio or video volume. The best way to make sure they are the same is to move your slides to be one after the other (you can reorder them afterwards), then step through them to gauge the balance.
• If you have complex animations or transitions, they may render more slowly or less smoothly when piped through Zoom and a wifi connection. If they don’t work the way you want them to, consider simplifying them (fewer animations) or removing them altogether – replacing them with static slides. You can still use a technique like the Progressive Reveal to create a pseudo animation effect.

To prevent an audio feedback loop when testing your audio and video slides, have your partner/friend/colleague be on the viewer/attendee side in another room.

Whatever your specific case is, there’s a good chance that on the viewer’s side it’s not as perfect. So double, triple, and quadruple check.

I guess you should also single check. Why does nobody say that?

“You should single check your work to make sure it’s awesome.”

The best way to QA is to record some video of it from the viewer’s perspective. Have your QA buddy record their screen (with audio). If you don’t have anyone to help you, just set up your extra laptop (hopefully you have one somewhere) in another room and record the screen from there. If you’re using a Mac, Quicktime is an easy way to get a recording. On a PC, you can use PowerPoint to do a screen recording (more on that later), or find some free screen recording software for a test.

If you do have a helper, you can also reverse roles where they present and you observe on their machine. This will give you the truest sense of what might need to be fixed. It’ll no doubt be quite hilarious to watch, unless they turn out to be better at it than you.

#2 Remove all hashtags from your slides

My typical advice regarding hashtags is to make sure you update them to use the current event’s hashtag if you’ve used this slide deck before. If you don’t it looks awful to the audience and makes them feel like you didn’t put in the effort to make a presentation just for them.

However, the main goal of this entire guide —primarily covered in chapters 10 and 11— is to ensure you create a professional-grade recording of your virtual presentation that you can repurpose over and over for multiple virtual events.

If you leave event hashtags in your slides they will be forever embedded in your recording, rendering it useless for re-use. And trust me, once you’ve created a high-resolution awesomely edited recording of your talk, you will feel amazing about it.

It may feel counterintuitive, but you should delete all the hashtags from your slides.

If the event mentions it and asks you why or asks you to include them, just politely let them know your rationale. I’ve found that many virtual events have interactive chat in the interface they use which tends to dilute the number of people hanging out on a Twitter hashtag anyway.

#3 Have a wired Internet connection

If attendees have a poor connection they can always leave and download the video and slides later on.

But the presenter is the one person who absolutely must have a great Internet connection, and the best way to do that is to have directly wired Ethernet.

A side benefit of this is that it will help you end the endless debate over who’s connection is causing the problem. I’m sure you’ve been in a meeting where someone suggests your Internet is slow, and you say yours is fine, and they say that theirs has been working brilliantly all week.

Just say “Yeah, but I have a hardwired Ethernet connection.” End of conversation.

If you don’t have a wired connection, work on getting one set up, and in the meantime tell your eager tech wannabe roommates NOT to reset the ******* wifi while you’re presenting.

#4 Have a backup audio input device

“Is this mic on? Can you hear me at the back?”

Sometimes your mic will stop working, and it’s one of the most uncomfortable panic-ridden things that can happen to a speaker (see When Things Go Wrong ). It could be a dead battery issue, or your headphone cable could be old and the internal wiring failed.

Whatever the cause, you need to have a way to deal with the problem.

If you are using a posh external mic that stops working, ditching it for the internal microphone of your laptop will likely degrade the audio quality significantly, but it’s better than nothing.

In a later chapter I do a deep dive comparison video about microphone options for virtual presenting .

Probably the simplest backup is another set of headphones. The classic Apple headphones are only $25 now. Make sure you get the ones with the 3.5mm jack, and not the lightning cable, (especially if you’re not an Apple person) as that’s only useful for your iPhone. And if you aren’t an Apple person, there are a million other options on Amazon.

However, be warned that these headphones are rife with audio problems such as noisy cables (you’ll need to sit still which sucks), and they should only be used on Zoom. When using them with any other audio recording software they have a horrific background hiss that destroys your audio, but Zoom’s noise removal feature (on by default) actually does a fantastic job of removing it, making them a viable last minute solution. Hopefully, you’ll never need to use them.

#5 Have a slide dedicated to encouraging non-verbal feedback

The non-verbal feedback feature of Zoom is a great way to make your talk more dynamic. But you don’t want to try and explain it in the middle of your talk as it’ll break the flow and screw up the fluidity of your recording.

Instead, consider which aspects of the feature you want to use, and have a slide at the start of your presentation (slide 2 for example) that focuses on this. You can quickly walk people through how it works, and tell them how you’ll be using it throughout.

#6 Have everyone muted by default

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. You don’t want attendees, whether it’s 5 or 500, to be chatting before or during your presentation. So this one is simple. Make sure you mute everyone. If you’re using your Personal Meeting ID you might have this already set up.

You can mute everyone in the Participants sidebar, or as a global default setting in the web portal administration settings “Settings > Schedule Meeting > Mute all participants when they join a meeting”.

