Ep. 232 VIRTUAL PRESENTATION ENGAGEMENT?

Hey there, Mark Brown. You and I have talked about virtual. Yes, we went through the pandemic. Yes, everyone had to learn virtual. But a new, new idea has popped into my head because I have seen so many virtual presentations. In fact, I just got hired to deliver a virtual presentation on training others to deliver better virtual presentations.

There you go.

And I realized, here's the biggest problem with virtual. Everyone thinks they're good enough.

Yeah, yeah, we do. We do.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcast with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story, and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation, AHAs, let's dive right in.

All right, so if you're listening to this, we're going to speak truth. You can agree with us, you can disagree with us. You know where you're at. However, have you ever got feedback and asked other people who have seen you present virtually if you're truly engaging? Look, I get it. I understand it. Hey, we got to move on. We got to work, create new content. We got to do this. We got to take care of this client. We got to go do a live presentation. However, I want to revisit this because I think it's more important now to help you stand out from other virtual presenters. And look, if you. I don't want to do virtual. Well, guess what? A lot of us have to. Virtual can lead to live, and live can lead to virtual. Mark and I are doing an event in Miami where we're coaching five clients. We're doing another one for the same global organization in Istanbul, and they just asked me because of that talent and skill they saw. Hey, could you help us here? Because they saw my studio setup. Make no mistake. What's behind you is your foundation. They're. They're. They're sizing you up. It's right, it's wrong. It doesn't matter. Are you giving people a reason not to listen? Are you giving them a reason to disengage?

Tough question. Are you giving them a reason to not listen to you? That's introspection, bro, Right there.

Wow.

What's behind you?

So I think it's critical. I want to visit this again and have you reevaluate yourself again. It's time. Sorry. Little bit of truth hurts, but we're Here to help you be better, to help you be unforgettable on stage, online, in the boardroom. So let's cover three topics that I think are maybe a new awareness to you or you didn't consider. It's time to reevaluate. So first we're going to talk about flow, flow. And this is one especially when we have a co presenter. So, Mark, if you're watching the YouTube version of this, I'm just going to put this up as highlights for us and for you. Look, we're going to talk about pace elements, which will be our third subject. But you have to consistently change pace elements every two to three minutes. We'll go deeper into that in a couple minutes. And then, Mark, we gotta remember to use the language of our client. So this is one of my clients language where we say co presenters. Well, they say co champions and producer, where I might use the word host. So if we're gonna connect, we've gotta use their language. So that's just a bonus one. But we have to establish the roles up front. We must establish the role. So if you've ever been on a free training or a webinar with Mark and me, you know, I say, hey, I'm running the slides in the background, don't send me a private message, I'm not going to see it. It's not that I'm ignoring you, it's that my focus is on keeping the engagement going. So we have to establish the roles up front, especially if you're co presenter, a producer, a host, whatever you choose to call it. Mark, your thoughts on the first two?

One thought regarding the co presenter, co champion. Sometimes your co presenter isn't really a co presenter. Sometimes it's simply a manager, a producer, a host. There is a difference between those who cannot only serve as a producer and host, but also is qualified to be a co presenter. Let's not think that anybody who's going to join you on the on the call or on the zoom or on the teams or on the webex or whatever it may be. We can't assume because they're with you as a host, they have similar knowledge of the content. It's very important for you to determine who will be the co host, the co champion, the co producer or the host. Make sure the roles are clearly defined, established up front and make sure there is a rapport between the host and the co host or the co presenter. To create a seamless flow through the experience that the attendees have is just like being with you in person.

Yeah, you don't have to be perfect, but we do need to keep the flow going, especially virtual, because as soon as there's a hiccup, as soon as there's a long, uncomfortable pause and somebody's looking for something behind the scenes, boop. Oh, my TV's on. The cat has to go out. Oh, cats don't go out. Dog has to go out.

I get laundry sometimes.

Laundry. You get a text from somebody. Ooh, you know, I mean, just in a second. If you're watching this, you can see me look down at my phone. And now, okay, I'm not a priority. Put it on airplane mode. What? People can read. They can see your eyes. They can see where you're looking. So I can look up over my camera, and I have another monitor in the background. Or I could be watching a football game in the background. You don't know. You don't know, Darren.

