Keeping it Real

“It’s just not the same,” people frequently tell me about virtual meetings and presentations. It isn’t, I’m forced to admit, sometimes it’s better.

A conference I attended last month was a largely dry affair, littered with power point presentations and speeches recited by rote – barely a spontaneous titter raised from the assembled throng. That was until a thunderbolt from Stateside arrived virtually, raising the tone, reeling off feats of technological wonder and leaving the aforementioned throng stunned into respectful silence. Furthermore, she didn’t stop talking for upwards of 45 minutes, her face and little else looming large over the entire proceedings. It would hardly be the copybook ideal of a spellbinding presentation but that’s what it was: a perfect synergy of breath-taking delivery and rich content. Visuals be damned.

“Any seasoned speaker will tell you that it’s all about that vibe, the audience reaction and generating atmosphere”

That may be the exception to the rule. But there are notable exceptions and are worthy enough that the Blue Light Speakers Agency | For Inspirational Public Sector Speakers proffers speakers for virtual events. This may seem at odds with one of my favourite mantras – only connect – a fundamental element for effective presentations. It is like a vibration, a golden thread that holds audience and speaker together in a mutual embrace, bound by a unifying desire to learn, experience and be inspired.

If that sounds a little grandiose, pompous even, it is because it is. 

I tell you what isn’t: staring at a big face on a little screen, far removed from the ‘vibe’ in the room, divorced from anticipation as you scrunch your toes in your slippers and sip on steaming hot coffee, burning your tongue and cursing and suddenly tensing, checking if you’re still on mute… any atmosphere prone to be disrupted by a wondering cat tip-toing over the keyboard (quick check: camera’s off as well, phew!), small children wondering into the workplace, email distractions popping on screen and an overwhelming urge to scroll whilst keeping half an ear on proceedings… all of which lend themselves to the conclusion that virtual presenters will always struggle to maintain the audience’s attention over face-to-face sessions.

This much is true. But they are not without merit. High-level speakers from across the globe can step in at a moment’s notice – unruly hair aside, as they zoom in at 4am their time – still able to wax lyrical and provide the required level of brevity and insight the audience demands, if sounding a tad croaky to being with. Connectivity is still possible – WiFi permitting – however remote, as I’m sure we’ve all witnessed on many occasions.

Struggling to introduce a keynote speaker at an online conference, the chair, who was clearly not presented with one of the speaker’s biographies in advance, confessed that they had looked up the individual on Wikipedia. Listeners were enlightened to hear that the speaker had died in a car accident in Australia in 1987! The deliberate confusion did lighten the mood – at least by the look of the half dozen profiles that could be seen laughing, mine included. Naturally, a few others could be seen with quizzical expressions but no doubt the conference chair put that down to coffee and cat related distractions and continued on his merry way describing the career of a fictitious long-dead alternative character who just happened to share the name as the keynote speaker.

“When the connection is made and the flow is right between speaker and audience, there is a thrill, a sensation that assimilates a mood that is beyond individual participation”

Reflecting on the humorous interlude, the chair no doubt realised that he would at worst be mystifying a percentage of his audience whilst engaging with a healthy majority and thus gaining something of an advantage. Without the means to calibrate audience response beyond checking the demeanour of a limited number of attendees, the chair would be limited in terms of using his sensory acuity to gauge rapport building or where to go next. Therein lies the limitations of virtual conferences. Undoubtedly, a tougher task for speakers but a much easier gig for the stay-at-home attendees!

Ultimately, virtual presentations are all about projection, less aligned with audience participation and more attuned to transmitting. Any seasoned speaker will tell you that it’s all about that vibe, the audience reaction and generating atmosphere. It all comes down to connectivity, in that very human sense. When the connection is made and the flow is right between speaker and audience, there is a thrill, a sensation that assimilates a mood that is beyond individual participation. For want of a better word, it is uplifting. That can never be equalled.

In all, virtual presentations have their place, which is why we at the Blue Light Speakers Agency | For Inspirational Public Sector Speakers encourage conference organisers to consider the high value input of our speakers. 

I have always viewed them in simple terms: they’ll do until the real thing turns up.