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13 Zoom Presentation Tips to Ace Your Next Online Meeting

Written by: Mahnoor Sheikh

Now that more people are working from home, online presentations using tools like Zoom have started to become the norm.

But giving a Zoom presentation is very different from presenting in person. The lack of physical presence and body language can make it difficult to engage and inspire your audience.

If you’re still getting used to presenting on Zoom, this article has some great tips to help you succeed and make an impact in your next meeting.

Preparing Your Zoom Presentation

Getting ready for your Zoom presentation is just as important as giving the actual presentation. There are tons of potential issues you can face, like a faulty microphone or your dog walking in right in the middle of an important slide.

By preparing well, you ensure your presentation is as smooth and error-free as possible. After all, you only get one chance to make a great first impression and get a great ROI .

Here are some tips to help you get ready to deliver a powerful Zoom presentation.

1 Design a Great Online Presentation

The first thing you need to do is make sure your presentation is designed to look its best on your audiences’ tiny computer screens.

Follow these three rules to create an effective Zoom presentation.

Keep it simple.

The best online presentations are simple and straightforward.

You don’t want your audience to be squinting at their screens trying to navigate through a tangled web of text, colors, graphs and other content.

You need them to look at a slide and get the point at a single glance.

Use a plain background for your slides, preferably white, and focus each slide on only one point or idea. Don’t stuff too many bullet points or text into your slides.

Also, make sure you center your text in case the edges of the slides are cut off for some of the participants.

Lastly, use a large and bold font that doesn’t require participants to strain their eyes, even if they’re viewing your slides on their phone.

Use relevant visuals.

Visuals make information much easier to digest and retain than plain text. And let’s face it—they keep things entertaining.

Here are some types of visuals you can use to make your Zoom presentation more engaging:

• Charts and graphs. Visualizing data can bring the most boring numbers and statistics to life. If you’re using research findings to show a trend or back up your point, consider presenting them in the form of a bar graph or pie chart. Not only will it add some color to your slides, it will make it easier for your audience to interpret the data.
• Maps.  If you're presenting geographic data, you can easily visualize it in the form of maps. In Visme, you can add interactive maps for a single country or the world.
• Icons and illustrations.  Adding creative graphics like icons and illustrations can break up walls of text, make your information look more visual and interesting, and help explain your point better.
• Videos. Adding videos into your slides is a great way to make your presentation more engaging. Videos can help you explain a point more clearly, show a product in action or give some background information on your subject. You can embed YouTube or Vimeo videos into your slides or upload them directly.
• Stock photos. If used intelligently, stock photos can add value to your slides by helping you set the tone, tell a story or visualize an idea. You can also use relevant stock photos in the background with text overlay to add some color to your slides.
• GIFs and Memes. Make your online presentations fun and engaging by adding relevant memes and GIFs into slides that would otherwise look quite dry. Be careful not to overdo it, and only use humor if appropriate. You don’t want to risk looking unprofessional.

Here's a presentation template from Visme with just the right balance of visuals and text to help you get started. Simply customize it to use for your next Zoom presentation.

Using visuals in your online presentation is great, but this doesn’t mean you should stuff all your slides with images. Make sure the visuals you’re using add value to your content and emphasize your point instead of taking attention away from it.

Make it interactive.

It can be tough to keep your audience engaged when you’re not interacting with them face-to-face.

So, why not do the next best thing? Make your slides interactive!

If you’re creating your presentation in Visme, you can access a bunch of interactivity tools to spice up your slides:

• Animation. Add beautiful slide transitions, or animate objects separately. A good tip is to animate bullet points to appear one at a time to draw focus to each one. You can also choose from pre-animated illustrations, icons and characters to make your Zoom presentation more engaging.
• Links. In Visme, you can link any text or graphic element to a web page, or a slide or object inside your presentation. Get creative with this tool to add interactive quizzes, slides and more to your Zoom presentation. For example, you can link two text boxes together so when you click on the question, the answer appears.
• Hover effects. If you’re linking one object in your slide to another, you can enable it to show up on either click or hover. If you’re creating a quiz, for example, you can link two text boxes together so when you hover on the question, the answer appears.

A healthy dose of interactivity can make your audience feel more involved with your Zoom presentation.

2 Tidy Up Your Background

If you want your audience to take you seriously, clean up any clutter behind you.

A messy background can make you look unprofessional and distract people from focusing on your presentation. Ideally, your background should be a plain wall.

If you can’t manage to find a clean, empty background, consider using a virtual Zoom background. There are tons of different styles out there, so make sure to pick one that looks realistic and professional.

3 Draw Attention to Your Face

An online presentation can quickly start to feel distant and impersonal, like watching a pre-recorded video.

To remind your audience that they’re interacting with a real human, you need to draw focus to your face and expressions as you present.

Make sure you’re presenting in a well-lit room, where the source of light is in front of you. If the light source is directly behind you, you might end up looking like a dark blob.

4 Check Your Equipment

Make sure you check all your technical equipment to see if everything is working properly. This will help minimize issues like awkward camera angles or a malfunctioning microphone.

Here are a few things you should take care of before your presentation:

• Check internet connection. No one wants to listen to a presenter with laggy audio and video. Use a reliable, high-speed internet connection to ensure a smooth Zoom presentation.
• Test audio and video. Check if your camera and microphone are working properly by joining a Zoom test meeting . You can also test out your equipment from inside the Zoom app by clicking on Settings → Audio or Settings → Video .
• Ensure your laptop is plugged in. Imagine if your laptop dies out in the middle of your presentation just because you didn’t plug it in properly. Don’t let that happen.
• Adjust your camera level. Make sure your audience is looking at your face instead of the top of your head. Decide whether you want to sit or stand during your presentation, and adjust the webcam so it’s at eye level.

Keep in mind that technical issues can arise unexpectedly, even if you do everything right. Doing tech prep beforehand, though, keeps the chances at a minimum.

5 Minimize Potential Interruptions

Whether you’re giving your Zoom presentation at home or in a nearby cafe, there are tons of potential interruptions that can disrupt your flow and make you look unprofessional.

During your prep, your goal should be to minimize these interruptions as much as possible.

Find a quiet area to begin with, and lock the door so no one comes in unexpectedly. It’s a good idea to inform your family members or roommates that you’re going to be busy prior to the presentation.

Another tip is to close all other open applications and windows on your computer. Notifications and sounds can interrupt your meeting and distract you. You can also use the “Do Not Disturb” mode on MacOS or “Focus Assist” on Windows 10 to mute notifications.

6 Stick Your Notes in the Right Place

Just like when you’re presenting in person, you’d likely want to keep notes or pointers nearby in case you forget something important.

During a Zoom presentation, though, you need to be careful about where you place your notes. It can look very unprofessional and awkward if your eyes keep moving away from the camera when everyone is staring at your face.

Avoid keeping a notepad next to you or pasting them on the side of your monitor. A better alternative is to stick a post-it right below or next to your webcam. So, even if you take a peek, you will still be looking somewhat directly at your audience.

If you’re using Visme to create your Zoom presentation, you can simply use the presenter notes feature and skip all the hassle of keeping physical notes.

While you’re presenting, your presenter notes will open up in another window, so you can look at them while presenting without even letting your audience know.

7 Ditch the Pajamas

We get it. Nobody wants to get dressed when they’re at home.

But really, if you’re giving a professional presentation, it’s a good idea to ditch your PJs and wear something presentable .

Even if everyone knows you’re at home, you don’t want to look sloppy while sharing important information. This can prevent your audience from taking you seriously.

Plus, dressing up can help you feel more confident and motivated. Wear something that not only looks smart, but also makes you feel good about yourself.

8 Rehearse Before the Presentation

Never walk into a presentation unprepared. This is especially important for Zoom presentations, as it can be even more difficult to wing it when you’re not interacting in person.

Plus, rehearsing is a good idea if you want to overcome the fear of being on camera. Do a demo Zoom meeting with a friend or family member, or just practice alone before the presentation.

Delivering Your Zoom Presentation

Now that you’re all prepped up to give your Zoom presentation, here are some tips to help you make the most of your time while you’re presenting.

9 Start With a Bang

Did you know that people take as little as five seconds to judge how charismatic a speaker is?

Figuring out how to start your presentation is one of the most important parts of your Zoom presentation. It can either get your audience to sit up in their seats or prepare to doze off.

Here's an infographic on some tried-and-true ways to start a presentation that keeps your audience hooked . Keep reading for an explanation of all seven points below.

• Reveal a shocking statistic. A relevant and powerful statistic can set the tone for your presentation and show your audience the importance of your message.
• Tell a relevant joke. Humor is a great way to break the ice and keep your audience engaged. A boring presentation can quickly cause the listener to zone out.
• Ask a question. Get your audience involved by asking them a question relevant to your presentation topic. The more you interact with them, the more likely they’ll be to listen to what you’re saying.
• Quote an influential person. A powerful quote can often motivate or inspire your audience to sit up and listen to what you have to say.
• Tell a short story. Stories are personal and can evoke emotions. Telling a relatable story that also gets the audience curious to know more is a great way to start your presentation.
• Use an interesting prop. Using a prop can break the monotony of your presentation. Using motion and a visual object can also help attract your audience’s gaze.
• Show a captivating visual. Pictures speak louder than words, which is why using a powerful image that tells a story or shows the importance of your topic is an effective way to start your presentation.

Along with starting impressively, you should also try to end your presentation in a way that it drives your audience to take action or think about your message. A good idea is to end with a powerful statement or a thought-provoking question.

10 Make Eye Contact With the Audience

While you’re speaking, it’s just as important to make eye contact with your audience as it is during a face-to-face presentation.

The problem with Zoom presentations, though, is that you often end up looking at your own video or at the video of your audience.

To make eye contact online, however, you need to look directly at your camera. To make things easier, you can place the video boxes of your audience at the top of your screen, directly under your webcam.

11 Regularly Pause to Engage

Online presentations can get monotonous really quickly, and it’s common for people to zone out in the middle of it.

If you want to ensure your message hits home, take regular breaks throughout your Zoom presentation and engage your audience in conversation.

You could pause to ask them questions, or simply ask what they think about a certain topic. You could also try switching up the pace of your presentation, show a short video clip or tell an interesting or humorous story that helps bring wandering minds back.

12 Use the Chat Feature to Your Benefit

Zoom’s chat feature is a great way to get your audience involved without disrupting the flow of your presentation.

You can use Zoom chat to your advantage in several different ways:

• Questions. Ask your audience questions and let them answer through chat, or get them to ask you questions in the chat.
• Feedback. Let your audience know beforehand that they can leave their feedback and comments related to your presentation or topic in the chat. For example, if someone comments that they can’t hear you properly you can try fixing your mic or raising your voice.

Get creative with your use of the chat feature to keep your audience engaged. Ask them to send a hand emoji if they can relate to something, or ask what they want to see first in your presentation.

13 Record Your Presentation

The best way to improve your Zoom presentation skills is to learn from your past mistakes. Thankfully, Zoom lets you record your presentations so you can revisit them later and analyze your performance.

Are you using too many hand gestures? Are you walking around too much? Are you speaking at a reasonable pace? Understanding how you did can help you do even better in the future.

You can also send your Zoom presentation recordings to a friend or family member so they can review it for you. It always helps to get the opinion of someone you trust.

How to Share Your Visme Presentation on Zoom

Thinking of creating your Zoom presentation in Visme? Great choice!

The best part is that you can easily share your Visme slides with your audience without needing to download the presentation on your computer.

Of course, you can still download your presentation in PowerPoint or PDF format if you need to.

Follow the steps below to share your Visme presentation on Zoom without downloading anything.

Step 1: Publish your presentation.

When you’re finished designing your presentation in Visme, navigate over to the top right corner of your screen, and click on “Share”.

Next, click on “Publish for Web” on your left, type in a title and description for your presentation, and click on “Publish and get my link”.

Step 2: Click on the Present button.

Once you’ve published your presentation, you can go back and click on the “Present” button at the top right of your screen. This will open up the Presenter view.

If you want to access your presenter notes, click on the video camera icon at the bottom right corner of your screen, and your notes will appear in a new window.

Step 3: Share your screen on Zoom.

From your Zoom meeting window, click on “Share Screen” and select the window with the Presenter view of your presentation.

That’s it! You’ll now be able to look at the presenter notes on your screen while your audience views the slide open in your Presenter view window.

Alternatively, you can also download your presentation as a PowerPoint or PDF file, and share your screen in Zoom to present your slides.

Ready to Give a Memorable Zoom Presentation?

If you’re still getting used to the idea of presenting on Zoom, this article will help you prepare well and deliver an impactful presentation that people won’t be able to forget any time soon.

Remember, while Zoom presentations are different from presenting in person, you still need to be just as confident, dress to impress and make eye contact.

The only difference is that you need to put more effort into engaging your audience and keep them from dozing off in front of their computers.

Design a beautiful Zoom presentation and present online using Visme’s presentation maker. Sign up now for free and take it for a test drive!

Create beautiful presentations faster with Visme.

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About the Author

Mahnoor Sheikh is the content marketing manager at Visme. She has years of experience in content strategy and execution, SEO copywriting and graphic design. She is also the founder of MASH Content and is passionate about tea, kittens and traveling with her husband. Get in touch with her on LinkedIn .

How to Give a Presentation on Zoom? [A Step-by-Step Guide!]

By: Author Shrot Katewa

If you’ve never used Zoom, giving a presentation on it might seem a bit challenging. But, that’s a challenge we will have to learn to overcome as the world moves digital more and more day by day. The key question really is how to give a presentation on Zoom!

To give a presentation on Zoom, first, start by joining a meeting. Now open the presentation file on your computer and share the slides on Zoom using its “Share Screen” feature. You should test your camera, mic, speaker, and internet connection before you start with your presentation.

As easy as it may seem, some of you may need further detailed instructions. So, in this article, I will provide a step-by-step guide on things that you need to do in order to deliver a presentation on Zoom successfully! Plus, I will also share some tips that can help you ace your presentation on Zoom!

So, without any further delay, let’s get started!

Understanding the Zoom Application Interface

Before we understand the steps to give a presentation using Zoom, it is perhaps a good idea to acquaint yourself with the Zoom user interface first. If you are well-versed with it, then perhaps you may want to skip this section and click here instead.

Logging into Zoom

Although you can login to your account using zoom website too, but it is best to download and use the zoom app .

Once you have download the app, you will be prompted to login to your account. If you don’t have an existing account, you can either sign up or even login using your social account such as Google or Facebook. It’s actually quite simple.

If you feel that you don’t want to sign up or even use the social accounts for your meeting, you can choose to use “Sign In with SSO” option. SSO stands for single sign on and this allows you to sign in even when you don’t have an account with Zoom just once.

Zoom Home Screen

Once you’ve logged in, you will be taken to the home screen on Zoom.

There are a bunch of different things that you ca do with the home screen on Zoom. If you have been invited for a meeting, you will need to click on “ Join “. However, you will also need the meeting ID and the password for the meeting. If you don’t have the details, you will perhaps need to contact the person hosting the meeting.

You can also host the meeting yourself by using the “ New Meeting ” button. You can set a new meeting and invite others to join using this option.

Likewise, you can also schedule a meeting in the future using the “ Schedule ” option.

Furthermore, for changing the account related information, just click on your profile picture in the top-right corner of your window.

Lastly, there are several other detailed settings that you can tweak for your Zoom application. Almost all the other settings can be found in the “ Settings ” section by clicking on the “ Gear Icon “.

Zoom Virtual Meeting Window Interface

Once you are a participant in a virtual meeting, either by joining an existing meeting or by starting a new meeting, you will be greeted with an image similar to the one mentioned above.

On this screen, you will be presented with several different options. Some of the key functions that you will need to be aware of are as follows –

• Mute – Turning on the Mute or Unmute
• Video – Toggling between your Video
• Participants – Checking the names of the Participants
• Share Screen – to deliver a presentation (more on this later)
• Record – To record a meeting session
• End – Knowing how to end a meeting and exiting a call.

All the above functions will be visible on a small bar at the bottom of the window. If you are not able to see this option bar at the bottom, just hover over at the bottom part of your screen and all the options will appear .

Although there are other features that are also available for a zoom user or a participant, however, the aforementioned features should be good enough to deliver a presentation. These 6 features are at the very least something that you should be aware of.

How to Give a Presentation on Zoom (Step-by-Step)

Zoom has become a common tool for giving virtual presentations today. It is a widely used tool at conferences, meetings, and other events! If you are giving a presentation on Zoom for the first time, then perhaps you should be aware of a few things –

Here is a quick step-by-step guide on how you can give a presentation on Zoom:

Step 1: Install Zoom

Download and install the Zoom application to your desktop. To download the application, visit https://zoom.us/download and download the Zoom Client to your computer.

Step 2: Login to your Zoom Account

After installing the application, open it and log into your Zoom account. If you don’t have one, you can sign up for free using your email account.

Zoom also has options to sign in using SSO (Single Sign-On) or with your Facebook or Google account.

Step 3: Test Audio and Video Settings

Before you start or join a meeting, you will need to configure and test your audio and video settings.

To do that click on the gear icon on the Zoom application’s home screen. This will open the settings menu.

Now click on the “Audio” tab and select the microphone you are going to use. Try our different audio settings. After the microphone, select the speaker for audio output. If you can’t hear anything, try out another speaker source.

After configuring audio, click on the “Video” tab. From there, select the camera that is connected to your desktop. Tweak different video settings and find out what works best for you.

Step 4: Join or Schedule a Meeting

Now start a meeting by clicking on “New meeting”. You can also schedule a meeting on Zoom. To do that, click on “Schedule” and set up when you want to start the meeting. After completing the set-up, Zoom will give you a URL. Share it with the team members to join the meeting.

