Respond: A Note About Webcasts: Live Presentations Over the Web
RESPOND •
This discussion of live oral presentations has assumed that you’ll be speaking before an audience in the same room with you. Increasingly, though — especially in business, industry, and science — the presentations you make will be live, but you won’t occupy the same physical space as the audience. Instead, you might be in front of a camera that will capture your voice and image and relay them via the Web to attendees who might be anywhere in the world. In another type of Webcast, participants can see only your slides or the software that you’re demonstrating, using a screen-capture relay without cameras: you’re not visible but still speaking live.
In either case, most of the strategies that work well for oral presentations with an in-house audience will continue to serve in Webcast environments. But there are some significant differences:
Practice is even more important in Webcasts, since you need to be able to access online any slides, documents, video clips, names, dates, and sources that you provide during the Webcast.
Because you can’t make eye contact with audience members, it’s important to remember to look into the camera (if you are using one), at least from time to time. If you’re using a stationary Webcam, perhaps one mounted on your computer, practice standing or sitting without moving out of the frame and yet without looking stiff.
Even though your audience may not be visible to you, assume that if you’re on camera, the Web-based audience can see you. If you slouch, they’ll notice. Assume too that your microphone is always live. Don’t mutter under your breath, for example, when someone else is speaking or asking a question.