To that point, with those who are watching this on a video, you'll notice my head goes down because I take notes for every call. And the snippets you see in the description, I'm writing those down so I'm not being distracted by my phone. I really am taking notes. But it's good for you to know that, because I wanted to be engaged. If you're watching this and understand why my head may go down because the pestle in my hands, I'm writing stuff down for a trip. I'm writing information down to share with the audience as well. But honestly, Darren's right. You look away for a moment or two, and I can be distracted. I have two wonderful windows in my workspace, and the deer go by, and the rabbits and the squirrels go by. You know, it's easy to go squirrel, literally go, boo, squirrel. But I have to be mindful of that as a presenter. And when you're presenting, you have to be aware. You can be distracted, too. But having that partnership, that relationship, helps create the flow. The flow creates experience. And experience means your audience receives your knowledge, wisd and expertise readily and eagerly.

You don't have to be perfect, but you have to recognize the importance of flow. Now, Mark and I have been working together for 20 years. We've got great rapport. Sometimes I'm with a co presenter who may not have that rapport with me. They may be new. So here's one of the things, one of the tricks that we have behind the scene, maybe a technique, call it what you want, but we do a verbal handoff that we established that when Mark is finished with a Thought or I am finished with a thought. I can almost hear it in his voice when he's coming to that point.

Yeah, see. Okay, Gary, you reveal a secret now. Yes, my voice tends to get lower and it may even slow down when I think it's time for me to be quiet. I've made my point and I believe Darren may have something to add to what I've already said. So we.

Now, we're not perfect like we said, but we suggest. Isn't that right, Mark? Mark.

Correct. Username.

Yeah, that will be helpful to your co presenter. Why? Because we want the. We want the flow to just go back and forth seamlessly without. Well, you. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Wait. No, you go. No, you go. No, you go. No, you go. Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

The chip and Dale effect. No, no, no, you. No, no, no, please, you.

Chip and Dale effect. Now, Darren, you're going to date yourself because I'm sure some viewers and listeners do not know who chips and dealership monks are, but we can certainly. They can always ask Siri or Google it or ask. Maybe even Alexa might know. Who knows?

When you're engaged and you have people. So you're doing a virtual meeting versus a webinar and you have several people on. Like, Mark and I do workshops. We got one coming up, Unforgettable presentations next week. If you want to walk with us, step by step, how to create a powerful presentation. An unforgettable presentation. Check out unforgettablepresentations.com use the discount code POD25P O D25. You get 25% off just because you listen to podcast. By the way, tangent, Mark, I met this woman, Cherie. I was backstage at a TEDx conference and talking to Mark, my buddy, who was speaking at it, and someone that was coaching. And this woman looks at me and she's like, are you Darren Lacroix? Like, why, yes, I am. She goes, I love your podcast. And I just. That was cool. I've never been recognized. I've been recognized for the world champion thing, you know, at speaker conferences. But this wasn't, quote, unquote, a speaker conference where a bunch of NSAers or Toastmasters. It was TedX at UNLV and it was just so cool. So, Cherie, thank you. Big shout out to you. Great job as the MC at TEDxUNLV. So back to our regular schedule program. If we have a lot of people and we do keepers, so we want an idea or a thought as we're wrapping up half a day or the full day. We go around. Here's the key. People mute themselves. Usually people are getting better at that. I see marked improvement. But even then, sometimes we forget it's not perfect. However, we want the person who is getting ready. So we had George on. Okay, George, you are going to give us your keeper. And then we're going to go to Linda Marie. Now, Linda Marie is on alert. She can unmute herself and get ready. Why? For flow. So right from George, we can go to Linda Marie instead of saying Linda Marie. And then she's got to search around and unmute herself.

Mobile.

Yeah. And yeah, it's even tougher if you're doing it on your phone. It's not as omnipresent, if you will. So whenever you're asking for thoughts, you know, you can have people raise their hand virtually or physically. But who are we gonna call on? Give up. Give them. Here's the person and then here's the next person. Okay.