Or you can join a meeting by clicking “Join” on the Zoom client’s home screen. You can use a meeting ID or URL to join a meeting in Zoom.

Step 5: Open the Presentation

Once you have everything setup, you then need to prepare to show your presentation with your audience. To do that, open the presentation slides on your computer.

Step 6: Share Your Presentation

The last step in giving your presentation is to make sure that you share your presentation with your audience. To do that, click on “Share Screen” from the Zoom clients meeting window , select the screen where your presentation slides are open, and click “Share”. Now start presenting your slides to the audience.

Step 7: Stop Sharing to end the Presentation

One thing to know is how to end the presentation. To stop screen sharing, simply click on “Stop Share” located at the top of the screen . This option will only appear when you start sharing your screen.

How to Share a PowerPoint with Presenter View on Zoom?

To share your PowerPoint presentation slides with presenter view on Zoom, follow the steps given below:

Step 1: Open the Zoom App and Login

The first step really is to open the zoom app and login to your account.

Step 2: Join or Setup a Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Next, join the meeting. Remember, you need the meeting ID and password to join a meeting. Make sure you have requested for the details beforehand.

Step 3: Open Your PowerPoint Presentation

First step is really to open your presentation file that you want to present on the PowerPoint application.

Step 4: Put the Presentation in Presenter View

Now select the “Slide Show” tab from the top of the screen and click on either “From Beginning” or “From Current Slide” depending on your preference. This will open the slides in the “Presenter” view.

Step 5: Switch to the Zoom Application

Now, go to the Zoom application, start or join a meeting. While you are in the “Presenter” view on PowerPoint, press “ Alt+Tab ” to switch between applications in Microsoft Windows-powered computers. For iMac, use “Command+Tab” to move through open apps.

Step 6: Share Screen on Zoom’s Meeting Window

Once you are in Zoom’s meeting window, click on “Share Screen”, select the window where your PowerPoint slides are open in the presenter’s view, and click “Share”.

And that’s all you have to do in order to share PowerPoint with the presenter’s view in your Zoom meetings.

How to Share PowerPoint on Zoom Without Showing Notes?

There are two methods that you can use to share PowerPoint slides on Zoom without sharing your presenter notes. For the first method, you will need to have two monitors connected to your computer.

As for the second one, you can still share your PowerPoint slides on Zoom without sharing your notes (and you won’t need two monitors either). I’ve briefly explained both methods below.

Method 1 – Dual Monitor Method

In this method, you will be presenting your PowerPoint file on one monitor while looking at your presenter’s notes on the other one. Here’s how you can do that:

Step 1: First of all, open your slides on PowerPoint.

Step 2: Now join or start a Zoom meeting.

Step 3: Now click on “Share Screen” and select “Screen 1”. Then click “Share”. Here, “Screen 1” is your primary monitor.

Note: If you are not sure which one is your primary monitor, select where the PowerPoint file opened in.

Step 4: Now go to the PowerPoint application, click on the “Slide Show” tab, and from there click on “Monitor” and select “Primary Monitor”.

Step 5: Open the presentation file in the presenter’s view by clicking on the “Slide Show” tab and selecting “From Beginning” or “From Current Slide”.

If you have done everything correctly, participants will only be able to see the presentation slides while you have your presenter’s notes open on the second monitor.

In case you shared the wrong monitor on Zoom, click on “Screen Share” on Zoom’s meeting window, select “Screen 2” and click on share. This should fix your problem.

When you are sharing a screen on Zoom, you will notice a green border around that screen. This indicates which monitor you are currently sharing.

Method 2 – Sharing Portion of Your Screen

Follow the steps below if you have only a single monitor connected to your computer.

Step 1: Join or start a meeting on Zoom.

Step 2: Click on “Share Screen” and from the pop-up window select “Advanced”. From there select “Portion of Screen” and click on “Share”. This will give you a green border on your screen that you can adjust. Only the things that are inside this border will be shared on Zoom.

Step 3: Now open the presentation file in PowerPoint, and go to the presenter’s view by selecting “Slide Show> From Current Slide or From Beginning”.

Step 4: Adjust the size of the green border so that it only shows the presentation slides in the presenter’s view.

And that’s all you have to do. By doing so, your audience will only see the slides that you are presenting, but not your notes.

How to Show Yourself During a Zoom Presentation?

Ensuring that you are visible from time to time during a presentation can make it slightly more engaging and much more interactive. Here is how you can do that-

Step 1: First, start or join a Zoom meeting.

Step 2: Click on “ Share Screen ” and select the “ Advanced ” option. From there, select “ PowerPoint as Virtual Background ” and select the file you want for your presentation. Then click on “ Share ”.

Step 3: Make sure your video is switched on so that you are also visible to your audience. You can do that by clicking on “ Start Video ” on the Zoom Virtual Meeting Interface.

It will take some time for your slides to appear on the Zoom client. When it is done, participants will be able to see your face in front of the slides in Zoom. Make sure that your camera is connected to your computer and configured correctly.

This feature works best if you have a green screen behind you . If you have one, go to Zoom’s settings menu, select the “Background and Filter” tab and check “I have a green screen”. If you want to stop showing yourself during a zoom presentation, click on “Stop Video” on the meeting window and that will do the job.

Furthermore, you may sometimes want to show just yourself to the audience and not show the presentation at all. For that, all you need to do is simply click on “Start Video” in the Zoom Virtual Meeting Interface.

How to Record a Presentation on Zoom?

If you want to record your presentation on Zoom, you can do it easily. After joining or starting a meeting on Zoom, click on the “Record” icon located at the bottom of the meeting window. Once the recording starts, you can pause the recording or stop it whenever you like.

After the end of the meeting, the recorded video will be automatically converted into “.mp4” format and stored on your computer.

Tips for Giving an Awesome Presentation on Zoom

Giving a presentation in front of an audience is always a challenging task. Especially if it is online, many things can go wrong during your presentation. This is why I’m sharing some tips that can help you deliver an awesome presentation on Zoom. These are as follows –

1. Make a Professional Looking Presentation

There are several ways to make your presentation look really professional and high quality. One obvious method is to outsource your presentation to a specialised design agency! But, that can become really expensive depending on your budget.

Another (non-obvious) option is to use a PowerPoint Presentation Template! There are several high-quality and professional templates that you can get quite easily! In fact, using these Presentation Designs is quite inexpensive! You can download as many presentation templates as you want for as little as $16.5/month!

My favorite one is Agio PowerPoint Presentation template. It is perfectly suited to give a professional look to your presentation and yet it is quite quick and easy to use. Check out some of the images below –

Agio PowerPoint Presentation Template

Furthermore, make the presentation as simple and straightforward as possible. Do not confuse your audience with a network of colorful texts, graphs, or other contents.

Only use data and graphs that are relevant to your presentation. Also, the clever use of transition animations can make the slide appear much more engaging.

2. Check Your Equipment Beforehand

Whenever you are giving your presentation online, many things can go wrong. For example, your camera or mic may not function properly. Such interruptions will only make you a laughing stock in front of the participants.

Check your mic, camera, and speakers to find out whether they are working properly or not. Also, check your internet connection and your laptop’s battery level. If everything is ok, then you are good to go on with your presentation.

More Related Topics

• Change the Style of Your Bullet Points and Stand-out from the Crowd!
• 7 EASY Tips to Always Make your Presentations Attractive! (Even if You are a Beginner)
• How to Reduce the Size of Your PowerPoint File? The Perfect Method!
• Auto Create Your PowerPoint Slides using Design Ideas Feature!
• Main Features of PowerPoint! [I bet You DIDN’T Know These]

Credit to Cookie_Studio for the featured image of this article

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15 Tips for Engaging Zoom Presentations + Examples

Your next Zoom presentation is a week away. And your mind is racing.

What presentation software should you use?

What if the other attendees can hear your neighbor’s loud music?

Will they find your presentation boring?

Relax and take a deep breath.

You don’t have to figure out the answers to these questions by yourself. This guide will cover everything you need to know about planning and delivering engaging Zoom presentations without stress and anxiety!

After reading this article, you’ll be brimming with confidence and competence on your next Zoom presentation.

Table of contents :

The science behind your Zoom presentation anxiety

• Downloadable Zoom presentation checklist

Part 1: Tips on how to plan and prepare for your Zoom presentation

Part 2: tips during your zoom presentation.

• How to share your Piktochart slide deck on Zoom
• Present with ease on Zoom using Piktochart presentations

Before we get into all the other Zoom presentation tips, perhaps the most important is to deal with your Zoom presentation anxiety. And you’re not alone – anxiety over Zoom presentations is more common than you think . 

A  2021 paper  on why students have difficulties learning during synchronous presentations over Zoom found that 80 percent of the students polled experienced anxiety and trouble focusing during their virtual classes. But what causes this worry? In a peer-reviewed article, Professor Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the  Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab , highlighted the  results of their research  and cited four primary reasons behind Zoom fatigue, stress, and anxiety:

• Your brain interprets excessive amounts of close-up eye contact during video chats as an “intense situation.”
• Like looking at the mirror, you become more critical of yourself as you see yourself on camera.
• Limited movements while you’re chained in your chair and table.
• Video chats require a higher cognitive load than face-to-face presentations. 

“You’ve got to make sure that your head is framed within the center of the video. If you want to show someone that you agree with them, you have to do an exaggerated nod or put your thumbs up. That adds cognitive load as you’re using mental calories in order to communicate,” shares Bailenson.

Finally, you have to consider tech troubles and presentation software fiascos, as well as dealing with the pressure of public speaking.

15 Zoom presentation tips and tricks to help you own the room like a pro

Now that you understand why Zoom presentations give you sweaty palms, let’s go through 15 actionable steps to prepare for the slides.

We created a checklist of the Zoom presentation tips so you can cross off each task.

Prefer video learning instead? Watch the video below.

The success of your Zoom presentation is the result of thoughtful planning and preparation.

Get ready for your online class, product webinar, or job interview on Zoom with the following pre-presentation tips:

1. Decide on the scope of your Zoom presentation

Before presenting on Zoom, ask yourself — what one particular idea or insight would you want your audience to learn from you?

“Defining the scope is the most critical step. What are the boundaries, what are the deliverables, what is the topic that you are covering?”, recommends Linda Parry Murphy , CEO of Product Launchers, Inc.

Trying to cover every subject will only make you more nervous.

Remember the Stanford study earlier about too much cognitive load as one of the reasons behind Zoom presentation anxiety?

Limiting the scope of your presentation can significantly reduce your cognitive load while keeping your audience focused on the key points.

2. Plan for the structure of your online presentation

It’s important to master the sequence and structure of your presentation as part of your preparation. Creating a framework guides the meeting participants so they understand what the data means, why it’s important, and what the implications are in this situation.

A solid structure in place also makes it easier to go back to what you’re saying. As a result, you will feel more confident because you can keep track of your talking points with a quick glance at your outline if you lose your train of thought.

Matt Abrahams, a lecturer in Organizational Behavior and author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out , recommends the following examples of presentation structures that you can use:

• Past-Present-Future – review a process or share a timeline
• Comparison-Contrast – show the benefits of a certain idea, insight, product, or service
• Cause-Effect – explain the rationale behind a decision
• Problem-Solution-Benefit – motivate or convince your audience
• What?-So What?-Now What? – convince people to do a specific action after your presentation

Another simple presentation structure you can work on is to start with an introduction, the meat of your presentation where you can highlight 3 points, and wrap up with the summary and call-to-action.

3. Prepare your presentation visuals

Plenty of research and evidence shows that including images is more effective in getting your message across than written text or oral communications alone.

For instance, a captivating visual is  four times more effective  in conveying information than words alone. People remember 80 percent of what they see and do, compared to 20 percent through reading and 10 percent through hearing, respectively.

If your goal is to convince your audience during your Zoom presentation, you’ll also be delighted to know that using visuals can help you become more persuasive.

A Wharton School of Business research found that around a third of the audiences they polled felt that presenters who used visuals were more persuasive.

So remember that well-chosen images, even stock photos, can do wonders to augment your slides.

When making visuals for your presentation, use these questions as your guide:

• Is there an icon, illustration, or image that could represent your point in a more meaningful way?
• What types of diagrams , such as a timeline, flowchart, pie chart, arrows, or graphs, will help get your point across to your audience?
• Who are my target audiences? When choosing visuals for my presentation, are there certain cultural taboos or inappropriate humor that I should be aware of?

One more thing – consider using bullet points if you find slides with walls of text. They’ll be easier to digest without taking the focus away from you.

4. Eliminate clutter in your surroundings

Staying in one place with no room to maneuver probably doesn’t spark joy for anyone. KonMari your environment by eliminating clutter on your desk and in the space around you. This means extra keyboards, unused notebooks, pens, food boxes, and books can go.

Eliminating clutter gives your brain the impression that there’s more room for you to move around during your Zoom event.

If the space you’re presenting in makes it difficult to clear off clutter, you could find a plain wall to present against. And if that’s not an option, you can use a clean virtual Zoom background . Keeping your surroundings out of sight means it’s out of mind for you and your audience; one less thing to worry about while presenting.

5. Do a tech prep

Presenting in Zoom while you’re at home or traveling is a technological wonder in itself. But technology can be frustrating at times too.

Spending some time optimizing your Zoom settings by clicking in the toolbar while you’re in a Zoom meeting. Under video settings, you’ll find a few options that can help with the visuals, such as focus assist.

Before your presentation, double-check the following:

• Make sure that your laptop, computer, lighting, headset, webcam, microphone, and internet connection are working. Have backup equipment if possible.
• Familiarize yourself with the Zoom app and other relevant software you’re going to use during the presentation.
• Close unnecessary browsers, applications, or software before the presentation. Turn off your laptop or desktop notifications. The goal is to optimize and speed up the device to have a smooth presentation.
• Prepare a PDF version of your presentation slides and have an extra copy of your presenter notes in case of technical mishaps with your slides. It also makes sense to have a short link to your presentation that you can share with the audience.
• Position your notes in the right spot so you know where to find them while presenting.
• Check Zoom settings and do a quick audio and video check.

6. Rehearse your presentation

After taking care of your surroundings and equipment, the next step is to prepare yourself.

Practicing your Zoom presentation in advance can help boost your confidence. Here are some tips to help you rehearse well for your presentation:

• Screen record yourself. Afterward, check your recorded video for technical issues, your body language, and whether or not your voice is audible or not.
• Practice with a family member or friend who can give feedback on any distracting nonverbal communication habits like too many hand gestures.
• Rehearse in the same room where you’ll be presenting. Use the same lighting, computer setup, and everything.
• Practice speaking to the camera, not your computer screen.

If you’re not used to face-to-face presentations, you could record your presentation and watch it back. I know, I know – it can feel so uncomfortable watching yourself. But a quick analysis will reveal if you use too many hand gestures, that can be distracting, and also if you need to reposition your camera so it shows your upper body while presenting.

The time has come for presentation day! You already know the ins and outs of your presentation, and you’ve practiced your Zoom presentation skills to a T. A couple of checks you can do before you start are:

• Make sure you’re in a quiet area to minimize any potential interruptions.
• Do a test call with a friend to check the internet connection and if you’ll stay connected.

Take note of the following tips and hacks to make your Zoom presentation engaging and anxiety-free during your webinar or talk:

7. Dress the part

Wear clothes that are appropriate for your presentation and audience. It also helps to be more mindful of your accessories and hairstyle. The outfits and accessories you wear during your Zoom meeting will speak volumes about you as a person.

For example, if you’re presenting to your coworkers, wear work clothes. If you’re pitching to a group of angel investors, wearing a tie can help convey that you’re serious and trustworthy. However, this may not be a good idea if you’re presenting to a group that is more open to change and tends to be more relaxed when it comes to conventional standards.

Another benefit of dressing the part is what you wear actually impacts how you think. Wearing formal clothes can improve abstract thinking and give you a broader sense of perspective, which is influential in helping you make better decisions.

8. Ditch the chair

Standing up when presenting in Zoom rather than sitting down helps you become more confident because you’re not hunched down on your chair.

Standing straight with your shoulders back also enables you to breathe easily, making your voice sound more powerful and confident. Finally, it allows you to move more and make explanatory gestures which is a charisma boost.

The more confident you appear in your presentation, the more confident you’re likely to feel.

“When your mind starts to feel more confident and powerful — it starts to see those challenging situations not as threats but as opportunities,” shares Harvard psychologist professor Amy Cuddy.

If you can’t stand up during your presentation, try to sit straight in your chair and back up your camera a little to show your upper body and not just your face.

9. Have a memorable introduction

National best-selling author and founder at Science of People Vanessa Van Edwards specifically recommends opening your presentation with IISSAAQQ to make it more memorable. IISSAAQQ stands for: 

• I cebreaker
• I llustration
• S hort story
• S tatistic or surprising fact
• A nalogy or metaphor

Bonus points if you can weave in humor with some background information with a relevant fact. Research found that more popular talks used humor 12.92 times, whereas less popular talks used humor only 3.92 times on average.

You don’t have to force a joke – humor could just be a play on words or surprising the audience with a funny image or meme that contrasts with a statement. Nothing breaks the ice better than laughter.

10. Look your audience in the eye (or rather your webcam)

Looking your audience in the eye is easier during face-to presentations than Zoom presentations. It can be a little tricky during online meetings because we tend to look at people’s faces on the computer screen. Maintain eye contact by looking into your webcam.

“A good idea is to lower the monitor camera a little so that you don’t have to tilt your head back to gaze up at it. If you can’t help looking at someone’s face on the screen instead of their camera, it helps to move the Zoom window to the part of the screen nearest to the camera so at least you’re looking at approximately the right place when you’re looking at their face,” shares Carol Kinsey Goman , Ph.D., executive coach and international keynote speaker.

You could treat the camera as if you were doing a face-to-face presentation. This way, it’ll be a bit simpler to hold eye contact with your audience when you’re not looking at your notes.

