Public Speaking Online, Part IV
During the Web Speech
One of the
helpful suggestions from the business writers used for this appendix was to
start on time. This might seem obvious,
but if you have ever been in an online meeting or webinar, it’s harder said
than done--mainly because participants log on at the start of the meeting
rather than early and it takes a while for the technology to kick in. Therefore, one suggestion is to have a “soft”
introduction for the punctual and a “hard” opening for the late-comers. The soft intro could be the fun,
attention-getting one (video, interactivity) and the hard one the “this is why
the topic matters let’s get down to business” opening.
It goes
without saying that you as the speaker should be on time well before the
beginning of the meeting, and ready to go technology- and presentation-wise.
Web
speaking is often scheduled for a longer period of time than a face-to-face
speech, which does not add to attention level of the audience. For this reason,
your presentation should include time for questions and input from the
audience. However, this should be
planned at intervals, perhaps between main sections of the speech, so that the
audience isn’t interrupting at inconvenient times.
Going
deeper, perhaps we should ask the fundamental question of purpose. What is your
intent in this webinar speech? To
educate? To persuade/sell? To contribute to or facilitate a decision? Something
else? Everything else you do comes from
that intent or purpose, just like your face-to-face speech comes from the
specific purpose speech. What do you
really want to accomplish from this meeting?
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