Remote video calls with clients have been a part of working life for years now but for many they can be a stressful business. Content designer Dave Songer shares what he\u2019s done to ease the pressure and improve his presenting style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t have fond memories of my first stakeholder presentations. Those \u2018show and tells\u2019 felt like I had been thrown to the lions: a meeting on an unfamiliar platform (Google Meets); presenting work I didn\u2019t know much about (pensions); to people that ultimately decide whether I\u2019m fit for the job (stakeholders). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since those early days, I have made some reasonable adjustments that not only make my content updates more manageable, they\u2019re also less stressful, more enjoyable and, crucially, more valuable for my audience. It\u2019s not a long list (and probably not even revelatory) but it works for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tech prep<\/strong> Consider going through it with a colleague, sitting in different rooms if you\u2019re in the same building. A mock presentation is particularly useful if you need to go through your own material, such as slides or a visual work platform like Mural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tech gremlins<\/strong> What are you aiming to achieve?<\/strong> Write a script<\/strong> Keep it visual<\/strong> Enjoy the silence<\/strong> Final thoughts<\/strong> Remote video calls with clients have been a part of working life for years now but for many they can […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mercatordigital.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
To help prevent your presentation from falling over before you\u2019ve delivered your intro – practise, practise, practise with the software that\u2019s being used. All conferencing platforms work differently \u2013 so whether it\u2019s Google Meets, Zoom, Teams or GoTo Meeting, make sure you\u2019re up to speed and confident before the main event.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes things don\u2019t work as they should \u2013 for whatever reason, the slides won\u2019t share, the connection is patchy, and faces are frozen. Try to have a plan B. If you\u2019re using a Mural board and you are having issues, you may want to share the URL on the chat, inviting everyone to follow on the screen. The participants will understand that it\u2019s just one of those days, but they will appreciate the effort you\u2019ve made to keep things on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Including what you\u2019re going to cover and what you\u2019re planning to achieve gives you focus and helps those you\u2019re presenting to know what to expect. When you do this though, don\u2019t over-commit and set yourself up for a fall. This is a forum for you to show what you are doing to improve and solve issues on the project \u2013 no reasonable stakeholder is expecting you to make promises that you are unlikely to be able to deliver.
Remember – you are the authority. Save the explicit, granular detail for your team meetings and stand-up calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took me a few attempts to discover that although I can talk fluently and without pause in daily life – put me in a stakeholder call and those skills desert me. There are others on my team who flourish in this environment, but if you find yourself floundering you should consider writing a script.
Having basic notes or, if you prefer, a word-for-word script of your presentation can really help. In my case, it prevents me from talking too fast \u2013 adding paragraph breaks give me visual cues to pause, while bold or coloured text reminds me to really enunciate specific points. It also replaces my \u2018ums\u2019 and \u2018errs\u2019 with clear and concise language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I\u2019m using slides, I add graphics on the specific areas I\u2019m talking about, enlarging a specific portion for where I want the participants to focus. Make sure the images look good and aren\u2019t low resolution, but don\u2019t use them to try and tell the whole story. For structure, I use short, bulleted lists next to the images and for the detail, my script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often, when I finish presenting the sprint I am met with silence. I admit that was initially disconcerting, \u2018What, no questions? None?\u2019 I quickly learned this didn\u2019t mean they didn\u2019t like or agree with what I\u2019d said. The lack of questions or comments were confirmation that they had heard what I told them, understood it, and had nothing to add.
And if you do get asked questions, that\u2019s fine too! Remember though, there\u2019s no obligation to give an answer there and then. Explain on the call that you\u2019ll look into it and come back with the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presenting to stakeholders doesn\u2019t need to be intimidating. With a little preparation, a plan for when things don\u2019t go to plan, and an understanding of your role in the room, these sessions can become opportunities to showcase your expertise and build trust with your audience. Like anything, it gets easier with time \u2013 and the rewards of nailing a presentation are well worth the effort!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"