Purge Yesterday’s Storytelling Habits for Virtual Audiences

By now, most of us are attending far more virtual meetings and presentations than we ever dreamed possible.

With our days open 24/7 across global time zones, the assumption is that we all are “on call.” However, what isn’t “on call” are our levels of attention, energy and engagement. Because the more virtual we become, the more our storytelling habits need to be recalibrated to provide a wall-to-wall experience for attendees.

Purge yesterday’s storytelling habits for today’s virtual audiences. Incorporate these insights into your own presentations, moving forward. Because we will be virtual for quite some time.

1. When presenting virtually, less is more. There’s a limit to how much information people can consume within the scope of a presentation. Incorporating storytelling into virtual presentations gives attendees the opportunity to exercise different parts of their brain than just doling out facts, data and conclusions incorporates. And using different parts of the brain is less stressful, and more creative and engaging.
2. Virtual audiences need more time to breathe. And take bio and beverage and snack breaks. Give attendees time to process what you are saying and ask questions. That is how people learn. How are you getting creative and non-traditional during these times? How might your creativity become part of your permanent use of stories in presentations, moving forward?
3. Be human, instead of a robotic talking head. Otherwise, an AI interface can deliver presentations at audiences. Do you still rely on a presentation style which amounts to no more than reading slides at attendees? No dialogue, just a wall of words coming out of the computer screen at attendees. Dispassionate presentations are not engaging presentations.
4. Always respect your attendees’ time and attention. Because their personal and professional time are now the same thing. And time now is worth more, not less, than it was yesterday. Select stories to tell during your presentations which reinforce that each attendee is a gift, not a commodity, to the collective virtual experience you create together.

How have your own virtual presentation habits changed during the last 5 weeks, as we lock down and engage virtually? Are you reluctant to incorporate story into your presentations, because storytelling is not part of your professional skills? Or, because you relegate storytelling to “those people” on the other side of the table, people you may be unconsciously biased towards?

Let’s move your professional comfort level one millimeter forward. Turn yesterday’s presentation skills and style into relevant, valuable and memorable ones. Today, tomorrow and moving forward. Contact me here to arrange an affordable, two-hour coaching session to upskill and retool the extraordinary stories you can incorporate into presentations.

My One Millimeter Mindset® Storytelling programs leverage storytelling to translate across communication disconnects between people and professional disciplines in today’s challenging times. Create greater strategic business and human capital value for your employers and clients. My playbook of communication tools and methods, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. To get started, contact me right here here.

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