11. Think happy thoughts

Find ways to boost your mood before your presentation. Aside from helping you feel good (which in turn can boost your confidence), you’re also likely to smile often with happy thoughts. 

When you smile at your audience, they will also likely “mirror” your action and think happy thoughts. 

“Mirroring is relevant to our tendency to be empathetic. When I see you smiling, my mirror neurons for smiling fire up, and I get your state of mind right away. I feel it as you feel it. We need that mirroring in order to create a full empathic response to other people,” describes Marco Iacoboni , author of  Mirroring People  and UCLA professor. 

When you’re having a good time and sharing enthusiasm with your audience, they’ll reciprocate through their nonverbal communication. This means fewer folded arms and blank stares and more nodding along and smiles.

12. Delegate the chatbox

Have someone else take care of Zoom chat or manage the waiting room to keep you from being distracted. This person could be the meeting host, a colleague, or someone you trust who has your back during your presentation.

13. Engage your audience

A boring presentation is when there’s no interaction, and you’re being spoken at (hello, university lectures). You’ll be able to tell from everyone’s body language in the meeting room.

Make your presentation a two-way street. Here are some ways to encourage interaction and participation amongst your audience during your Zoom meetings:

• Ask questions. For example, if you’re presenting a team productivity software in Zoom, ask your audience about their top productivity problems at work. You can also use this time as an opportunity to transition to your next presentation slide.
• If you have a small audience, remember each person’s name and address them using their first names.
• Use visuals like illustrations, infographics, or a short video clip in your slide show. Tool recommendation : Use Piktochart Video to transform a long video into short clips.
• Use interactive quizzes while presenting online to change the pace and keep your audience engaged.

14. Talk like a human and avoid too much jargon

Alright, what does talking like a human mean in Zoom presentations?

For a start, avoid talking too much jargon and corporate speak. It makes you more relatable, keep your audience’s attention longer because your points will be easier to understand, and also helps you stand out from other presenters.

Just because you’re presenting in virtual meetings doesn’t mean you’re not talking to people. The only difference is you’re sharing your presentation in front of your camera instead of in front of the lecture room.

Next, improve your visual storytelling skills . Your presentation will be more memorable if you briefly share a story and pair it with visuals. Sign up for our free visual storytelling course . Check out the teaser video below.

15. Slow down

When you’re anxious and not too confident about your Zoom presentation, you’ll tend to speak fast, which in turn will make you more nervous. It’s a vicious cycle.

When presenting in Zoom, be mindful of your pace. Slowing down will not only take the edge off your nerves but also make you appear more confident.

Don’t be scared of pauses or gaps between your statements. Sometimes, you might need a sip of water to hydrate your throat. Other times, you could use the pauses as extra emphasis to drive key points.

Slowing down and changing up your talking pace will help you deliver an impactful presentation because you’ll have more control and be better able to drive the point home.

5 presentation examples and templates

To make presenting your Zoom presentation easy, here are some presentation templates and examples for inspiration.

Quarterly finance update

Have a big meeting coming up where you need to share sales performance and revenue figures? We’ve got you covered with this template.

It’s equipped with graphs where you can easily drop your revenue figures in and share performance with customizable graphs. There are also template slides for customer feedback and if your team is planning to introduce new processes.

Marketing strategy plan template

This marketing strategy slide deck is perfect if you’re onboarding a new client and want to walk them through your research, analysis, and proposed actions.

Group project

Presenting your collaborative project in a Zoom meeting to your classmates? Take the worry off so you can focus on sharing the results by using this science group project template .

Despite the name, you can use it for any kind of school or university project because the structure works for any type of research presentation. The template has slides for:

• Group introduction
• Your hypothesis/basis for the project
• Your theory
• How you tested the theory
• Key takeaways

Buyer persona template

The customer buying journey is always evolving, and you might need to present a case study to leadership or your team on recent findings. Our template makes it simple to share your customer’s story, as the template has slides for:

• The customer profile
• Motivations/goals
• Personal insights
• Responsibilities

Team update in the all-hands meeting

It’s common for managers, or project leads to update the company with their results in company meetings. In these cases, you might just need a single slide to share your progress.

This work breakdown structure template does the job, giving you space to share what your team’s objectives were, what the key results were, who was involved, and what the shipping date was for these goals.

How to share your Piktochart slide deck on Zoom 

Step 1 : On the Piktochart editor, click Share to get the link to your presentation. 

By default, your presentation is not publicly visible.

Step 2 : Copy and paste the link into your browser bar. Then, click the Show Presentation button. This will launch in fullscreen presentation mode, and now you’re ready to shine. 

Step 3: Click Share Screen on your Zoom account and choose the browser with the Piktochart link.

For a visual demonstration, watch the short tutorial below with detailed instructions.

Ready to deliver your presentation? 

That’s it for our Zoom presentation tips; now over to you.

You have a brilliant idea or insight to present, and you need to share them with your audience in your next Zoom presentation. It’s high time you nail it with the virtual presentation tips we outlined in this guide. 

Take Piktochart for a test drive  today and create your next presentation slide minus the stress using our free presentation maker .

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How to Present on Zoom: Google Slides and Powerpoint Presentation Guide & Tips

Presenting in front of your peers and superiors has to be one of the most daunting tasks ever. You’re never quite sure about the feedback you’d be getting, which only adds to the tension. However, in this pandemic season, the task of presenting has somehow gotten even more challenging. There are a lot of technical hurdles to overcome, which can seriously take the winds out of someone’s sail — especially if they are not very experienced on the matter.

Zoom, of course, has been the most popular video conferencing application over the last few months and offers a plethora of tools to put our minds at ease. Today, we’ll take you through all of them and even give you a couple of pointers to improve your presentation in Zoom.

Related: Awesome Halloween Zoom Backgrounds To Download

What is Zoom Screen Share and why is it important?

Screen Share is one of the most used and most important features of Zoom. It allows you to demonstrate your thoughts, give your peers a glimpse of your ideas. You can either share an application window, your entire desktop, or even a whiteboard — the possibilities are limitless here.

You can also start a screen sharing session without jumping through hoops of creating a separate meeting. Simply click/tap on the ‘Share Screen’ button in the Zoom client — both PC and mobile — and you’re good to go.

Related: How to use Zoom Filters

Remember you’ll need a sharing key or meeting key for this to work. If you don’t have access to either, you must share your screen while you’re in a meeting.

To share your screen during a meeting, first, log in with the appropriate credentials and start a meeting. Then, hit the ‘Share Screen’ — ‘Share’ while on mobile — button right in the middle of the meeting options panel and what you want to share with the class.

We’ve covered the topic of screen sharing on Zoom quite extensively in a separate article. So, be sure to check that out .

Related:   What Does Pin Video on Zoom Mean? Do They Know If You Pin a Video?

How to present a Powerpoint PPT in Zoom?

Microsoft Office suite is, without a doubt, the most widely-used presentation applications on the planet. It’s been on our computers for ages and it’s likely to stay put for a considerable amount of time.

With that said, Zoom doesn’t straight up give you the option to load the Microsoft Office component in the application. Still, there’s a pretty straightforward method of presenting in front of the class.

Related: 50+ Best Zoom Games

You can achieve the desired results with the help of Zoom’s Screen Sharing feature — yes, the bit we covered in the previous section. It simply allows you to pick a window of your choice and share it with the class.

What’s even more awesome is that the participants could even pitch in and share their thoughts if they see fit. Alternatively, you can also share your entire desktop screen, which is the best way to get more screen real estate.

With the basics out of the way, let’s see how you can present a slide on Zoom.

Related:   Zoom Error Code 3113 Fix

1. Create a separate slideshow window

If you have a traditional single-screen setup, this is the only guide you need to concern yourself with. The methodology is split into two bits — one: PowerPoint and two: Zoom.

First, open up Microsoft PowerPoint and pick the slide you want to share. Now, click on the ‘Slide show’ tab and hit ‘Set Up Slide Show.’

Then, select ‘Browsed by an individual (window)’ under ‘Show type.’ Hit ‘Ok’ to confirm.

Finally, switch to slide show mode by clicking on the ‘Slide Show’ tab and selecting either ‘From Beginning’ or ‘From Next Slide.’

This would open a slide show window, separately. If you do not want to show the slideshow in a separate window, all you have to do is skip the previous step — ‘Browsed by an individual (window)’

2. Present PPT on Zoom

Now, go back to your Zoom meeting and click on the ‘Share Screen’ option.

Now that the PPT has been launched in a separate window, you can easily select that window on the next screen and commence the slideshow. Click on ‘Share’ to begin.

Here’s how it’d look:

How to present using Google Slides on Zoom?

If Microsoft PowerPoint is a little too heavy for you, you could always opt for Google’s adequately powerful alternative called Slides. It allows you to create interesting yet simple presentations and share as you see fit. Of course, it also needs Zoom’s Screen Share feature to work as intended, which, at this point, should feel pretty natural to you.

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1. Use Presenter View

Now, if you want a more immersive experience and also keep track of the notes you might have, we recommend using the ‘Presenter View.’ With the View enabled, Google Slides would create a separate window for all your notes, which only you’d be able to see. The main presentation window, on the other hand, would remain clutter-free and free from distractions.

To use the ‘Presenter View,’ first, you simply need to go to your presentation page, click on the little downward arrow right next to the ‘Present’ button at the top-right.

Now, hit ‘Presenter View.’

As soon as you click that button, you’ll get a separate space for all your notes, while another clean window would appear for slideshows.

2. Use Zoom to present

Now that the windows have been separated, you can easily use Zoom to present the slideshow window. While in a meeting, click on the ‘Share Screen’ button and select the browser window with Google Slides on top.

Finally, hit ‘Share’ to start the screen-sharing session.

Some tips for a successful presentation

As we’ve discussed, presenting is one of the most daunting tasks in the world for most, even virtually. The techy jargon often only adds to the tension, making many people dread the sessions, even when they are completely prepared. Below are some basic handy tips for your next presentation.

Related: How to annotate on Zoom

1. Master your craft

Knowing the material is always the best way to prepare for a hectic presentation. If you know what you’re presenting and have complete faith in the report, you’re ought to do exceptionally well. However, when it comes to Zoom presentations, knowing just the material isn’t enough. You also need to make sure all your components are in order and you’re presenting with confidence.

Try a couple of dry runs, see if your presentation is working just as it’s supposed to. Practice the pitch if you have to. Checking all of these boxes would improve your chances of success, remarkably.

2. Dress for the occasion

When you’re not forced to present in a swanky conference room, it’s not difficult to lose track of the dressing etiquette. However, you must remember the scale of your presentation and try your best to look the part. Wearing a perfectly ironed shirt and fitted trousers would not only impress your peers and superiors, but it’ll also instill a sense of confidence in you.

Related: How to see everyone on Zoom

3. Create a quiet environment

Zoom is quite capable of filtering some noise out of video chats. However, it doesn’t have the quality to cancel out everything you throw at it. So, before you start a video conferencing session and go about your presentation, make sure you’re in a relatively quiet environment. There can be a bit of noise, here and there, but make sure your subtle points aren’t drowned by some rogue barks from the street below.

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A mediocre engineer hoping to do something extraordinary with his pen (well, keyboard). Loves Pink Floyd, lives football, and is always up for a cup of Americano.

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How to Be Effective and Keep Participants Engaged When Presenting Remotely

Posted august 23, 2021 by eleanor hecks.

Whether you’re doing a more traditional presentation via Zoom , giving a live interview, or conducting a webinar, the experience is very different from doing so in person. There won’t be a physical audience in front of you, and sometimes timing is extremely challenging to sync up — people often try to talk over others during conference calls. What’s more, it can be just as difficult to convey the appropriate emotions and body language, especially when just the top half of you — or sometimes even just your head — is visible.

It makes one wonder: What are some things you can do to prepare for the presentation or conference? Are there any tips you should keep in mind during the live event? What else should you know?

How to prepare your Zoom presentation

The planning phase is one of the most critical, as it’s where you’ll decide your topics, your major discussion beats, and where you’ll elaborate. You may not be using a teleprompter, but you will be creating a loose script. In addition, you’ll need to create the media that will go along with your presentation, which should be error-free, captivating, and on point.

Here are some tips to improve planning and design:

1. Design for everyone

While creating your media — the slides — understand that you are creating for a wide audience who will likely be tuning in from multiple devices and platforms. The media is going to look very different on a large, HD-ready computer monitor than it will on a smartphone or tablet. Design the content, images, and layouts so that they are compatible and friendly for all. Someone browsing on their phone should be able to see precisely the same information as someone on a laptop or computer.

Be sure to test out your presentation on different devices and resolutions. Also, try to remember that too much screen time can cause focus and stimulation problems in both children and adults. Try to limit the total presentation time, so that it’s accommodating for everyone.

2. Tone down the visuals

Yes, every presentation needs captivating visual content to go along with the text and audio. But you don’t want it to take away from the meat of the experience. It’s okay to use maps, charts, graphs, videos, photos, including stock images, GIFs, memes, and more.

Just don’t overdo it on a single slide. Try to keep it relatively confined so your audience doesn’t go into a stimulation overload. If they’re trying to read a ton of text, listen to you speak, and process several images — especially animated ones — things can get really hectic.

3. Get your area ready

On a live stream, everything around you is as much the star of the show as you. Figurines, pictures on the wall, and even clutter will all feature prominently unless you alter the background — which Zoom allows you to do. Be sure to tidy up your space before the event and remove anything from the frame that you don’t want your audience to see.

4. Brighten up the room

Webcams, even UHD cams, tend to work much better in bright conditions. If you haven’t already, open your blinds to let in some natural light. Test out the camera conditions beforehand to see whether it’s too bright, or not enough. If you’re using a laptop, you can move around your home to find the best spot.

Audiences should have a clear view of your face. Most importantly, they should be able to see when you’re speaking and what gestures you’re making.

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5. Test your equipment

You can make a test call to a friend or family member, or just test out the equipment locally, but make sure everything is working. Check your audio and your microphone, be sure the video is clear and bright, check your internet signal and speeds, and ensure all equipment is plugged in and not running on battery power. You should be doing this as close to the conference or event as possible. It doesn’t help if you check out your equipment days in advance and then run into issues the day of.

People do not like to encounter technical errors. For instance, when a page’s load speed increases by just 1-3 seconds, the bounce rate also increases by 32% . A 5-second increase boosts that bounce rate to 90%. So, the longer it takes to set up your presentation and get things moving, the more likely it is that people will tune you out or leave altogether.

6. Rehearse

Practice in front of a mirror, or hop on a call with friends and family and allow them to provide feedback. Never go into a presentation unprepared, especially if you’ve never given one before via Zoom or anywhere.

7. Create a checklist

A checklist is always a good way to review what you need to get done before an event or activity. Professionals use them to avoid costly mistakes , and you should be taking inspiration from that.

Try to remember every small detail or requirement that you need to complete before the presentation. You can even create a multi-tier checklist that deals with before, during, and after the big event.

Hosting the Zoom presentation

So, you’re all ready for the big event? Now, it’s time to make sure everything goes smoothly during your presentation. Here are some helpful tips.

1. Speak plainly

It helps if you write the script or guidelines similar to how you will be presenting, however, you should speak plainly and enunciate as much as possible. Unless the subject matter explicitly calls for it, try to avoid industry or specialized jargon. That will also mitigate how much you need to explain or move off-topic. Furthermore, it ensures your entire audience can follow along, regardless of skill level or expertise.

2. Minimize potential interruptions

You can’t control what happens on the other end of that presentation, but you can certainly control things on your side. Try to mitigate potential distractions as much as possible. Put your phone on silent. Wear headphones so there’s no audio echo or distortion. Close your door or isolate yourself so no one comes in to interrupt. You might also consider turning on Do Not Disturb mode on your computer to pause notifications during the meeting.

3. Keep your materials handy

Two points. First, you want to keep your notes or script handy so that if you get stuck you can continue with little to no pause. Second, those materials should be in a place that has you facing the camera. If you have a document up on a monitor, for example, you don’t want to be glancing sideways all the time to read what’s next.

Situate the screen and camera so they’re at the same angle, so you’re constantly looking at the camera while you read. It’s a lot easier to do with a laptop because the camera is usually in the top bezel. With a desktop, you might have to move your display(s) around, or reposition your webcam. If you’re using a phone or tablet, you should have those propped up on a stand or tripod to keep them stable.

4. Dress to impress

Dress just as you would if you were paying a visit to the office or making a presentation in public. Put on the whole outfit too, and not just the shirt, because you never know what’s going to happen. If the camera falls, you don’t want it to expose that you’re just wearing underpants along with that collared shirt.

5. Have your media ready

It’s a simple tip, but a crucial one. Have your slides and other media ready to go and queued up for sharing. Don’t wait until the presentation to get things in order. You should be able to swap to the necessary screen, share the content, and go. Have all hyperlinks, videos, and interactive elements prepared beforehand, as well.

6. Pause for effect and questions

After each major beat, pause for a moment to allow your audience to ask questions, raise concerns, or ask for you to reiterate the message. This is much more difficult when you’re dealing with a large audience, but most Zoom meetings are relatively intimate with a local group.

7. Pay attention to chat

Alongside every Zoom event or meeting, there is a live chat window that can sometimes be forgotten if you’re busy focusing on your presentation. Don’t neglect it. Your audience may be asking more questions, providing valuable feedback, or even pointing out something wrong — like your mic cutting out.

8. Record your presentation

Make sure you’re recording the presentation to reference later, not just for everyone else but for yourself too. It allows you to rewatch the feed to review questions and commentary, and also to perceive your mannerisms and dynamic content. You can use that information to build a better presentation later.

9. Leverage the Zoom tools

There’s a host of tools you can use with Zoom , including screen sharing, annotations, live polling, and much more. Incorporate them into your presentation whenever possible, and don’t forget they exist! They can help make the experience more fun, engaging, and memorable.

