Could it be you are making mistakes in your virtual classroom you don’t even know about? How about in your virtual presentations?
Tough to answer this question isn’t it? Most people make mistakes every day in front of their virtual audience or classroom and they’re completely unaware of what they’ve done.
In this blog post, find out what the heavy hitters’ mistakes are so you can start to avoid them in the future…
Did you know more than half of virtual presenters and instructors ARE UNAWARE of the mistakes they are making in front of their audiences and classrooms?
How do I know this?
I observe virtual presenters and instructors every week and give them feedback after their presentation. One phrase I very often hear during a post-observation feedback session is: “I didn’t even know I DID that!”
What about you?
Would you be interested in knowing some avoidable mistakes you could be making in YOUR VIRTUAL CLASSROOM?
I’m going to give you the top three I hear on very nearly a daily basis. Next time you present, teach or train something, have somebody watch you to determine which of the following YOU are doing.
Even better, RECORD yourself… You will be AMAZED at just how many times you’ll want to turn it off. Even if you do want to turn it off, DON’T DO IT…keep watching so you can learn which mistakes you need to fix.
I guarantee you IF THE MISTAKES BOTHER YOU, THEY’LL BOTHER YOUR AUDIENCE.
In a moment I’m going to tell you the top 3 mistakes that can send your audience packing… real examples of things I have observed over many years of coaching dozens of virtual presenters, trainers and teachers.
Before I do that, you should know I’m all about positive reinforcement. I prefer to provide practical strategies that work and theory that encourages rather than discourages people.
I share these common “mistakes” with you in the hope you can learn from them and use them to improve your presentations.
My goal is the mistakes strike a chord with you so you can IDENTIFY YOUR PROBLEMATIC HABITS and take the first step to avoid making the mistakes, to begin with.
IDENTIFYING THESE HABITS WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER VIRTUAL PRESENTER.
Ok, here we go…
The Top 3 Mistakes that Can Send Your Audience Packing
Mistake #1: USING WORDS THAT DETRACT FROM YOUR CREDIBILITY.
See if you can pick out the problems with each statement below. Which ones are YOU guilty of?
- “There may be times when I guess, you know more about the subject than I do…”
- “In the first chapter, we’re gonna’ spend time and kinda’ go over our first phase.”
- “Sometimes I find myself tripping over things up here…I’m just a little bit clumsy.”
- “I probably should have done this before, but…”
- “Since we have SO much information we’re going to throw at you….”
- “Umm, I know this topic is a little boring, but I’ll try to keep it short.”
Mistake #2: USING VIRTUAL BODY LANGUAGE THAT SHOWS LACK OF CONFIDENCE
Have you ever done any of the things below?
- Clicking where you didn’t plan to
- Holding mouse when not moving it
- Circling with the mouse to show things
- Moving mouse up and down to make a point
- Paging Down or “click, click, clicking” down
- Highlighting too much information with mouse
- Moving the mouse without talking
Mistake #3: USING A TONE THAT CAUSES YOUR AUDIENCE TO CHECK OUT
How about these?
- Inflections go up at the end of each statement
- Voice quality is higher than normal
- Voice quality is too bubbly and/or too fast
- Speaking pace is too slow for the audience
- Monotone inflections throughout the sentence (Think Ferris Bueller’s teacher)
- High volume that remains high throughout the presentation
- Difficult to hear
- Speaking pace is too fast to keep up with
If you’re reading this and you’re thinking, “I think I do a few of these during my virtual training and virtual presentations…how do I stop? What should I do instead?” You should go immediately to my Train the Trainer WEBINARS THAT WOW program.
In this video, I will model for you exactly how to open well, be careful with language, use your “virtual body language” effectively, use effective tone, close well, and a whole lot more.
