Is there anybody out there? Sometimes, when you’re all alone in the office, staring at the green dot, reciting meaningless text to an unresponsive void as an online presentation, you start to question your life choices. Is there anybody out there?
The pandemic was a terrible time, for education. It taught us that an educator turning on their laptop and reading out powerpoint was education, and as an audience, that the presentation broadcast on your laptop (whilst you did the ironing, turbo training or email) was learning. There are numerous posts on how to address this. But, as my dear friend Oliver asked, one can have prepared an excellent presentation and yet, as the introduction fades, you are left wondering, “is there anybody out there?” How can we deliver an exceptional online presentation, to the green dot?
The audience for an online presentation treats the broadcast like a TV show or a Netflix drama. They are not invested in it, there’s a feeling that they can always come back later and “binge” if their attention wanders. Quickly, that drops so much that the interaction is more like being aware of a radio show or podcast playing somewhere far off in the background. Attention is minimal, inconsistent at best and engagement is even lower. It is not entirely the fault of the audience, it’s because of science. Ask yourself how “present” you were at the last online presentation you “attended”?
The simplistic and paternalistic approach to a less-than-engaged audience is the “cameras on” requirement. An online audience does not behave the same way as a live audience due to multiple social and psychological norms. They are watching TV. They are not required to visually interact or repsond despite the effort and desire of the presenter. The presenter is faced with a screen full of screens, full of faces and backgrounds and movement and distractions. This makes presenting even harder and adds a huge and unnecessary cognitive load. It does not bring engagement and it doesn’t work. Ask the audience to turn their cameras off.
Now it really feels like no-one is there! My advice therefore, is to get an audience. This should be someone you can trust, who has been tasked effectively and can give you the immediate feedback and encouragement you desire. It could even be a group. They should sit directly behind your camera, effectively in the second row of an audience. They must be in the line of sight towards the camera. If in person is not possible, have a confederate connect by video chat on a separate device. Have them set up to show their whole body in frame, not just their face. This visual cue encourages the desired social interaction and feedback. The online audience need not even know you have a live audience. Now, present to your colleague.
It is important to engage with the online audience both indirectly by asking explicitly for questions to be answered and directly, advising them ahead of time, that you will come specifically to individuals for an answer. Be aware of the technical challenge and delay implicit in this. Advise that named colleague that you will be coming to them specifically for a response to the interaction, but summarise the issue before doing so. Recognise the challenge within a group if an individual does not respond promptly by moving quickly to another colleague rather than leave “dead air” or embarrassment. A list of delegates is valuable.
There will be times when neither of the options above is possible. (And times when you don’t feel comfortable asking; that is another issue). Consider asking a family member or junior colleague. A medical student would always be honoured to be involved. Without this, I have even placed a photograph behind the green dot simply to remind me that there are people out there. Beyond this, it is a mental challenge in the visualisation of the audience. Make sure to connect with the group before beginning and use their names in the flow of the presentation. Make regular pauses in the flow to open the camera and see your audience again. Post-it notes reminding me of these facts and names have been helpful in the past.
Online presentations are a real challenge. We should try to avoid them if at all possible. Use an invited audience to help. Set up reminders around the camera lens. Engage the audience by using their names. Remember what the real answer is to the question, “is there anybody out there?”