10. Keep it interesting

It’s easy when you’re talking, especially about dull subjects, to lose your audience. One way to keep them invested and interested is to add the occasional “boom” moment. It’s an impactful instant, like a shocking statistic, joke, or alarming point, that ties together everything you’ve been talking about up until that moment.

The follow-up

After the presentation is completed, don’t make the mistake of thinking your work is all done. The first thing to do is make the media and the recording of the presentation available so that anyone who wants to can go back and review the experience.

Next, you need channels in place to collect feedback. People will have follow-up questions and concerns, and they may want you to clarify certain points. Also, you’ll want people to share their experiences. What did they enjoy? What did they dislike? How could you have improved as a presenter? Don’t be too scared to ask these questions, as they’ll help improve your Zoom presentation skills.

Finally, consider wrapping it all up with a nice bow by giving away free content or materials to those who attended the event, like a free e-book written by you or your colleagues, or a promo code to your storefront.

With these ideas in mind, you’ll be ready to knock your next Zoom presentation or remote meeting out of the park!

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11 Essential Tips for Presenting on Zoom

January 24, 2022 - Dom Barnard

A boss unwittingly disguised as a potato during Zoom meetings, cries of “you’re on mute!” and guest appearances by kids and pets, are among the hilarious anecdotes attached to this hugely popular app.

However, it becomes serious when you need to make a good impression in a virtual meeting, job interview or presentation.

Zoom became a massively popular communications tool for business, education and social meetings during the Pandemic. In 2020, there were  485 million Zoom downloads , which is 30 times more than the year before!

Of course, some of the top Zoom presentations tips apply equally well to in-person or online delivery. Such as establishing your end goals, preparing a flowing framework and strong content, then practising your speech more than once. However, there are particular advantages and disadvantages to Zoom, to get the right results for presenting online.

These Zoom presentation tips will help grow your competence, confidence and success.

1. Put some trousers on!

One of the great things about Zoom presentations is there is a degree of informality and comfort.

You can dress just your top half smartly, have a hot beverage just off-screen, and do your best public speaking in familiar surroundings.

One of the worst things about Zoom presentations is …there is a degree of informality and comfort!

You can find yourself easily distracted, lacking in focus and slower in your responses.

The best way to present well on Zoom – when the stakes are high – is to create a wholly business-like environment and attitude. Use a space in your home or field location that’s as bland and clinical as possible, with no potential noise disturbance. Dress smartly from head to toe to create the best mindset.

Site your technology in front of you and imagine it’s a lectern and a set of multi-media tools in a meeting room or lecture theatre.

2. Use the superpower of data

While you’re using technology to communicate or collaborate, it’s common sense to optimise ways to enhance your presentations.

As part of your extensive preparation for important Zoom meetings, consider what documents, images and graphics to share, to add credibility and professionalism to your pitch. Or, simply to hold the attention of a Zoom audience from start to finish.

Familiarise yourself with the Share Screen option on Zoom, and the best ways of displaying videos during a Zoom call, including advanced share methods for online presentations.

There are good Zoom share screen tips here, including how to add a video to presentations on Zoom.

Zoom presentations with visual content are  43% more persuasive . Also, 90% of the information we process comes from visual input. So your Zoom presentation materials could be what gets you that job, funding or agreement.

3. Non-verbal communications tips for Zoom

Don’t assume that online presentations release you from many of the body language pitfalls and best practices. The opposite is true, as you need to focus on non-verbal cues even more.

If you deliver your Zoom presentation in a rigid, static and clinical way, you are missing out on some of the best ways to be successful in communications.

People respond to people. Effective communication requires warmth, authenticity and establishing a strong personal connection with your audience. Being robotic when presenting online won’t help you to succeed.

If this is an intense online meeting, then showing empathy can also increase the engagement and openness you achieve.

How do you communicate non-verbally on Zoom?

Without going over the top, be purposeful and slightly exaggerated in your body language. Sit straight and lean subtly towards the screen. Never away from it and certainly no slumping, crossed arms or chin/elbow leaning!

Smile, nod and keep strong eye contact, including showing your attention passing from person to person across a split-screen. Use hand gestures and show subtle movement in your upper body to add emphasis to key points.

4. Verbal communications skills

Zoom presentations also make it too easy to slip into a monotone voice or race through a presentation. You may even find the process of talking to technology – not live people – causes you to ramble, or get lost in your ad-libs or Q&A responses.

Make sure you articulate clearly, add emphasis when needed, and generally modify your tone regularly but logically.

Don’t be afraid to leave small pauses to drive a point home, or to take a deep breath while you construct your next point. If you look directly at the screen and hold eye contact, this ‘white space’ is perfectly acceptable.

5. Is everyone listening?

One of the most important presentation skills, in general, is reading the room. Is your potential boss or buyer looking bored? Are the panel of decision-makers getting confused? In contentious presentations, being able to spot your biggest dissenter from their non-verbal communication can help you shift your focus to winning them over.

It’s challenging to gain that sort of body language intel from online meetings. So, the best Zoom presentations compensate for that.

It can be as simple as adding more direct questions to your content and literally pausing regularly to ask your audience about queries or concerns. Make your questions open-ended, not a yes or no response.

“Let’s take a minute. What else do you need to know about that part of my presentation?”

Also, keep Zoom presentations succinct, flowing and animated. Your audience will drift away subconsciously if your delivery is pedestrian or you talk for too long without involving them.

Remember, attention spans are even shorter on technology!

Practice your video presentation and get feedback on your performance with  VirtualSpeech .

6. Opening Zoom presentations with pizazz

No, this doesn’t refer to grabbing your audience’s attention with a juggling trick or wearing your most colourful or glamourous finery.

How you start a Zoom presentation sets the tone. If you instantly engage their interest with a compelling opening, the attention and engagement last.

This should primarily be 100% clarity on the purpose of your presentation and the desired outcome. As well as establishing your credibility and methods to achieve the end goal.

Vague introductions and slowly revealing your key points drains your time and your audience’s attention.

What makes a good opening for Zoom presentations?

7. Icebreakers

You can’t shake their hand, but you can issue a quick, warm greeting and a short, relevant fact about yourself that helps them to warm to you.

8. Storytelling techniques

These work for a myriad of business communication tasks. Give a short (that word again) anecdote or illustration, to give context to your Zoom presentation. That could be about you, your product or the outcome you are requesting, for example.

9. Meaningful quotes in presentations

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw.

Good quotes can work!

10. High impact fact

Another great opening for Zoom presentations is a little known fact or ‘behind the scenes’ secret that grabs attention. Did you know,  one-third of adults still sleep with a ‘comforter’  like a soft toy or blanket? (Not relevant to many presentations but it’s a memorable statistic that caught OUR attention.)

Wake your audience up with something they want to remember – and share with others – and they will be alert and ready to listen.

11. End Zoom presentations correctly

One last piece of advice on Zoom presentations. Don’t get so relieved when you get to the end, that you forget your call to action.

All communication should include an invitation of some kind, in clear language. What would you like your audience to do, now your Zoom time is over? Tell them that and thank them for your attention, with one last warm smile.

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CAUSE AN EFFECT

Blog on science communication

How to give a professional presentation in Zoom

You have a presentation scheduled in Zoom – a common sight since 2020. But as it’s a pretty new phenomenon, you’ve probably seen it done badly more often than not (we certainly have..). How can you avoid that from happening to you? Don’t worry: The Online Scientist is here to help.

Use our tips and tricks to avoid the most common blunders when presenting in Zoom, and to enhance the success of your online talk! If you get comfortable with it, you will probably enjoy presenting online just as much as you do in an auditorium full of people.

Design a clear and beautiful presentation

Just like with any other presentation, the success of a Zoom presentation starts with the preparation. This is so basic and important that we’ve written an entire book on the subject: Cause an Effect . Were you planning to design slide after slide with bullet points that you’re going to read out loud? If so, we can almost guarantee that your audience sneaks off to check Twitter or the news. Use the tips from our book to come up with a good story and nice slides without too much text. Or: present without PowerPoint slides if you can.

Prevent accidental faulty clicks

No, this is not about your audience clicking away from your presentation. This is something that could happen to the best of presenters: instead of clicking the right arrow for the next slide, you click on the END button that takes you to the end of your slide deck. Awkward! A solution for this is to use a remote control for your presentation, even when you’re at home (we like this remote control by Logitech for example). It ensures that you don’t have to rely on your keyboard, and that gives peace of mind when you’re telling your story.

Be up to date and unavailable

Make sure that you’re up to speed technically: install the latest Zoom update in time for your presentation. But then, close all the tabs of your browser and other software running on your computer: an e-mail pop-up or calendar notification is not very professional…

Same goes for your phone: put it in flight mode, so you can’t be distracted nor disturbed during your talk. Finally, take care not to select the time of your Zoom meeting for any deliveries!

Put your phone on silent, and close all other programs.

Check your Zoom settings

Take your time to explore all the settings in Zoom – maybe you’ll run into something useful (and no.. we’re not talking about that feature that gives you blue lips, new eyebrows or a Santa hat). Useful functionalities are background noise reduction, lighting effects for your camera, or whether or not you want to enter any Zoom call muted and with camera turned off to see if it all works. By the way, it might be good to do this periodically, because new and handy features are added all the time.

Test your audio and video

This is also quite basic: your presentation will be better if people can see and hear you properly. Thankfully, you can test your audio and video quite easily on the Zoom website: https://www.zoom.us/test

Make sure bad audio or video can’t distract from your story

Are the webcam, speaker and microphone you have in your laptop of sufficient quality? Maybe it’s possible to increase the quality of your audio or video by using an external webcam and/or microphone. If you have online meetings more regularly, a headset, lavalier microphone or even a studio microphone might be an investment to think about. If you’ve heard more than once that you should speak louder during online meetings, then definitely take this into consideration.

Check whether you’re presenting during a meeting or a webinar

If you’re invited to present but don’t organize the meeting itself, it’s good to check the format of the event. Is it a Webinar (during which you have no interaction with the audience besides the chat function) or is it a Meeting (during which the audience can participate actively)?

Furthermore, it’s good to check how the event is set up. Is there a waiting room so that everyone enters the meeting simultaneously, or do people enter whenever they join the session? In the latter case it’s good to have a first slide up that shows information about the meeting. Another question is who will take care of the questions in the chat? Are you doing that yourself? Or do you interact with the meeting host who does it for you?

Which options for interaction are there? Is the chat turned on? Will there be break-out rooms? Does the audience have access to hand raise, reactions, annotations or whiteboard? It would be a waste if you’re counting on a whiteboard, and the setting isn’t turned on.

Change your Zoom screen name

Another thing you can change in the settings. Nobody is logging on to see ‘Karen’s iPad’ speaking! For extra clarity you could add “Speaker” behind your name to make sure people know right from the introduction who you are and that you are the one presenting.

Change your name! Nobody wants to see a presentation by ‘Karen’s iPad’

Arrange proper lighting

Find two lamps, preferably lamps that you can adjust the brightness of, and that provide diffuse light. Put them on either side of your laptop or camera, or, if you only have lamps with direct light, aim them at the wall you’re facing while presenting. This setup will ensure that you are well-lit from two sides, without sharp contrasts or shadows. An easy alternative option is to turn up the brightness of your second screen; this will also light up your face a little (tip if you do this: find a yellowish website or image to show on that screen, so the light will be softer than a bright white Google Search homepage for example).

Put your camera at eye level

As you can see above, it looks odd if you’re looking down at everybody while presenting. It’s not a very flattering angle for your (double) chin, and your background will only be interesting to ceiling fans. If you put your webcam at eye level you look at your audience and not down on them – not just unflattering but also not a nice sensation for the viewers. Even better is the next tip:

Present standing up!

Your energy levels are much higher when you are standing up to present. Consider the opposite: can you imagine doing a live presentation from a chair? It’s not professional nor engaging to watch a slouched speaker. Be inventive: if you don’t have a standing desk, shelves or cupboard, put a crate, stool, block or stack of books on your desk and put your laptop on top of it! But don’t forget the tip about eye level. If you’re not able to present standing up, you can boost the energy level of your talk by using your hands.

Present standing up for a high-energy presentation.

Check your internet connection

You’re trying to wrap up your talk with a closing statement that sweeps everybody off their feet, but….your connection falters. What a waste of momentum! To prevent this, it’s best to connect your computer using a cable instead of WiFi. If this is not an option, free up your connection by making sure your housemates aren’t using Netflix, putting your phone in flight mode, and turning off WiFi-heavy appliances.

Clean up your room!

Any speech can lose some of its luster when there’s a pile of dirty laundry in the background. Our rooms are not spotless – we’re only human – but when we present, we look for flattering angles not just for ourselves but also for the room. We turn the camera towards a wall, where we’ve created a little scene with plants and a colorful painting. An entirely white wall may seem ideal, but we think it’s a bit boring. A featureless wall reminds us of a badly designed dorm room, which is not what you want to associate with the star of the meeting! Nothing wrong with a bit of smoke and mirrors… But:

The ideal background is one that doesn’t distract from your talk.

Do you have pets? Make sure they can’t just come in (or scratch the door for ages trying to get you to open the door). A goldfish might be the only exception to this rule (do trim its nails beforehand).

Pros and cons of virtual backgrounds

If it so happens that you’re presenting from your daughter’s room in front of pink unicorn wallpaper, a virtual background might be something to consider. Zoom has a few backgrounds available, but so does Canva . Or perform a search for copyright-free “Office backgrounds” on Unsplash or Pexels . Do check if the setting doesn’t end up providing a very unnatural perspective; it looks a bit strange if you’re not sitting behind a table, but in front of it:

Don’t pick a tropical island or NASA photo as virtual background – unless you actually are a surfer or astronaut (respectively).

Watch out though: virtual backgrounds have one MAJOR disadvantage. If you’re not sitting in front of a green screen or very uniform background, or if the lighting is insufficient, then it will look very strange if you move your hands. Just look at the video below. If you use your hands as much as we do during a presentation, it’s not really an option without distracting your audience.

Dress to impress (like a professional)

Wear your nicest clothes, it’s as simple as that. We don’t get that many opportunities to show our best side anymore, so it’s most likely a welcome break from the eternal sweatpants/onesie situation. Show off that power-suit, that nice dress, the excellent jacket! It helps to choose clothes that contrast with your background. Go easy on the jewelry though, because dangling earrings, necklaces or a bracelet scraping the desk scan make quite the ruckus (especially if your microphone is also on there).

Share the right window (the most common mistake)

By now, you have probably encountered a presentation during which the speaker made the error of not sharing the PowerPoint Slide Show, but the editing window including the notes. It’s quite sloppy and – worse – distracting. Besides that, it made the slides smaller on screen and therefore harder to read.

How to prevent this? When you go to Zoom and select ‘Share screen’, you see all your open tabs and windows. This is where it often goes wrong: you accidentally select the PowerPoint presentation without it being in presenting mode.

So, make sure you put your presentation in presenting mode FIRST (using F5 or F8 or a similar button). Then go to Zoom and share your screen. If you do it like this, you see three options for PowerPoint (as shown below). There is a subtle difference: one is your editing window, one shows the presentation notes, and one is called PowerPoint Slide Show . This last one is the right one; it shows your presentation in its entirety.

Organize your windows and screens

When you turn on your PowerPoint presentation mode, it automatically maximizes your PowerPoint window to fullscreen. But then you don’t see Zoom anymore, so the chats and participants are hidden and you can’t see what everyone’s doing. This can be very annoying if you’re not prepared for this.

It’s good practice to organize your windows and screens so that they are next to each other (you may have to make the windows smaller for this). Do this right after you start to share your screen, perhaps during the introduction. This allows you to simultaneously see your presentation including notes, the participants’ video (or yourself if you like), and the chat. Now you have a complete overview of all that is important!

Make use of the handy features in PowerPoint and Zoom

Since you can’t use a real laser pointer when presenting online, you could use the laser pointer function in PowerPoint instead. You can even highlight text, or write in your presentation while you’re presenting. Keep in mind though, that if you think you really need a laser pointer to do your presentation, the real problem could be that you have too much text or data crammed on your slides…

Note that highlighting, pointing, and writing in your presentation is also possible in Zoom. If you have shared your screen, you see the “Annotate” function in your view. If you unfold that, you see all kinds of options to draw or write on the screen, or to highlight information. In the example below, you see how you can use stamps to put little hearts in your presentation. And your audience can do this too! It’s a really nice feature to use in interactive exercises (for example: use those heart stamps to vote for a correct answer or favorite design). It’s a great way to keep your audience engaged too.

Interactive presentations are appreciated more!

Plan for low-threshold interaction

Tell your audience at the beginning of your presentation whether you have time for questions at the end. Do you prefer interaction at the end? Remind them during your presentation that they can put their questions in the chat. This puts your audience at ease because they know you will deal with their questions, and also allows you to get going with the questions right away when you’re ready, instead of awkwardly waiting for the first question to pop up.

If you prefer to have more feedback, you can ask the participants to react during the presentation using the available icons (clap, thumbs up, heart, smile, etc). Compared to a live talk there is very little visual feedback to go on otherwise, so this might be good to have, but to be honest it can be distracting too.

Another kind of reaction can be found in the “Participants” menu: f.i. Yes/No replies, hand raise, thumbs up/down, coffee break icons. You can use these for creative moments of interaction to keep your audience attentive (though actual coffee might work better sometimes)

Wrap up with a call to action

What do you want people to do after your presentation? Do you want them to follow you on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram? Do you want them to use a hashtag? Do you have a book, workshop or course you want them to purchase? Whatever it is – let them know!

So, NO slide with that 3D guy with the red question mark (or his confused Clipart colleague – you know who we mean!). It doesn’t add anything for anybody. If you have a round for questions, put your name, social media handles and/or website on screen, so that participants have the time to write it down.

