Back to In-Person Communication

A recent Pulse survey of event planners from across the country revealed that by Q4 of 2021 more than 60% of events will be live. This means conferences, conventions, and corporate meetings are starting to shift away from virtual and back to in-person. While we have enjoyed being dressed nicely from the waist up for the last 15 months, the time for pants is fast approaching.

While brushing off your power suits and shoes, you also need to brush off your in-person presentation skills. This means no more presenting through a camera with our notes pasted on the wall and dogs barking in the background.  

If you’re like me, you’re a little rusty.  You’ve been looking at a green dot in an effort to replicate eye contact, you’ve been sitting and presenting from a comfortable chair, and you’ve relied on chat for audience interaction.  These are all great adaptations to virtual communication, but they don’t help you in the world of in-person interactions.

Here are three important best practices to remember as you prepare to return to in-person presentations:

1. STAND!  

Perhaps you’ve spent the last 15 months sitting at your desk, kitchen table, or on your couch as you presented to clients and colleagues.  With a return to in-person presentations, you now have an opportunity to STAND and take control of the room. By standing, you elevate the energy of the entire room (yourself, included).  Standing also forces your audience to get their heads out of their computers and focus on you and your message.  And when you stand, you have the opportunity to move--move to connect with different people in your audience, move to signify a transition from one topic to another, and move to keep your presentation dynamic.  There are innumerable communication benefits to standing, so, if the situation allows, STAND to present.

2. INTERACT!

We don’t want to abandon a very important tool we learned from presenting virtually--audience interaction.  When speakers and their audiences weren’t in the same room, speakers had to develop new methods of connecting to their audiences by using polls, chats, and having people flash a ‘thumbs up’ to build rapport and trust.  With the return to in-person presentations, we need to take these same strategies into convention halls and conference rooms so that our presentations don’t become a monotonous one-way flow of information.  When you are in-person, ask questions, prompt people to raise their hands, and solicit perspective and information from your audience.  Every instance of meaningful interaction builds connection and trust.  Don’t abandon being INTERACTIVE in your presentations as you move back to in-person communication.

3. CONNECT!  

We’ve been looking at a green dot on our camera as means of replicating eye contact.  Now it’s time for the real thing.  When facing a live audience, remember to meaningfully connect with individuals by saying a sentence or two while looking them in the eye.  Don’t just scan the room.  Meaningful eye contact is one of the most powerful communication tools available and it does two things.  First, it conveys your confidence and expertise--only self-assured speakers look their audience in the eye.  Second, it adds conviction for what you’re presenting.  These two reasons alone make meaningful eye contact a must when you are presenting in person. 

As you prepare for your first in-person presentation in months, use these three tips to shake off the rust.  Standing, interacting, and connecting with meaningful eye-contact may feel a little awkward at first but some targeted rehearsal will quickly return you to your pre-pandemic comfort-zone.  

Don’t just dust off those clothes you haven’t worn in months, but dust off those in-person presentation skills to make sure you are an engaging impactful speaker.