Next-Level Webinars: 7 Tips for Crafting Extraordinary Video Presentations

What does it mean to be extraordinary?

The dictionary describes it as going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary.

Here are 7 tips to elevate your presentations above the usual.

Bonus? These make presentations easier to put together and more fun to deliver.

1. Lose the speaker notes. Don’t read. Don’t memorize.

Trust that you know your topic. Look into the camera and talk to your audience.

This doesn’t mean “don’t prepare” – go ahead and write out and carefully craft what you intend to say.

The process will help you clarify your thoughts and deliver a better presentation (even if you forget your carefully crafted lines or perfect word choice.)

When presentation day comes, set these aside and be present with your audience.

Pro tip: use those notes for a blog post to accompany the video or for the “description” on your youtube channel.

2. 1 point per slide. No bullets. Use pictures.

Lots of text on a slide is boring to look at.

If your audience doesn’t tune out, they’ll start reading and you’ll lose the connection with them.

Instead of showing a long list of bullet points, put a single point on each slide and choose an image to go with it.

Yes…you’ll get more slides. But every time you change the screen, you draw attention back to your presentation.

3. Tell stories.

Bill Gove’s classic advice goes double or even triple for online presentations: “Tell a story, make a point. Tell another story, make another point.”

Stories are easier to remember – for both you and your audience.

Use 2 slides.

One with an image to remind you of the story you want to tell.

The second with the point written out.  (Or have the text appear on top of the first image.)

4. Less is more.

The goal isn’t to impart everything that YOU know about a topic. It’s to share everything THEY need to know.

Use stories and examples. Approach the same topic or point from multiple angles. Go deeper. Cover less territory. Be more specific.

Often, what you’re thinking about as a single presentation can be chopped up into several.

3 is a good number. 3 stories. 3 points. 1 presentation.

If you’re going with steps or tips, 5-7 is a good range to aim at.

5. Make the content immediately relevant to your audience. Meet them where they are.

To get attention, you need to make it relevant to your audience. What’s in it for them? Why should they listen?

What symptoms will your presentation help them resolve? (A *symptom* is something that THEY are aware of – vs – a *problem” which is often a diagnosis that they are NOT aware of.)
What happy results will it help them get?

It’s really really important that you get inside their heads for this – using their language and perspective.

Too many presenters lose their audience or fail to attract attention when they present on solutions instead of problems and diagnoses instead of symptoms.

6. Don’t overwhelm them with work to do

Avoid the “laundry list” of tasks they need to complete or the long, hard road that change entails. (This might be true, but don’t turn them off before you get a chance to turn them on.)

Instead of 45 discrete tasks or steps, choose a big picture path of 3 – 5 things.

Make the points sound like a Christmas Wish List instead of an Onerous To-Do List by focusing on the end result they get vs the process to do it.

An example to illustrate the difference:

You need to make SOPS. Detailed descriptions for every task and process in your business.
(Ugh. Hard work. Who wants to do that?)

Vs

You want to have easy-to-follow instruction manuals for all your employees so that they can get trained faster and do the job right every time.
(Yes, please!)

7. Finish with a motivating call to action

Leave your audience feeling enlightened, inspired, hopeful.

What are the rewards for doing this work? Time off? Reduced stress? More money? More success? Remind them.

Inspire them to take action from your presentation: What should they do first?

Then offer to help.

Invite them to contact you for help or get a resource to get them started.