Article

Presentation Tips
Nov 18, 2021 // 7 min read
Virtual Presentations: How to Effectively Connect with an Online Audience – Part II
Adam Hamilton
Brody Hildebrand
William Martin
DOI: 10.3290/iti.fi.45631
Introduction

Over the past year, virtual presentations have quickly been established as an essential tool in education, which will continue to grow well beyond 2020. The ability of educators to be willing and able to adapt to this new medium for educating will likely determine their future success. Simple measures can be taken to greatly improve the production quality when giving a virtual presentation. The goal is to have a seamless production of high-quality experience that exudes professionalism and sets the tone for the delivery of quality educational content. Familiarity with the options and features available on each virtual platform for interactivity with the audience will also greatly enhance the ability to connect with the audience and receive the appropriate feedback as to whether the content is being understood. By understanding and setting up the virtual environment correctly it can also make online lectures much more enjoyable and remove the feeling for the educator of just lecturing to a blank computer screen.

Having an effective and strong virtual presence has specific challenges which need to be overcome to be able to maintain the engagement of your audience, effectively deliver a concise message, and provide an image of professionalism and quality. Many professional presenters have fallen flat in the digital world due to technical glitches, annoyingly bad audio, amateur video production, the appearance of being disorganized, and ultimately an inability to connect with and maintain the attention of the audience.

In the previous article in this series, we provided an overview of the necessary equipment required to improve your ability to connect with the audience and deliver your message via a virtual presentation. This included information on audio and video production in virtual presentations to get the audience to be able to easily hear and see you deliver your message, as well as an overview of basic functions of a virtual platform that educators should be familiar with. In this article we will focus on the requirements for you to be able to deliver a professional virtual presentation.


Internet speed

A fast and reliable internet speed is the most basic requirement for online presentations. Most virtual platforms recommend a bandwidth with at least 3.0 megabits per second in both upload and download speed for transmission of high-definition video. Typically download speeds are much higher than upload speeds, however having reliable and fast upload speed is most important for giving a virtual presentation. If you are presenting with multiple high-definition video feeds with several presenters and a shared screen, the bandwidth requirements may be significantly greater. To test your internet speed, you can go to the free website www.speedtest.net which will measure your upload and download speeds.

open_in_full
open_in_full
Fig. 1a: Examples of typical broad band internet speeds with much higher download speeds than upload. In the second test, even though the speeds are above the minimum recommended by virtual platform companies the connection can still be unstable and lead to technical problems with the audio and video
Fig 1b: Examples of typical broad band internet speeds with much higher download speeds than upload. In the second test, even though the speeds are above the minimum recommended by virtual platform companies the connection can still be unstable and lead to technical problems with the audio and video
Fig. 1a Fig 1b

It is important to recognize that this bandwidth is often shared in a home or office environment and will fluctuate. It is highly recommended, for a professional virtual presentation, you connect directly to the internet modem or router with an ethernet cable and ensure that other users and devices are switched off so as not to use up the available bandwidth. This includes computers or devices on the same network that may seem idle, as they may be automatically performing system updates during your presentation. Some thinner and more modern laptops do not have a port to connect an ethernet cable. In this situation you will need to use an adapter or dongle that plugs into a USB or Thunderbolt port. If a Wi-Fi connection is your only option, try to move as close to the Wi-Fi modem as possible to limit local interferences and loss of signal.

open_in_full
Fig. 2: If your computer does not have an ethernet port built in, then an adapter can be used that will plug directly into a standard USB port. The other end of the ethernet cable will be plugged into your internet modem/router

Of important note, if your virtual video feed is ever delayed or disrupted while sharing your screen due to an unstable internet connection, forgo the interaction part of the session by having all the participants turn off their individual video feeds to free up bandwidth. An ideal presentation setup would include the use of a high-performance computer, allowing you the option to add specialized prosumer or professional level equipment thus enhancing your presentation quality in regard to audio, video and background of your live video stream (Fig. 5).Of important note, if your virtual video feed is ever delayed or disrupted while sharing your screen due to an unstable internet connection, forgo the interaction part of the session by having all the participants turn off their individual video feeds to free up bandwidth. An ideal presentation setup would include the use of a high-performance computer, allowing you the option to add specialized prosumer or professional level equipment thus enhancing your presentation quality in regard to audio, video and background of your live video stream (Fig. 5).