At the end of the day (or presentation), what do you want people to do or remember? End with that!

If you have a presentation that you give more often, and you know from experience that there are more questions than time to answer them, you can give your audience a hand-out PDF afterwards. In the hand-out you can put the most frequently asked questions with answers. It’s also good practice to share a website on which you collect all the tips and resources from the presentation. Announce this at the beginning, so that participants don’t have to take notes. Note: it’s not advisable to share the slides from the presentation, because they were (or shouldn’t be) designed as hand-out, but as a visual support for your spoken words.

Why Zoom is (or can be) so much nicer than a live presentation

If you consider the options, online presentations using Zoom are a really nice development. You have your notes at hand, and you can set it up so that you feel most comfortable and supported. You also have more options for interactivity online, and it also provides a lower threshold for those who are uncomfortable in the spotlight; they can just ask a question in the chat. It allows for people from all over the world to see you speak, and you can do it from the comfort of your own home. We don’t all relish in the attention of being center-stage in a huge auditorium… Although the downside is that the informal drinks afterwards are much better in person.

Are you ready to start making beautiful slides as well? Then buy our e-book on designing clear science presentations for just 10 euro!

Curious to see what else you can learn about making great presentations? Check out our workshop series where we inspire you to design beautiful presentations and write better stories.

About the Author: Liesbeth Smit

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• Alternatives

7 Zoom Presentation Tips to Bring your Virtual Events to Life (Best Guide in 2024)

Anh Vu • 19 July, 2024 • 9 min read

Here are 7 Zoom Presentation Tips to help you hold better Zoom events and fight off that fatigue – let’s make your next Zoom presentation the best yet!

Presenting can be extremely difficult, but virtual presentations (via Zoom or any other video meeting platform) offer their challenges.

After a couple of years of remote working, many team leaders and senior business managers are noticing Zoom fatigue amongst staff, so it’s time to reignite our presentations and ensure we’re creating engaging and memorable meetings.

Table of Contents

• Take the Mic
• Check your Tech
• Ask the Audience
• Keep it Short and Sweet
• Tell a Story
• Don't Hide Behind Your Slides
• Take a Break to Answer Questions

Tips for Better Engagement

Let's find out how to make an interactive Zoom presentation with more Zoom presentation tips!

• Pictionary on Zoom
• Zoom Word Cloud
• Complete Guide to Interactive Presentation
• Bad presentation at work
• Easy Topic for Presentation

Start in seconds.

Get free templates for your next interactive presentation. Sign up for free and take what you want from the template library!

Zoom Presentation Tips for the Intro

Tip #1 - take the mic.

One of the most simple and effective ways to capture your virtual audience is to take control of the conversation and ease anxieties. This doesn’t mean dictating all conversation, it’s more about creating a comfortable environment where your audience can feel focused and contribute to the discussion. 

We’ve all been in awkward pre-meeting “waiting rooms” while holding on for the last couple of people to join. As the person running the session, you can remove people's meeting anxieties and instantly get them on your side.

As the presenter and (probably) host of the Zoom meeting, others will consider you a confident leader. Make sure you welcome people in as they join your Zoom presentation, use a meeting icebreaker , and show them your personality and that they are welcome to engage with your presentation. You will have their attention from the very start.

Remember, you are presenting for a reason. You are the expert on your topic, and they are looking to you to communicate that information – You’re the pro, and you’ve got this!

Tip #2 - Check your Tech

Mic check 1, 2...

Of course, sometimes, tech fails us, and we can’t always do anything about it. But you can help reduce the chances of that happening by checking in on your presentation software, camera and mic before the Zoom presentation starts and people join.

Also, check any videos or links you’re using to give yourself the best chance of delivering a wonderfully seamless presentation with preparation.

One of the best parts of a Zoom presentation is that nine times out of 10, there isn’t anyone else in the room. This has a massive benefit for anyone presenting - you can prepare. This does not mean writing a script and reading it word for word. Still, it allows you to have extra notes with any data and information you need, and it can be right on the screen for only your eyes to see – so you can browse your messages for answers to a question without looking away.

💡 Extra presentation tip for Zoom : If you’re sending out Zoom invites ahead of time, make sure that the links and passwords you’re sending out all work so that everyone can join the meeting quickly and without added stress.

Zoom Presentation Tips for Punchy Presentations

Tip #3 - ask the audience.

You can be the most charismatic and engaging person in the world, but if your presentation lacks that spark, it can leave your audience feeling disconnected. Luckily, an easy solution to this problem is to make your presentations interactive.

So, let's discover how to make a Zoom presentation interactive. Tools like AhaSlides provide opportunities to include creative and engaging elements in your presentations to keep your audience switched on and involved. Whether you’re a teacher looking to engage a class or an expert in your business, it’s proven that interactive elements like polls, quizzes and Q&As keep an audience engaged when they can respond to each on their smartphones.

Here are a few slides you can use in an interactive Zoom presentation to pull that audience focus...

• Make a live quiz - Regularly ask audience questions they can individually answer via a smartphone. This will help you understand their topic knowledge in a fun, competitive way!
• Ask open-ended questions and pose scenarios - This allows your audience to engage and show off their knowledge. For a teacher, this could be as simple as ‘What is the best word you know that means happy?’, but for a marketing presentation in a business, for example, it could be a great way of asking ‘which platforms would you like to see us use more in Q3?”
• Ask for feedback - It’s vital that we’re constantly improving, so you might want to gather some feedback at the end of your presentation. You can use interactive sliding scales to measure how likely people are to recommend your services or even gather opinions on specific topics. If you were pitching a planned return to the office to your business, you might ask, “how many days would you like to spend in the office” and set a scale from 0 to 5 to gauge the consensus.
• Play games - Games in a virtual event may seem radical, but it could be the best tip for your Zoom presentation. Some simple trivia games, spinner wheel games and a bunch of other Zoom games can do wonders for team building, learning new concepts and testing existing ones.

These engaging elements make a huge difference to your audience's focus and attention. Not only will they feel more involved in your interactive presentation on Zoom, but it will also give you added confidence that they are absorbing your speech and enjoying it, too.

Make Interactive Zoom Presentations for Free!

Embed polls, brainstorm sessions, quizzes and more into your presentation. Grab a template or import your own from PowerPoint!

Tip #4 - Keep it Short and Sweet

Where you can, you want to try and keep your Zoom presentation digestible. While most meetings or presentations are scheduled for an hour, it’s generally agreed that most viewers can only maintain focus for around 10 minutes . This makes it important to keep meetings brief, and where you can’t keep them short, ensuring your audience is engaged is vital.

You can maximise your audience's focus by not overcomplicating your slides. Text-heavy slides will have your listeners reading rather than listening to you, and they will burn out and lose stress much more quickly. If you need to give a lot of information, break it down into a few slides or use an illustrative graphic or interactive drop to talk people through it instead.

Tip #5 - Tell a Story

More interactive Zoom presentation ideas? We must confess that storytelling is so powerful. Suppose you can build stories or examples into your presentation that illustrate your message. In that case, your Zoom presentation will be much more memorable, and your audience will feel more emotionally invested in the stories that you tell.

Case studies, direct quotes or real-life examples will be much more engaging to your audience and can help them relate to or understand the information you’re providing on a deeper level.

This isn't just a Zoom presentation tip but also a great way to start your presentation. Read more about it here !

Tip #6 - Don’t Hide Behind Your Slides

Although it’s much more difficult to present your body language via Zoom than in person, there are still things you can do to help ensure that your Zoom presentation gets your message across effectively.

Camera on! It’s tempting to hide behind your slides, but having your camera on will make a huge difference. Not only will your audience be able to see you, but it will communicate confidence and encourage others to leave their cameras on and hold the meeting in the open atmosphere of a live setting.

Although many workers remain remote, there is still a desire for that face-to-face connection we once had when working in offices and travelling for meetings and presentations. Sometimes, just seeing a friendly face will put someone at ease, creating a positive sentiment that they associate with you and your presentation.

As well as leaving your camera on, some people find that standing up to present is still effective - even on Zoom! If you have a large enough space and can find a way to make it work, standing up gives you added confidence, and it’s a great option if you're presenting virtually for a conference.

Tip #7 - Take a Break to Answer Questions

If you know you’ll be presenting for a long time, there's a lot to say about making space for a few breaks. Over Zoom, it’s not as easy to send everyone off for a quick coffee break because of how lengthy it can be to get everyone back and focused, so instead, you could end each section with a quick Q&A session.

Doing this has two advantages:

• To keep everyone up to speed by elaborating on points you may have gone over a bit too quickly.
• To give everyone a break from listening and looking.

On some live Q&A software , you can accept Q&A questions from your audience throughout your Zoom presentation and then answer them whenever.

These tiny breaks in the presentation can bring back your audience's focus as they anticipate that they need to interact.

No time like the present

So, that's the zoom presentation tips and tricks! With these tips, you should feel ready to take on the (presentation) world. We know that presentations aren’t always accessible, but hopefully, these virtual Zoom presentation tips go some way to relieving the anxieties. Try to use these tips in your next Zoom presentation. If you stay calm, stay enthusiastic and keep your audience engaged with your shiny, new interactive presentation, it will be your best Zoom presentation yet!

Tips to Engage with Polls & Trivia

More from AhaSlides

The Ultimate Guide to Giving Virtual Presentations on Zoom

Part 1: an introduction to giving virtual presentations on zoom.

PART I Introduction 1 – Cool Zoom Features 2 – Virtual Presentation Do’s 3 – Virtual Presentation Don’ts PART II 4 – Presentation Purpose 5 – Structure & Flow 6 – Slide Design PART III 7 – Connect with the audience 8 – Audience Participation 9 – Sharing Content PART IV 10 – Video & Audio Recordings 11 – Post-production 12 – Your Phone as a Webcam PART V 13 – When Things Go Wrong 14 – How to Ground Yourself PART VI 15 – Advanced Techniques 16 – Zoom Webinars vs Meetings 17 – 23 Essential Settings

There are three things I hate about Zoom…

#1 the super awkward must-click-two-buttons-to-leave-the-meeting debacle.

You say goodbye, search the bottom-right corner of the screen for the red button, click the red button, continue to stare awkwardly at the corner of the screen because the call is still open and you need to click a second red button.

Never fear, this can be turned off. In General Preferences simply uncheck the “Ask me to confirm when I leave a meeting” setting and poof! One-click exits. You’re welcome.

#2 Inviting someone and never knowing what the difference is between these two options: “Copy invite link” and “Copy invitation”.

I can sense you nodding along with me.

Just remember that it’s “invite link” you want 99% of the time vs “invitation”, and you can set an option that copies the link to your clipboard as soon as you start a meeting.

#3 The dropdown to change video settings is part of the “Stop Video” button. What the actual?!

Are you trying to make me screw up my presentation?

I also love Zoom.

Why? Because it works.

A year into our forced isolation, Zoom fatigue has set in. We’re avoiding calls and talking about concepts like Zoom holidays, just to get a break.

But the answer isn’t fewer Zoom calls, it’s better Zoom calls. Almost every Zoom presentation is boring, ugly, terribly structured, poorly executed, and designed to make you fall asleep.

In this guide I’ll show you

• How to create beautiful slides that communicate with clarity and class
• Unknown and awesome features of Zoom that you can use to your advantage
• How to overcome your nerves and survive technical problems
• And how to look like a total pro every time you give a presentation—or run a meeting—on the platform we all love to hate.

Note: for the sake of brevity, unless I’m talking about Zoom-specific functionality, these tips are applicable to any platform that offers meeting and presentation software such as GotoMeeting, Google Meet, Webinar Jam etc.

There are instructional videos throughout the guide to demonstrate the best parts in more depth. You can binge watch the videos on the “Presenting on Zoom” video channel here , or read on for the word and pictures.

If you want to stand out from your peers it’s good to understand the full power of the platform and know the features most people don’t know about.

#1 Set up your own configurable ‘personal meeting room’

It can be really distracting to hear a bunch of people talking over one another when you kick off a meeting. A good solution is to use what’s called a Personal Meeting ID (PID) which gives you control of the Zoom environment right from the start.

Features of your PID include:

• Using the same invite ID and URL whenever you start a meeting, bypassing the need to repeatedly check the settings. Note: because it’s a permanent URL,you should uncheck the “Allow participants to join anytime” setting to prevent randoms dropping in unannounced.
• Placing participants into a “waiting room” which lets them in when you are ready to begin– either individually or all at once.
• Automatically recording your meetings on your computer. Having a video of your presentation is always a good idea so you can re-use your content.

#2 Press the ‘spacebar to temporarily un-mute yourself’

You can help to ensure a quality audio recording by placing everyone on mute by default. And while this feature is more appropriate for meetings vs. presentations, it’s a great thing to know about – and to tell your audience about. It’s easy to use, hold down the spacebar to un-mute yourself and let it go to turn your audio off again. It prevents people from forgetting to re-mute when they walk off to do something else forcing you to listen to their snoring dog or screaming baby.

Even if it doesn’t get used during your presentation (unless it’s a workshop you won’t want people to randomly chime in), many of your audience will thank you for learning this tip.

Note: You may need to enable it in your Zoom Preferences.

#3 Record ‘separate audio files’ for each speaker, host, or panelist in the presentation

If you have a host or a co-presenter there will be content in the session that’s not yours. Having separate audio recordings lets you use only the audio that was from your part of the presentation.

You can enable this in Preferences > Recording.

#4 Enable the ‘non-verbal feedback’ feature to allow audience interactions

Cool zoom feature #4 – enable non-verbal feedback.

To make your presentations interactive you can enable the non-verbal feedback feature. This allows participants to express reactions to your presentation.

This is not to be confused with ‘meeting reaction emojis’ which are temporary reactions that disappear after 5 seconds. To be honest, it’s hard not to be confused when there are two sets of interactions with different names.

Non-verbal feedback is for direct feedback to the speaker or host that others can agree with by clicking the same icon. The result is that the speaker can see how many people are expressing the feedback.

The options for non-verbal feedback are shown in the image below:

An example of how this would be used in a presentation is to ask the speaker to speed up or slow down. This might seem like a weird thing to be told during your talk, and if it’s just one person asking you’d most likely ignore it. But if 50 people are saying to slow down, that’s a pretty good indication that your current presentation style isn’t working for them.

It provides a pretty amazing insight – something I wish I’d had that feedback during an on-stage talk.

You can also use it to ask binary questions to the audience that they can respond yes or no to – a great way to segment the audience so you can tailor your content based on their responses.

Combine this feature with a QTINTA audience participation question for a really engaging experience. You’ll have to watch the video to know what QTINTA means.

#5 Use the Zoom ‘beauty mode’ to soften your appearance

Zoom includes a “Touch up my appearance” filter in the “Preferences > Video” settings, which gives your skin a softer appearance. There’s a slider that lets you control how much it applies the effect. It can look weird if you crank it too much, but having just a little can really help – especially if you’re looking a big bedraggled.

Settings are maintained when you quit so you can expect to look the same way every time.

#6 Use Zoom ‘video filters’ to add a cinematic high-contrast appearance

We’re all familiar with Zoom backgrounds, but a more impressive feature in my mind are the video filters. You can access them via the “Stop Video” dropdown arrow. Yes, there are some silly ones which can be funny when in a meeting, but for presenting stick to the non-silly ones. They can help improve the quality of your on-camera look. I particularly like the first option “Boost” which kicks your contrast up a notch removing any bland washed out lighting, it also removed some warmer tones which I like as it reduces the redness I often have in my skin.

You can see that it increases the contrast but also cuts down on the redness in my face.

Unlike the “Touch up my appearance” feature, your video filter settings are not maintained between sessions, which is a frustrating extra step each time if you found a setting you like.

#7 Encourage attendees to use ‘side-by-side mode’ to view you and your slides

This can be a good setting if you want to make your talk feel more personal. It shows your camera video beside your slides, and viewers can resize the videos as they see fit.

It can be a good idea to point this out as not everyone will know.

E.g. “You should be viewing this presentation in side by side mode so you see me and the slides. If you want to make the slides bigger (or smaller) you can resize them by dragging the slider between my video and the slides.”

#8 Use Zoom ‘annotations’ to mark up your slides live, or a ‘whiteboard’ for a blank canvas

A really cool feature of Zoom is Annotations. This lets you write or draw on top of the screen you are sharing. Once the feature is activated , you can access it from the menu at the top when you are sharing your screen.

This is really helpful when you have a complex slide and you want to focus people’s attention on different areas of the screen as you talk. When presenting live on a stage you can gesture towards a particular area, but it’s not as easy in a virtual presentation which is why it’s handy.

There is also a Whiteboard feature that gives you, well, a whiteboard. This could be useful if you find that you need to dig into a point you’re making in a more detailed way or discover during your talk that you need a different way to explain it.

You might want to take a quick screenshot when you’re done if you happened to get some interesting ideas marked up.

Rock open a whiteboard and sketch a diagram. Having a tablet and pen would be very helpful for this, versus trying to draw with a mouse. It might be wise to use the non-verbal feedback feature to get folks to say “Yes” to a “Let me know if you’re ready to move on” question.

Note, this is a screen sharing feature, so in order to get to the whiteboard, you need to stop sharing your screen, then share once more but choose Whiteboard as the option. Then you’ll have to stop sharing and share your slides again. Make sure you’ve practiced this if you think you’ll be using it.

#9 Use ‘closed captions’ to increase the accessibility of your virtual presentation and video recording

Zoom has transcription features that let you add closed captions to your session. You can do it manually for free, but that means someone will have to type them live, which is a pretty specific skill to have, and requires someone to do it for you.

If you have a paid Zoom account (roughly $20/month) live transcriptions are included. An alternative is to integrate with a platform like Otter.ai, to add closed captions in real time. You can also use Otter for transcribing any other audio or video files you have which makes it a much better value.

