Becoming aware of the simplest techniques can make you a better virtual communicator.
It used to be that if you wanted to hold a meeting or make a presentation, you would gather everyone involved into the same room to talk in person. Holding everyone’s attention and keeping it interesting involved a set of in-person skills that leaders strove to master.
Those days have changed.
Recent data shows that because of hybrid and remote-work, 77% of all meetings happen virtually rather than in person.1 That means your audience is sitting on the other side of Zoom or Slack looking at you through a small boxed window and listening to you through mechanical speakers. They are in a room at a desk filled with every kind of distraction they could come up with, they are dressed any way they want (at least below the waist), they know they can mute themselves to say anything they want, and they know they can disable their video and do anything they want.
The person on the other side of the screen also has visual access to the faces of every other person in the virtual room – often the same exact access they have to watching you. That means they can enlarge the screen of anyone else in the meeting and look at something that they think is more interesting than your content. Everyone’s face is staring straight at everyone so that participants can easily scan the others to see facial expressions, hair, backgrounds, cats walking on keyboards, kids barging in behind, and when someone is “multitasking” during your presentation. And if that isn’t bad enough, consider this: anyone can privately message anyone about anything while you are talking.
Leading virtual meetings require another level of skills and awareness from anyone who wants to communicate successfully.
In a recent Slack meeting with almost thirty attendees, I made note of all the things that grabbed my attention during the presentation. Consider these to be simple hacks that you can sprinkle throughout your next meeting in order to keep people engaged in your talk:
Visuals – When the speaker showed something other than his face on screen for even a few seconds, everyone perked up and paid attention. Visual variation has always stood the test of time and it works today in a virtual environment.
Naming names – The speaker occasionally named someone else in the virtual audience and I noticed that everyone’s attention was drawn to that person and what was being said about them. Drawing attention to someone in the room is a great way to draw people into your presentation.
Another voice – Whenever the leader asked someone else to say something, I noticed that people were paying attention. Asking someone else to speak adds variety to the session, and variety keeps people engaged.
Relevance – In this particular meeting, the speaker often explained why his content impacted the listeners and I noticed that whenever he did so, people listened intently. In other meetings I have seen unaware speakers use too much “geek-speak,” believing that great detail is what people want to hear. Great communicators know that technical language is only as good as the relevance that is attached.
Kids in the room – Whenever a child is in view, guess who everyone is looking at? You could be a Winston Churchill-caliber orator and when a four-year old is sitting on someone’s lap making faces into the screen, everyone is watching the little attention grabber. (In this situation, if you cannot control who is on screen, you would do well to pause your talk and acknowledge the kid in the room. Introduce the child and have a good laugh at their antics. Everyone else is doing that anyway, so you might as well join in.)
Pets in the room – Re-read the above paragraph and substitute “pets” for “child.”
Faces on screen – During the meeting I noticed that whenever anyone else moved or made a facial expression, my eyes were drawn that person. The smart leader recognizes this and becomes the one making lots of facial expressions and movement during the talk.
Smiles – Similar to faces on the screen, almost nothing grabs attention like a smile (unless it is a kid or a pet – see above.) When you speak, smile often, smile big, and watch people respond in kind.
Movement – Motion, any kind of motion whatsoever, grabs the attention of the people in the room. You are probably sitting at a desk and staring into a green light video camera, so you’ve got to fight stillness during your talk. Everyone’s attention is going to be on whomever is moving at the time.
Variety – Whether it’s virtual or live, speakers who use a different tone of voice from time to time, those whose pacing speeds up and slows down, and those who often vary their voice are the ones who gain and keep the attention of their listeners.
If you are leading a virtual meeting, plan ahead of time how you will compete for the attention of your audience. Consider the above list and add what feels right for you. Above all, don’t make the lazy assumption that just because you’re saying it, people will listen.