Virtual meeting IQ: Q&A
The great news is that Effective Virtual Meetings: Seven Ways to Boost Your Virtual Meeting IQ is that it was interactive and there were a ton of questions. The bad news is that when there are 500 people in the audience, you can’t get to them all.
Following is one that came in that I didn’t get to during the presentation:
Shanon A. writes: “When creating a presentation is less really more? Just notes and more verbal talking with your audience?”
I’m quite sure there isn’t a perfect way to create a presentation just like there’s no formula for a perfect song. It’s a communication medium, and I’ll be the first to grant that it’s got to work for you.
The opportunity in a web-based meeting or presentation is to add another modality – sight – to the communication. This can be done synchronously along with what used to only be a conference call, and that can be powerful.
That said, I hate blanket statements like ‘always’ and ‘never.’ Seth Godin, for instance never uses ANY words in a presentation – it’s all images.
Different audiences and different presentation purposes often call for different approaches. The question is “what do you need to communicate to whom and what is the best way for you to do that?” And that very well might mean some times you have a conference call with a handout of notes.
To extend the song analogy, pick a genius whose work you like (Paul McCartney? Miles Davis? Richard Wagner?) and start learning from them and the sources they learn from.
(Great question, BTW!)