#7 Wear confidence clothes

Just because you can present in your PJs it doesn’t mean you should present in your PJs. Treat it like an on-stage talk and get ready in your mojo outfit. You’ll gain confidence and look more professional.

Something I like to do when I’m on the road presenting, is lay out my clothes the night before. It helps me get in the right mindset and also saves time the next day when you might be stressing out.

#8 Close all of your other software to prevent your machine slowing down

Take a look at your computer right now and count A) how many different apps are running, and B) how many tabs you have open in your browser.

Here’s a screenshot of mine, for reference.

Tabs open in Chrome? 39. Apps open? 20

You need to be concerned about two things, the amount of memory and processing power being hogged by all the apps you have open, and the number of ways you might receive a notification during your talk.

For PCs running Windows 10, there’s a built-in function to silence notifications when presenting . But if you’re a Mac user the settings for this are horrendous (slightly better in Big Sur). Fortunately there’s a free app called Muzzle that silences all of your notifications as soon as you share your screen.

#9 Have two pre-made slides ready for Q&A at the end of your virtual presentation

It’s common for your host to ask questions that the audience has submitted in the chat window (or the Q&A window for Zoom Webinars) at the end of your session. The best way to utilize this opportunity—if you’re still in control of the screen—is to have two slides prepared.

The first slide should simply have Q&A written on it, really big.

The second slide should be a promo slide with a special offer you have.

I like to leave up the Q&A slide until the questions start, then flip it to the promo slide so it can sit there for the next 5-10 minutes. It’s a great way to have it visible for a long period of time without actually having to be salesy in your presentation.

It’s fairly common that an event organizer will ask you if you have something to promote, but if they don’t, ask them if it’s okay that you use a slide at the end like this.

#10 Build a background set to make your virtual presentations look professional

If you spend a lot of time on Zoom, instead of using a Zoom background, start thinking about how you can built a bit of a set where you do your presentations. Not only will it look more professional, but it will fill you with confidence and make you feel like you’re in presentation mode when you’re there.

I’m fortunate to have a space for my office/studio, and I’ve seen and felt the difference a well-designed environment makes when I show up to work. It took me months to get it right, so don’t think you have to suddenly have something perfect. Just chip away at it over time, turning on your webcam every day and giving a little thought as to how you can make the space more special. Small shelves with plants or books can work great, and Pinterest is definitely your friend for this type of thing.

Many folks won’t have a dedicated workspace to claim as your “stage”, but I’m pretty sure your significant other won’t complain if you make your home that little bit nicer.

Speaking of “stages”, I actually built a stage in my studio—almost burning down the house in the process —but that’s a story for another time. Like I said, it took months to get to this stage. I keep saying stage.

#11 Reboot your computer the night before your virtual presentation

Restarting your computer can help speed it up a bit, especially if you haven’t done it in ages. Any little performance advantage you can get is valuable for a live presentation. It will help clear out any processes that are stuck or hogging the CPU.

However, it’s best not to do this right before your talk, as you risk it doing some weird software updates that take hours to complete.

#12 Do a test Zoom meeting to check your camera angles and lighting

As Springsteen said in Dancing in the Dark—”I check my look in the mirror, I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face.”—you should always check how you look on camera before the presentation starts. Adjust the angle of the camera for your most flattering look and the best view of your background, which of course is a well-decorated wall, and not a zoom background of a beach or mountaintop.

Make sure to turn on the lights you’ll be using to light your lovely face, wick away any sweat using blotting wipes, and apply some simple makeup to remove shiny reflections from your head. More details on those techniques in the lighting section .

Here’s the smart part, record your test meeting and play it back to make sure there are no weird things in the background, it’s often easier to analyze a recording as opposed to your webcam view.

#13 Double-check your audio for background noise

At the same time as your camera check, watch your test recording and listen very carefully for any noise in the background. You’ll be surprised at how oblivious you can be to background noise when you’re busy and/or nervous.

Sounds to watch out for:

• Laundry sounds: Depending on where your washer/dryer are it may not be an issue, but the low hum can travel far. Start a Zoom recording, making sure to use which ever audio (mic) input you plan on using, go turn on your washer or dryer or dishwasher, then come back and replay the recording to see if it’s discernible. Crank the volume to make sure. There is NOTHING worse than doing a badass presentation then finding out the recording is ruined by a persistent hum in the background, or the sound of someone’s hoody zip clattering round and round in the dryer.
• Tube lights: If you have any tube lights where you are recording, or even in a nearby room, turn them off. They can be soooo noisy. Then put in the effort to replace them with silent LED tube bulbs when you have time. It does require some rewiring, but it’s not that hard—I did it recently and I made sure to choose bulbs with the same colour temperature as the lights I’ll be using to light me up in the video–more on that in the A/V chapter .
• Ceiling fans: Another subtle and repetitive sound. Turn ’em off unless the resulting heat will make you sweat to the point of scaring the audience.
• Heating: Not all heating is noisy, but many houses in North America use what’s called forced air. It’s noisy. A low hum, yes, but it’s an audio killer.
• Noisy clothes: Your clothes can cause bad scratching sounds—even if you use a shotgun microphone that’s not attached to your clothes—which is an audio killer. What happens is that any loose clothing rubs against you when you gesticulate with your arms. Tighter clothes like a t-shirt are the solution to this. I go into more depth including a comparison video in What to do When Noisy Clothes Ruin Your Audio .
• Noisy shoes: if you’re wearing any kind of heels, they will cause irritating sounds if you shuffle your feet (while presenting standing up, which you should do). The simplest solution is to take them off and present in your socks (or bare feet).
• Analog watches: I’m kidding.

