Thanks to the global Covid pandemic, more and more people have found the need to adapt to virtual meetings, instead of attending in-person. Lockdowns have created an environment for working from home and people need to adapt to it. Business communications now resort to video conferencing and online presentations. 

If you find yourself in a struggle with this, you are not alone. Many people find it more difficult to present online and communicate via virtual means. Virtual communication may be convenient, but it is also lacking in relaying human emotion. There is not always a way to tell if you are on the right track with your audience, because you may not even see them. So how do you gain some confidence in online meetings? Here are a few proven tips: 

Always look the part
When you look confident, you also feel confident. When you have to do an important virtual meeting, you should always dress in clothes that make you feel good. You should not go casual and you should stick with neutral colours because bright prints are a bit distracting. And while the idea of not wearing pants has been floating around, since others don’t see you from the waist down, you best not consider it at all. Sometimes you will need to stand up and grab some documents, so avoid wearing your pyjamas. 

Positioning matters
If you wish to feel more executive with your presence, you need to take up more space, figuratively and literally. If you sit far too away from your camera, you will look small, which is an immediate telltale sign that you are feeling nervous. It is best to set up your camera in such a way that makes the entire area from your upper chest visible. 

Connecting with people
Just because you are communicating via a digital medium with your audience doesn’t mean you cannot connect with them. Keep the camera at eye level so that you connect with the others. It would be a mistake to place the camera too low, as it would seem you are talking down on people, or too high because then you diminish your presence. Strong eye contact with the audience is the best form of connection you should achieve, and you don’t want to waste it. 

Be mindful of your background
A large part of the software used in digital conferences, like Zoom, has interesting background features. You have to be mindful of going too wild with the backgrounds because it can be a distraction to your viewers. If the meeting is an important one, you should locate yourself in a neutral room, with a neutral background. You don’t need to display an empty wall, but certainly, avoid a panorama of your messy kitchen or dining area. 

Use your strong voice
Using a strong voice and being more mindful of inflexion is all it takes to make you feel more relaxed. These are both tips that you need to be mindful of when you are talking in person as well. People are more focused when someone is talking to them in a stronger voice. And because people’s attention wavers during a conversation online, you should make sure you have good audio. 

Be more aware of your body
If you allow the lack of confidence to leak through your posture, you will lose your audience. Hunching over or slouching during your video calls can make everyone feel less secure. You can use some mindfulness techniques to become more comfortable with yourself and sit with ease in front of the camera. One good exercise is trying to imagine a piece of string attached to the ceiling and pulling your head up.  

All of these tips work well to make you more prepared to do a virtual presentation or a video conference with confidence. 

© Presence Training

Nowadays, more people than ever are doing online presentations and online talks with an audience. Whether it is webinars or business calls on some of the online conferencing software options, you are probably experiencing the same shift. 

There is little doubt that online conferencing comes with a set of challenges, which are different from when you are doing in-person public speaking. And while you may be well-experienced to handle the in-person task just fine, the online part is a bit different. There are various things you may forget to address, which will negatively impact your performance. Do consider them all: 

• Lighting – many people use lighting that comes from behind them. Sometimes this is not a problem if it is a moderate amount. But, if you are standing in front of the window, and the camera is facing it, and there is a lot of sunlight coming through, you will make it very difficult for people to see your face. Your face will be a shadowy silhouette, which makes it rather uncomfortable to look at. Instead, you should have a light fixture that delivers soft glow from the front, so that it illuminates your face. The idea is that you want to be as visible as possible, and not have others squint at you. 
  
  
• Noise – sometimes, this can be difficult to address. If you have a pet at home, it can be near impossible to have them make zero noise. Same goes for children if they like running around and yelling. The best thing you can do is find yourself a quiet room and close the door. Ask any members of your family to leave you in peace for the time of your online presence. As fir noise coming from outside your home, that is not entirely under your control, so nothing can be done. 
  
  
• The way you dress – some people take advantage of the fact that their online audience will only see them from the shoulders up, and pay little attention to the way they are dressed. They can be in shorts, or sweatpants during an important presentation. But that is not the ideal way to go about it. First, you want to feel like you are standing in front of the people in-person. This will change the way you speak and the way you behave. Second, it will affect the way you stand in front of your camera. You may think these are subtle things, but in reality, they can affect your performance quite a lot. 
  
  
• Camera – the best position for your camera is the same level as your face or just a little above that. Many people just leave their cameras pointing upwards, showing their faces from a really strange angle. You want to make it feel for the others like you are standing on the same level as them. This makes it easier for them to track your face and everything that you are saying. 
  
  
• Ignoring your audience – one thing about online presentations is that the presenter can forget to give their audience a chance to participate. The main issue comes from the fact that others might not feel comfortable interrupting. And while during an in-person presentation someone can just raise their hand to ask for attention, they cannot do the same during an online talk. Instead, you should consider this and ask if anyone else has any questions up until this point. You can also have others ask their questions at the end, as long as you strictly give them the word. 
  
  

These are all important aspects of online presentations that you should not forget about. They can secure the success or lead to a failure of your presentation. 

© Presence Training

Zoom meetings and other virtual solutions have pretty much become the norm nowadays. More and more people find the only solution to continue work from home, and this is a way for them to stay connected. 

But this change in the way you conduct meetings may seem hard to adjust to. A virtual environment is nothing like meeting people face to face, and doing presentations online may not be your strong trait. To gain some confidence, you can adopt a few tactics: 

• Do a lot of practice in front of the camera – how do people get better at something? Well, they practice and then practice some more. You cannot expect to feel good about something if you haven’t practised it enough. In the case of doing online meetings, you don’t even necessarily need to practice with real people. You can ‘cheat’ a little by practising just in front of a camera. You will then feel more comfortable in a real online environment when the time comes. 

• Preparation is key – perhaps the best way to feel confident in an online meeting is to prepare yourself for it. Know what topic you will be discussing, what data is needed, what other people may need of you. And if you are only asked to observe, it is best to prepare some actionable points, which you can add to the meeting when an opening arises. Basically, the better prepared you are, the more confidence you will feel and less stress and anxiety about it. This is a great tip that works great for any public speaking performance, but it translates well into online meetings as well. 

• Your appearance matters – most people usually tie their confidence in the way they look. That is also true in the virtual world, even though you are only visible from the torso up. Consider what physical features of yourself you feel are more frustrating and proactively address them. For instance, if you feel like your skin doesn’t look good on camera, employ some form of skincare regimen. Whatever it is, you can actively make yourself look better and thus gain some of that much needed sweet confidence in front of the camera. 

• Become more familiar with technology – another way to be more comfortable during online meetings and presentations lies with increasing your knowledge of the technology used. Taking the time to learn all about the new platform and hardware till you are comfortable with it to the point where it doesn’t bother you. When you are unsure of the means of online meetings, you are losing focus and worrying extra about it, which can be problematic in many ways. 

• Speak up – sometimes you have an idea of what you will say in your head. And then, the time never comes. The meeting ends, and you have not shared your ideas. Your goal should be to speak up, as this is going to boost your confidence. You may think that keeping it to yourself is the way to go, but in the end, you will just hate yourself for keeping quiet. Find the right phrases to speak up and wait for the right moment. Don’t just interrupt people mid-sentence, as that is just rude. ‘That concerns me a little’, ‘I have a question about ….’, ‘I have to say’ are all good phrases to use and get some attention. 

These are all working tips to boost your confidence in online meetings. Use them all and you will see that they have a positive effect. 

© Presence Training