In this episode of This Moved Me, host Sally Koering Zimney interviews virtual‑presentation expert Leah Pica about how to master virtual speaking, a skill that will remain essential even as live events return. Pica introduces her "Four Horsemen of the Presentpocalypse" framework, which breaks virtual presentations into four controllable domains: (1) the speaker themselves – mindset, energy, body language, and personal rituals; (2) the home environment – creating an "impenetrable fortress" with a clean background, privacy signs, and contingency plans for family interruptions; (3) the online/technical environment – a detailed pre‑flight checklist covering device settings, Do‑Not‑Disturb mode, microphone and camera setup, power, and family logistics; and (4) the virtual audience – the least controllable element, addressed through a "Meeting Kickoff Superhero Script" that sets audience expectations, manages chat, and includes engagement tricks like the Zoom space‑bar unmute. Throughout the conversation, Pica shares concrete scripts, checklists, and practical anecdotes, and points listeners to her website leahpica.com for the full resources. The dialogue emphasizes that virtual speaking is a skill set that can be refined through intentional preparation, turning potential chaos into impactful, authentic communication.
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Virtual, it's never going away. Even as we step back out front with live events and we get together again, oh, it's a beautiful thing. But virtual is never going away and it is on us to make virtual work better. Not just for us, but for the audience. Hey everybody, welcome back to This Moved Me. I'm Sally Koering Zimney, your speaker coach, and I empower purpose-driven entrepreneurs and changemakers like you to leverage the power of speaking on behalf of your business or your idea so you can unleash your authentic voice and finally have the massive impact that you have always dreamed of. And today, what is moving me is that we are still not done with virtual. In fact, we're never going to be done with virtual. And that is why I'm so excited to bring on the show today, Leah Pica. She has a long history of figuring out how to do this well and how to do this in a way that our audience will care about it. We are still showing up virtually every day with our audiences, every day. Here she is, Leah Pica.
When #2020 hit, I decided to develop a specialized training. I called it the Four Horsemen of the Presentpocalypse because I based these around with these four areas of what go into delivering any kind of presentation virtually where you have more control over the outcome than you think you do. So very first one, that's the most important to master, and it's yourself. So you are the biggest variable that you can refine and help empower during this process. Most people who present, especially where I am in a business context, were never given any kind of training in terms of public speaking. And I think that that's a huge gap, and that's what we're here for. So it doesn't matter how buttoned up your numbers are, your facts, your stories, if people can't connect to the energy and the passion and enthusiasm that you have and the confidence that you have in what you're saying, it's just going to sound like Snoopy's teacher, school teacher, that "wah wah wah." And that gets harder here when they're facing 10 different browser tabs that are all blinking with notifications and their kid is throwing spaghetti in their hair and running naked behind them. So— So good. That first horseman is really like, have you examined how you come across? As a speaker and what can you do? Can you create a ritual to help calm you down? You know, have you, are you standing up? Have you learned how to use your hands? You know, so many different ways to do that and still come across incredibly strong in a virtual medium.
Okay, so that's the first horseman is you.
Mm-hmm. The second horseman is your home environment. I mean, these things can really knock you off guard because here you are trying to keep, keep sane when you're presenting from like a closet or bathroom or basement in cases I've heard. And, or you don't have any private space and you just don't know what to do. And the solution is for me, building a home office fortress as best as you possibly can. Yes.
Fortress.
Impenetrable fortress. And I have a whole blueprint that I share around that, which, you know, talks about what does your background look like? That's the second thing people will see. Is it gonna add to or distract from you? Do you have a do not disturb sign on your door? Do you have a lock on your door? If you don't, it's time to get one. You know, like make these changes that are necessary so that You can literally lock yourself inside. I have a big mass text group saying, "I'm going live from this time. Please no ATVs or breaking furniture from Fortnite and other things. No banging on the door. Does everyone have food? Have we gone to the bathroom? Do you need anything from here?" You know, like, don't assume that everyone is covered. Because you are playing multiple roles when you are delivering and working from home. That's the reality. That's what this new reality has brought to us. So for me, it's about communication and prevention. The fortress.
The fortress. Setting up your fortress. That's brilliant.
And look, the biggest thing is if you, if someone breaks through the defenses, you know, Be prepared. For me, where you start to lose the audience is you're like, "Oh God, oh, I'm so sorry, oh." You're being very apologetic and like coming unraveled. Just take a deep breath and be like, "Oh, here's my kid." But you keep it moving. And that's the pro part of this whole process for me is you just handle it and you keep that moving. Yeah, totally.
You are not the only one living a real life. So you, your home environment, and what's the third one?
The next one is your online environment. So this is where you kind of have to wrestle with technical demons. When I was delivering this, you know, Zoom, I developed a pre-flight technical checklist. That tried to account for every single aspect of the process so that I felt good going live. Kind of like a pilot does all these checks with control tower to make sure they can take off. The thing is, there's always, always, always steps you can take that you probably have not taken yet. And what this is about is having a specific checklist, and that's part of the resource I'm gonna actually offer your listeners, which is this pre-flight checklist where I've really literally tried to think of everything where you are going through. If you have a Mac, have you turned on Do Not Disturb? Have you turned off all your messaging applications on top of that? Do you have the right microphone and camera setup? Is your laptop charged and running? Has the family been taken care of? You know, like, have you— are— have you learned how to like mute everyone at once or quickly unmute yourself. Like, these are the little things to keep in mind, but they make a big difference.
Yeah, so in the event world, we, we talk about it as productive paranoia, that we have to— we want to get to a place where we can trust ourselves to handle whatever might come our way.
It's true.
Okay, so we've got you your home environment, the online environment, which I think is the biggie. And what is the fourth one?
The fourth one is the one you have the least control over. It's your virtual audience, because these are autonomous human beings that have their own agendas, preferences, emergencies, needs, wants, distractions. Et cetera. And they're the most important because they're the whole reason why you're doing this in the first place. So I actually developed this thing called the Meeting Kickoff Superhero Script.
Woo!
And I'm gonna include that for your listeners too. And it can be customized to whatever, you know, type of presentation you're giving. You know, like, Help them remember that they're human beings that you're not talking at, right? If you're recording, tell them that so that they don't have to go crazy writing notes and they can pay attention and focus. I ask them to put their phones on do not disturb and their computers to quit social media tabs. I always try to have someone else monitoring the chat and making sure technical issues are taken care of. I tell people that to quickly unmute themselves and ask a question, they can press and hold the space bar In Zoom, best trick.
I love that trick.
I run like 3 to 4 hour trainings online. So every 30 minutes or so, I ask everyone to just stop and take a deep breath and like stretch.
I love how you framed them up. You, I think, have elevated some, some really important reminders for us as we continue to live in this virtual context. And make sure we're doing everything we can to make the virtual experience better for our people, our audience, and also for ourselves too. But ultimately it is for the impact that we want to have. Leah, where can we find out more about you? Where can we grab all these goodies that you're pulling together for us?
Yeah, so I can set up a link, leahpeka.com Moved. So you can sign up for that, and I'm just so excited to meet your listeners.
Well, thanks, Leo.
So good to see you again. So good to have you on the show. Thank you for your insight.
You're awesome.
So great.
Thank you too. And I want to honor you too, Sally, because I absolutely love the work you're doing too. Thank you. Sally Koering Zimney.
