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Months of lockdowns and travel bans have made the event industry re-think, re-invent and refurbish. Though online events were always around us, the restrictions imposed during the pandemic have finally made event organizers consider them as a long-term solution.From an online conference platform and a trade fair software to virtual event management softwares – event professionals are innovating new formats and ways to add an element of excitement to virtual events of all types (virtual as well as hybrid).
When it comes to an online conference platform, presentations often form an important part of your interaction with the attendees. Presenting at a virtual event looks very different from a presentation with a live audience.
In a virtual environment, there is a greater chance for your audience to lose interest and bounce off.
Hence, it becomes of utmost importance for you as a presenter to be doubly sure of the quality of your presentations. Delivering an effective presentation can make or break your game while you host online event.
Here are five things to keep in mind while curating a presentation for your online conference.
One Slide At A Time
A golden rule that applies to all virtual event presentations is to dedicate one concept to one slide. The last thing you want is that your attendees squint at their screens to try and make sense of your presentation slides.
By keeping the text minimal and covering one takeaway per slide, you will be able to communicate more effectively and keep the attendees attentive.
For instance, if you’ve inserted a graph in the slide — refrain from adding supporting text on the same slide. Instead, elaborate on it while speaking. This will also give your audience a reason to listen to you while they're a part of your virtual conference software.
Reports suggest that people should be able to take in your slide and its meaning within 3 seconds. Hence, you need to put your message across succinctly.
Keep it Simple, Stupid.
our attendees chose to meet on an online conference platform with the hope of having a seamless virtual experience. A cluttered and complicated presentation will put them off. Capture your attendees attention and keep them put by using a high-contrast color scheme and bold fonts. This will make your presentation look catchy and aid readability. Play with font sizes and types to emphasize important details.
Remember, people will be viewing your presentation on their PCs or smartphones as opposed to a projector screen. So, make sure you choose the appropriate font sizes and leave some empty (breathing) space on each slide.
Make it Vibrant.
Compelling visuals can add the must needed boost to your otherwise dense presentation. Apart from hosting polls, quizzes and contests on your online conference platform, make sure that you add interesting visuals to your presentation to keep the attendees gripped.
Incorporating visuals in your presentation is likely to make it more memorable because people respond better to visual aids. However, do not forget that this is a professional set-up and you cannot just add visuals to ‘beautify’ your slides — use them to support your content and put your message across clearly.
Charts, graphs, icons, illustrations, funnels, memes, GIFs, all can be used to make your presentation visually appealing.
Video Your Way Through It
A good virtual conference software would surely be well-integrated with YouTube and Vimeo. A good way to add an element of bling to your presentation is to use videos and animations.
Not everything can be said through bar graphs and charts, and sometimes a catchy video in the middle of a presentation can instantly lighten up the mood of the session.
This is a great way to aid storytelling and helps explain complex topics. However, too many videos in consecutive slides may end up overwhelming or distracting the audience. Make sure you place them with sufficient gaps.
Get the Conversation Going
What could be better than having virtual presentations that are more of a two-way conversation and less of a speech? A smart virtual conference software provides you with ample opportunities to engage with your attendees. It eases the task of retaining audiences’ attention while you're presenting.
Here’s how you can get the conversation going while presenting to your attendees:
Presentations, indeed, form the crux of your virtual conference, and by following the few mentioned points, you can take the quality of your virtual session a notch higher.
To host online events (conferences) is now very easy owing to the variety of features that an online conference platform comes furnished with. Just put your creative hats on, explore and leverage those features as much as possible!
Arushi is a writer who makes reading simple and painless for you. She has a keen interest in marketing and copywriting. Besides her ambivert character, she is someone who loves cheesecakes, coffee and candid conversations. In her free time, you'll find her playing an outdoor sport or listening to a podcast.
