Public Speaking Online: Final Post and Resources


This is the last installment on this topic of speaking online for webinars, etc. Please use archives to find the earlier ones. I wrote this for an open resource textbook on public speaking. It is one of the appendices. This book, Exploring Public Speaking, (soon in third edition), is free and quite good if I do say so myself. It is being used all over the world and I really think it is the best source out there if you want to save your basic public speaking students and cover all the same material, plus some. If you google the title and my name, you can find it at the University System of Georgia repository.  Contact me and I'll send you the link to the ancillaries. You should at least check it out.

Speaking for an Online Class
            This writer teaches an online business communication course where she requires either a face-to-face (if possible) presentation or one done online.  In these cases, instructors usually want the presentation given in front of a live audience of a prescribed number of people and/or in a venue like a classroom (not the student’s living room).  Many public speaking instructors do not believe this option is as good as an in-class speech, but if you are in this situation, here are some tips.
1.     Film your whole body—not just your head and shoulders.
2.     Do tech walk-throughs and make sure your camera is working well and picking up your voice.
3.     Make sure you can get the recording to your instructor.  You probably will not be able to just send it through email because the file will be too big.  You will have to post it to the cloud in some manner.
4.     Wear appropriate clothing.  Not being in class may tempt you to wear something too informal.  This might be an opportunity to go a step beyond in your clothing.  Make sure, also, that it looks good on camera in terms of color and lighting in your setting.
5.     Along that line, since you probably won’t have professional lighting, get the room as bright as you possibly can, but do not point the camera in the direction of a bright light.  The light should be coming from behind the camera.

Conclusion
            As mentioned before, this subject is an evolving one.  These tips and tactics should help not just avoid the major problems but also cross the finish line into an effective presentation.
  
Links that might help with this topic: 
  http://blog.visme.co/engage-audience-online-presentation/

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