All sounds like, no, I'm Jamaican. I like football, soccer. But that sounds like a baseball term. Like being on deck.

Exactly.

So they know they're on the perfect. I got the right reference for a soccer player. Yes. I love that. Yeah.

And, and that's another great point, Mark. Some people you can't use on deck. Some people might not know what that means. That's why we say who's up next? So on deck is correct. But what if someone doesn't know your sports reference? What does that mean? Next idea is. Let's just say I'm talking about being on deck. That's the subject. I'm ready to go to my next point, which is the bonus secret signal. But if I go to that and Mark has a piggyback idea within the on deck, Mark will hold up his pen. That signals to me that before I disrupt the flow and go to the next subject, Mark has a piggyback comment in that subject. Mark.

Yeah, because again, you're right. Well, on deck, being unfamiliar to some people, and it goes back to what you said earlier, make sure to use the language of your client. Which means we got to investigate, research, come familiar with them, use the more appropriate terms, be it on deck or up next. Because that way we make sure the flow remains smooth.

And then there's our final bonus secret. Mark and I do all day workshops. This might not be if you're doing a keynote, but if we're doing all day workshops and all of a sudden we're. Mark is talking and then my camera goes out.

That tells me that something may have happened and Darren is no longer available. It becomes my responsibility to continue the conversation, maybe reinforce the point, and if necessary, create a smooth transition to what's coming up next. And I must maintain engagement with the audience, perhaps might even ask for a few questions to engage them more physically until I know Darren is ready. How will I know that? I will know he is back because his camera comes back on. I continue my conversation, and I may say, so, Darren, we've been discussing so and so. Anything to add? I invite him back into the conversation with the line, darren, anything to add? He may not have much, but he knows where we were and he can jump in. So I could say, you know, as we cannot close this point out, I want to remind you that Darren said earlier, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Thereby inviting him back into the conversation and subtly returning control to him in a seamless manner.

Yeah, I might have knocked my water bottle over because, well, if I have my water bottle, not a big deal, which I should, but sometimes I just grab a glass and not thinking. So I might have knocked that over. I might have had a bio emergency. Hey, if we're going for 90 minutes, like, look, you got to pee, let's just call it what it is. So sometimes that happens, but this signal, again, keeps the flow going. All right, so that's flow. We've got to focus on flow. And now we're gonna focus on focus. Back in my early days of coaching, I worked with a company called Iprospect out of Boston, and they were doing virtual presentations. And, well, they were doing live presentations where they were pitching their business, which was back then for, like, a $40,000 a month contract to do search engine optimization for a company. Anyway, I would get paid to sit there with the presenter, to walk through their rehearsal. And 90% of the time, because of the way they were trained is I would cross my arms, I would lean back, and with each slide, I would say, defend your slide.

What?

What's the one point you're making from this slide? We have to focus the attention of the viewer, of the listener, of the attendee, that person who's watching your virtual presentation. I mean, we've all seen it before the slide with way too much text. Oh, yeah, we've seen that. Maybe we've even done that. However, I'm going to ask you to focus what you want to keep engaging. What's the one thing that I want to take from each slide? Defend your slides. So my client Iprospect, paid Me to sit there to get people to understand the importance of focus. So ask yourself, what's the one point I'm making from this slide? And we need to realize that 99% of what Mark and I coach is clarity. If you're watching the YouTube version, you can see clarity. Clarity. Clarity is bold. If you have too much text, that's not clarity. They can either read or, or listen. They can't do both. So do you want them to read the slide or do you want them to listen to you? The slides should be the high level reminders you can expand on more verbally. But here's an example. Defend each slide I am by bolding the next point. Now, I leave the other bullet points there in case someone has to catch up. But I need to stress and emphasize. So I bolded it and, and I circled it with my brand colors. So this is my client's brand colors. Direct their focus. This is so important. It's simple and you can figure this out. Maybe sit with a friend over coffee. Whether it's zoom or in person, put the slide up and see if they understand your focus. You do this and your slides are going to get so much better. So simple, so powerful. Mark.

