Trapped in a small screen in the corner of the monitor has become everyone’s reality when we have group meetings. I have been holding training sessions online now since March, as well as participating in numerous public webinars. There are some things that clearly don’t work, but here we are about to go into fall and no one seems to be making any significant changes, to up their online game. It is not for a lack of insights. I have been writing about these issues for months, as I am sure have others, so obviously the messages are not getting through.
The monitor screen saps our energy levels, as they appear to others. We might think we are showing lots of energy, but the reality is, it is less than we imagine. In a recent training session, 19 people had to give their presentations one after another. The contrast was striking. Those who were more highly energised were more credible and appealing than those who looked lethargic and tired on screen. The attendees of the training were all highly engaged and they were giving their presentation of their own creation, so the buy in factor to the exercise was 100%. They were not tired, but they appeared that way, because they were not maximising the use of their energy for the small screen.
When we are presenting, we want the audience to buy what we are recommending or suggesting. Even if it is just an “inform” style of presentation, we still want the viewers to believe in the value of what we are proffering. Reactions to presentations are heavily biased in favour of those who seem to believe what they are saying, as opposed to those who seem to be just going through the motions.
The impression we receive, to a great extent, is determined by the amount of energy the speaker is putting behind the words they are saying. We hear that the speaking volume is high without it being too high. The audio systems the major online platforms use, do not handle shouting terribly well, so we have to up the volume, without it going over the top. Hitting key words in sentences, bringing our energy to them, really accentuates the messaging and is a very effective use of our voice.
One of the speakers was terrific at adding in facial expressions to increase the power of her messages. Combined with a strong, confident voice, she was a winner. Most of the other speakers were holding a neutral expression on their face, regardless of the words they were saying. In these cases it is diabolically easy, for the audience to escape.
Dr. Albert Mehrabian’s oft quoted research mentioned that if you are incongruent when speaking, ninety three percent of the time, you don’t get your message across. What he meant by incongruent was that the words and the way we are saying the words, have to match up. If it is a happy event, then we look happy. If it is a serious affair, we look serious. Having no facial expression at all, means there is no energy coming out of the muscles of our face to support our key messages.
Gestures are tricky on the small screen, particularly if you are using a green screen background, to deny the viewing audience the inner workings and secrets of your household. Gestures are powerful though and they can really light up a presentation. If you are revealing the shambles of how you live to the audience and have no green screen effect, then you are free to use gestures of any variety, as long as you keep them in shot, based on your distance from the camera lens. It is a good idea to practice gestures on camera, to see where the limits are.
If you are using green screen backgrounds, then any gestures going wide will suddenly see half your arm disappear, like a magic trick. Try to keep your hands in front of you and move them toward the camera. There is less chance of them getting chopped off that way. The scale of the gestures in this case, are a bit more contained, but you can still bring additional power to your words with gestures.
There is no doubt, that adding energy to our presentations on screen is important. Also, whatever you think is enough energy output, add another 20%, to actually come across as you imagine you are doing.