If you’ve attended webinars or web meetings, chances are you had a hard time paying attention. It is my opinion that the responsibility for holding attendee’s attention falls solely with the presenter. 

If you find yourself in the position of having to conduct virtual communications, here are a few tips to help keep your audience on track and engaged in your presentation.

1. Set guidelines for focused participation. A few ground rules go a long way in managing the expectations of your virtual audience.
2. Quit “um-ing” and “ah-ing”.  Instead of using these distracting non-words, pause.
3. Build in time for interaction.  Plan on reaching out to your attendees using the tools available in your online meeting software including polls, chat, emoticons and the whiteboard.

For more in-depth training on how to conduct dynamic webinars, sign up for our Webinars that Wow Virtual Public Program.

Make Every Presentation Great!
Sheri Jeavons

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Ask The Expert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.