Author helps executives give better presentations in virtual age

By John Leacock

Author Jacqueline Farrington has spent years working with TEDx speakers, executives and business leaders to improve their communication and presentation skills. She is the author of a new book called, “Better Presentations — How to Present Like a Pro (Virtually or in Person).” But one day while she was waiting on stage to address an audience of 500, she writes, she felt an unexpected twinge of nervousness while she was being introduced onstage.

“How can I be nervous?” she thought. “I’m never nervous. I teach this stuff.” So with the sudden onset of pre-speech jitters she had to resort to one of her own techniques.

The technique involved proper self talk. That’s because when she started telling herself not to be nervous it only became worse. Her teaching involves showing people that in situations like that the right move is behaving, acting or thinking in ways that lead to the outcomes we need — rather than focusing on not making a mistake and being perfect. It’s the kind of technique athletes and actors use, among others. It worked.

Despite this, Farrington points out that the book is not for beginners and doesn’t focus on addressing performance anxiety for people facing an arena filled with an audience. Her guide is packed with advice for the seasoned professional, like business executives or anyone who faces an audience constantly. Farrington does include some tips for beginners, like this one: To overcome anxiety, she said, “find ways of delivering speech content that have lower risk — church, Sunday school — to get a little more comfortable as a speaker.”

The book, as the title says, mainly delves into some current challenges speakers face with virtual presentations. During the pandemic, they became de rigeur, and though they’ve thrived post-pandemic, that’s brought up a new set of challenges for presenters or people conducting virtual meetings, according to Farrington.

“People have become more comfortable in the virtual world,” she told the Journal. But comfortable doesn’t mean better. “A lot of teams are conducting meetings with cameras off. If you’re going to do that, you’re better off switching to telephones.”

In fact, many people are greeted with black screens and a disembodied voice in some virtual meetings. But it’s just not right, Farrington points out.

“Staring at black screen is fatiguing for the brain, it’s exhausting,” she said.

The point is if you’re online, turn your camera on. And if it’s on, pay attention to your way of dressing, your posture, your lighting and background.

About the latter, her point here is simple: Don’t use fake backgrounds. Reason? People watching are really interested in your actual environment, not a fake one. Skip the fake NYC skyline or the fake South Miami Beach background, she advises. Bizarre and out-of-place backgrounds affect the way the online audience see you, she cautions. It just makes them wonder, she writes, what this person’s hiding.

Then there’s the disembodied head: “We slump and lean in, which puts the head close to the camera — creating a disembodied head,” she said. It’s better to allow people to see more than just the head. “The brain is hardwired to use body language. Better to stand back from the camera to show waist-up or chest-up.”

This sends nonverbal cues to participants, which humans use for full communication. Also “make sure you’re standing, plus use good lighting.” And there are plenty of easy tips on that in the book. As any film crew lighting person would tell you, lighting is a major part of any production (as well as sound).

Dressing for presenting

What you wear matters. When presenting in an online meeting, Farrington advises to avoid anything you’ll be tempted to fidget with. She recommends doing an on-camera rehearsal before the meeting with whatever you plan to wear. That way you can spot any issues in the rehearsal playback. Wearing what’s appropriate is of course the first step. Her advice is a reminder that your clothes will factor into the overall impression you give. Just make sure you don’t look lumpy or disheveled, she warns. The bottom line is you are the show, not your clothes. Focus on the content. And, yes, don’t underdress.

Apart from the clothes, posture, nerves and etiquette, the most important thing is the speech itself and the information one intends to convey. Farrington advises to prepare long, medium and short versions of your talk, in case you need to make changes because of time. Preparing in that fashion also helps you to focus in on the information you really need to keep, the points you’d like to convey to the audience.

There are many other fine tips to dealing with the new age of virtual presentations and the old lectern speech, as well as the boardroom talk. Among issues covered are use of visual aids, slides or even props, voice pitch, choice of words, dealing with disagreement, handling questions — and dealing with ‘hellers’ — utterances that can destroy your presentation. Hellers are verbal hiccups like ‘kind of’ sorta, um, y’know etc. Farrington in her book says she coined the term as a combination of hedges, fillers and qualifiers. She argues they destroy credibility and engagement and she offers ways to bury them once and for all.

Younger presenters who have grown up surrounded by the tech advancements have their own quirks to work out, also. Generally, Gen Z and millennials are scrambling to learn good communication skills, Farrington says. When presenting to an audience they generally use their smartphones as a notebook. But disaster strikes. “They end up talking to their phones.”

Farrington encourages them to think about the phone as a teleprompter. Look at it, break away, and make your point. There is a mantra for this.

“Scan, switch, speak,” she says. “Scan, switch, speak.”