Yeah? There's one more point. Darren didn't mention about the content, how many words she used and sometimes how much the font she used. I'm going to ask you, I'm going to beg you, I'm going to implore you, please do not put a slide up and then read the slide for the audience. Because here's harsh truth, okay? Here's harsh honest truth. If I can read your slide to tell me everything I need to know, why do I need you? Ouch. I know. But we promise to be brutally honest today. If I can read your slide and get everything I need to know, why do I need you? Let your slide be your guide. Let your slide be your guide. Defend that slide. That slide, makes that point, reinforces that point, supports what I have to share with my audience, but doesn't overtake or replace me. Suggestion. Or should I say strong suggestion. Review your slides. Do they have just one point? Are they clear? Are they word heavy, text heavy? Are they image heavy? If I look at your slide, am I trying to understand the image? That text, that moving graphic, is there so much there that it will take me away from you, the presenter and what you have to offer that'll disrupt the flow of what you have to say and I will lose focus. And trust me, Darren and I, both of us have had the blessing of serving different National Speakers Association, NSA chapters across the country. And sometimes we see slides and do an immediate face palm. Oh. Oh, my gosh. We have traveled internationally and had both hands in our eyes. Oh, my gosh. And there. And there are companies that have entire departments who produce the slides. We had a very meaningful conversation about this when we traveled abroad a few years ago and we invited a thing. Just go back, as Darren says, go back and re evaluate yourself, your slides, your presentation. How can I make this clearer? And how can I say better in fewer words? That's a Darren Lacroix mantra. How can I say better in fewer words? Goes back to three words or one word three times. Clarity, clarity, clarity.

All right, so we got flow, we got focus, which is critical because if they're looking at your slides and they're looking at part that you don't want them to look at, or right now at this moment you don't want them to focus on, right. They can easily go off on a tangent. So look, I love Jeffrey Gittamer's line. Slides are free. Make another one. You know, there's a build which is bullet point build where you could gray out the previous ones if you want. I do that sometimes. But there's also a visual build that if we're showing the story model, we show them the first section, then the conflict section. Because they have to absorb one at a time. It's about them absorbing your content. Remember, this might be the first time they've seen it all right, now, pace elements, we said in the first one that you got to change them every two to three minutes. What are they? We're going to go through these quickly. There's a lot, but here's the key. You can use one. And we got 20. So we're just going to kind of list them off quickly. However, in the 20 that we have, you don't have to do all of them, right? But find your style, the ones that you like. I love videos. And I'll give you a key to that one in just a second. So you have the talking head, which is not showing slides. Here's me and here's Mark. But get this, they're actually two different pace elements. One is me talking, one is Mark talking. That's why I love. If we're doing all day training, I'm never doing an all day training by myself. I'm just not. If I can't find an expert, if Mark's busy, I'll find someone else. If not, I'll find a co producer who can Help me run it. But I would rather have a co presenter who has the content and a different perspective. So even though it's Mark and me, you hear something different, you see a different background, it actually is a change of pace element. So if I'm talking, Mark talks, comes back to me. Well, that's three pace elements. Again, you got two to three minutes. So here's a list, Mark, we can just jump on these. Number two, well told stories, story of you or your client. And by the way, I learned this from David McElhaney, my other coach. He said, look, when you ask a question, Darren, that engages the brain one way. When you tell a story, that engages the brain another way. When you have a statement of wisdom, a keeper if you will, a foundational phrase, that's going to engage the audience's brain another way. So what we're trying to do is continually and constantly change them to keep the audience engaged. It's about virtual engagement. Slideshare. That's obvious. This is what we're doing right now. But make sure we focus them. My favorite one of mine is short meaningful video clips. Here's the secret. Each clip short as possible. Some of mine are 7 seconds, some are 11 seconds. But here's the key. Here's the key. They must elicit emotion. Think of that. That's your goal, elicit emotion. I've taken one mark of that, the Mark Brown laugh with Alona famous clip and it was 23 seconds. I brought it down to like 19. Yeah, it was only four seconds. But what part elicits emotion? Because at the end the camera went over to the translator and she kind of smiled. It didn't add anything, so I cut that to make it tighter. Mark.