There are several reasons why closed captions are a good thing to do.

• No headphones: if an attendee doesn’t have or forgot their headphones and they’re in an environment where they can’t have the volume on, closed captions are a life saver that could be the difference between them staying or leaving.
• Accessibility: Captions allow meetings to be accessible to all. For the deaf, hard of hearing, or non-native speakers, they are an absolute necessity to understand what’s going on.
• Attention and recall: closed captioning can increase the amount of your content that an attendee comprehends and remembers. This is because they are getting it using two senses, and you have to focus more intently when you are reading.

You can check out Otter here to set up live captions.

#10 Use Zoom ‘breakout rooms’ to split workshop participants into groups

Without question, one of the most popular Zoom features is Breakout Rooms. They are exactly as they sound, allowing you to break out attendees into separate rooms. This could be for hosting a multi-track event where there is a speaker in each breakout room, or more commonly it is to allow groups to work together away from the “Main Room” and then come back in to rejoin you as the speaker.

This is a wonderful feature if you are running workshops that require groups to work through some of your worksheets or tasks for example.

There’s a good demo of how to use Zoom breakout rooms here.

#11 Use a Zoom ‘waiting room’ to hold attendees before you let them in at the same time

Nobody shows up at the same time to a presentation, and you don’t always want to start until an acceptable threshold of attendees have arrived. Particularly if the beginning of your talk is fundamental to your big idea.

The waiting room is basically a holding area where attendees are listed as they show up. They get to see a simple welcome screen (annoyingly simple really – I’d much prefer to have the options to have a fully custom slide in there), and you can admit them one by one, or all at once, when you are ready to begin.

It also allows you to block people from entering, although for the most part there’s not much reason to do this when you are presenting to a large audience. Useful if someone becomes disruptive for any reason.

Caution: it’s very easy to forget about the waiting room and have people sitting around unable to get in after you’ve started. I recommend assigning this task to your co-host.

Cool Zoom Feature to Avoid – ‘Present with your PowerPoint or Keynote slides as a virtual background’.

This is an interesting feature that’s worth discussing both for why it’s cool and why it’s uncool.

What it does

Instead of a regular screen share, it takes your slide deck and sets it as the background much like any other Zoom background. As such it places a ‘mini you’ floating on top of the slides in cutout mode which is kinda fun. Kinda.

To access the feature (beta at time of writing) click the “Advanced” tab in the “Share Screen” popup, and select “Slides as Virtual Background”.

This is what it looks like from the attendee’s perspective. And yes, you appear twice on the screen. Once on top of your slides, and again beside them. Silly.

Note: you must download a local copy of your slide deck to your computer as it doesn’t connect to cloud-based slides.

If you have audio and video in your slides, checking the “Share Sound” option at the bottom-left of the share popup should make that transmit to the audience. However, it doesn’t. In fact I couldn’t get any video or audio to play at all.

There’s also a second “Split Video from Slides” option which kinda defeats the purpose. As you can see below, you are back with your regular background in a separate window, and you are only on the screen once.

With the split setting in place, it would be a fair to wonder why you’d use this feature as it looks just the same as the regular view.

There are however, a few key differences.

The major difference is that you don’t need to have your slides in fullscreen mode on your computer. In the screenshot below you’ll see that I’m looking at a Zoom window with my slides inside it. I can now move through my slides while having other windows open such as the chat and participant windows. This is actually pretty great as the audience doesn’t see your layout, they see what they would normally see.

A nice side effect of this setting is the audience won’t see the awkward moment at the start of your talk where your whole screen is visible until you start the slides.

Looking at the main window, you can clean up the view a bit by having attendee video off by un-checking “More > Allow Participants to Start Video” in the Participants panel, and then selecting “Hide non-video participants” from the “…” menu on one of the participant video boxes.

You can take it a step further if you select “Hide self view” from the … on your video thumbnail. This will give you a view of just your slides. As much as the layout annoys me (I’d rather pop the self view out to the side with the chat), it can be important to see yourself to make sure you’re not moving out of frame – particularly if you are speaking standing up.

However, at this point in the beta it’s just not usable enough to be a serious and professional solution because of a few technical failings:

• It’s buggy like most beta features are
• It doesn’t show any animations or slide transitions
• If you are recording the screen, the merge view while fun, is a little unprofessional looking
• Audio and video didn’t work at all for me, despite there being a setting to allow slide audio to work. I think this might be because the videos didn’t play.
• When you start the share it has to process the slides before it starts which causes a delay if you aren’t expecting it.

Overall, it’s a feature with some exciting elements, although to be perfectly honest, the good aspects are nothing to do with the feature itself, but are side effects. I’d prefer to see a new feature that allows you to avoid presenting in fullscreen to allow a much greater degree of presenter screen setup.

The chapter title says it all. Do these things and your virtual presentations will be better. If you don’t, your presentation won’t be better than the last one you did, missing an important opportunity grow your skills as a virtual presenter.

Seriously. Do these things.

#1 Test your slides from the ‘attendee perspective’ using another laptop or tablet

Your slides might look amazing on your retina laptop or 5K monitor, but not all screens are alike, and your super-detailed tiny-text “revolutionary new marketing method” process diagram might look more like a dot-matrix printout to someone with a lesser screen.

Viewing your slides on a smaller or alternative screen isn’t enough. You also need to view them on Zoom on that screen, because virtual presentation software tends to change things you wouldn’t expect.

The golden rule of presentation QA is to run through every slide on the platform you’re going to be delivering on (Zoom, GotoWebinar, etc.) watching out for the things below:

• Any virtual presentation platform will add small visual artifacts to the video stream—they’re imperfect degenerative medium where some quality will be lost in transmission. As a result, your slides will never be quite as sharp as directly viewing your slides.
• If you have audio in your slides, check that the audio levels are balanced and not too loud or quiet. Remember to also test it with headphones on as that’s a common listening scenario for your audience.
• If you have video in your slides it may not come across well when presenting virtually. There’s usually some lag or choppiness that makes it skip frames. This can make the audio look out of sync.
• If you have multiple slides with audio, set them at the exact same level so people don’t get deafened. A common problem in that scenario is that the attendees will turn down their audio if you blast them, and then the next time you have audio it’s too quiet to hear properly. Your presentation software will have a setting for the audio or video volume. The best way to make sure they are the same is to move your slides to be one after the other (you can reorder them afterwards), then step through them to gauge the balance.
• If you have complex animations or transitions, they may render more slowly or less smoothly when piped through Zoom and a wifi connection. If they don’t work the way you want them to, consider simplifying them (fewer animations) or removing them altogether – replacing them with static slides. You can still use a technique like the Progressive Reveal to create a pseudo animation effect.

To prevent an audio feedback loop when testing your audio and video slides, have your partner/friend/colleague be on the viewer/attendee side in another room.

Whatever your specific case is, there’s a good chance that on the viewer’s side it’s not as perfect. So double, triple, and quadruple check.

I guess you should also single check. Why does nobody say that?

“You should single check your work to make sure it’s awesome.”

The best way to QA is to record some video of it from the viewer’s perspective. Have your QA buddy record their screen (with audio). If you don’t have anyone to help you, just set up your extra laptop (hopefully you have one somewhere) in another room and record the screen from there. If you’re using a Mac, Quicktime is an easy way to get a recording. On a PC, you can use PowerPoint to do a screen recording (more on that later), or find some free screen recording software for a test.

If you do have a helper, you can also reverse roles where they present and you observe on their machine. This will give you the truest sense of what might need to be fixed. It’ll no doubt be quite hilarious to watch, unless they turn out to be better at it than you.

#2 Remove all hashtags from your slides

My typical advice regarding hashtags is to make sure you update them to use the current event’s hashtag if you’ve used this slide deck before. If you don’t it looks awful to the audience and makes them feel like you didn’t put in the effort to make a presentation just for them.

However, the main goal of this entire guide —primarily covered in chapters 10 and 11— is to ensure you create a professional-grade recording of your virtual presentation that you can repurpose over and over for multiple virtual events.

If you leave event hashtags in your slides they will be forever embedded in your recording, rendering it useless for re-use. And trust me, once you’ve created a high-resolution awesomely edited recording of your talk, you will feel amazing about it.

It may feel counterintuitive, but you should delete all the hashtags from your slides.

If the event mentions it and asks you why or asks you to include them, just politely let them know your rationale. I’ve found that many virtual events have interactive chat in the interface they use which tends to dilute the number of people hanging out on a Twitter hashtag anyway.

#3 Have a wired Internet connection

If attendees have a poor connection they can always leave and download the video and slides later on.

But the presenter is the one person who absolutely must have a great Internet connection, and the best way to do that is to have directly wired Ethernet.

A side benefit of this is that it will help you end the endless debate over who’s connection is causing the problem. I’m sure you’ve been in a meeting where someone suggests your Internet is slow, and you say yours is fine, and they say that theirs has been working brilliantly all week.

Just say “Yeah, but I have a hardwired Ethernet connection.” End of conversation.

If you don’t have a wired connection, work on getting one set up, and in the meantime tell your eager tech wannabe roommates NOT to reset the ******* wifi while you’re presenting.

#4 Have a backup audio input device

“Is this mic on? Can you hear me at the back?”

Sometimes your mic will stop working, and it’s one of the most uncomfortable panic-ridden things that can happen to a speaker (see When Things Go Wrong ). It could be a dead battery issue, or your headphone cable could be old and the internal wiring failed.

Whatever the cause, you need to have a way to deal with the problem.

If you are using a posh external mic that stops working, ditching it for the internal microphone of your laptop will likely degrade the audio quality significantly, but it’s better than nothing.

In a later chapter I do a deep dive comparison video about microphone options for virtual presenting .

Probably the simplest backup is another set of headphones. The classic Apple headphones are only $25 now. Make sure you get the ones with the 3.5mm jack, and not the lightning cable, (especially if you’re not an Apple person) as that’s only useful for your iPhone. And if you aren’t an Apple person, there are a million other options on Amazon.

However, be warned that these headphones are rife with audio problems such as noisy cables (you’ll need to sit still which sucks), and they should only be used on Zoom. When using them with any other audio recording software they have a horrific background hiss that destroys your audio, but Zoom’s noise removal feature (on by default) actually does a fantastic job of removing it, making them a viable last minute solution. Hopefully, you’ll never need to use them.

#5 Have a slide dedicated to encouraging non-verbal feedback

The non-verbal feedback feature of Zoom is a great way to make your talk more dynamic. But you don’t want to try and explain it in the middle of your talk as it’ll break the flow and screw up the fluidity of your recording.

Instead, consider which aspects of the feature you want to use, and have a slide at the start of your presentation (slide 2 for example) that focuses on this. You can quickly walk people through how it works, and tell them how you’ll be using it throughout.

#6 Have everyone muted by default

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. You don’t want attendees, whether it’s 5 or 500, to be chatting before or during your presentation. So this one is simple. Make sure you mute everyone. If you’re using your Personal Meeting ID you might have this already set up.

You can mute everyone in the Participants sidebar, or as a global default setting in the web portal administration settings “Settings > Schedule Meeting > Mute all participants when they join a meeting”.

#7 Wear confidence clothes

Just because you can present in your PJs it doesn’t mean you should present in your PJs. Treat it like an on-stage talk and get ready in your mojo outfit. You’ll gain confidence and look more professional.

Something I like to do when I’m on the road presenting, is lay out my clothes the night before. It helps me get in the right mindset and also saves time the next day when you might be stressing out.

#8 Close all of your other software to prevent your machine slowing down

Take a look at your computer right now and count A) how many different apps are running, and B) how many tabs you have open in your browser.

Here’s a screenshot of mine, for reference.

Tabs open in Chrome? 39. Apps open? 20

You need to be concerned about two things, the amount of memory and processing power being hogged by all the apps you have open, and the number of ways you might receive a notification during your talk.

For PCs running Windows 10, there’s a built-in function to silence notifications when presenting . But if you’re a Mac user the settings for this are horrendous (slightly better in Big Sur). Fortunately there’s a free app called Muzzle that silences all of your notifications as soon as you share your screen.

#9 Have two pre-made slides ready for Q&A at the end of your virtual presentation

It’s common for your host to ask questions that the audience has submitted in the chat window (or the Q&A window for Zoom Webinars) at the end of your session. The best way to utilize this opportunity—if you’re still in control of the screen—is to have two slides prepared.

The first slide should simply have Q&A written on it, really big.

The second slide should be a promo slide with a special offer you have.

I like to leave up the Q&A slide until the questions start, then flip it to the promo slide so it can sit there for the next 5-10 minutes. It’s a great way to have it visible for a long period of time without actually having to be salesy in your presentation.

It’s fairly common that an event organizer will ask you if you have something to promote, but if they don’t, ask them if it’s okay that you use a slide at the end like this.

#10 Build a background set to make your virtual presentations look professional

If you spend a lot of time on Zoom, instead of using a Zoom background, start thinking about how you can built a bit of a set where you do your presentations. Not only will it look more professional, but it will fill you with confidence and make you feel like you’re in presentation mode when you’re there.

I’m fortunate to have a space for my office/studio, and I’ve seen and felt the difference a well-designed environment makes when I show up to work. It took me months to get it right, so don’t think you have to suddenly have something perfect. Just chip away at it over time, turning on your webcam every day and giving a little thought as to how you can make the space more special. Small shelves with plants or books can work great, and Pinterest is definitely your friend for this type of thing.

Many folks won’t have a dedicated workspace to claim as your “stage”, but I’m pretty sure your significant other won’t complain if you make your home that little bit nicer.

Speaking of “stages”, I actually built a stage in my studio—almost burning down the house in the process —but that’s a story for another time. Like I said, it took months to get to this stage. I keep saying stage.

#11 Reboot your computer the night before your virtual presentation

Restarting your computer can help speed it up a bit, especially if you haven’t done it in ages. Any little performance advantage you can get is valuable for a live presentation. It will help clear out any processes that are stuck or hogging the CPU.

However, it’s best not to do this right before your talk, as you risk it doing some weird software updates that take hours to complete.

#12 Do a test Zoom meeting to check your camera angles and lighting

As Springsteen said in Dancing in the Dark—”I check my look in the mirror, I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face.”—you should always check how you look on camera before the presentation starts. Adjust the angle of the camera for your most flattering look and the best view of your background, which of course is a well-decorated wall, and not a zoom background of a beach or mountaintop.

Make sure to turn on the lights you’ll be using to light your lovely face, wick away any sweat using blotting wipes, and apply some simple makeup to remove shiny reflections from your head. More details on those techniques in the lighting section .

Here’s the smart part, record your test meeting and play it back to make sure there are no weird things in the background, it’s often easier to analyze a recording as opposed to your webcam view.

#13 Double-check your audio for background noise

At the same time as your camera check, watch your test recording and listen very carefully for any noise in the background. You’ll be surprised at how oblivious you can be to background noise when you’re busy and/or nervous.

Sounds to watch out for:

• Laundry sounds: Depending on where your washer/dryer are it may not be an issue, but the low hum can travel far. Start a Zoom recording, making sure to use which ever audio (mic) input you plan on using, go turn on your washer or dryer or dishwasher, then come back and replay the recording to see if it’s discernible. Crank the volume to make sure. There is NOTHING worse than doing a badass presentation then finding out the recording is ruined by a persistent hum in the background, or the sound of someone’s hoody zip clattering round and round in the dryer.
• Tube lights: If you have any tube lights where you are recording, or even in a nearby room, turn them off. They can be soooo noisy. Then put in the effort to replace them with silent LED tube bulbs when you have time. It does require some rewiring, but it’s not that hard—I did it recently and I made sure to choose bulbs with the same colour temperature as the lights I’ll be using to light me up in the video–more on that in the A/V chapter .
• Ceiling fans: Another subtle and repetitive sound. Turn ’em off unless the resulting heat will make you sweat to the point of scaring the audience.
• Heating: Not all heating is noisy, but many houses in North America use what’s called forced air. It’s noisy. A low hum, yes, but it’s an audio killer.
• Noisy clothes: Your clothes can cause bad scratching sounds—even if you use a shotgun microphone that’s not attached to your clothes—which is an audio killer. What happens is that any loose clothing rubs against you when you gesticulate with your arms. Tighter clothes like a t-shirt are the solution to this. I go into more depth including a comparison video in What to do When Noisy Clothes Ruin Your Audio .
• Noisy shoes: if you’re wearing any kind of heels, they will cause irritating sounds if you shuffle your feet (while presenting standing up, which you should do). The simplest solution is to take them off and present in your socks (or bare feet).
• Analog watches: I’m kidding.

And make sure everyone in the house knows not to bother you while you’re presenting. If you are in a room with a door, hang a sign on it with the time of your event, and say not to disturb you until you take the sign off the door.

Guess what? Not every thing you can do as a virtual presenter is something you should be doing—I’m talking about you, speaker who likes to take a bathroom break while mic’d up, two minutes before the session starts.

Similarly, not every feature of Zoom has a positive impact on the audience or speaker experience. In this short and not-so-sweet chapter I’ll give you some tips about things to avoid so your talks go more smoothly.

#1 Don’t use a free Zoom account for your presentation

If you’re running the show yourself this is an important one. The free Zoom plan allows up to 100 attendees which is great, and more than enough for a small event, however there is also a 40-minute time limit, which would be very embarrassing if you didn’t know that and all of a sudden everyone gets kicked out of your virtual event.

#2 Try to avoid saying “Can you hear me?”

This is a classic intro statement that nervous presenters ask, but it makes you sound unprofessional. Instead, make a subtle change to how you position it, like this:

“Thanks {host name}, let’s get started, and let us know in the chat window if you have any issues hearing my audio.”

