While presenting online uses some of the same skills as presenting in person, there are
some challenges that can arise.
In this video, we will go over how to present a presentation online, including how to prepare
for the presentation, how to start the meeting, tips for screen sharing and how to give a
successful online presentation.
Preparing for the presentation
Preparing for the presentation: Just as you would for an in person presentation,
you need to practice your presentation before the actual meeting day.
Practice running through your presentation using the meeting software you are going to
use (e.g. Zoom), so that you are comfortable with using the presentation software and the
meeting software on the day of your presentation.
Make sure to time your presentation, so you know you are staying within your time guidelines.
Keep in mind some things take a little longer in an online setting.
For example, during questions you will need to wait for your audience to unmute their
mics before speaking.
Come to your presentation looking professional – just because the presentation is online
does not mean you should dress differently than you would for a face-to-face presentation.
Starting the meeting: Take some time at the beginning of your presentation
Starting the meeting
to set some guidelines for your audience to help your presentation run smoothly and to
reduce the number of distractions.
Give your participants instructions for how you would like them to interact with you during
the presentation.
Do you want your audience to wait until the end of the presentation to ask questions,
or can they ask questions throughout the presentation?
Ask participants to mute their mics to avoid any noisy interruptions.
If you are the host of a meeting in Zoom, you have the ability to mute participants
who have forgotten to mute themselves.
Just hover over their image and click Mute.
When people do ask questions, how are you going to avoid everyone talking over one another?
There are two useful tools in Zoom to help with this: the raise hand feature and the
chat tool.
Decide which tool you are going to use and give your audience instructions on how to
use the tool.
If you instruct users to use the chat for questions, make sure you monitor the chat.
Sharing your screen
Sharing your Screen When you present online, you will be sharing
your computer screen with others in the meeting.
Use these tips to ensure you can do this step quickly.
Have your presentation already open and on the slide you are going to start on before
the meeting begins.
If there are any other supporting materials you are going to share during the meeting,
have these open as well.
Close all other applications that you do not want to share with meeting participants, so
you do not accidently share any private information.
Remember to practice sharing your screen before the presentation day.
To share your screen in Zoom, click Share Screen from the bottom menu.
Choose the presentation you wish to share, and click Share.
The meeting participants will now see your presentation.
Giving the presentation
Giving the presentation: Giving an online presentation uses many of
the same skills you would use when giving a face-to-face presentation; however, it can
be harder to keep the attention of your audience in an online meeting, so there are a few important
guidelines to remember.
If possible, put your presentation on presentation mode so that your audience sees the slides
as full screen and they do not see your notes, or the next slides.
You’ll need a second monitor, a large enough monitor to split the screen, or a printed
copy of your speaker notes to do this, as you won’t be able to see your notes in presentation
mode either!
When presenting online, it may be tempting to read your slides or read a prepared script.
You want to avoid reading, as your presentation will be less engaging.
When you share your screen, remember your video will still be visible to your audience,
so you still need to be aware of what you are doing.
To keep the audience engaged, try to look at your web camera, and avoid looking down
at notes or another screen.
If you’re using Zoom, you can use the annotation tools if you want to emphasize or add something
to your slides.
When you share your screen, your audience can see your mouse and anything you do on
screen so be careful you are not being distracting by moving your mouse around.
When you have concluded the presentation, make sure you stop sharing, so that you do
not accidentally share anything with your audience that you do not want to share.
For more information on presentation skills, you can visit the Presentation Skills module.