Yes? Please catch what Darren said. We have used a particular clip for quite a while, but over time, by re evaluating it, he cut a piece of it off. And the thing is, if you have your own meaningful short video clips that are uniquely yours, that's guaranteed to engage the audience because it's unfamiliar to them as often as you can, but keep them short. Think TikTok world. It can make a world of difference.

Nice. All right, audio clips. This could be a voice memo, it could be a sound effect.

Thank you, Darren.

Next, it could be a type in. We ask you. Hey, type in. That's another way to engage them. Raise your hand again, virtual or physical polls. Custom captivating visuals. I love custom visuals because they're not cliche and you're emotionally connected to them. Another pace element is hot seats. When we're Looking at somebody's website or we're having Mark in stage time. We obviously have the story dig where we're actually working with VIPs thoughts and.

We ask them what's the purpose of the story? And we work with them. They're in the hot seat and they actually get live coaching right there. So the hot seat can take place in a very short time, but in a very effective way.

Yep. We got breakout rooms. I will not do those in a keynote, with occasional exception if it's necessary. So I'm working with this client and they want me to demonstrate breakout rooms done the right way. So I kind of have to. Even though it's 50 minutes, it's going to take some time however I need to do it. But usually all day presentation. I won't do an all day workshop without breakout rooms. So they're involved. A shared experience. I taught a workshop on creating the book, writing the right book. Well, during it, we had everyone walk off camera, go to a bookshelf and come back with a book that they remember the story, why they bought it. And so we have people share the stories of why they bought it. Well, why I bought it, why Mark bought it. These are stories. Well, there's reasons. So if you're gonna write the right book, you have to think of why they would buy it. So now it's a shared experience. We all walked over to a bookshelf, we all looked at the books, we all chose one, we all brought it back. Energize our check in. Does that make sense? It's an. Ed Tate is known for this. He does it a lot. I love it. And it's just making sure we leave nobody behind. Edogizers number 14. This is when we get people physically up and moving around the room. Paper basketball or having people go on scavenger hunts, things like that.

Yeah.

Going around finding things.

Yeah. We call him edgy just for a reason. Because Ed Tate is master of master trainer. We love working with him and he does this so very well from dancing to sport. But we have fun in a virtual world doing this.

Yep. We got whiteboards. Whether it's a zoom whiteboard or physical whiteboard. Number 17, illustrations. One of my favorite phone shares. That's when you have something on your phone, you hold, hold it up and you share it. That's a it. It's powerful, it's in the moment. But a lot of people don't even consider that. Which is why we're giving you this list. Quick live screen, web share. Sometimes we're Talking about what do you need for tools? We'll go onto Amazon and we'll look it up live. That's different from sharing a slide now. It's more engaging and interaction in the moment.

Our word hippos in the moment.

Yep.

And we did, we did miss when. I apologize, we did not say 15. Very quickly. Q and A done. Right. Q and A is also a way to keep the audience engaged, the participants engaged. When you're doing a virtual presentation.

Nice. And then finally keepers, keepers. Like we just had Vince join us. He's a keeper. So Vince is going to join us next week. We're going to record that in just a few minutes about unforgettable research. So we will. We'll be back at that. Thanks Vince for jumping on. So those are focus, flow, not necessarily in that order. Flow, focus. And then finally pace elements. These are ways to be engaging. We covered a lot in a little amount of time, but for some of you it might be review. But what's that 1 or 2? What are the pace elements? Say the 4 or 5 that you use. You do not have to use all 20. Mark your thoughts.

Yeah, that's one. That's one big caveat. Please don't think for your presentation I have to use all 20 pace elements or it'll ruin my time. No, no, no, no, no, no. You use the ones that work well for you. It's difficult to go through a one day program with only one pace element. But find the ones that work best for you. Apply them, test them, use them, engage your audience, have a good flow, keep them focused on the material and on the experience and that will help you to be unforgettable to your next virtual engagement.

Yeah, don't make the mistake of letting the ego get in the way that you're good enough. People who are unforgettable are constantly trying to get better. So take this seriously. If you're interested in walking through our seven step process process, join Mark and me next week. Unforgettable presentations.com check it out. Use Pod Pod 25 and we'll see you online or on stage. Make it unforgettable.

See ya.

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