And make sure everyone in the house knows not to bother you while you’re presenting. If you are in a room with a door, hang a sign on it with the time of your event, and say not to disturb you until you take the sign off the door.

Guess what? Not every thing you can do as a virtual presenter is something you should be doing—I’m talking about you, speaker who likes to take a bathroom break while mic’d up, two minutes before the session starts.

Similarly, not every feature of Zoom has a positive impact on the audience or speaker experience. In this short and not-so-sweet chapter I’ll give you some tips about things to avoid so your talks go more smoothly.

#1 Don’t use a free Zoom account for your presentation

If you’re running the show yourself this is an important one. The free Zoom plan allows up to 100 attendees which is great, and more than enough for a small event, however there is also a 40-minute time limit, which would be very embarrassing if you didn’t know that and all of a sudden everyone gets kicked out of your virtual event.

#2 Try to avoid saying “Can you hear me?”

This is a classic intro statement that nervous presenters ask, but it makes you sound unprofessional. Instead, make a subtle change to how you position it, like this:

“Thanks {host name}, let’s get started, and let us know in the chat window if you have any issues hearing my audio.”

#3 Don’t use your laptop’s microphone if your webcam is sitting on an external monitor

When you do this, the laptop will be off to one side and your audio will be really quiet and sound like you’re in a different room.

#4 Don’t use stock photos in your slides

Just as you shouldn’t use a stock photo as the header background on your website, you shouldn’t use them in your presentations. To illustrate my point, it’s way too common for software companies to think it’s cool to use an overhead shot of a laptop and a coffee cup. It’s actually hilarious how prevalent it is. I recommend entering the URL of any image you’re considering using into tineye.com which will tell you how many times it’s been used.

If you absolutely have to use one, try hard to find one that’s not so widely used. Unsplash.com is a good resource for free photography that’s typically got less of a stock feel to it.

But all in all, the best way to avoid using stock photos is to develop an original content mindset (in chapter 6) .

#5 Don’t use a Zoom background. You heard me.

Zoom backgrounds can be fun in meetings, but when you’re presenting it can look unprofessional and can be really distracting. It can also make some of your head/hair disappear and speaking for myself, I need all the hair I can get.

#6 Don’t record the call without permission

This is a big no-no on certain types of call. For a presentation you can make a statement that it’s being recorded, as this is always helpful information for attendees to know (no permission needed) but if it’s a meeting with a client, customer, or coworker, you should be explicit that you are recording and why: “If it’s okay with you I’d like to record the call so I don’t miss any of the details.” This is important when you are a guest in an interview too. Asking for permission will add a level of trust and respect in the eyes of who you are asking – and in the very rare occasion that they say no, be graceful and say okay no worries. Then follow up with,”I may be taking notes throughout so bare with me if I’m scribbling”.

Also be aware, that if you  are recording the session, everyone on the other side will see a blinking “recording” signal in the top-left corner, so there’s no creeping allowed.

To recap, remember these rules when it comes to recordings:

• Meetings: Ask for permission, and don’t record if your guest is uncomfortable with it.
• Presentations: Let people know that it’s being recorded and that you will be making it available after. Ideally after some post-production enhancements in chapter 11.

#7 Don’t be the host if you might leave early

This is a nightmare as the other participants are suddenly without a meeting and they might not know why. Then they have to re-coordinate to set up a new meeting, which is always a chore and often involves Slack or text messages or even worse, emails.

Intro Introduction to Virtual Presentations on Zoom

Chapter 1 18 Cool Zoom Features You Should Know About

Chapter 2 12 Things You Should Do in Your Zoom Presentation

Chapter 3 8 Things You Shouldn’t Do in Your Zoom Presentation

Chapter 4 Defining Your Presentation’s Purpose

Chapter 5 How to Define Your Talk’s Structure, Story, & Flow

Chapter 6 41 Slide Design Tips for Virtual Presentations

Chapter 7 6 Ways to Make Eye Contact With an Invisible Audience

Chapter 8 How to do Audience Participation in a Virtual Presentation

Chapter 9 How to Share Content during a Zoom Presentation

Chapter 10 How to Create a Stunning Video and Audio Recording

Chapter 11 Using Post-Production to Add Value to Your Zoom Recording

Chapter 12 How to Use Your Phone as a Beautiful Webcam

Chapter 13 What to Do When Things go Wrong in Your Presentation

Chapter 14 How to Ground Yourself and Get Ready to Present

Chapter 15 Advanced & Creative Zoom Presentation Techniques

Chapter 16 The Difference Between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars

Chapter 17 23 Zoom Settings to Enable or Disable for a Smooth Presentation