Three Great Tips for Presenting to Hybrid Audiences
By Christina McKenna
As professionals around the world get ready to return to the office, we should all be bracing for a few adjustments.
In addition to swapping out pajamas for work clothes, resurrecting the names of colleagues we haven’t seen in more than a year, and learning to manage a slew of new safety protocols, here’s another tweak we’ll have to make: Learning to present to hybrid audiences, or those containing a mix of people joining in-person, virtually, or simply on a phone line.
Anyone who has already presented amid this phenomenon knows how awkward and challenging it can be. Tactics that engage the in-person audience, seem to exclude the at-home group, while catering to those joining virtually seems to bore those in the room. And neither approach ensures those joining on the phone will stay engaged and follow along.
While successfully presenting to hybrid audiences takes a little extra work, it’s not impossible. Here are three tips to help you get it right:
Crystalize your presentation into one sentence and state it aloud, twice. At Bluestone, we call this the “big idea.” It’s the one concept you want ringing in your audience’s ears throughout and long after your presentation. For maximum impact, state your “big idea” aloud at the end of your introduction and again just before you close. This one step will instantly make it easier for all audience members to understand and buy into your “big idea.”
Keep it simpler. Successful presenters already know to keep their presentations simple. But those presenting to hybrid audiences need to go a step further. Work to minimize the gap in your various audience groups’ ability to follow along by removing all that isn’t essential. If some audience members will be joining with audio only, minimize visuals. When you do use visuals, use large fonts and simple graphics that work for those viewing from in the room and on the computer.
Consider playing to one audience over the others. Toggling back and forth between the needs of your in-person audience, those joining virtually and those on the phone can be exhausting for the speaker—and the audience, which will quickly tire of listening to the speaker re-explain the same idea to each group.
A better approach is to silently assign one group as prime and play to that audience. The other groups will adjust their listening experience accordingly, the way we all do when we listen to the audio portion of a televised sporting event or when we enjoy a live concert on TV in our living room. (We accept that we’re not the primary audience and appreciate the performance anyway.) If you’re not sure which audience group to play to, opt for the one that includes your most important audience member (your customer, your boss, etc.)
Finally, know that while successfully presenting to a hybrid audience may take a little more effort, it’s worth it. Now more than ever, workplace communication is critical to the success of our organizations, the causes we’re advancing and our own careers. If you’re lucky enough to be in front of people you care about –in any format—be sure to give your ideas and your audience your best shot.
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