(Article excerpted from session 3 of Gilda Bonanno's recorded course: Virtual Presentations: How to Develop & Deliver an Effective Presentation Over the Phone)
In addition to preparing the content for your teleconference,
you also have to consider teleconference logistics and be prepared for any
glitches. You want to think about what could go wrong and how you will handle
it. Being prepared will allow you to
handle the teleconference calmly and confidently without allowing any problems
to distract you from focusing on your presentation and the audience.
Know the environment
Which
teleconference service are you using? What are the phone numbers and access
codes? Are you going to be at your desk or in a different room? Will there be
anyone else in the room with you? Do you know how to use the phone/headset? Are
you going to have a laptop in front of you with slides?
Deal with noise in the room or on the line
Before the
teleconference, check the room you will be using for noise, like a loud air
conditioning vent or sounds from outside or the office next door. What will you do if there is a lot of noise
or static on the phone line? In that case, I recommend asking everyone to mute
themselves (or you can mute them all) and if that doesn’t solve the problem,
the worst-case scenario is that you ask everyone to hang up and dial back in.
Assume the mute button is broken
Assume that the
mute button on your phone is broken and that everyone on the call can hear
everything you say. Don’t say anything
to yourself or to somebody else in the room that you wouldn’t want the
participants to hear. It’s fine if they
hear you cough, but you don’t want them hearing you complain, “Mary was
supposed to give this presentation, and she didn’t show and now I’m stuck with
it.”
Assume there are more people on the call
Never assume
that there are just two people on the call.
Once I called into a teleconference and heard the presenter having a
conversation with another person on the line, assuming it was just the two of
them. She didn’t hear the beep when I
joined or she had disabled that function, so she chatted with the other person about
the weather and weekend plans, without realizing I could hear them. I finally coughed loudly and announced
myself.
Prepare for technology problems
It
happens. Your laptop unexpectedly shuts
down (due to automatic updates, low battery or an unplugged power supply) so
you can’t see your slides. The phone
line goes dead. Be ready with an extra
power cord, a printout of your slides or notes and a physical (not just
electronic) reminder of key information like the teleconference call-in number
and access codes.
Have an alternate
way to reach people
If the conference line you’re using disconnects for some
reason, you need another way to reach people, such as via email, text or chat, to
let them how you’re handling the technical problem. It also helps to have
somebody you can call for technical assistance.
Keep what you need
close at hand
Make a list of what you might need during the call and
then keep those items nearby. For
example, you might need water, tea, cough drops and tissues. You don’t want to
be running into the conference room at the last minute and then saying, “Oh
wait, let me go get water.” If you need
to have notes or other documents, keep them easily accessible on the table in front
of you, not buried in a folder or your briefcase.
Give yourself breathing room before the
call
It will be
more difficult to conduct an effective teleconference or deliver a good phone
presentation if you are rushing and flustered in the last few minutes before
the call. Give yourself a minimum of 15 minutes (ideally 30) before the call so
you can calmly get set up, test the computer connection, make sure the phone is
working, get focused, review your notes and pull everything all together.
If you think
about the logistics of your teleconference and prepare for what could go wrong,
it will be easier for you to be fully present to your audience. And if something does go wrong, you’ll be
better able to handle it calmly, with grace and humor, rather than letting it
completely derail the teleconference and your presentation.
This article was excerpted from session 3 of my recorded course: Virtual Presentations: How to Develop and Deliver an Effective Presentation Over the Phone.
The Virtual Presentations course consists of 3 previously recorded, content-rich sessions of 45-55 minutes each - you receive both the mp3 recording and the written PDF transcript for each session.
The regular fee is $397, but I am offering it to you free of charge - no opt-in or log-in required, as my gift to support you during this crisis.
Download the Virtual Presentations course now: https://www.box.com/s/w1tsxk19q9kfkpmqb6bf
(This link takes you to a folder on the Box website, from which you can download each of the 3 audio files and 3 PDFs)
Feel free to share the link with anyone you think could benefit.
If you'd like to read more about the course, please visit https://www.gildabonanno.com/virtualpresentations