The majority of web meetings today consist of a phone teleconference with a presenter scrolling through PowerPoint slides. While this usually gets the information across, it lacks the personal connection and audience engagement required for the buy-in. With small and medium businesses continually increasing their use of web conference technology, the focus needs to be on customer engagement.

Using live audio and video throughout your entire web conference will create a personal connection between you and your audience. Develop a lens presence. Presenting to a camera with no feedback is vastly different than presenting to a live audience. Look directly into the camera and speak naturally. Don’t over-script your presentation or read directly from the slides. Your confidence and familiarity with your presentation will do much more to sell your idea than mere PowerPoint slides alone.

Audience members of a webinar don’t have to worry about the embarrassment of looking bored or even dozing off during a presentation. As a presenter, you need to keep your energy level up if you expect your audience to do the same. Speak loudly and clearly and stay on topic. Keep your audience engaged. Studies show that audience retention drastically drops after 30-45 minutes unless the content is extremely interesting. Regularly take questions and conduct polls from your audience.

Webinars allow you to collaborate with customers more quickly, and over longer distances with huge cost savings on travel and travel expenses. As the technology grows however, so must your ability to appropriately use that technology for the maximum benefit for you and your audience.