#3 Don’t use your laptop’s microphone if your webcam is sitting on an external monitor

When you do this, the laptop will be off to one side and your audio will be really quiet and sound like you’re in a different room.

#4 Don’t use stock photos in your slides

Just as you shouldn’t use a stock photo as the header background on your website, you shouldn’t use them in your presentations. To illustrate my point, it’s way too common for software companies to think it’s cool to use an overhead shot of a laptop and a coffee cup. It’s actually hilarious how prevalent it is. I recommend entering the URL of any image you’re considering using into tineye.com which will tell you how many times it’s been used.

If you absolutely have to use one, try hard to find one that’s not so widely used. Unsplash.com is a good resource for free photography that’s typically got less of a stock feel to it.

But all in all, the best way to avoid using stock photos is to develop an original content mindset (in chapter 6) .

#5 Don’t use a Zoom background. You heard me.

Zoom backgrounds can be fun in meetings, but when you’re presenting it can look unprofessional and can be really distracting. It can also make some of your head/hair disappear and speaking for myself, I need all the hair I can get.

#6 Don’t record the call without permission

This is a big no-no on certain types of call. For a presentation you can make a statement that it’s being recorded, as this is always helpful information for attendees to know (no permission needed) but if it’s a meeting with a client, customer, or coworker, you should be explicit that you are recording and why: “If it’s okay with you I’d like to record the call so I don’t miss any of the details.” This is important when you are a guest in an interview too. Asking for permission will add a level of trust and respect in the eyes of who you are asking – and in the very rare occasion that they say no, be graceful and say okay no worries. Then follow up with,”I may be taking notes throughout so bare with me if I’m scribbling”.

Also be aware, that if you  are recording the session, everyone on the other side will see a blinking “recording” signal in the top-left corner, so there’s no creeping allowed.

To recap, remember these rules when it comes to recordings:

• Meetings: Ask for permission, and don’t record if your guest is uncomfortable with it.
• Presentations: Let people know that it’s being recorded and that you will be making it available after. Ideally after some post-production enhancements in chapter 11.

#7 Don’t be the host if you might leave early

This is a nightmare as the other participants are suddenly without a meeting and they might not know why. Then they have to re-coordinate to set up a new meeting, which is always a chore and often involves Slack or text messages or even worse, emails.

Intro Introduction to Virtual Presentations on Zoom

Chapter 1 18 Cool Zoom Features You Should Know About

Chapter 2 12 Things You Should Do in Your Zoom Presentation

Chapter 3 8 Things You Shouldn’t Do in Your Zoom Presentation

Chapter 4 Defining Your Presentation’s Purpose

Chapter 5 How to Define Your Talk’s Structure, Story, & Flow

Chapter 6 41 Slide Design Tips for Virtual Presentations

Chapter 7 6 Ways to Make Eye Contact With an Invisible Audience

Chapter 8 How to do Audience Participation in a Virtual Presentation

Chapter 9 How to Share Content during a Zoom Presentation

Chapter 10 How to Create a Stunning Video and Audio Recording

Chapter 11 Using Post-Production to Add Value to Your Zoom Recording

Chapter 12 How to Use Your Phone as a Beautiful Webcam

Chapter 13 What to Do When Things go Wrong in Your Presentation

Chapter 14 How to Ground Yourself and Get Ready to Present

Chapter 15 Advanced & Creative Zoom Presentation Techniques

Chapter 16 The Difference Between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars

Chapter 17 23 Zoom Settings to Enable or Disable for a Smooth Presentation

The complete Zoom guide: From basic help to advanced tips and tricks

Zoom  is a video communications platform that many of us at ZDNet consider to be a valuable digital tool today. One of Zoom's key strengths is its simplicity, but the platform also has a variety of advanced features that remote workers will find useful for improving their productivity. 

Below, we'll show you how to get started, and also offer some tips and tricks that experienced users may be missing out on. 

Let's get started: Zoom basics

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First of all, head over to Zoom in your browser. The platform is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. The layout will be slightly different depending on whether you are on desktop or mobile. 

There are four plans available; the most popular now likely being the free tier, in which virtual meetings can be held with up to 100 participants, 1-on-1 meetings (30 minute time limits), and meetings with multiple participants can be held for up to 40 minutes. (When your time is up, you can simply restart a meeting if need be.)

The free option also includes private and group chats. Participants can join via their PC or a telephone line, and both desktops and apps can be shared.

Zoom's Pro, Business, and Enterprise packages come with additional features, including an increase in meeting duration limits, cloud recording and storage, Skype for Business interoperability, single sign-on options, transcript recordings, and company branding.   

It is possible to join a meeting just from your browser, but in the interests of longevity and avoiding browser limitations, we recommend you download the application. 

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To start using Zoom, make your choice (browser or a direct download) and then sign up. You will be prompted to type in your email or sign in through either Google or Facebook. 

Businesses can also provide you with a single sign-on key (SSO) to attend meetings, although you will also need to know the company's .zoom.us domain. Alternatively, you can look up the domain by performing a search based on your company email address. 

At the next sign up prompt, Zoom will ask for permission to send resources including product videos and how-to guides your way. Either click "confirm" or "Set Preferences;" the latter option being to receive emails once a week, once a month, or never. Make your selection. 

By now, a confirmation email should have landed in your inbox. Open the message, click "Activate Account" or paste the included confirmation link into your browser, and then at the next prompt, you will need to complete account creation with your name and a strong password . 

If you wish, on the next screen, you can invite your colleagues to also create an account. If not, click "Skip this step."

Now you can choose to create a test meeting if you like, as well as add Zoom as an extension. There are various plugins available including a Google Chrome extension, Zoom for GSuite, a Mozilla Firefox extension, a Microsoft Outlook plugin, and an IBM Notes plugin. If you will be using Zoom for the foreseeable future for work purposes, you may want to select and install appropriate add-ons now. 

You can choose to launch a test meeting, which contains the meeting's URL and the option to invite others. We will go through the core features of the meeting system in a moment, but for now, let's head over to the web portal, zoom.us , to make sure that the correct settings are enabled and that you know how to create and launch a meeting. 

The web portal

On the Zoom website , head to " Your Account " in the top-right to manage your profile.

You can change details under the " Profile " tab such as your name, picture, default meeting ID, password and time zone. 

Next, head to " Settings ." Here, you can adjust settings implemented by default, including whether or not video is automatically enabled when you -- or participants -- join a meeting; and whether or not participants can join a scheduled meeting before the host arrives. 

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In the interests of security and to prevent scammers from hijacking a meeting , you should make sure you use strong passwords. 

Passwords were not always enabled by default, but after Zoom  apologized for "falling short of the community's -- and our own -- privacy and security expectations," a rush of security changes were made, including the enabling, by default, of passcodes for scheduled, instant, and personal meetings.

The security tab is now extensive and includes options to allow or restrict public and private chats when you host a meeting; you can give permission for files to be transferred, select who can screen share, enable end-to-end encryption (but you will need to verify your phone number first to select this option), and you can even impose blocks on users coming from specific countries or regions. 

The Zoom desktop app has a similar layout, with "preferences" accessible from the top-right corner. The options you can access here are related to your PC, such as whether or not you want to use dual monitors or automatically enter a full-screen mode when a meeting starts. 

You can also test your microphone and speaker setup, choose a color theme, select a default location for recordings, and tweak accessibility controls, among other functions. 

With your basic preferences in place, let's go to the " Meetings " tab in your profile. 

Scheduling and hosting a meeting 

The first screen you will see reveals any scheduled meetings in your diary. Click "schedule a new meeting" and a new screen will appear, in which you can name your meeting, add a description if you want, and choose the date and timezone.  

If this is to be a continual meet up with colleagues, there is a handy " recurring meeting " checkbox under the timezone tab. If you select it, you can then choose how often the meeting needs to be repeated -- whether daily, weekly, or monthly, and how many times during a day you want the meeting to repeat. 

Once you have input these details, scroll down and click "save." 

The meeting is set, but how do you invite others? 

The short answer is: you must do so manually. There are two ways to do this: through calendar invites, or via your own email account. 

If you wish to invite others through a calendar, links to Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Yahoo Calendar are displayed once your meeting has been saved. 

Alternatively, next to the "join URL" link on this screen, there is an option to "copy this invitation."

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Clicking on this page element brings up a screen with all of the important information required for the meeting, including the URL, of which the meeting ID is already embedded. Copy this to your clipboard, open your email client, paste the details into a new message, and invite away. 

So, in short, all participants need is the meeting URL , date and time , and a passcode . 

If you want to try out features before bringing other people in, create a test meeting at this stage and select "Start this meeting." Alternatively, you can do exactly the same within the first page of the Zoom desktop app:

The first prompt, in either case, will ask you to join with computer audio if you are on PC, and will also give you the option to test your speaker and microphone. At the top right of the meeting window, you can choose to go full screen. 

We are now going to go over the basic settings you need to know about in meetings for management purposes.

Two fundamental options can be found in the bottom-left part of the black menu tab: the option to mute/unmute your microphone and either start/stop your camera. If you are using an external microphone, speaker, or camera, open up the arrow tabs next to these options to choose which equipment you want to use (external or inbuilt). 

Moving on, the " Manage Participants " tab is particularly important. Under this tab, you can find " invite ," which is useful if you've forgotten to bring someone into a session. 

Clicking this option will bring up a box with everyone connected to the meeting. If you hover over a name, you can mute/unmute them, and at the bottom, there are options for doing the same for every participant. In the interests of privacy, however, hosts and other participants cannot control individual camera feeds. 

A handy feature to note here under " Security " is " lock ," which stops anyone else from joining an active session. 

Different views : You can pick one of four view options -- but this only impacts how you view a meeting, and not others. By default, Active Speaker is the default video layout -- in which the person talking is ramped up to a larger screen -- but there is also a gallery layout that brings in every participant on one screen through a grid, an " immersive " view that puts participants in the same 'room' through a virtual background, and a floating thumbnail option.

The " Share Screen " tab allows you to share your PC screen with others, including your full desktop, browser, or open applications, and also permit others to share their own screens simultaneously.

Now, let's talk about messaging. The " Chat " tab on the main bar is designed for users to type out questions and messages, as well as share files either hosted by cloud storage providers or stored directly on your PC, as long as the "Send files via meeting chat" option in Account Settings has been enabled. 

As a host, you can also select the "..." button to save a chat session and control who participants can talk to -- no one, the host alone, everyone publicly, or everyone publicly and privately. 

The final tab of note is the " Record " option, which you may want to use if you are discussing work matters and want to save the session in order to email a copy of it to others later. By default, no one except the host can record a session unless the host gives permission to do so.

Participants will be warned that the meeting is being recorded through an automatic audio message. 

Finally, the " End Meeting " tab finishes the session. If the host needs to leave but the meeting should carry on, they can assign the host status to another participant -- but enabling co-hosts has to be selected first in the "Meetings" tab and can only be selected by subscription holders. Alternatively, you can leave the meeting or end the meeting for all. 

Advanced tips and tricks

Now that the basics have been covered, there is a range of settings and features that more experienced users might want to use. 

Let's head back over to the web portal to run through a few options. If you are using the  desktop application , you can quickly access this area by going to "Settings".

You can find features including:

• Breakout room: split meeting participants into separate, smaller rooms. This can also be done before a meeting begins to prevent logistical problems
• Virtual backgrounds: enabling/disabling 
• Encryption: By default, Zoom requires encryption for all data transferred between the Zoom cloud, Zoom client, and Zoom Room. You can also require encryption for 3rd party endpoints (SIP/H.323).
• Waiting room: a feature to keep participants in a 'waiting area' until the host is ready for them -- particularly handy for remote interviews or office hours. This feature is now on as default.
• Private chat: Allow or restrict direct messages by participants
• Auto-save chat: You can enable chat records to be automatically saved
• Feedback: You can enable an end-of-meeting experience feedback survey to display
• Report to Zoom: You can allow users to report others for inappropriate behavior during meetings
• Far end camera control: You can allow others to seize control of your camera during meetings

If you have a Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan, you can take advantage of the webinars option . Webinars can be set up that broadcast to up to 50,000 view-only attendees at a time. Screens, video, and audio can be shared; chat sessions between attendees and panelists can be hosted, and webinars can be run on either a pre-registration or open basis. 

Language interpreters

In 2022, Zoom introduced the option for enabling language interpretation . Up to 20 participants can be designated as interpreters during a Zoom session, and they can create their own audio channels for participants to select in their preferred language. 

Virtual Backgrounds

Virtual backgrounds can be used to hide the chaos and clutter of your home. There are specific hardware requirements, which can be accessed here . Most modern PC setups should be able to manage -- but the virtual background, either made up of images or video, works best with a green screen and uniform lighting. There is also "studio effects," a beta service for adding filters. 

To set up a virtual background, go to the desktop app, "Settings," and choose "Virtual Background." You can try out different screens or add your own image/video instead. You may see a warning that says your hardware isn't good enough -- but give it a go, anyway. 

Whiteboards, annotations

This is a useful option if you are canvassing ideas or soliciting feedback and it comes with different annotation options, including text boxes, arrows, and more. The "spotlight" is a form of highlighter which can be used to bring user attention to a particular area or point. This can be enabled under in-meeting settings. Notes can be added to a virtual whiteboard and shared screens.

What about Zoom gatecrashers?

When software is popular, scammers come out of the woodwork to try and find a way to capitalize. Zoom is no different ; the appearance of scammers jumping into unprotected meetings and posting malicious links and pornography has given rise to the phrase "Zoom-bombing."

Zoom has  published a guide on how to prevent gatecrashers from disrupting your meetings, including pointers such as:

• Keep your meeting links off social media
• Choose "only host" for screen sharing control during a meeting
• Taking advantage of Zoom's extensive security options
• Use the "lock" feature to prevent random users from joining in after a meeting has begun
• If you are gatecrashed, hover over the user's name in the Participants menu to bring up a "remove" option.

Zoom Rooms  is a more advanced software offering available on a subscription basis. Zoom Rooms, an option for business owners, combines audio conferencing, video conferencing, and wireless screen sharing. A PC running Zoom Rooms is the bare minimum requirement, but iPads, TV displays, external speakers, cameras, and microphones can all be integrated within one room. 

You can find the Rooms client and controller software (iOS, Android, or Windows) in the Zoom  Download Center . 

App Marketplace

Zoom's App Marketplace is worth investigating if you're looking to implement more features in Zoom Meetings or Zoom Rooms. Apps can be integrated including the Otter.ai transcription service, Google Workspace, Adaptive Shield, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Okta. 

Additional points

• When screen sharing, the " optimize option " is especially useful when sharing YouTube and other online videos as it can prevent distortion, lagging, and buffering issues. 
• Hot Keys and keyboard shortcuts are available for Mac and Windows machines. A full list can be found here . 
• Meeting times: If you are experiencing connection issues at peak times, consider scheduling a meeting at times other than on-the-hour or on a half-hour. 
• Zoom now offers the "Events" service, a solution for live events and both in-person and virtual attendance. 
• Need training for specific purposes, such as for education? Zoom offers over 30 live training sessions per week. 
• If you need additional technical support, Zoom has an online help center . 

Zoom's best practices

• Double-check meeting default settings
• Test your audio and video as you join
• Use a USB-connected headset
• Mute your microphone when not speaking
• Position your webcam properly
• If hosting, connect from a large screen
• For best results, use the app and not a browser
• Use a stable/wired connection
• Join meetings in quiet areas

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5 interactive Zoom presentation ideas to jump-start your virtual meetings

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Meghan Ryan October 22, 2021

Now that more people are working from home, Zoom presentations are becoming a daily staple. Depending on your day, you may sit through multiple Zoom presentations in one day, or give a few yourself, which can eventually lead to a feeling of meeting fatigue . But the real challenge many people have with virtual meetings isn’t the quantity; it’s the fact that it can be hard to distinguish one meeting from another. A presenter might simply share their screen to show you new information, which wouldn’t be that different of an experience than meeting with a colleague to work on a shared screen.

Presenters on Zoom also have difficulties that they never had to experience in person. For starters, the screen just doesn’t have the same impact as a person standing in front of you, and listening in on a presentation by yourself is less exciting and has less emotional impact than being in the same room as the speaker. You also have to remember that your audience is sitting in front of their computers for most of the day, so the temptation to open up other windows and multitask is a lot higher. Not only that, but the things they watch after work on these very same screens tend to have a very high production value that most of us (even the best presenters) cannot dream to compete with.

So with all these challenges, how can presenters improve their Zoom presentations and create engaging, impactful experiences? Here are 5 interactive Zoom presentation tips to help get you started.

Start with a great presentation design

As you start preparing your presentation, take a beat to put on your design thinking cap. Your audience has tuned into your presentation because they want to hear what you have to say, and the design of your presentation plays a big part in keeping them hooked.

The design of your presentation isn’t just about putting colors together and making sure the layout looks nice, though. You need to consider the medium your audience is using to view your presentation. In an age of virtual presentations , your audience is likely tuning in on a small laptop screen (or even a phone screen). That means that text-heavy slides are probably not effective and, conversely, intricate designs could actually be overwhelming.

This is when you can start getting creative with incorporating interactive Zoom presentation ideas into your design. Think about the most engaging content that your audience has access to virtually. Much of it comes from huge steaming platforms, like Netflix and YouTube. What keeps people interested and coming back to these platforms is not the designs or the high-quality production (although those are nice, too) — it’s the storytelling.

Be sure to use storytelling principles in the design of your Zoom presentation. Rather than creating an excessively designed presentation that can easily overwhelm audiences, consider how the design is enhancing the narrative you’re telling. Simple designs can have a huge visual impact when they’re timed well.

