Article

Presentation Tips
May 25, 2021 // 10 min read
Virtual Presentations: How to Effectively Connect with an Online Audience – Part I
Adam Hamilton
Brody Hildebrand
William Martin
DOI: 10.3290/iti.fi.45637
Introduction

2020, what an eventful year for everyone! The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on a wide range of aspects in our daily lives, many of which will resonate and continue well into the future. One area where change has impacted our daily lives is in the field of education. The need to quench our thirst for knowledge has not disappeared despite the cancellation of the vast majority of in-person conferences and education events, including the ITI World Symposium. With this change, educators have found the need to reimagine how knowledge is both consumed and delivered. As this seismic shift has occurred, a primary focus for educators has been to adapt to the booming world of online virtual education.

This transition to a virtual learning environment, which is ongoing even at press time, is requiring, and more pointedly demanding, that both educators and participants confront and navigate the specific challenges the online education world brings. The initial surge in online presentations targeting the quarantined dental population eager to learn was met with mixed reviews. The ability of anyone and everyone to broadcast their ideas across the world wide web led to the release of thousands of virtual presentations on dentistry, many of them for free, with a wide range of educational value and production quality. This access to many hours of online lectures subsequently led to audience fatigue and increased discrimination against online lectures with weak content and often weaker production quality. When savvy educators realized this inevitable effect, the search intensified to understand and master the art of creating AND delivering a higher caliber online educational experience.

Virtual Presentations

Pros

  • Cost-effective way to deliver education for small local groups or large international audiences
  • Can deliver and receive education from the comfort of your home
  • Material can be presented live or pre-recorded for on-demand access
  • No travel costs associated with delivering or attending educational meetings/events

Cons

  • Limited interaction or ability to connect with the audience
  • Production costs
  • Technical challenges
  • Significant competition for attention of the audience
  • Recording and distribution of intellectual property
  • No social interaction/networking
  • Limited ability for hands-on educational content and skill development

In this series of articles, we will provide an overview covering a number of the important aspects required in the preparation and delivery of a higher quality virtual presentation. We begin with focusing on the equipment that will create an immediate positive impact on your ability to connect with the audience and deliver your message via your educational content.

Your virtual room

There are many different platform options available to host a virtual event. The decision on which type to choose is often based upon event and host expectations. A critical realization is that the virtual meeting and webinar platforms currently being used in dental education have different user interfaces and functionality. Being familiar with the online event platform’s features and the specific user interface is a key element towards ensuring that the virtual presentation runs smoothly. Many of the functions may be controlled with the assistance of a meeting host or organizer/show director. However, there are three functions which are critical for the speaker to be able to perform (Fig. 1):

  1. Audio – Selecting the correct microphone input and speaker output and controlling the volume of both your microphone and loudspeakers/headphones
  2. Video – Selecting the camera input and turning on your video
  3. Screen sharing – Sharing the correct screen showing your presentation, ideally already running in presentation mode, and sharing/controlling the computer audio if your presentation has sound


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Fig. 1: Arrows indicating where the microphone and video options can be selected in one of the common virtual presentation platforms

The process for performing these tasks varies between virtual presentation platforms and needs to be rehearsed in the specific environment that will be used for the event. These should also be performed with accuracy and efficiency. The first 60 seconds after being introduced is when the audience is likely to be most engaged, which can be lost if you have a protracted delay in unmuting yourself or sharing your screen. It is also important to always be conscious of your virtual presence and ensure that you remain muted during other speakers’ presentations.