The global COVID pandemic changed global business culture. People began to work from home, and suddenly, most meetings and presentations happened virtually instead of in person. The technology began to outpace theory as few of us knew how to present virtually well. Obviously, a good starting approach builds off of existing practice, so many began the journey of adapting our presentations to tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
A few years later, the pandemic has subsided, but Zoom and Teams remain a central part of business culture. Though primarily a software developer, I give presentations to people all over the country on a weekly basis from the friendly confines of my home. I became curious: Am I doing a good job? How can I know? Where can I improve based on what experts teach?
I looked for books on this topic, and frankly, I found few. The field just seems too new. High-speed Internet has not been available long enough for enough people to virtual-conference so that the communications theory could evolve enough. The available reflections have mainly been gathered through conversations with coaches of speakers and online forums. Everything is very new and raw. Speaking coach Jack Milner’s compilation from 2022 was the best thing out there.
This presentation, while unique and original, could still use a lot of polish. His wording is very loose and definitely not as succinct and refined as I’m used to reading. He relies on sharing entertaining stories (probably too much), so finding the theory amidst all of the verbiage remains difficult. Occasional typos and grammar mistakes are frequent enough. Graphics are often not well edited for the format of a printed book.
That said, I received a few pointers from the book. I put a small photo of my wife behind my computer’s camera so that I could focus on her when I need to make eye contact with my audience. I thought through various changes about slide presentations, like using more slides to keep visuals moving. Finally, this book reaffirmed my belief in high-energy presentations – even when working alone with little feedback – along with the value of interaction and playful humor.
In a presentation, content is still king. No theatrics can make a bad presentation great… but targeted add-ons and polish can improve a talk from good to very good. Those of us who rely on the virtual domain need those versed in communications theory to teach us how to do this. Books like this can and do help. I hope it is the first of many in this genre so that I can keep receiving stellar reviews from my audiences.
Virtual Presentation Mastery: Tips from the Coach to Some of the World’s Best Speakers – And Me
By Jack Milner
Illustrations by Adél Szegedi
Copyright (c) 2022
Janice Beetle Books
ISBN13 9781399915922
Page Count: 199
Genre: Presentation
Sponsored link to www.amazon.com