Joshua Peterse , a designer at the presentation powerhouse Missing Link , points out that we’re now in the business of designing scenes, not slides. Watch his video to see six examples of using Prezi Video to set the scene and make your presentations more impactful:

As Joshua mentions, Prezi does a good job of incorporating you into your content, and that’s thanks to Prezi Video . Prezi Video is a virtual presentation tool that shows your content next to you as you present. With the ability to connect to Zoom and other top virtual meeting platforms out there, it’s the perfect way to connect with people in remote and hybrid work.

Here are a couple of ways that you can start designing an engaging presentation in Prezi.

Use a professionally designed template

If design isn’t your thing, start with a template . Prezi has over 200 presentation templates to help you get started on anything from sales pitches and training presentations to internal meetings . Customize these with your own content to make them your own.

For more interactive Zoom presentations, use a video template that displays your content next to you on screen. Take a look at the “design thinking template,” for instance:

Reuse slides or a previous presentation

You can edit any presentation made with Prezi, PowerPoint, or Google Slides in Prezi. This allows you to seamlessly bring your existing content with you on screen instead of having to share your screen.

Take a look at our favorite examples of presentations and videos , curated by our editors. Get inspired or reuse what you like for your own presentation.

Give everyone in your audience a front row seat

Rich Mulholland , founder of Missing Link , knows the power of face time with your audience. In his Prezi video, he recommends getting right in front of the camera so your audience can see you better. This gives you a chance to show your enthusiasm, expressions, and body language throughout your presentation. Those are the most interesting elements of a presentation that keep people engaged, but they’re easy to leave by the wayside in a Zoom meeting.

Oftentimes, organizers for webinars or virtual presentations will make the mistake of setting up presenters far from the camera and have them face one another when there are multiple presenters. This doesn’t engage audiences, though, and it doesn’t take into account the real benefit of using Zoom for your presentation – that you can give every person in your audience a front-row seat to your presentation.

Watch Rich’s Prezi video, where he describes the significance of being close to the camera and shares other interactive Zoom presentation ideas:

Use movement 

Another great interactive Zoom presentation tip is to incorporate more movement. Adding movement to your presentation is going to spike your audience’s attention, give them a little boost in serotonin, and keep them focused on the screen.

Lorraine Lee , Prezi’s Editorial Director, depicts how powerful movement is in grabbing attention, even compared to static visuals and the presenter. Watch her video on creating engaging virtual presentations to see this example in action and to learn more interactive Zoom presentation tips to keep your audience engaged:

Lorraine recommends at least two slides or movements per minute in a Zoom presentation. These don’t have to be big movements to have a big impact — just enough to add some variety to your presentation and give your audience something new to pay attention to. 

There are a lot of ways to add movement to your Zoom presentation, but it’s safe to start with two standbys – GIFs and videos. GIFs are a fun way to elicit an emotional reaction from your audience and to show a little bit of your personality, while video is one of the most popular forms of media out there.

Read our article to learn how to use GIFs and videos in your virtual presentations.

Get your audience involved

No one wants to hear the same person talk for the entire duration of a long meeting, so mix things up by getting your audience to participate. Ask them questions and get them to answer in the chat, raise their hands, or show an on-screen response. What you’re aiming for isn’t just participation for the sake of participation; you want them to interact with your ideas and get closer to the main point of your presentation. That’s what makes this one of the most useful interactive Zoom presentation tips.

To that end, your audience doesn’t need to actually speak in order to get involved with your presentation. Zoom allows your audience to show reactions like a thumbs up or a raised hand. Prezi helps you take this a step further and lets your audience share their own questions, comments, or images on their screens. This way you can read everyone’s screens to get a lay of the land and respond to questions quickly.

See how on-screen responses can get your audience to participate more meaningfully online in this example:

Practice and record yourself

Of course, your presentation is going to go a lot smoother if you feel confident when you deliver it. Practice your presentation before you get in front of the camera to work out all the little details. Get acquainted with the tools you’ll use, like Prezi Video and Zoom, as well as your accessories like the mic, camera, and lighting.

Recording yourself is a good way to view yourself from the audience’s perspective and spot areas of improvement. Try recording your presentation in Prezi Video , where you can practice everything from using your tools to practicing your timing.

As long as people are working remotely or in hybrid offices, Zoom presentations are going to be the standard, so now is a great time to learn how to make them engaging and interactive. Check out the Video Gallery to see more examples of great virtual presentations. Have a helpful interactive Zoom presentation tip of your own? Record a video and tag it with #Zoom for a chance to be featured in the gallery.

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Take your virtual presentation to the next level.

The honeymoon is over on working from home. How you show up online is a reflection of your professionalism, dedication and impact. It’s time to start moving your career forward , starting with how you present online. Zoom CEO, Eric Yuan, reports that there were over 300 million daily Zoom meeting participants in April - and that number is growing by the day. What can you do to improve your presence online, in virtual meetings? To really see what’s possible, I reached out to one of the best virtual presentation experts out there: Forbes contributor, Brant Pinvidic .

Brant is the producer of TV shows like The Biggest Loser, Bar Rescue and Extreme Makeover, as well as the author of the best-selling book, The 3-Minute Rule . He’s passionate about helping leaders to harness Hollywood secrets for a Zoom meeting or online pitch. He offered these five insider tips for delivering a powerful virtual presentation.

• Invest In Your Studio - “What would you spend,” Brant asks, “on a traditional business trip, where you traveled on an airplane to meet with a client in another state, stayed in a hotel room, rented a car, whatever?” That’s the amount that Pinvidic says you should spend on your home office setup. If you rely on presentations to advance your career and connect with your customers, consider your camera, your background and your audio. If you want to stand out in a crowd, make sure your setup isn’t working against you. You don’t have to trick out your studio like Brant’s, but making a home office investment is typically something that most companies will support. Consider a second monitor, a separate webcam and a decent USB microphone if you want to be seen and heard at your best.
• Be “Deal Ready” - “In every pitch, you have to have something that is actionable,” Brant says, pointing out that you have to prepare for success by making sure it’s on the table. What’s the call to action you are offering? “When I pitch a show idea, I have to be ready for the next logical step, and if someone wants to put together a deal, I’ve got to be prepared.” So do you. What’s the outcome for the presentation? What’s the deal you’re prepared to make? What’s at stake in this presentation - for you, for your audience, for your company? If you aren’t sure, maybe your next Zoom meeting needs to be an email.
• Be Direct - and Be A Director - “Why are you doing this meeting on Zoom?” Brant asks, rhetorically. “When you get people online, they’re most likely coming from their home offices, where they’ve got tons of distractions.” Get straight to the point and be crystal-clear on what you hope to accomplish with the meeting. Brant says you’ve got to think like a director - edit out the extra slides, trim down the things you don’t need. Because that’s what people want in a virtual presentation: clarity . If you’re still delivering your same old PowerPoint from 2019, you’re making a huge mistake. The world has shifted: are you using yesterday’s tools to find tomorrow’s results?
• Prepare for the Competition - “When you’re cooking something, you always prepare the ingredients beforehand. You don’t create a great meal without planning and preparation,” Brant shares. “You have to prepare your presentation in the exact same way. You have to prepare for the competition . I’m not just talking about other businesses, I’m talking about the millions of distractions that compete for your audience’s mindset. You must dedicate more time and energy into the virtual presentation, because the stakes are higher.” You can’t show up for a one o’clock meeting at 12:59 and press the “Join Meeting” button - you need to put in some effort if you’re going to stand out and share your story . What would be one thing you could do to plan for smoother transitions, better Q&A or simplified delivery, in your next PowerPoint presentation?
• Consider Your Background - Brant isn’t talking about your LinkedIn profile. He means the pile of laundry next to the broken toys beside the cat box - that’s what everyone on the Zoom call sees when you come online. Don’t leave your career to chance - take a director’s view of your surroundings, and craft a backdrop that shows your professionalism. Virtual meetings are a window into your world - make sure the camera reveals a good representation of your professionalism, if you want to make an impact. “Be deliberate about your background, and make sure you’ve got decent lighting,” Brant says - that way, you show up at your absolute best.

Today, the connection point is a virtual platform, and communicating via Zoom is a brand new game. Working from home has made us all equal and, when it comes to Zoom meetings, seems that we’re all equally bad. These strategies, along with a small investment in your home office, will help you to stand out in your next presentation. “The confidence in the value of your information is key,” Brant says. So, don’t wing it. Don’t show up one minute before that big meeting and hope for the best. Hope is not a strategy. Take time to re-think what you can change, edit or cut inside your slides. What can you do or say or share so that your message comes across in a way that’s concise, clear and compelling? Take time to think it through. Planning builds confidence, especially in you next online meeting.

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What is Zoom? Ultimate Guide to Video Conferencing in 2024

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Zoom has become an essential tool for staying connected in our increasingly digital world. With over 300 million daily meeting participants, it's no wonder that understanding Zoom's features and capabilities is crucial. In this comprehensive guide, we'll dive into the core functionality of Zoom, from HD video and screen sharing to virtual backgrounds and chat. You'll also discover how to choose the right pricing plan for your needs and get step-by-step instructions on setting up your first meeting. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned user, this guide will help you master Zoom and unlock its full potential. Get ready to take your virtual meetings to the next level!

Zoom's Core Features: Video Conferencing, Chat, and More

Zoom is a powerful video conferencing platform that offers a wide range of features to enhance virtual meetings and collaboration. Let's explore some of Zoom's key capabilities:

1. HD Video Conferencing

Zoom's core functionality revolves around high-definition video conferencing. With Zoom, you can host virtual meetings with crystal-clear video and audio quality, ensuring effective communication with participants. The platform supports screen sharing, allowing you to present documents, slides, or your entire desktop to attendees. Additionally, Zoom offers virtual background features, enabling you to customize your background or use a pre-set image to maintain privacy or add a professional touch to your meetings.

2. Integrated Communication Tools

Beyond video conferencing, Zoom provides additional communication features to facilitate collaboration. The platform includes a built-in chat function, allowing participants to send text messages, share files, and engage in real-time discussions during meetings. Zoom also offers a dedicated phone feature, enabling you to make and receive calls directly within the platform. Furthermore, Zoom supports webinars, allowing you to host large-scale online events and engage with a wider audience.

To further enhance your workflow, consider using tools that integrate Google Docs with Zoom for seamless document sharing.

3. Robust Security Measures

Security is a top priority for Zoom. The platform employs end-to-end encryption to protect the confidentiality of your meetings and ensure that only authorized participants can access the session. Zoom also offers password protection for meetings, adding an extra layer of security. You can control who can join your meetings and manage participant permissions to maintain a secure environment.

4. Seamless Integrations

Zoom integrates seamlessly with various productivity tools and applications to streamline your workflow. The platform supports integrations with popular calendar apps, allowing you to schedule and join meetings directly from your preferred calendar. Zoom also integrates with project management tools, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and other productivity apps, enabling you to access Zoom's features within your existing workflows.

Zoom's comprehensive set of features makes it a versatile platform for virtual meetings, collaboration, and communication. Whether you need to host a small team meeting or a large-scale webinar, Zoom provides the tools and capabilities to support your needs. In the next section of this guide, we will explore Zoom's pricing plans and options to help you choose the best plan for your requirements.

Zoom Pricing: Compare Plans and Find the Right Fit

Zoom offers a range of pricing plans to cater to the diverse needs of individuals and organizations. Let's explore the key differences between Zoom's free and paid plans:

1. Free vs. Paid: Features and Limitations

Zoom's free plan, known as Zoom Basic, allows you to host meetings for up to 100 participants with a 40-minute time limit per meeting. It includes core features like HD video, screen sharing, and virtual backgrounds. On the other hand, paid plans such as Zoom Pro, Business, and Enterprise remove the time limit, provide additional features like recording and reporting, and offer varying participant capacities.

2. Zoom's Specialized Plans: Meetings, Rooms, Phone, and Webinar

Beyond the standard plans, Zoom offers specialized solutions for specific use cases. Zoom Meetings focuses on video conferencing, while Zoom Rooms enables easy-to-use collaborative conference rooms. Zoom Phone is a cloud-based phone system, and Zoom Webinar allows for large-scale online events. Each plan comes with its own set of features and pricing.

3. Choosing the Right Plan for Your Needs

When selecting a Zoom plan, consider your specific requirements. Small teams and individuals may find Zoom Pro suitable, while larger organizations may benefit from Zoom Business or Enterprise. Educational institutions can leverage Zoom for Education , and healthcare professionals can use Zoom for Healthcare, which complies with HIPAA regulations.

4. Enterprise-Level Solutions and Volume Discounts

For large enterprises with extensive deployment needs, Zoom offers customized pricing and volume discounts. The Enterprise plan includes features like unlimited cloud storage, a dedicated customer success manager, and executive business reviews. It's designed to scale with the needs of large organizations.

Zoom's pricing plans offer flexibility and cater to a wide range of users, from individuals to large enterprises. By understanding the differences between the plans and considering your specific requirements, you can select the plan that best aligns with your needs and budget. In the next section, we'll guide you through the process of getting started with Zoom .

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Getting Started with Zoom: A Step-by-Step Guide

Getting started with Zoom is a straightforward process. First, you'll need to sign up for a Zoom account and download the software. Once you're set up, you can schedule your first meeting and configure the settings to your liking. As a host, there are several tips you can follow to run effective meetings. And as a participant, it's important to practice good Zoom etiquette, like muting your microphone when not speaking.

1. Signing Up and Downloading Zoom

To get started, visit the Zoom website and click on the "Sign Up, It's Free" button. Enter your email address, and follow the prompts to create your account. Once your account is set up, download the Zoom desktop app for your computer or the mobile app for your phone or tablet.

2. Scheduling Your First Meeting

After installing the Zoom app, open it and click on the "Schedule" button. Set the date, time, and duration of your meeting, and configure any additional settings, such as requiring a password or enabling a waiting room. You can then send out the meeting invitation to your participants via email or by copying the meeting link.

3. Hosting Effective Zoom Meetings

As a host, there are several best practices you can follow to ensure a smooth and productive meeting. Start by testing your audio and video before the meeting begins. During the meeting, use the mute button to minimize background noise when you're not speaking. Encourage participants to use the raise hand feature or the chat box to ask questions or provide input.

4. Zoom Etiquette for Participants

As a participant, it's important to practice good Zoom etiquette to ensure a positive experience for everyone. Start by finding a quiet location with minimal distractions. Mute your microphone when you're not speaking to reduce background noise. Use the chat box or raise your hand to ask questions or provide comments, and avoid interrupting others while they're speaking.

By following these steps and best practices, you'll be well on your way to mastering Zoom and making the most of your virtual meetings. For more on managing your meetings, learn how to organize your emails with AI . The next section of this guide will dive into advanced Zoom tips and tricks to take your skills to the next level. Thanks for sticking with us this far - your dedication to becoming a Zoom pro is impressive!

Advanced Zoom Tips and Tricks to Elevate Your Meetings

Zoom offers many creative ways to use its platform beyond basic video meetings. You can host webinars, teach online classes, and collaborate remotely with colleagues using Zoom's advanced features. For the best audio and video quality, investing in the right equipment and optimizing your setup is key. Making meetings more engaging with interactive tools and accessible with closed captioning will improve the experience for all participants.

1. Creative Uses for Zoom Beyond Meetings

Zoom is a versatile tool that supports many use cases. Webinars allow you to present to a large audience, with features like Q&A and polls. For educators, Zoom enables online classes with breakout rooms for group discussions. And remote teams can collaborate on projects using screen sharing and annotation tools.

For example, a marketing team could host a webinar on industry trends, with live polls to gather data from attendees. A professor might teach a virtual course with breakout sessions for students to discuss readings. Designers in different locations can iterate on mockups together using Zoom's screen sharing.

2. Optimizing Audio and Video Quality

To ensure your audio comes through clearly, invest in a quality microphone rather than relying on your computer's built-in mic. A headset or lavalier mic will minimize background noise. For the best video, use a high-definition webcam and make sure your face is well-lit from the front.

Your internet connection also impacts quality. Hardwire your computer to your router if possible for the most stable connection. Close other programs and turn off VPNs that may slow your speed. Paying for a dedicated internet line just for video conferencing is worthwhile if you're frequently hosting important meetings.

3. Making Meetings Engaging and Interactive

Zoom fatigue is real, but there are ways to combat it. Use the polling feature to quickly gather feedback or opinions. Try breakout rooms to foster small group conversations. Share your screen to walk through a presentation or document, using annotation tools to highlight key points.

Encourage participants to use reactions to provide visual feedback without interrupting. The chat box is great for sidebar conversations or posting resources for everyone. Manage your meeting settings to allow these interactive features rather than locking things down completely.

4. Accessibility Features in Zoom

Make your meetings welcoming to all by taking advantage of Zoom's accessibility features. Enable the auto-transcription option for closed captioning, which is helpful for participants who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as those in noisy environments. Automatic live transcription is available in English and many other languages.

Save time by using Bardeen's automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on engaging your audience.

For blind or low-vision users, Zoom follows most accessibility standards and is compatible with common screen readers. Meeting controls and messages are also accessible via keyboard shortcuts. Pinning and spotlighting videos can help those with visual impairments follow along.

With these tips, you'll be running Zoom meetings like a pro in no time. Whether you're hosting a small team check-in or an important client presentation, preparing in advance will help things run smoothly. Thanks for sticking with us through this comprehensive guide - you're now officially a Zoom power user! Next up, world domination via video chat (just kidding, please don't).

Understanding Zoom is crucial for effective communication and collaboration in our increasingly digital world.

In this comprehensive guide, you discovered:

• Zoom's robust video conferencing capabilities and added features like chat and webinars
• The differences between Zoom's pricing plans and which one suits your needs
• How to quickly get up and running with Zoom, from signing up to hosting your first meeting
• Pro tips and best practices to take your Zoom skills to the next level

By mastering Zoom, you'll never have to worry about missing an important meeting or struggling to connect with colleagues again. So don't be the one left behind in the virtual meeting revolution !

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