Prepare your presentation for a virtual meeting

Prepare and test your environment

• You need good internet connection
• Prepare a bright room, light source from front (no window or light source behind you!)
• Clean background, not too much distraction but also not a blank wall
• Camera on eye-level (if you have a laptop or camera on top of screen, lift them with books or boxes)
• Dress appropriately (business casual, depending on listeners, avoid patterns, as they have a flicker-effect on screen)

Prepare your presentation

Format: Inform yourself which kind of slide format is needed for the meeting (usually 16:9, or 4:3)

Time management: prepare your talk at least 5 min less than your allotted time

Your Power point presentation: Prepare an easy-to-follow PowerPoint Presentation:

• Less slides are better. The first slide should introduce your topic and yourself (sometimes a conflict of interest might be appropriate). The last slide contains a “Thank you” and your contact details if you like.
• Ideal:  5-7 lines per slide and 7 word per line.
• Choose a single sans serif font size 20‐point and up
• Increase the spacing between lines to enhance
• Make sure to add pictures and graphs that illustrate your key points and stories.
• Colors: the best color for backgrounds is blue, black, and white
• Use contrast: for text, white and light grey are good with dark backgrounds, and black or blue text for white backgrounds.
• Avoid red and green because they are difficult for the colorblind
• Keep graphics simple. Keeping your graphics simple will increase the likelihood that any graphics or animations applied will run smoothly.

Structure your presentation:

• Begin with a compelling opening (for example a great anecdote) and end with a strong closing that includes a summary of your talk.
• Include cases to illustrate your key points (the audience pays more attention if you tell stories)

Practice: In the virtual setting eye contact is very important! Prepare your talk a few times to remember where you can talk to the audience (your camera) without looking at the slides

Be prepared:

• be ready and waiting to start (don not come too late to your own talk)-
• close other windows such as email, to avoid unforeseen text messages in your shared screen.
• open just those windows, where you have your presentation documents ready (also if you have a separate video to share, or a second document).

Finally: Don’t just read -> Present

Helpful video-tutorials:

We would like to share with you some youtube videos with valuable information and important points to consider when preparing a virtual presentation: