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11 Essential Tips for Presenting on Zoom
Jan 24, 2022 - dom barnard.
A boss unwittingly disguised as a potato during Zoom meetings, cries of "you're on mute!" and guest appearances by kids and pets, are among the hilarious anecdotes attached to this hugely popular app.
However, it becomes serious when you need to make a good impression in a virtual meeting, job interview or presentation.
Zoom became a massively popular communications tool for business, education and social meetings during the Pandemic. In 2020, there were 485 million Zoom downloads , which is 30 times more than the year before!
Of course, some of the top Zoom presentations tips apply equally well to in-person or online delivery. Such as establishing your end goals, preparing a flowing framework and strong content, then practising your speech more than once. However, there are particular advantages and disadvantages to Zoom, to get the right results for presenting online.
These Zoom presentation tips will help grow your competence, confidence and success.
1. Put some trousers on!
One of the great things about Zoom presentations is there is a degree of informality and comfort.
You can dress just your top half smartly, have a hot beverage just off-screen, and do your best public speaking in familiar surroundings.
One of the worst things about Zoom presentations is …there is a degree of informality and comfort!
You can find yourself easily distracted, lacking in focus and slower in your responses.
The best way to present well on Zoom – when the stakes are high - is to create a wholly business-like environment and attitude. Use a space in your home or field location that's as bland and clinical as possible, with no potential noise disturbance. Dress smartly from head to toe to create the best mindset.
Site your technology in front of you and imagine it's a lectern and a set of multi-media tools in a meeting room or lecture theatre.
2. Use the superpower of data
While you're using technology to communicate or collaborate, it's common sense to optimise ways to enhance your presentations.
As part of your extensive preparation for important Zoom meetings, consider what documents, images and graphics to share, to add credibility and professionalism to your pitch. Or, simply to hold the attention of a Zoom audience from start to finish.
Familiarise yourself with the Share Screen option on Zoom, and the best ways of displaying videos during a Zoom call, including advanced share methods for online presentations.
There are good Zoom share screen tips here, including how to add a video to presentations on Zoom.
Zoom presentations with visual content are 43% more persuasive . Also, 90% of the information we process comes from visual input. So your Zoom presentation materials could be what gets you that job, funding or agreement.
3. Non-verbal communications tips for Zoom
Don't assume that online presentations release you from many of the body language pitfalls and best practices. The opposite is true, as you need to focus on non-verbal cues even more.
If you deliver your Zoom presentation in a rigid, static and clinical way, you are missing out on some of the best ways to be successful in communications.
People respond to people. Effective communication requires warmth, authenticity and establishing a strong personal connection with your audience. Being robotic when presenting online won't help you to succeed.
If this is an intense online meeting, then showing empathy can also increase the engagement and openness you achieve.
How do you communicate non-verbally on Zoom?
Without going over the top, be purposeful and slightly exaggerated in your body language. Sit straight and lean subtly towards the screen. Never away from it and certainly no slumping, crossed arms or chin/elbow leaning!
Smile, nod and keep strong eye contact, including showing your attention passing from person to person across a split-screen. Use hand gestures and show subtle movement in your upper body to add emphasis to key points.
4. Verbal communications skills
Zoom presentations also make it too easy to slip into a monotone voice or race through a presentation. You may even find the process of talking to technology – not live people – causes you to ramble, or get lost in your ad-libs or Q&A responses.
Make sure you articulate clearly, add emphasis when needed, and generally modify your tone regularly but logically.
Don't be afraid to leave small pauses to drive a point home, or to take a deep breath while you construct your next point. If you look directly at the screen and hold eye contact, this 'white space' is perfectly acceptable.
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5. Is everyone listening?
One of the most important presentation skills, in general, is reading the room. Is your potential boss or buyer looking bored? Are the panel of decision-makers getting confused? In contentious presentations, being able to spot your biggest dissenter from their non-verbal communication can help you shift your focus to winning them over.
It's challenging to gain that sort of body language intel from online meetings. So, the best Zoom presentations compensate for that.
It can be as simple as adding more direct questions to your content and literally pausing regularly to ask your audience about queries or concerns. Make your questions open-ended, not a yes or no response.
"Let's take a minute. What else do you need to know about that part of my presentation?"
Also, keep Zoom presentations succinct, flowing and animated. Your audience will drift away subconsciously if your delivery is pedestrian or you talk for too long without involving them.
Remember, attention spans are even shorter on technology!
6. Opening Zoom presentations with pizazz
No, this doesn't refer to grabbing your audience's attention with a juggling trick or wearing your most colourful or glamourous finery.
How you start a Zoom presentation sets the tone. If you instantly engage their interest with a compelling opening, the attention and engagement last.
This should primarily be 100% clarity on the purpose of your presentation and the desired outcome. As well as establishing your credibility and methods to achieve the end goal.
Vague introductions and slowly revealing your key points drains your time and your audience's attention.
What makes a good opening for Zoom presentations?
7. Icebreakers
You can't shake their hand, but you can issue a quick, warm greeting and a short, relevant fact about yourself that helps them to warm to you.
8. Storytelling techniques
These work for a myriad of business communication tasks. Give a short (that word again) anecdote or illustration, to give context to your Zoom presentation. That could be about you, your product or the outcome you are requesting, for example.
9. Meaningful quotes in presentations
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." - George Bernard Shaw.
Good quotes can work!
10. High impact fact
Another great opening for Zoom presentations is a little known fact or 'behind the scenes' secret that grabs attention. Did you know, one-third of adults still sleep with a 'comforter' like a soft toy or blanket? (Not relevant to many presentations but it's a memorable statistic that caught OUR attention.)
Wake your audience up with something they want to remember – and share with others – and they will be alert and ready to listen.
11. End Zoom presentations correctly
One last piece of advice on Zoom presentations. Don't get so relieved when you get to the end, that you forget your call to action.
All communication should include an invitation of some kind, in clear language. What would you like your audience to do, now your Zoom time is over? Tell them that and thank them for your attention, with one last warm smile.
How to Give a Presentation on Zoom? [A Step-by-Step Guide!]
By: Author Shrot Katewa
![How to Give a Presentation on Zoom? [A Step-by-Step Guide!]](https://artofpresentations.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Featured-Image-How-to-Give-a-Presentation-on-Zoom.jpg "how to make a good zoom presentation")
If you’ve never used Zoom, giving a presentation on it might seem a bit challenging. But, that’s a challenge we will have to learn to overcome as the world moves digital more and more day by day. The key question really is how to give a presentation on Zoom!
To give a presentation on Zoom, first, start by joining a meeting. Now open the presentation file on your computer and share the slides on Zoom using its “Share Screen” feature. You should test your camera, mic, speaker, and internet connection before you start with your presentation.
As easy as it may seem, some of you may need further detailed instructions. So, in this article, I will provide a step-by-step guide on things that you need to do in order to deliver a presentation on Zoom successfully! Plus, I will also share some tips that can help you ace your presentation on Zoom!
So, without any further delay, let’s get started!
Understanding the Zoom Application Interface
Before we understand the steps to give a presentation using Zoom, it is perhaps a good idea to acquaint yourself with the Zoom user interface first. If you are well-versed with it, then perhaps you may want to skip this section and click here instead.
Logging into Zoom
Although you can login to your account using zoom website too, but it is best to download and use the zoom app .
Once you have download the app, you will be prompted to login to your account. If you don’t have an existing account, you can either sign up or even login using your social account such as Google or Facebook. It’s actually quite simple.
If you feel that you don’t want to sign up or even use the social accounts for your meeting, you can choose to use “Sign In with SSO” option. SSO stands for single sign on and this allows you to sign in even when you don’t have an account with Zoom just once.
Zoom Home Screen
Once you’ve logged in, you will be taken to the home screen on Zoom.
There are a bunch of different things that you ca do with the home screen on Zoom. If you have been invited for a meeting, you will need to click on “ Join “. However, you will also need the meeting ID and the password for the meeting. If you don’t have the details, you will perhaps need to contact the person hosting the meeting.
You can also host the meeting yourself by using the “ New Meeting ” button. You can set a new meeting and invite others to join using this option.
Likewise, you can also schedule a meeting in the future using the “ Schedule ” option.
Furthermore, for changing the account related information, just click on your profile picture in the top-right corner of your window.
Lastly, there are several other detailed settings that you can tweak for your Zoom application. Almost all the other settings can be found in the “ Settings ” section by clicking on the “ Gear Icon “.
Zoom Virtual Meeting Window Interface
Once you are a participant in a virtual meeting, either by joining an existing meeting or by starting a new meeting, you will be greeted with an image similar to the one mentioned above.
On this screen, you will be presented with several different options. Some of the key functions that you will need to be aware of are as follows –
- Mute – Turning on the Mute or Unmute
- Video – Toggling between your Video
- Participants – Checking the names of the Participants
- Share Screen – to deliver a presentation (more on this later)
- Record – To record a meeting session
- End – Knowing how to end a meeting and exiting a call.
All the above functions will be visible on a small bar at the bottom of the window. If you are not able to see this option bar at the bottom, just hover over at the bottom part of your screen and all the options will appear .
Although there are other features that are also available for a zoom user or a participant, however, the aforementioned features should be good enough to deliver a presentation. These 6 features are at the very least something that you should be aware of.
How to Give a Presentation on Zoom (Step-by-Step)
Zoom has become a common tool for giving virtual presentations today. It is a widely used tool at conferences, meetings, and other events! If you are giving a presentation on Zoom for the first time, then perhaps you should be aware of a few things –
Here is a quick step-by-step guide on how you can give a presentation on Zoom:
Step 1: Install Zoom
Download and install the Zoom application to your desktop. To download the application, visit https://zoom.us/download and download the Zoom Client to your computer.
Step 2: Login to your Zoom Account
After installing the application, open it and log into your Zoom account. If you don’t have one, you can sign up for free using your email account.
Zoom also has options to sign in using SSO (Single Sign-On) or with your Facebook or Google account.
Step 3: Test Audio and Video Settings
Before you start or join a meeting, you will need to configure and test your audio and video settings.
To do that click on the gear icon on the Zoom application’s home screen. This will open the settings menu.
Now click on the “Audio” tab and select the microphone you are going to use. Try our different audio settings. After the microphone, select the speaker for audio output. If you can’t hear anything, try out another speaker source.
After configuring audio, click on the “Video” tab. From there, select the camera that is connected to your desktop. Tweak different video settings and find out what works best for you.
Step 4: Join or Schedule a Meeting
Now start a meeting by clicking on “New meeting”. You can also schedule a meeting on Zoom. To do that, click on “Schedule” and set up when you want to start the meeting. After completing the set-up, Zoom will give you a URL. Share it with the team members to join the meeting.
Or you can join a meeting by clicking “Join” on the Zoom client’s home screen. You can use a meeting ID or URL to join a meeting in Zoom.
Step 5: Open the Presentation
Once you have everything setup, you then need to prepare to show your presentation with your audience. To do that, open the presentation slides on your computer.
Step 6: Share Your Presentation
The last step in giving your presentation is to make sure that you share your presentation with your audience. To do that, click on “Share Screen” from the Zoom clients meeting window , select the screen where your presentation slides are open, and click “Share”. Now start presenting your slides to the audience.
Step 7: Stop Sharing to end the Presentation
One thing to know is how to end the presentation. To stop screen sharing, simply click on “Stop Share” located at the top of the screen . This option will only appear when you start sharing your screen.
How to Share a PowerPoint with Presenter View on Zoom?
To share your PowerPoint presentation slides with presenter view on Zoom, follow the steps given below:
Step 1: Open the Zoom App and Login
The first step really is to open the zoom app and login to your account.
Step 2: Join or Setup a Virtual Meeting on Zoom
Next, join the meeting. Remember, you need the meeting ID and password to join a meeting. Make sure you have requested for the details beforehand.
Step 3: Open Your PowerPoint Presentation
First step is really to open your presentation file that you want to present on the PowerPoint application.
Step 4: Put the Presentation in Presenter View
Now select the “Slide Show” tab from the top of the screen and click on either “From Beginning” or “From Current Slide” depending on your preference. This will open the slides in the “Presenter” view.
Step 5: Switch to the Zoom Application
Now, go to the Zoom application, start or join a meeting. While you are in the “Presenter” view on PowerPoint, press “ Alt+Tab ” to switch between applications in Microsoft Windows-powered computers. For iMac, use “Command+Tab” to move through open apps.
Step 6: Share Screen on Zoom’s Meeting Window
Once you are in Zoom’s meeting window, click on “Share Screen”, select the window where your PowerPoint slides are open in the presenter’s view, and click “Share”.
And that’s all you have to do in order to share PowerPoint with the presenter’s view in your Zoom meetings.
How to Share PowerPoint on Zoom Without Showing Notes?
There are two methods that you can use to share PowerPoint slides on Zoom without sharing your presenter notes. For the first method, you will need to have two monitors connected to your computer.
As for the second one, you can still share your PowerPoint slides on Zoom without sharing your notes (and you won’t need two monitors either). I’ve briefly explained both methods below.
Method 1 – Dual Monitor Method
In this method, you will be presenting your PowerPoint file on one monitor while looking at your presenter’s notes on the other one. Here’s how you can do that:
Step 1: First of all, open your slides on PowerPoint.
Step 2: Now join or start a Zoom meeting.
Step 3: Now click on “Share Screen” and select “Screen 1”. Then click “Share”. Here, “Screen 1” is your primary monitor.
Note: If you are not sure which one is your primary monitor, select where the PowerPoint file opened in.
Step 4: Now go to the PowerPoint application, click on the “Slide Show” tab, and from there click on “Monitor” and select “Primary Monitor”.
Step 5: Open the presentation file in the presenter’s view by clicking on the “Slide Show” tab and selecting “From Beginning” or “From Current Slide”.
If you have done everything correctly, participants will only be able to see the presentation slides while you have your presenter’s notes open on the second monitor.
In case you shared the wrong monitor on Zoom, click on “Screen Share” on Zoom’s meeting window, select “Screen 2” and click on share. This should fix your problem.
When you are sharing a screen on Zoom, you will notice a green border around that screen. This indicates which monitor you are currently sharing.
Method 2 – Sharing Portion of Your Screen
Follow the steps below if you have only a single monitor connected to your computer.
Step 1: Join or start a meeting on Zoom.
Step 2: Click on “Share Screen” and from the pop-up window select “Advanced”. From there select “Portion of Screen” and click on “Share”. This will give you a green border on your screen that you can adjust. Only the things that are inside this border will be shared on Zoom.
Step 3: Now open the presentation file in PowerPoint, and go to the presenter’s view by selecting “Slide Show> From Current Slide or From Beginning”.
Step 4: Adjust the size of the green border so that it only shows the presentation slides in the presenter’s view.
And that’s all you have to do. By doing so, your audience will only see the slides that you are presenting, but not your notes.
How to Show Yourself During a Zoom Presentation?
Ensuring that you are visible from time to time during a presentation can make it slightly more engaging and much more interactive. Here is how you can do that-
Step 1: First, start or join a Zoom meeting.
Step 2: Click on “ Share Screen ” and select the “ Advanced ” option. From there, select “ PowerPoint as Virtual Background ” and select the file you want for your presentation. Then click on “ Share ”.
Step 3: Make sure your video is switched on so that you are also visible to your audience. You can do that by clicking on “ Start Video ” on the Zoom Virtual Meeting Interface.
It will take some time for your slides to appear on the Zoom client. When it is done, participants will be able to see your face in front of the slides in Zoom. Make sure that your camera is connected to your computer and configured correctly.
This feature works best if you have a green screen behind you . If you have one, go to Zoom’s settings menu, select the “Background and Filter” tab and check “I have a green screen”. If you want to stop showing yourself during a zoom presentation, click on “Stop Video” on the meeting window and that will do the job.
Furthermore, you may sometimes want to show just yourself to the audience and not show the presentation at all. For that, all you need to do is simply click on “Start Video” in the Zoom Virtual Meeting Interface.
How to Record a Presentation on Zoom?
If you want to record your presentation on Zoom, you can do it easily. After joining or starting a meeting on Zoom, click on the “Record” icon located at the bottom of the meeting window. Once the recording starts, you can pause the recording or stop it whenever you like.
After the end of the meeting, the recorded video will be automatically converted into “.mp4” format and stored on your computer.
Tips for Giving an Awesome Presentation on Zoom
Giving a presentation in front of an audience is always a challenging task. Especially if it is online, many things can go wrong during your presentation. This is why I’m sharing some tips that can help you deliver an awesome presentation on Zoom. These are as follows –
1. Make a Professional Looking Presentation
There are several ways to make your presentation look really professional and high quality. One obvious method is to outsource your presentation to a specialised design agency! But, that can become really expensive depending on your budget.
Another (non-obvious) option is to use a PowerPoint Presentation Template! There are several high-quality and professional templates that you can get quite easily! In fact, using these Presentation Designs is quite inexpensive! You can download as many presentation templates as you want for as little as $16.5/month!
My favorite one is Agio PowerPoint Presentation template. It is perfectly suited to give a professional look to your presentation and yet it is quite quick and easy to use. Check out some of the images below –
Agio PowerPoint Presentation Template
Furthermore, make the presentation as simple and straightforward as possible. Do not confuse your audience with a network of colorful texts, graphs, or other contents.
Only use data and graphs that are relevant to your presentation. Also, the clever use of transition animations can make the slide appear much more engaging.
2. Check Your Equipment Beforehand
Whenever you are giving your presentation online, many things can go wrong. For example, your camera or mic may not function properly. Such interruptions will only make you a laughing stock in front of the participants.
Check your mic, camera, and speakers to find out whether they are working properly or not. Also, check your internet connection and your laptop’s battery level. If everything is ok, then you are good to go on with your presentation.
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- 7 EASY Tips to Always Make your Presentations Attractive! (Even if You are a Beginner)
- How to Reduce the Size of Your PowerPoint File? The Perfect Method!
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Credit to Cookie_Studio for the featured image of this article
Zoom tips: 5 ways to make online presentations pop
Do you have an important report or pitch to present? A big job interview on the horizon? Now that we’re living in a world of virtual meetings, you’ll want to present online in a way that exudes confidence and pizazz. Since you can’t own the room, own the Zoom.
Speaking confidently online requires preparation: Your content should be polished, but your delivery should be relaxed. The key to this paradox? Find a way to be as you are, while at your best.
Zoom tips: 5 ways to make presentations personable
Follow these five guidelines to liven up your online presentations:
1. Unchain from your chair
The first rule of good presentations or pitches on Zoom is to stand up. Standing instantly gives you more confidence because it allows you to breathe easily and to use relaxed gestures. It also brings a massive boost to your energy and your voice power.
Using your hands when you speak has been shown to increase vocal variety. It’s a game-changer. Not convinced? Try it: Get a laptop stand and practice your presentation from a range of places around your home. Take Maya Angelou’s advice: “Stand up, know who you are…tower over your circumstances,” however daunting those circumstances may seem.
[ Want more advice on how to communicate effectively? Read also: Zoom tips: 6 ways to make meetings better . ]
2. Master your message
The second rule: Avoid death by PowerPoint. Most Zoom presentations put audiences to sleep because presenters simply read from their deck in a flat voice. Don’t be that person. The slides are there when you need a visual to bring the content alive; they shouldn’t take the place of a script.
It’s important to create a plan. Condense your presentation to five elements: an introduction, three points, and a wrap-up. Map it out on paper, then speak it aloud. Feel how it flows. Record it on voice notes on your phone, then listen to pinpoint where you can smooth out any stumbles or up your energy.
Reduce your message down to key words, with one memorable signpost for each section. Then write those key words down and see if you can deliver your presentation using just your signposts as prompts. Add slides only to give visual flair to your information. You take center screen – not your deck. When you command your performance, you send your audience a powerful message: You are an expert.
3. Practice makes perfec t
Once you’ve got your message nailed down, think about how to get your voice and body working in perfect harmony. Think of yourself as a cohesive unit with no rough edges or gritty hindrances to ruin the effect.
Few of us take the time to practice our presentations. Admittedly, it might feel awkward to practice on Zoom, but it can make all the difference in the impact of your presentation. After all, no performer goes on stage without having rehearsed, and no athlete walks onto a field without training.
Zoom is a perfect tool to help you practice because you can book a “meeting” with yourself, record it, and play it back. Once you’ve watched yourself, you’ll know exactly what you need to do.
4. Open up before you go onscreen
When you’re under stress, you see a very narrow field of vision. Screens make this even worse. To release tension before a teleconference, it’s a good practice to open yourself physically – think of throwing the windows open on a fresh new day. Here’s how to do it:
Stand tall and stretch your arms out wide. Take up space. Open your peripheral vision and observe all around you. Open up your voice by imagining that you’re sending it to the back wall, or even outside to the street. Think of a song you love and sing it, letting your voice fill the room. Feel your voice and energy open up.
MORE ON REMOTE WORK
- Remote teams: 5 ways to build culture
- Remote working: 14 tips to improve emails at a critical time
5. Find your extra energy
Extra energy is exactly what gives you charisma on Zoom meetings. For an infusion of energy for your presentation, use what actors call “emotion memory:” Draw on a memory of something you love. It might be a place where you feel relaxed, an event that made you smile, or even a compliment or words of encouragement that boosted your confidence.
If you feel your face freezing into a fixed expression, imagine smiling at a friend. This helps release tension and encourages your audience to relax, too.
These five tips can add a much-needed boost to your next presentation.
[ Is your team tired of Zoom? Mix it up. Read also: 10 ways to fight Zoom fatigue . ]
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Use zoom for PowerPoint to bring your presentation to life
If you would like to make your presentations more dynamic and exciting, try using zoom for PowerPoint .
To add a zoom, go to Insert > Zoom .
To summarize the entire presentation on one slide, choose Summary Zoom
To show selected slides only, choose Slide Zoom
To show a single section only, choose Section Zoom
When you create a zoom in PowerPoint, you can jump to and from specific slides, sections, and portions of your presentation in an order you decide while you're presenting.
Note: See the Requirements table below regarding which versions of PowerPoint support the features described in this article.
Summary zoom
A summary zoom is like a landing page where you can see the pieces of your presentation all at once. When you're presenting, you can use the zoom to go from one place in your presentation to another in any order you like. You can get creative, skip ahead, or revisit pieces of your slide show without interrupting the flow of your presentation.
Create a summary zoom
Go to Insert > Zoom .
Select Summary Zoom .
The Insert Summary Zoom dialog box opens.
Select slides you want to include in your summary zoom. These become the first slides of your summary zoom sections . To learn more about using sections in PowerPoint, see Organize your PowerPoint slides into sections .
If you already have sections in your presentation, the first slide of each section is preselected by default. If you don't want to include certain sections in your zoom, deselect them. Then, if you want PowerPoint to get rid of any sections you didn't include in your summary zoom, clear the check box next to Keep unused sections in your presentation . Don't worry—the slides in the sections you're discarding will still be part of your presentation.
Once you've selected all the slides you want to use for your summary zoom, select Insert . Your summary zoom is created, and it appears as a new slide just before the first slide you included in your summary zoom.
Add or remove sections from your summary zoom
Once you've created a summary zoom, you might still want to add or remove sections of your presentation. If you've made changes since first making your summary zoom that you want to capture, you don't have to start from scratch—just update your summary zoom.
Select your zoom, and then select the Format tab on the ribbon.
Select Edit Summary , choose the sections you want to have in your summary zoom, and then select Update .
Note: You won't be able to add or remove sections from your presentation in this view, just from your summary zoom.
A slide zoom can help you make your presentation more dynamic, allowing you to navigate freely between slides in any order you choose without interrupting the flow of your presentation. They're a good option for shorter presentations without lots of sections, but you can use slide zooms for lots of different presentation scenarios.
Slide zooms help you drill down into multiple pieces of information while feeling as though you're staying on the same canvas.
Create a slide zoom
Select Slide Zoom .
The Slide Zoom dialog box opens. Select the slides you want to use in your slide zoom.
Once you've selected all the slides you want to use, select Insert . Your slide zoom is created.
Tip: If you want to, you can create a slide zoom quickly by simply selecting the slide you want from the thumbnail pane and dragging it onto the slide you'd like to have your slide zoom on. This way, you can create slide zooms and change them quickly, and arrange them however you like simply by clicking and dragging.
Change the preview image of your slide zoom
Your slide zoom by default will be a preview thumbnail image of the slide, but you can choose a new image from your PC or the web to represent the section or slide you'll be going to.
Select Change Image to choose a new picture from the web or your PC to use instead of the thumbnail.
Choose or search the web for the image you want. When you've selected the image you want, select Insert .
You can also choose various looks for your zooms from Zoom Styles —you can change the border, add visual effects, or pick from any of the border and effect combinations in the gallery.
Section zoom
A section zoom is a link to a section already in your presentation. You can use them to go back to sections you want to really emphasize, or to highlight how certain pieces of your presentation connect. To learn more about using sections in PowerPoint, see Organize your PowerPoint slides into sections .
Create a section zoom
Select Section Zoom .
Select the section you want to use as a section zoom.
Select Insert . Your section zoom will be created.
Tip: If you want to, you can create a section zoom quickly by simply selecting the section name you want in the thumbnail pane and dragging it onto the slide you'd like to have a section zoom on.
Change the preview image of your section zoom
Your section zoom by default will be a preview thumbnail image of the slide, but you can choose a new image from your PC or the web to represent the section or slide you'll be going to.
More zoom options
Zoom for PowerPoint truly lights up when you make it your own. Select the Format tab of the ribbon to get to the Zoom Tools , which you can choose to create just the look and feel you're going for when you present.
Choose to return to the home page or continue through your presentation
If you want to return to the zoom slide after viewing sections or slides in your summary, slide, or section zoom, make sure the Return to Zoom check box is selected. If you want to move on to the next slide after viewing part of your zoom, uncheck it.
(If you're working with a summary zoom or a section zoom, you'll return to the zoom slide by default when you're presenting after going to the section. If you're using a slide zoom, you'll move on to the next slide by default after viewing your slide zoom.)
Make the background of your zoom transparent
Another way you can change the look of your zoom is by choosing to adopt the background of the slide where your zoom lives to make the zoom almost indistinguishable from the main canvas while you present. Select Zoom Background to make your summary, section, or slide zooms blend in to their home slide.
In the Zoom Styles group, select Zoom Background . The zoom will adopt the background of the home slide.
Change the transition options of your zoom
By default, your zooms will use the zoom transition when you present, which is what helps make the zooms feel so lively. However, if you don't want to use the zoom transition, or if you want to change the duration of the transition, you can do so.
In the Zoom Options group, make sure the box next to Zoom Transition is checked if you want to use the zoom transition when presenting your zoom.
If you don't want to use the zoom transition when presenting, uncheck the box next to Zoom Transition .
To change the timing of the zoom transition, use the up and down arrows next to the Duration indicator to change how long the zoom transition lasts.
Requirements
See the following table for details on the minimum version numbers required in PowerPoint to create or play zoom links.
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How to make a great presentation
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How to Give a Good Presentation: 11 Top Tips for Killer Presentations
Written by: Orana Velarde
Giving a good presentation takes practice. Not everyone is born a natural public speaker, which is why we’re here today.
In this article, we’ll give you some of the best tips for killer presentations. These are techniques used by all the best public speakers, and yes – even they had to practice to get this good.
If you need to give a presentation for work, be it a pitch about a new project or product idea, a quarterly marketing report, a product launch or as an industry expert in a summit, we’ve got you covered.
How to Give a Good Presentation [Presentation]
To learn more about our top 11 tips for giving a killer presentation, keep reading throughout this article. But for those of you who are skimmers, feel free to browse through this presentation rounding up our top tips.
How to Give a Good Presentation
Here’s a quick look at the 11 tips on how to give a good presentation. Plus, you’ll find a bonus resource you won’t want to miss, The Visme Presentation Guru Course.
- Rehearse What You’re Planning to Say
- Prepare Mentally, Emotionally and Technically
- Start Strong
- Follow the Outline You Practiced With
- Finish With Confidence
- Use a Storytelling Technique on Your Slides
- Keep Your Slides Short
- Use Templates
- Learn From Your Mistakes
- Keep Yourself Inspired for the Future
Let’s dive in.
1 Rehearse What You’re Planning To Say
Before you even give a good presentation, you need to prepare.
This part has two steps – to rehearse what you’re going to say and to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally. These two tips go hand in hand, but we’ll explain what each one is about individually.
Notice that we didn’t say “memorize your presentation.” There’s a big difference between memorizing a speech and practicing telling a story. The difference is that a memorized speech can end up sounding robot-like and practiced storytelling sounds effortless.
You’ll be better off if you have at least a rough outline of your slides before you start rehearsing.
Section 1, Pause, Section 2, Pause, Repeat
Rehearse what you’re planning to say during your presentation by using a written outline, index cards, printed out versions of your presentation slides or whatever works for you.
Practicing the spoken part of your Visme presentation is easy when you use the presentation notes feature .
Separate your presentations into sections. The best way to do this is by topic. Try and keep all the sections about the same length, that way you can plan your pauses.
Presenter’s Notes
Add presenter’s notes to your slides to help you along as you present. Visme makes this easy for you. As you go through each slide, you’re able to see the notes, what slide you’re on and what slide is next. There’s also a timer to help you pace each slide switch.
This tool will help if you can have a computer close by as you give the presentation. But if you are giving a presentation on a stage without a screen to help you, you’ll have to practice without notes.
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How to Give A Good Presentation With Mnemonic Tools
Create some mnemonic tools into your presentation to help you remember what comes next. For some people, this comes as second nature and is easy. For others, it can become convoluted and cause you to overthink things.
Try out a variety of different techniques until you find the one you feel the most comfortable and confident with.
Ask For Feedback
For better results and to know if you’re improving, record yourself or ask someone to watch you. Ask them to give you honest feedback. Don’t accept feedback like “that was great.” Insist they go into the details. Offer them a pen and paper to take notes as you present.
You’ll notice as you practice and rehearse, that when you follow an outline, all the information you want to share is easier to remember. The TED talk below by Dr. Bolte Taylor was rehearsed 200 times and it’s one of the most famous TED Talks ever.
You don’t need to practice that many times – just enough so it feels effortless. Needless to say, rehearsing is key to learning how to give a good presentation.
2 Prepare Mentally, Emotionally and Technically
It’s highly likely that you’ve already had to give presentations before, most probably at school. But let’s be honest, a classroom and a TED stage are a little different. So is an online summit via Zoom, which as you know are even more common now!
Let’s get one thing straight, though. We’re not talking about just any presentation here – we’re talking high stakes, high-quality presentations.
Preparing yourself mentally and emotionally for a weekly sales report meeting is not as important as doing so for one that will be in front of thousands of people and recorded for posterity.
This tip includes mental, emotional and technical preparation. Let’s focus on each one.
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Mental Preparation
While you’re rehearsing the outline and general speech for your presentation, notice the times when you feel like things flow and when they don’t.
Why do you think that’s happening?
If it flows well it’s because you feel comfortable with the content. You know what you’re talking about. You might even be passionate about it!
On the other hand, if you’re having trouble, maybe the content is still new to you. You might need to do a little more research to feel more knowledgeable about that topic. If you are unsure, you might completely forget what you had to say next during the presentation.
That’s why rehearsing, adjusting and creating mnemonic cues will help.
Emotional Preparation
Not everyone needs to get emotionally prepared before a presentation. Conscientious rehearsing can usually be enough. But not everyone is the same.
Many people that suffer from glossophobia or the fear of public speaking. Some have anxiety or social anxiety and just being close to that many people is difficult for them. Many successful speakers used to be riddled by fear before their first few presentations.
Some of them still are, every single time. The difference is that they have learned how to manage their fear and lean into it. As soon as they step on the stage, the fear and anxiety melt away and all the rehearsing and practicing take over.
To get emotionally prepared, you can try some mindfulness exercises and relaxation techniques.
Wear clothes that make you feel powerful and confident. Try doing the power pose and high five some people before you go on stage. Sing your favorite song and have a little quick uplifting dance.
Technical Preparation
You might be wondering what technical things you need to give a good presentation. It’s all in the details.
Regardless if you’ll be speaking in a venue or an online summit, you have to test all technicalities.
If you’ll be speaking in a venue, visit the space and stand in the place where you’ll speak. Have a look around and pinpoint some elements or aspects that make you comfortable.
If there’s anything that bothers you, like a weird smell or a column in the middle of the room, think of ways to overcome that.
Always ask to test the technical aspects in the room. Connect your computer or tablet to their system to check if your slides will look good with their setup. Also, test the audio. These detailed checks might not always be possible but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
If your presentation will be online, test all your tech beforehand. Locate a spot with the strongest wifi or hardwire your computer to the router.
Check your background and the lighting. Organize with housemates or family for some quiet time during the time of your presentation.
3 Start Strong
The day and time of your presentation have arrived! Now it’s time to shine.
Starting strong is a huge factor in achieving a good presentation. The first few seconds and minutes that you’re on stage will make a first impression on your audience . And yes, you can leverage that to your advantage!
How To Give A Good Presentation Through Impactful Body Language
The first thing people will notice is your body language. The way you carry yourself says a lot about how confident you are at that specific moment. If you prepared emotionally and mentally before your turn, then you’re as ready as you’ll ever be.
Watch the video below to learn about the power pose and how body language affects both you and your audience.
Make An Impressionable Statement
Starting a presentation with a joke, for example, can make the audience relate or feel more familiar with you. Letting them laugh a little will clear the air in the room and it’ll be easier to continue.
Other opening techniques include:
- Be Provocative
- Incite Curiosity
- Shock the Audience
- Ask a Question
- Tell A Story
Use your first slide as a visual and impactful complement to start your presentation.
We have an article all about starting strong with plenty of inspiration. Check it out here – it’ll inspire you to think of new ideas for your presentation.
4 Follow The Outline You Practiced With
If you followed our tip above, you used an outline or a ‘section, pause, section’ technique to practice with. Maybe you even used some mnemonic tools or presenters’ notes.
It’s time to put them all to use.
As long as you follow what you practiced you’re gold. This tip, as you can see, is a short one. It’s more of a reminder that the rehearsing step is more important than you might think at first.
Only when you practice and rehearse a lot will you feel more comfortable when you present.
5 Use Props
Are you wondering how to give a good presentation with props? Good, that means you’re thinking creatively. Using props is a technique that not many consider when preparing for a presentation.
Props can help not only to get the message across but also to serve as emotional support for the speaker! Just make sure it’s obviously a prop and not an emotional crutch.
A prop can be as small as a book, as big as a washing machine, or as weird as a preserved human brain.
Of course, the prop must make sense with your presentation and topic. Not only that, but you must also practice with it. It’s important to be comfortable with your prop or props as you talk and switch slides.
Actually, if you use props you might not need slides at all!
To get you inspired, watch this TED talk where Hans Rosling uses a washing machine as his prop.
6 Finish With Confidence
The end of the presentation is just as important as the beginning. You have to bring it all full circle. Knowing how to give a good presentation is like knowing how to structure a story, essay or article. The beginning and end are connected and must be relevant to each other.
For example, if you made a joke at the beginning, make the same joke but with a fun twist. If you made a provocative statement, close it up with a similar statement or question about it.
Closing Statement
Your presentation’s closing statement is a section in itself. Even if you do as we suggest above, the entire closing statement must be a conclusion of what you talked about during the entire presentation.
The last sentence you say will stay in your audience’s memory. At least until the next speaker takes the stage. If someone in your audience noted down your last sentence, you’ve hit the mark 100%.
Q and A Session – Yes or No?
Ending a presentation with a Q and A session is a bit iffy. If you ended your presentation with impact, a Q and A section can fizzle that out.
What you can do is ask the host to let the audience know that if they have questions, they can find you in the lobby for a conversation. For a digital summit, offer your Twitter handle where people can get in touch.
In the case of webinars or instructional lectures though, Questions and Answers is a great idea. These can help familiarize you with the audience and make them more confident to work with you in the future.
Consider the purpose of your presentation and make a decision according to what impact you’re looking to make.
Here's a great example of the chat section from Visme's webinars , where viewers make comments and ask questions throughout. In our webinars, we have someone help the presenter by gathering questions and ensuring everyone gets answers.
7 Use A Storytelling Structure
Moving on to the tips for the creation of your slides. It’s important to remember the role your slides will play in your presentation. The audience’s attention should be on you, not your slides. These are meant to be complementary, not a crutch, nor even a text to follow.
With that said, this tip is the most important. It applies to your slides AND your spoken speech. They should both follow a storytelling structure that you and the audience will follow together.
Some of the most common storytelling structures are:
- Fact and Story – Go back and forth between facts and stories, or “what is” and “what could be.”
- The Explanation – Inform about a process or plan to fix something or to learn something new.
- The Pitch – Take your audience uphill over a hurdle and onto a positive resolution.
- The Drama – AKA “The Hero’s Journey,” this follows the plight of a main character from beginning to end.
You can also check out our quick video on how to structure a presentation like the experts to learn even more.
8 Keep Your Slides Short and Visually Balanced
There are two ways to design slides for a good presentation:
- As a standalone presentation
- As visual support, while you speak
Either way, you need to keep your slides short in text and visually impactful. For a visual support deck, the slides need even less text than a standalone presentation.
If that idea worries you, and you have tons of information to share, you can always create a full-fledged informative PDF version of your deck to give your audience, investors or guests.
Here are some important things to remember when designing the slides for your presentation:
- The flow from start to finish
- Visual hierarchy
- Keeping the words to around 6 per slide
- Visual impact
- Balanced compositions
The 29 Best Presentation Layout Templates for 2020 [Plus Design Ideas]
9 Use Presentation Templates
Creating presentation slides doesn’t need to be difficult or a stressful affair. When you use a Visme presentation as a foundation, you’re on your way to being an expert on how to give a good presentation.
To select a presentation template, you can either go for a topic-based template or a style based template. Both have their merits, you just need to figure out what’s easier for you.
Topic-based templates are fully designed templates with color themes, graphics, images, icons, etc. You’d only have to adjust the content and maybe the colors and graphics.
Style-based templates are better for those of you that need more freedom in terms of colors and visuals. The Visme slide library is full of layouts organized into categories that you can choose from.
Presentation Templates
Ecommerce Webinar Presentation
Buyer Presentation
PixelGo Marketing Plan Presentation
Product Training Interactive Presentation
Company Ethics Presentation
Work+Biz Pitch Deck - Presentation
Create your presentation View more templates
10 Learn From Your Mistakes
When the presentation is over and you feel like you just conquered the world, it’s not the end just yet. Celebrate the moment but remember, there will be more presentations in the future.
If your presentation was filmed, watch the recording. If there was anyone in the audience that you can fully trust to be honest with their feedback, ask them for it. Take mental notes and the next time you’ll be even more prepared.
The secret sauce to know how to give a good presentation is to always keep learning the ways to improve.
11 Keep Yourself Inspired for Future Presentations
When you keep learning, you keep growing. This also applies to the art of giving good presentations. Follow well-known presentation experts like Nancy Duarte and Carmine Gallo. Read their book, their stories and their theories about giving good presentations.
Watch famous speeches or TED talks to get inspired. Take notes of what you notice in those speeches that you think would suit your personality. You don’t want to copy how other people speak, but you can definitely be inspired!
Bonus: The Visme Presentation Guru Course
To top off your knowledge base for giving good presentations with killer slides, we present you with the Visme Presentation Guru Course .
How to Give a Good Presentation Every Time
As long as you’re prepared, your slides are well-balanced and your speech is rehearsed, you’re ready to give an impactful presentation.
Plus, never underestimate the power of templates! Check out the Visme slide library to visualize the possibilities. Take our presentation course and improve your abilities as a public speaker and slide creator.
Learn how to give a good presentation with all the resources Visme has in store for you. Sign up for a free Visme account today to get started.
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About the Author
Orana is a multi-faceted creative. She is a content writer, artist, and designer. She travels the world with her family and is currently in Istanbul. Find out more about her work at oranavelarde.com
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How to give a good presentation: 8 tips
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What are the main difficulties when giving presentations?
How to prepare an effective presentation, after that, how do i give a memorable presentation, how to connect with the audience when presenting.
Public speaking and presenting isn’t everyone’s forte, but it’s a valuable skill, regardless of your job. If you want your voice to be heard, you’ll need to master communicating your thoughts and opinions simply and politely.
It’s okay if you’re nervous ; that’s completely normal. Glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, affects anywhere from 15–30% of the general population . Social anxiety is also becoming more prevalent, seen in 12% more adults in the last 20 years , and it’s a key cause of glossophobia.
But presentation jitters aren’t necessarily bad. Nerves and excitement feel the same in the body, so reframing nervousness as excitement means you’ll feel more positively about your feelings — and the upcoming presentation.
Giving a speech may seem daunting, but many industries demand learning how to be a good presenter. Luckily, you can always implement new strategies to face challenges and deliver an engaging presentation.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or first-timer, there’s always room to improve your presentation skills. One key to preparing a presentation is to define what you’re most worried about and address these fears.
The most common of worries in school or company presentations include:
- Fear of public speaking . Having a great idea doesn’t mean we’re comfortable telling people about it. Not everyone shines in front of an audience. Some people rationally feel fine about presenting but experience physical symptoms such as nausea and dizziness as the brain releases adrenaline to cope with the potentially stressful situation . The more public speaking you do, the less you’ll experience these symptoms and the more comfortable you’ll be pushing ahead despite any physical discomfort.
- Not keeping the audience's attention . We all want to be liked, and this need for affirmation makes us worried people won’t care about what we have to say. But if you care about the topic, chances are high that others do too.
- Not knowing what content, and how much, to place on slides . Overloading PowerPoint presentations is a surefire way to lose the audience’s attention, while brevity may not communicate important information. Watch presentations and note the ones you find most effective to figure out a good balance between what to write on slides and what to say.
- Discomfort incorporating nonverbal communication . Standing still won’t engage your audience, and moving around constantly will distract them. Delivering an effective presentation means figuring out how much nonverbal communication to use.
Presenting and watching more presentations will help you know how to handle these issues.
Below are our top five tips to aid you with your next business presentation and limit associated stress.
1. Keep it simple
You want your presentation’s ideas to be accessible and easy to follow. As you prepare, ask yourself: what are the key points you want people to take away? Nothing is worse than watching a presentation that goes on and on that you hardly understand. Audiences want to understand and implement what they’ve learned.
Simplicity is vital if you’re looking to reach a broad and diverse audience. Try placing important points in bullet points. That way, your audience can identify the main takeaways instead of searching for them in a block of text. To ensure they understood, offer a Q&A at the end of the presentation. This gives audience members the opportunity to learn more by asking questions and gaining clarification on points they didn’t understand.
2. Create a compelling structure
Pretend you’re an audience member and ask yourself what the best order is for your presentation. Make sure things are cohesive and logical . To keep the presentation interesting, you may need to add more slides, cut a section, or rearrange the presentation’s structure.
Give a narrative to your business presentation. Make sure you’re telling a compelling story . Set up a problem at the beginning and lead the audience through how you discovered the solution you’re presenting (the “Aha! moment”).
3. Use visual aids
Aim to incorporate photos or videos in your slides. Props can also help reinforce your words. Incorporating props doesn’t lessen your credibility or professionalism but helps illustrate your point when added correctly.
4. Be aware of design techniques and trends
You can use an array of platforms to create a great presentation. Images, graphs, and video clips liven things up, especially if the information is dry. Here are a few standard pointers:
- Don’t put blocks of text on a single slide
- Use a minimalistic background instead of a busy one
- Don’t read everything off the slide
- Maintain a consistent font style and size
Place only your main points on the screen. Then, explain them in detail. Keep the presentation stimulating and appealing without overwhelming your audience with bright colors or too much font.
5. Follow the 10-20-30 rule
Guy Kawasaki, a prominent venture capitalist and one of the original marketing specialists for Apple, said that the best slideshow presentations are less than 10 slides , last no longer than 20 minutes, and use a font size of 30. This strategy helps condense your information and maintain the audience’s focus.
Here are some tips to keep your audience actively engaged as you’re presenting. With these strategies, the audience will leave the room thinking positively about your work.
Tip #1: Tell stories
Sharing an event from your life or another anecdote increases your relatability. It also makes the audience feel more comfortable and connected to you. This, in turn, will make you more comfortable presenting.
Gill Hicks did this well when she shared a powerful and terrifying story in “ I survived a terrorist attack. Here’s what I learned ” In her harrowing tale of explosions, disfigurement, and recovery, Hicks highlights the importance of compassion, unconditional love, and helping those in need.
Tip #2: Smile and make eye contact with the audience
Maintaining eye contact creates a connection between you and the audience and helps the space feel more intimate. It’ll help them pay attention to you and what you’re saying.
Tip #3: Work on your stage presence
Using words is only half the battle regarding good communication; body language is also critical. Avoid crossing your arms or pacing since these gestures suggest unapproachability or boredom. How you present yourself is just as crucial as how your presentation slides appear.
Amy Cuddy’s talk “ Your body language may shape who you are ” highlights the importance of paying attention to stage presence. She offers the “Wonder Woman” pose as a way to reduce public speaking stress.
Tip #4: Start strong
Like reading a book, watching a movie, or writing an essay, the beginning draws your target audience in. Kick off your presentation on a solid note. Leveraging the benefits of humor increases the chance your presentation will be well-received. Here are some ways to start strong:
- Use a quotation from an influential person. This provides subject context, situating the topic culturally.
- Ask a rhetorical question. This encourages listeners to actively participate in your presentation as they think of the answer.
- Start with an anecdote. Brief stories add context to your presentation and help the audience know more about you, in turn making them more interested in what you have to say.
- Invite your audience in. Begin your presentation by suggesting they join you on a puzzle-solving or discovery journey. If they feel involved in the talk, they’re more likely to pay attention and retain information.
Tip #5: Show your passion
Let your passion for a topic shine. The best presentations have a speaker who’s genuinely excited about the subject.
In “ Grit: The power of passion and perseverance ,” Angela Lee Duckworth discusses the importance of passion in research and delivery. She enthusiastically delivers her presentation to show — not just tell — the audience how this helps pique interest.
Tip #6: Plan your delivery
This step encompasses how you convey the information. What’s appropriate for the setting — preparing a PowerPoint presentation, using a teleprompter, delivering the presentation via Zoom? Should you memorize your notes or plan an activity to complement them?
The best TED talks are usually committed to memory, but there’s nothing wrong with bringing note cards with you as a safety net. And if your tech completely fails, you’ll have to rely on your natural charm and wit to keep your audience’s attention. Prepare backup material for worst-case scenarios.
Tim Urban, a self-proclaimed procrastinator, discusses how preparation helps us feel more capable of tackling daunting tasks in “ Inside the mind of a master procrastinator .” We often avoid preparing for scarier obligations, like a presentation, because of nerves and anxiety. Preparing removes many of the unknowns overwhelming us.
Tip #7: Practice
As the phrase goes, practice makes perfect! Practice giving your speech in front of the bathroom mirror, your spouse, or a friend. Take any feedback they give you and don’t feel discouraged if it’s critical or different than you expected. Feedback helps us continually improve. But remember, you can’t please everyone, and that’s fine.
Tip #8: Breathe
Take deep breaths. It’s better to go slow and take time to convey everything you need to instead of rushing and leaving your audience more confused.
The best leaders are often some of the best presenters, as they excel at communication and bringing together ideas and people. Every audience is different . But as a general rule, you’ll be able to connect with them if you research your topic so you’re knowledgeable and comfortable.
Practicing your presentation skills and remembering that every opportunity is a chance to grow will help you keep a positive mindset.
Don’t forget to ask for help. Chances are a coworker or family member has extensive experience delivering professional presentations and can give you pointers or look over your slides. Knowing how to give a good presentation feels overwhelming — but practice really does improve your skills.
Shonna Waters, PhD
Vice President of Alliance Solutions
The self presentation theory and how to present your best self
How to not be nervous for a presentation — 13 tips that work (really), reading the room gives you an edge — no matter who you're talking to, the 11 tips that will improve your public speaking skills, 30 presentation feedback examples, an exclusive conversation with fred kofman, here and now: discover the benefits of being present, coaching insider: how to own a new manager role, coaching insider: what your two year itch is really telling you, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..
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How to turn boring Zoom presentations into engaging virtual meetings
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How to present on Zoom and keep your audience engaged in virtual meetings
Repurpose your zoom meetings, add webcam recorder footage, deliver a virtual meeting that will have an impact.
Do words like boring, slow and repetitive come to mind when thinking about your upcoming Zoom meetings?
Love them or not, Zoom presentations are here to stay. It’s a new form of communication in our virtual world. But if virtual meetings aren’t executed correctly, they can be extremely unproductive and painful to sit through.
If you’re delivering a virtual meeting and worried that your audience is yawning behind their turned off cameras, there’s a better way.
Explore how to improve your Zoom presentation abilities to suit a virtual audience below.
Fight the temptation to multitask during Zoom, Google hangouts and Microsoft teams presentations and keep your virtual meeting audience entertained and engaged by using the below tips.
1. Plan your presentation content in advance
The biggest part of running a successful virtual meeting is to prepare the presentation ahead of time. Why exactly are you hosting the Zoom meeting? What do your meeting participants need to know or do before the meeting starts? Are there any spreadsheets or documents that can be shared? Pre-asked questions?
Without proper planning , your virtual meeting might not be so effective. Make sure you keep your target audience in mind and develop a presentation that is directed to them. Plan your content to appeal to your audience and demographic. Do they enjoy the use of storytelling, GIFs or short videos?
2. Deliver a strong introduction about yourself, the topic of discussion and why it matters
Forget about holding “ice-breaker” sessions at the beginning of a Zoom presentation. They’re time consuming and overused. Instead, briefly introduce yourself and any important people who will be speaking or making an appearance during the meeting. This is especially important to external virtual meeting audiences as they may not have ever met you before.
Next, outline what you’ll be talking about to give participants a clear picture of what is going to be discussed. Keep your introduction short and sweet, but direct and to the point.
3. Make “eye contact” through your Zoom webcam
When hosting a Zoom virtual meeting, don’t let your attention wander elsewhere. Avoid looking at yourself on the screen or spotting something outside your window. Direct eye contact into the camera gives your participants the feeling that you’re engaged in the conversation. Make sure your video and audio are clear.
Webcam positioning is also a key element to consider when hosting a Zoom virtual meeting. Your camera and computer should be at eye level so you can simulate the eye-to-eye connection with participants. Avoid having your camera too high or too low. No one wants to see up your nose!
4. Add interactive Zoom polls to vote on topics
Adding in polls midway through your Zoom presentation is a great way to gauge topics of interest and add an element of engagement. Zoom’s poll feature allows you to create single or multiple-choice poll questions displayed during the virtual meeting and gather responses from your attendees. A downloadable report is also available, as well as the option for anonymous polls.
Polls are a great way to find insights and valuable information about your audience that will inform the rest of the presentation. They don’t require verbal participation, and they’re accessible on all devices.
5. Use branded or fun Zoom backgrounds
Add character to your virtual meeting by adding a customizable Zoom background. From themed videos to company branding, the options are endless.
Changing up your Zoom backgrounds can really enhance your Zoom presentation by keeping your audience engaged and focused on the call, rather than clicking onto another tab.
You can also play some fun online icebreaker games together like “guess that destination”. Replace your original virtual meeting background with a holiday destination of your choice.
Zoom offers a couple of virtual background options to get you started, but here at Clipchamp, we’ve gone one step further. Choose from thousands of different royalty-free Zoom presentation backgrounds and presentation templates . From under the sea to Christmas , sandy beaches, Halloween or professional offices, we have a Zoom background for every occasion.
6. Ask for participation in Q&As
Encourage virtual meeting participants to use the “Raise Hand” function on Zoom. Team members can ask questions or make a comment on the virtual meeting topic. Make sure your meeting is as interactive as possible so your audience understands the agender and raises any questions they might have.
Taking advantage of this interactive feature may even stop participants from zoning out when they don’t understand something.
7. Embed entertaining video content
Video can make your Zoom presentation go from boring to fun. It’s a key attention-grabbing element that can help keep your audience engaged and attentive throughout the meeting. Your attendees may even generate their own personal discussion after watching the clip.
Visuals are a great way to break up your speech and give you a moment to check your notes. Just like in Google Slides , embedding video within Zoom is easy and effective.
It’s always beneficial for team members to be able to re-watch past virtual meetings and Zoom presentations.
At Clipchamp, we’ve made it easy to elevate your video presentations and repurpose them for internal company calls or even sales. Zoom Pro, Business and United Business users can import Zoom cloud recordings for use in their Clipchamp video projects.
Upload, edit and export. It’s that easy. Cut out all the unnecessary chatter using our online video editor.
If you’ve completed your virtual meeting and forgot to share some important information with your team, don’t stress. Our webcam recorder tool allows you to webcam record a new clip while you’re editing your virtual meeting and add it to your video. All repurposed Zoom presentations will have the added webcam recorder footage included.
When you plan and deliver your next Zoom presentation, remember to refer to Clipchamp's top 7 tips to have a real impact on your audience. Stand out from all the other boring Zoom presentations and make yours memorable. Interact with your audience and ask questions to keep them engaged.
When you're ready, just drag, drop and edit your Zoom video in Clipchamp .
More from the Clipchamp blog
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10 audio editing hacks to level up your videos
New! Speaker coach in Clipchamp
Start creating free videos with clipchamp.
More From Forbes
The keys to making a world-class virtual pitch or presentation.
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My last keynote speech was for 2000 people at a conference in Florida on March 8th, 2020. By the end of that week, 11 speaking gigs canceled. By the end of April, my calendar was wiped clean. Like every sales team, start-up company, and CEO in the country, I was forced to go virtual with all my business.
Initially, the community celebrated the potential of the virtual pitch or presentation. Could this be the magic formula that delivered results like an in-person meeting without the travel and hassle? What people envisioned being the best of both worlds, turned out to be the Chevy El Camino or mullet haircut of business. Good in theory, but bad in reality.
As Zoom fatigue blanketed the nation, I found myself flooded with training requests for making engaging virtual presentations. It was a natural transition, as I'd been making virtual pitches and presentations for more than a decade. (see 2016 sample below)
At the height of my television career, I was taking nearly 250 pitch meetings a year! Try doing that fighting LA traffic. I developed a system to virtually pitch TV show ideas, mimicking as if I was actually in the room. In addition to saving countless hours and dead brain cells crawling the 405 and 101 freeways, I sold more shows than ever.
A recent article in Forbes described me as one of the top virtual trainers in the country. And while flattering, I might attribute that to the bar being so incredibly low.
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I promise you don't need a television production background or decades of experience to make a world-class virtual presentation. Here is a video that will show you what’s possible, and below are some guidelines that will elevate you virtually with just a little effort and some planning.
Virtual Or Not – It Still Has To Be Good - First, understand if your in-person presentation isn't excellent, your virtual version is not going to be better. Start by taking the time to make your core presentation rock-solid. I wrote a best-selling book detailing how to do this; I'd say it's an important starting point.
Stakes And Value - I always start with two questions. What are the stakes of the presentation? How much value do you place on the meeting?
If it's just a Zoom update with your internal departments, by all means, do that from your kitchen, with your laptop camera, in your pajamas. If you are dealing with high stakes pitches and presentations where real business is on the line, and you value the audience's time and attention, you’ll want to take it up a notch.
Here are the 3 D's I use with clients. Have a D irective, be D irect, and be the D irector.
Directive - Why does this require a virtual meeting? The reality is, people don't want to do a Zoom meeting. They don't want to get dressed, turn on their camera, and let you in their home. So why does this NEED to be a video conference? Focus on the elements that make this a 'Zoom worthy' presentation. Do you have specifics to walkthrough on your investment opportunity? Do you need to demo the software, etc.? If that's what you're there for, make that your directive.
Be Direct - Get to your directive, directly. In The 3 Minute Rule I illustrate how a pitch is not about what you want to say, it's about what needs to be said. It's even more crucial to get to the point and simplify your message in a virtual presentation. Zoom calls are too clunky for chit chat conversation, lengthy introductions, or superfluous anecdotes. People crave simplified, concise information; give it to them, and they will treat it as a gift from the business heavens.
Be The Director - A movie director tells you precisely what to focus on to best understand and engage with the story. Infinite distractions surround your audience, so If you don't tell them where to look and what to follow, you will lose them. You can't just throw up your PowerPoint slides and talk over them. How is that 'Zoom worthy'? The key is movement and pacing as you control the screen.
Be The Director. There are so many good options at your fingertips
Let's Get Technical.
Debeers' campaign called for 'two months salary' when choosing a diamond engagement ring. My clients use the 'One Business Trip' formula. Take your average spend for one business trip and invest it in your virtual meeting setup and equipment.
My website has in-depth technical details , but here are some crucial basics:
Technical outline of the basic virtual presentation
Dedicated Camera: You need a high-quality webcam or a DSLR type camera. It doesn't have to be expensive, but dedicated is important.
Dual lighting positions: Flooding your face with bright light is almost as bad as being dark. It's so easy to create a warm shadow-less look.
Microphone: Again, so easy to set up, but it makes a world of difference. Hanging AirPods out of your ears is not a good look or good sound.
Dual monitors: One to see the meeting and your camera, and one to track your slides and or script (yes you need a script)
Teleprompter: They have iPhone versions that allow you to read your bullet-proof script direct to the camera.
Purposeful Background: Have an area that is designed and designated for your zoom meetings or presentations. I had a client order a shed from Home Depot that he furnished just for his presentations. Another client spends 45 minutes every morning and evening converting his bedroom. Why? Because the stakes of his sales presentation are high, and he values his clients. (Unless you have an actual green screen and light it correctly, Zoom’s virtual background is not a good look)
Plan It Out - I use a specifically programmed stream deck to automate the presentations for my clients. While it's straightforward to use, just the simple act of visualizing and preparing to use it makes a world of difference. It's a bad look logging-in 10 seconds before the meeting and trying to wing it.
Don't give up - Don't get sucked into the pool of Zoom mediocrity. Making a world-class virtual presentation takes effort, planning, and practice, but that's a good thing. When everyone is bland, grey, boring, and uninspiring, you can shine. You may not get another opportunity to rise above the crowd so easily again.
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5 Ways to Make a Good First Impression Over Zoom
A Good Business Presentation Starts Strong
If there’s one thing 2020 has taught us, it’s just how important effective communication is to the health and sustainability of a business. Every good business presentation starts with great communication.
Until this year, a lot of businesses dabbled in online and digital communication, mostly in the form of emails and texts. Face-to-face communication was there—if we wanted it.
A world-wide health pandemic changed all that.
That’s when video conferencing tools like Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangouts took off. For people sent home to work remotely, using these apps became a way of life. It’s estimated that Zoom added 2.22 million active users in January and February of 2020, far exceeding the 1.99 million users the company added in all of 2019.
Months later, we’re still using the platform to stay connected with colleagues and clients, family, and friends.
Like thousands of other businesses, Effective Presentations had to take a serious look at its service delivery in the spring of 2020. With travel bans and restrictions placed on gatherings, we knew we had to take a new approach to connect with our clients. And they, in turn, had to reach theirs differently.
Although we’ve been using Zoom and other similar video conferencing tools for years to deliver our presentation training workshops to businesses across the U.S. and Canada, it’s become the preferred (and necessary) method in 2020.
Not surprisingly, remote business presentation training has become a priority for thousands of companies. Businesses that once relied on in-person meetings suddenly needed a way to stay connected with existing clients and pitch to new ones.
We also saw an uptick in people who started to see just how important making a great first impression through the lens of a webcam is.
First Impressions are Important
Making a great first impression is always important, no matter how you’re meeting someone for the first time.
It’s especially important when you’re meeting with customers because it’s during this initial interaction that their opinion of you (and your services) is formed.
- Do you come off as friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful?
- Are you giving them the impression that you can be trusted to serve them with their best interest at heart?
Making a great first impression sets you up for a successful business relationship. A bad first impression, on the other hand, can set a negative tone you may never be able to shake.
If you’re finding it difficult to make a good first impression because you have to make it online, we have some fail-proof tips.
It’s possible to make a first impression over Zoom that’s just as good (if not better) as it would be if you were giving a business presentation live.
5 Ways to Make a Good First Impression
- Dress for the occasion. It’s tempting to hang out all day in your favorite sweats when all you’re doing is sitting behind a keyboard. But if you want to make a good first impression, wearing your 20-year-old college sweatshirt with the ratty cuffs and mustard stains isn’t going to get you there. Remember, this is a business presentation. Unless the occasion calls for formal dress, it’s perfectly acceptable to dress in business casual: a collared shirt or solid-colored sweater is always a good choice. Neither are distracting and both give the impression you’ve put a little effort into your appearance. While you’re at it, run a comb through your hair and show up generally looking neat and clean. Your physical appearance is the first thing your client will see. Even over video, showing up disheveled makes a strong statement about you—and it’s not good.
- Go to Zoom.us and log in
- Navigate to the “Settings” menu on the left-hand side of the screen
- Select the “In Meeting (Advanced)” option
- Scroll down to “Virtual background” and enable it by toggling to the right
- Launch the Zoom desktop app and login
- Click the gear icon in the top right corner
- Select “Virtual Background”
- Choose a background shown or click the “+” sign to upload your image or video to use as a background Don’t forget about the lighting in the room. Natural light is always the best choice if you have it. Even if you don’t, make sure your face is well lit and that your primary light isn’t coming from directly behind you.
- Speak to the camera. A lot of people will look at their screen when they’re on a Zoom call, and it’s something they might not realize works against them when they’re talking to another person online. The great thing about Zoom is that it allows you to have a face-to-face conversation with another person without being in the same room. However, you have to remember that you’re speaking to the person on the other end through your webcam. That means when you’re looking at the image of them on your screen as you talk, you aren’t looking into their “eyes,” so to speak. Eye contact is critical when it comes to effective communication. Meeting someone’s eyes when you talk makes you appear more trustworthy and it shows the person that you’re speaking with that you’re paying attention to them. Considering how important first impressions are, you need good eye contact. So rather than looking at the image of your client when you speak during a Zoom call, talk directly to the camera so that it looks and feels to the person on the other end as though you are looking them straight in the eye.
while you speak.)
Listening is a critical part of a good business presentation, and it’s difficult to do that if you’re distracted by noises in your environment while on a call. Allowing that to happen doesn’t leave a particularly good impression on the other person on the call, either.
- Remember you’re on camera. When you’re not sitting directly across from someone, it’s very difficult for people to read your non-verbal cues. That’s because their view of you is usually limited to your head and shoulders. For that reason, it’s important that you are more deliberate with your gestures, and that you make them in front of the camera.
On the flip side of that, people interacting over Zoom sometimes forget they’re in full view of others on the call. That means if you’re eating, looking off camera, or distracted by something else, your Zoom audience can see that.
You’ll always make a good impression—on camera or in person—if you appear interested and engaged in the conversation. Set your camera so you’re centered on the screen, clear away distractions, and give the person or people on the call your undivided attention.
And don’t forget to smile!
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Making a Great First Impression Online
Head into every Zoom call like it’s an in-person meeting—because it is.
If you’re connecting with someone for the first time and it has to happen using a video conferencing tool like Zoom, you’ll make a good first impression by knowing how to leverage the technology. Talk into your webcam as though you’re looking your audience straight in the eye and deliver a friendly, effective business presentation straight from your computer.
Need more help improving your on-camera performance? We offer virtual training packages for individuals and teams. Contact us to learn more.
Has the need for Zoom meetings taught you any valuable tips for making a good impression over video calls? Help our community and share your top tips for good Zoom meetings in the comment section below.
I have struggled with adjusting to Zoom. I feel like I am personable and well-spoken in person, but on webcam, I feel awkward and out of my element. I realized mid pandemic I needed to learn how to be more comfortable on Zoom and this blog gave me great tips that I have been following. The biggest tip I took away from this article was to “speak to the camera”. Before I had a habit of speaking to my image on the zoom page, now when I’m in meetings I make the conscious effort to look directly into the webcam rather than looking down at my screen. I feel like this small change instantly makes me feel more personable and confident.
In my physical speeches pre-pandemic I videotaped them so that I could review later how I looked and sounded. I think doing the same on zoom is equally important. You can set up a personal meeting with yourself, practice a short presentation, and then review it for the same details. Also, you might want to do a one-on-one chat with good friend and have them give you feedback on looks and sound. That way you can adjust your presentation and be better prepared for your next presentation.
For my pre-covid physical speeches I videotaped the presentation so that I could review later for both speaking and appearance purposes. I think the same is helpful for zoom presentations. You can set up a solo meeting with yourself, practice a presentation, and review to find any adjustments that need to be made. Or you can set up a one-on-one chat with a friend and have them give you feedback on the same issues. That way you can make adjustments before your next scheduled presentation.
I like the tip about muting your microphone. I can’t stand when someone makes a loud noise and it completely distracts and takes away from the meeting.
The background tip was awesome and helped me land a job! I strategically placed a hockey stick in my background because I knew the employer was a sports fan. In doing so, I think it added a little more credibility to who I am as a person.
I can’t wait to get back to face to face meetings. COVID has video essential and I don’t thing we will ever go back to the way things were.
I need to get a better mic and camera. When I’m on a Microsoft Teams meeting I notice most people’s backgrounds look better than mine. That is a disadvantage to my career and closing ratio.
This is great I never thought about making eye contact on virutal meetings. I can’t unsee how others aren’t making eye contact in there own presentations!
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7 Zoom Presentation Tips to Make You Look and Sound More Professional
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Conducting meetings and presentations by Zoom conference has quickly become the normal way of doing business. Use these seven Zoom presentation tips to help you sound and look more professional.
As a Zoom veteran, I offer these seven Zoom presentation tips to make sure your online presentations look and sound highly professional.
ONE: Do your homework
Zoom’s Website provides instructional videos for novice users and for more experienced professionals. For more individual guidance, hire a mentor. I did that initially, and still have the half-hour video of him guiding me through the process.
Although we are in the DIY era, with people taking pride in the “do it yourself” approach, you will learn Zoom quicker and more thoroughly if you rely on those who know what you need to know.
TWO: Get over yourself
That is the phrase that Atlanta video company owner Scott Williford uses to calm the fears of his clients who experience strong anxiety about how they will look on camera, what their voices will sound like and what embarrassing mistakes they will make. I join Scott in emphasizing that your Zoom time is not about you. Instead, your appearances are about the message you bring, along with the relevant and helpful information you share. Concentrate totally on helping your viewers and listeners. Let the impression you make become secondary.
Ironically, that is the formula that will make you shine during presentations.
THREE: Be planned, not canned
Yes, you want to know your material thoroughly. I advise my clients: “The more preparation, the less perspiration during the event.”
However, remember that only actors recite memorized lines. Think about the Zoom presentations you attended that struck you most favorably. Chances are strong that your most effective presenters were not robotic mannequins reciting a script. Quite the opposite: they were having a conversation with you.
Keep this in mind. Leave “delivery” to UPS, FedEx, and the post office. Forsake stiff formality. Franklin Roosevelt set the tone with his famed “fireside chats” on radio during the stressful years of World War Two.
FOUR: Use an attractive, relevant background
When I interviewed a professional broadcaster recently, her setting displayed an array of her reporting experiences with CNN. While few of us will have such an eye-grabbing scene to work with, we can use a backdrop that confirms our business acumen. Nothing expensive required here — a neatly arranged bookcase will suffice. Or a wall with plaques and awards works well. Consider how much more qualified you look in these examples, compared to starting a Zoom interview or group meeting in your bedroom or den or outdoor deck.
FIVE: Use a top-quality external microphone
Yes, our Internet devices come equipped with internal microphones. Those mics are OK for sending a vacation video to your family and friends. Yet when you rely on them for a Zoom meeting, your voice will sound distant and somewhat muffled. Fortunately, you can purchase a freestanding mic that plugs into a computer’s USB port. Make sure you have activated that mic when you are checking into Zoom.
SIX : Look into the camera
Our natural tendency when we are talking with someone is to maintain eye contact with them. Quite possibly your family taught you that, and business courses emphasized the value of “eyeballing” while communicating. As a result, you will have to retrain yourself on this. If you look at your Zoom participants, they will see you looking down on the screen. Train yourself to stay glued to the camera.
SEVEN: Create video variet y
Next time you watch a TV ad (if you really do watch them) pay attention to the rapid scene changes. You will want to do that with Zoom. For example, if you start off with Speaker View showing you as the only one on the screen, alternate between that setting and Gallery View. One of Zoom’s features most presenters welcome is that Zoom will switch back and forth between the settings automatically, depending on who is talking — just like network TV.
Additional ways to foster variety: hold up photos or use Share Screen to show PowerPoint slides or other visual aids.
You do not have to be a techie geek to succeed with Zoom. Follow these seven steps, and you and your Zoom guests will benefit professionally, and will enjoy each opportunity to transform from “remote” and “virtual” to “up close and personal.”
About the Author: Bill Lampton, Ph.D., Communication Consultant, Speech Coach, and Keynote Speaker, "Helping Corporations and Leaders Communicate Persuasively." Call Dr. Lampton: 678-316-4300 or visit his website: https://www.bizcommunicationguy.com
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Productivity
18 Zoom tips and tricks for better video meetings
Before, during, and after a zoom meeting—here's everything you need to be a pro zoomer..
For better or worse, Zoom has infiltrated almost every aspect of my life. From work meetings and conferences to night classes and virtual workouts, I Zoom all the time. You'd never know it, though, by the way people constantly have to remind me, "Jess, you're on mute," and then patiently wait while I fumble around for the unmute button.
But no more. I've found the foolproof trick to quickly mute and unmute myself. Plus, I've rounded up 17 other tips to make me—and you—look like pro Zoomers.
To make things even easier, I've listed the tips in order of how they're likely to be used (before, during, and after a Zoom meeting).
Before a Zoom meeting
Mute Zoom audio when joining a meeting
Turn your Zoom video off by default
Give attendees a waiting room
Automatically schedule meetings—and let people know about them
Schedule recurring meetings with the same URL
Let someone else schedule your meetings
Collect information from attendees
Learn a few of the most useful Zoom keyboard shortcuts
During a Zoom meeting
Record a Zoom meeting as a video
Use live transcription
Co-host calls
Pin participants' videos
Turn on Zoom gallery view
Mute and unmute with the space bar
Raise your hand (and give other non-verbal feedback)
Have a collaborative annotation session
After a Zoom meeting
Check who attended a Zoom meeting
Note: Some of the tips include Zap templates (what we call our pre-built workflows at Zapier). Simply click on the Zap template to get started. You'll need a Zapier account if you don't already have one.
Zoom web portal vs. Zoom desktop client
Let me clarify one thing: The Zoom web portal refers to your web account (e.g., CompanyName.zoom.us), which is mainly used for customizing your profile and updating your meeting settings. The Zoom desktop client refers to the Zoom app.
For reasons unbeknown to me, the Zoom desktop client and mobile app have different features than the Zoom web portal. Additionally, you need to select Save for any edits made in the web portal whereas Zoom automatically saves most changes made in the Zoom desktop client or the mobile app.
Here's hoping that by this time next year, Zoom makes it so you can update all your settings directly from the web portal or Zoom desktop client. But until then, let's dive in!
1. Add a profile picture
While Zoom is designed for video calls with live feeds of participants' faces, there are plenty of occasions where you'd rather not show your face . For me, it's when I'm eating sushi, which must be done in one large bite—and no one needs to see that. This is why Zoom lets you add a profile picture, which will display whenever your camera is turned off . Here's how.
Log in to your Zoom web portal.
Click Profile .
In the main section with your name, click the pencil icon in the picture frame.
Click Choose Files to upload your picture.
Click Save.
2. Mute Zoom audio when joining a meeting
No one wants to be that person who joins a meeting late, only to have their dog bark and interrupt the speaker because of course that's when your mute button disappears from view. Here's how to mute your audio by default.
Log in to your Zoom desktop client.
Click the gear icon to open your Zoom settings.
Select Audio > click the Mute my mic when joining a meeting checkbox.
3. Turn your Zoom video off by default
Despite my best efforts, I always remember to check for food in my teeth after I've joined a meeting. If, like me, you regularly need an extra moment before you're camera ready, here's how to join Zoom meetings with your camera automatically turned off.
Select Video > click the Stop my video when joining a meeting checkbox.
4. Give attendees a waiting room
When I teach, it might be considered poor form for my students to be waiting in our virtual classroom without me there. That's why I give them a waiting room so they can hang out until I let them into the main room. You can also automatically move attendees to the waiting room if the host is unexpectedly disconnected from the meeting.
You can create a waiting room by selecting the Waiting Room checkbox when scheduling a meeting.
You can also enable or disable waiting rooms during a meeting by selecting Participants > More > Enable Waiting Room (or Disable Waiting Room ).
5. Automatically schedule meetings—and let people know about them
Scheduling meetings, especially if you run a lot of them, can be an unnecessarily time-consuming task. Thankfully there's a Zap for that. By connecting Zoom to your scheduling app and calendar, Zapier can automatically create a new Zoom meeting and add it to whatever app you use for your personal calendar. Here are some pre-built Zaps to power this workflow.
Create Zoom meetings for new Calendly events
Create detailed Google Calendar events from new Zoom meetings
Update Google calendar events with Zoom meeting links when new bookings are made via OnceHub
To make this automation even more powerful, you can add a step that shares the meeting details with your team via a messaging app like Slack. We use this automation all the time here at Zapier—any time a new team meeting in Zoom kicks off, the Zoom link gets posted to the appropriate channel in Slack automatically.
Get Slack notifications for new Zoom meetings
Zapier is a no-code automation tool that lets you connect your apps into automated workflows, so that every person and every business can move forward at growth speed. Learn more about how it works .
6. Schedule recurring meetings with the same URL
To minimize last-minute messages of "Where's the meeting link?", Zoom lets you schedule recurring meetings with the same URL. Here's how.
Log in to your Zoom web portal.
Select Meetings > Schedule a Meeting. Edit the meeting options as needed.
In the Time Zone field, check the Recurring meeting box.
Edit the recurrence, including the number of times the meeting occurs and how often it occurs.
Click Save.
If you export the meeting to your Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, or Yahoo Calendar, the recurrence pattern and meeting URL are automatically included in the calendar event. Plus, the meeting settings remain locked in, so you don't have to update it for every meeting.
Additionally, if you meet with the same group but on an irregular schedule, you can also set your recurrence to No Fixed Time. This lets you use the same settings and meeting URL no matter when you get together. When I teach, I use this option to host open office hours for student meetings.
Note: You can't schedule recurring meetings with your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) since this ID is reserved for you and the link never changes. Also, meeting IDs expire after one year, so you'll have to generate a new one then.
7. Let someone else schedule your meetings
If someone else manages your calendar and bookings, here's how to give them Zoom privileges, so they can schedule meetings on your behalf.
Select Settings.
Under the Meeting tab, select Other.
Under Schedule Privilege, click Add.
Add your scheduling assistants by inputting their email addresses, and then click Save.
Once done, your assigned scheduling assistant must log out of their Zoom desktop client and log back in for the feature to take effect.
This feature is also helpful if your assistant has scheduled a meeting, but the meeting host needs to be changed from you to someone else. Here's how to transfer a meeting between Zoom users .
Requirements: The primary Zoom account holder and everyone who receives scheduling privileges must share the same account or have linked accounts. Everyone must also be Licensed or On-Prem. And for webinars, everyone must have the webinar add-on.
8. Collect information from attendees
For any number of reasons, you may want to ask attendees to share a few details about themselves prior to joining the call. For example, you might want to require that attendees provide their name, company affiliation, or industry.
Here's how to collect this information.
Log in to the Zoom web portal.
Select Meetings > Schedule a Meeting.
In the Registration section, select Edit.
In the Registration window, select the Questions tab. Here you can add standard fields, such as name and organization, by selecting the checkbox to the left of the field name. To make specific fields mandatory, select the Required checkbox to the right of the field name. You can also create your own questions under the Custom Questions tab.
Click Save All.
If you're using Zoom to run a digital event like a webinar, however, you might want to let attendees register using a form on your website or an event management app. Here are some handy Zaps that automatically register all attendees, regardless of where they sign up.
Add new Eventbrite attendees as Zoom webinar registrants
Create Zoom registrants from new contact activities on ClickFunnels
Add new Leadpages leads as Zoom registrants
Generate Zoom registrants for new Gravity Forms form submissions
Enroll new Mailchimp subscribers as Zoom webinar registrants
You can make this automation even more powerful by making sure that any registrant information collected is also added to your CRM or email marketing tool, so you can easily follow up with potential leads or customers.
Add new Zoom registrants to Mailchimp as subscribers
Update activecampaign contacts from new zoom registrants.
Add new Zoom webinar registrants to Keap Max Classic as contacts
Requirements: To require attendee information in Zoom, the host must have a Pro account. Additionally, the meeting cannot be your Personal Meeting ID.
To enable registration for Zoom meetings, you must 1) be the host, and 2) have a Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account. Additionally, the meeting cannot be created using your Personal Meeting ID and it cannot be a No Fixed Time recurring meeting.
9. Learn a few of the most useful Zoom keyboard shortcuts
Zoom has quite a list of keyboard shortcuts , but here are my go-tos that I think are worth learning.
M is for mute. Press Cmd + Ctrl + M (macOS) or Alt + M (Windows) when you are the meeting host and want to mute everyone else on the line. If using windows, press Alt+M again to unmute. For mac, press Cmd+Ctrl+U (macOS).
S is for share. Press Cmd + Shift + S (macOS) or Alt + Shift + S (Windows) to share your screen.
10. Record a Zoom meeting as a video
Zoom lets you record your web conferencing calls as videos, a handy feature for sharing the meeting with people who may have missed it or for reviewing what was said.
When you record, you must choose whether to use the local or cloud option. Here's the difference:
Local means you store the video file yourself, whether locally on your computer or in another storage space that you provide.
Cloud means Zoom stores the video for you in its cloud storage. One major convenience of the cloud option is that people can stream the video in a web browser once it's ready. This option is available for paying users only. The amount of available cloud storage will vary depending on the account type.
If you record meeting attendees' video or audio, it's common courtesy—and in some places a requirement—to inform them before you do. Once you begin recording, Zoom will also notify all participants that the meeting is being recorded.
When creating a video from a conference call, it makes a big difference in the final quality if you optimize a few settings in advance. For example, some calls might be broadcast-style, where only the host appears on screen. In that case, set Zoom to only record the audio and video of the host. Other calls might be in the style of a collaborative meeting, in which case you want to record everyone. Be sure to check out Zoom's local recording settings and cloud recording settings at least a few minutes before starting a call.
Requirements : To record videos, you need Zoom on macOS, Windows, or Linux. If you don't have the option to record, edit your recording settings in your Zoom web portal or have your account administrator enable it.
If you need to share the recording later, try one of these Zaps to automatically share once the recording has finished.
Send Slack channel messages for new Zoom recordings
Send gmail emails for new zoom recordings.
Send emails from Microsoft Outlook with new Zoom recordings
11. Use live transcription
Let's nerd out on a few terms for a second:
Transcript: Text that's been converted from another medium, such as speech or audio.
Caption: A text form of audio information, including speech and non-speech, in video and animations. In some regions of the world, " captions " and " subtitles " are used to mean the same thing. For the purposes of this article, I also use these terms interchangeably.
Closed caption: Captions that can be hidden or shown as selected by the people watching the video.
Caption frames: Chunks of text from the transcript that run synchronously with the audio of a video.
Zoom offers a few options for adding closed captioning during meetings: third-party closed captioning integrations or Zoom's live transcription feature, which automatically populates machine-generated captions.
Tip: Whether you're hosting a meeting for two or 200, don't wait for someone to request closed captioning. Always enable Zoom's live transcript. While this feature isn't 100% accurate, it's a positive step towards making meetings more accessible.
If you're hosting a meeting, you can turn on closed captioning by selecting Live Transcript from the Zoom control bar > Enable. If you don't see it, you may need to click More first.
If you're participating in a meeting, you can view closed captioning by selecting Live Transcript > Show Subtitles. This will populate caption frames. As closed captions can be visually distracting, you can also view a running transcript on the side of your screen by selecting Live Transcript > View Full Transcript.
12. Co-host calls
Double the hosts, double the fun! That's a saying right? Here's how to co-host a Zoom meeting with another person.
Ensure this feature is enabled in your meeting settings in your Zoom web portal. Look for Co-host under the In Meeting (Basic) section. If the toggle is gray, click the toggle to turn the feature on.
Once your co-host has joined the meeting, select Participants from the meeting controls > name of your co-host> More > Make Co-Host . Alternatively, you can hover over their video box, click the menu (...), and select Make Co-Host.
Then, when you start a meeting, wait for your co-host to join, and add the person by clicking the three dots that appear when you hover over their video box.
Requirements : To use co-hosting, you need a Pro, Business, Education, or API Partner account with Zoom, and you need to run on macOS, Windows, Android, or iOS.
13. Pin participants' videos
If you join a meeting with your camera on and your dog in the background, I will privately message you to ask your dog's name, nicknames, and quirks. That is to say, I'm very easily distracted. But when I need to reign in my focus, I pin the speaker's window, so everyone else is hidden. Here's how.
During a Zoom meeting, hover over the video of the participant you want to pin.
Click the menu ( … ) > Pin. You can pin up to 9 total videos.
14. Turn on Zoom gallery view
Let's say you're teaching a class or taking a class—it can be helpful to see everyone in the meeting. Here's how to turn on the gallery view in Zoom.
During a Zoom meeting, click View in the top-right corner.
Select Gallery . If the meeting has 49 or fewer attendees, you may need to adjust the size of your window to see all windows displayed on one page. If your meeting has more than 49 attendees, you'll have the option to navigate through multiple pages.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, my gallery view is on, but apparently it's creepy when I meet someone in real life and say, "Tell me more about the posters I saw displayed in your office that one time on Zoom"?
15. Mute and unmute with the space bar
I have no problem playing favorites, and this Zoom tip is inexplicably my favorite.
If you're on mute and need to speak, press and hold your spacebar while in the Zoom app to quickly unmute. Be sure to hold the spacebar down while you're talking.
Note: This push-to-talk feature won't work if you're actively using another application (which is great if you're multitasking!).
16. Raise your hand (and give other non-verbal feedback)
So you've asked a question in the chat, but it looks like the speaker may have missed it. You don't want to interrupt, so what do you do? Raise your hand!
In the control bar, select Reactions > Raise Hand . This will pin a 🖐🏼 to the top of your video and move your thumbnail to the top of the gallery, which will hopefully catch the attention of the speaker. To lower your hand, select Reactions > Lower Hand.
Another neat way to communicate without interrupting is by giving non-verbal feedback (e.g., yes, no, slow down, and speed up) and meeting reactions (e.g., thumbs up, heart, and clapping hands). These can all be found in Reactions . If you don't see these options, you may need to ask the host to enable non-verbal feedback .
17. Have a collaborative annotation session
When screen sharing, it can be immensely helpful to point participants to specific areas of your screen or to let everyone draw on visual materials, such as mockups or graphic designs. To do this, try using one of Zoom's handy annotation tools, which can be found in the Zoom control bar during a screen share.
Spotlight: Turn the host's cursor into a red dot (only available if you started a screen share or whiteboard).
Arrow: Turn your cursor into a small arrow with your name on it. Click anywhere on the screen to "stick" your arrow. Any subsequent clicks will remove the previous arrow placed.
Vanishing pen: Mark up a shared screen or whiteboard. The markings will fade away within a few seconds, so you don't have to erase or undo your previous drawings (only available if you started a screen share or whiteboard).
To disable attendee annotation altogether, select More (...) from the control bar > Disable Annotation for Others .
18. Check who attended a Zoom meeting
Say you're using Zoom to hold a mandatory event, like a university lecture or a training session. You probably want to know who attends. You can get that information from a report once the meeting is finished. Here's how.
Select Reports > Usage Reports > Meeting .
Edit the Meeting Report fields, including the date of the meeting and type of report you want to create (registration). You can search for a meeting using your meeting ID.
From the list of available reports, click Generate for the report you want.
Requirements : To generate an attendee list, you need to be 1) the host of the meeting, 2) in a role with Usage Reports enabled, or 3) an account administrator or owner. You also need a Pro, API Partner, Business, or Education plan.
Not enough for you? For more inspiration on how to use Zoom effectively, here's every other tip we have:
Working with sound
How to DJ a Zoom call
Zoom noise cancellation: How to block background noise on Zoom
How to play background music on Zoom—without sharing your screen
How to join a Zoom call by phone
Updating your background or display
How to win at Zoom backgrounds, from a first-place winner
How to blur your background in Zoom—and the case for not doing it
How to not see your own face during Zoom meetings
How to add your pronouns on Zoom
Facilitating meetings
How to facilitate workshops on Zoom
How to share a presentation on Zoom without sharing your browser tabs and address bar
4 tips for getting the most out of Zoom chat
How to make Zoom the default video call app in Google Calendar
How to quickly find links to your Zoom meetings
Oh, and one last gift for you: Here's how to automatically close those annoying "Launch Meeting" tabs from Zoom .
This article was originally published in November 2018. The most recent update was in December 2022.
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Jessica Lau
Jessica Lau is a senior content specialist at Zapier. Outside of writing, she likes to snuggle her dogs, and provide unsolicited podcast and book recommendations.
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- Remote work
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Win Over the Zoom: How to Effectively Public Speak from the Privacy of Your Home
By Marisa Polansky and Kristine Keller
Just weeks ago, “zoom” was a word uttered mostly in playtime with toddlers, and “let’s hang out” was not an invitation to see your co-workers in bathrobes. But in our current reality, these platforms aren’t just one way to communicate, they’re the way.
People are still leading meetings, hosting presentations, and joining panel discussions. So though it may be a bedroom instead of a boardroom, we’ve got new stages to share our messages—and we need new ways to effectively communicate them, too. Next time you need to make a virtual presentation , here are the tips to consider (starting with: lose the bathrobe).
Read the Zoom
No matter the audience, you have to assume that now, everyone has more distractions—a Cuomo press conference , the latest episode of Little Fires Everywhere , or a video of Madonna singing about fish—competing for their attention. They’re probably taking this meeting from the couch, and the more you know about your audience going into the meeting, the more likely you are to keep them there. This isn’t the time for a rinse and repeat presentation. Tailor your talk to the audience. If you’re a professor who’s already familiar with your students, don’t introduce yourself. If you’re two journalists hosting a fireside chat for political junkies, don’t define terms your attendees would already know. Yes, today it seems all we have is time, but no one wants to spend theirs learning something that’s already familiar.
Snacks > Meals
IRL presentations are like fancy dinners with appetizers, main courses, and maybe a dessert too. There are so many introductions and tangential remarks. But with virtual meetings, time is a luxury you don’t have. So think of Zooms more like a delicious protein bar (if anyone actually liked protein bars). Be as efficient as possible while satisfying the needs of the presentation. Economy of language is your friend. If you’d like attendees to ask questions, make sure the Q&A function is turned on and the expectations are set. Just because people are asking in real time, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to answer then too. If you think it will veer you too off course, let the audience know you’ll be saving your responses until the end.
Strike an At-Home Tone
Living rooms are inherently less stuffy than convention centers, and your presentation should reflect that. Depending on the subject matter, this is likely not a time for black-tie formality. Instead, use this opportunity to be a human. Crack a joke, let people into your home, and acknowledge that though you’re not technically in the same place, you’re all in it together.
But...Don’t Wing It
Okay, yes, it’s a casual setting, but people are still tuning in to hear you...so you better know what you want to say. Whether it’s a total script or a bullet pointed outline, prepare it ahead of time. It will keep you on task, and make the whole thing run smoother. If you’re on a panel, ask for the questions so you can prep answers. The beauty of a digital frame is you can casually use your notes to guide you and no one will know. Don’t just write it—read it too. To desensitize yourself to the high stakes, it’s helpful to mirror the circumstances of your future talk. So if you can, rehearse on camera for a group of friends. Ask your friends for feedback and edit accordingly. While you’re at it, test all your tech—the event link, sound, and video to ensure you’re good to go on the big day.
Pre-Event Prep
If you’re presenting with others, arrange a pre-event prep call. Get to know each other beforehand and discuss the flow of who’s speaking and when. Since there will always be inevitable lag times or delays in the tech, practice long pauses between points to avoid talking over each other. A more informal chat should feel off-the-cuff, but as antithetical as it sounds, natural might need some rehearsing.
Hide Your Mess
Hosting hundreds of people in your bedroom may feel intimate and overwhelming. So...don’t. No one has to see your unmade bed or leftover pizza boxes since Zoom lets you choose your background like elementary school picture day. And though nothing can compare to those electric strobe lights, you can go from a palm tree oasis to Carnegie Hall with just a click of a button . Of course, keep in mind the formality of your meeting, and select a background that’s appropriate for the occasion.
Private is the New Public
For years, studies have shown that public speaking ranks highest on people’s list of fears. We think more recent studies will show that people are just as afraid of private speaking too. There is something intensely intimate about speaking from your home to people in theirs. But don’t get anxious...get excited. Research spearheaded by Alison Wood Brooks at Harvard Business School shows that we can actually trick our brains to use our anxiety to our advantage. If you can reappraise your emotions to say “I’m excited for this task” versus trying to make yourself calm down, you can actually use the benefits of anxiety—like alertness—to help you excel. Since you’re home, go to your closest mirror and give yourself a pep talk. And when guests start opening that digital door, remember: you’re so excited!
It’s Always Been You
Remember, you’ve been chosen to do this presentation for a reason, and the audience trusts that you, the expert, knows what you’re doing. That’s why they’ve taken time out of their very busy quarantine routines (quaroutines?) to tune in. So it doesn’t matter that you’ve spent the last week in sweats. You’re still you, and you’ve still got this.
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How to Look Better on Zoom (and Other Video-Calling Apps)
Harry Guinness is a photography expert and writer with nearly a decade of experience. His work has been published in newspapers like The New York Times and on a variety of other websites, from Lifehacker to Popular Science and Medium's OneZero. Read more...
More professional (and personal) interactions are happening via Zoom and other video-calling apps, and it doesn’t look like that’ll be changing anytime soon . The same as an in-person meeting or date, it’s important to look your best on video calls. Here’s how to work it for your webcam.
Find Better Lighting
In a professional broadcast studio, the cameras aren’t what make people look good—it’s the lighting. It doesn’t matter how much money the producers throw at expensive lenses, they can’t make anyone presentable if the lighting is terrible. The same is true at home.
Now, we’re not advocating that you invest your life savings in a 10,000-lumen studio lighting setup. However, you can pick a spot in your home for video calls that has good lighting.
You want to avoid overhead lights because they cast weird shadows and highlights on your face. They also tend to throw off the overall balance.
Backlighting is bad, too. You’ll appear dark and shadowy against a too-bright background. Compensating with a light in front of you doesn’t help much, either.
What you’re looking for is a spot with nice, even frontlighting. The easiest place to find it is in front of a big window.
This is one of the best “photography hacks” to look good, whether you’re taking a selfie or doing a professional presentation. Just find the biggest, brightest window in your home and set up in front of it. You’ll look better than anyone else on the call!
RELATED: How to Take Better Photos in Your Home (No Flash Needed)
Raise Your Camera
Nobody’s best angle is looking up from below their chin, but that’s probably where your laptop’s webcam is. Computer manufacturers prioritize minor things, like practicality and price, over your on-camera appearance.
To look your best, you want your webcam to be at (or just above) eye-level. That’s how people normally see you in person, and it’s what they subconsciously expect.
To get your camera up to eye-level, you can invest in a laptop stand or go old-school and stack some books underneath it. If you’re using your smartphone, prop it against whatever you have on hand or get a small tripod .
You might also want to get an external keyboard and mouse if you’re going to need your computer while you’re on a call.
Look at the Camera (and Dim Your Screen)
Eye contact is hugely important in Western culture. We’re suspicious of people who can’t maintain it or constantly look away. Unfortunately, the way video calls are set up, it’s impossible to make real eye contact. If you look at someone’s eyes onscreen, that person sees you looking down.
While you won’t be able to maintain it all the time, if you’re presenting or talking a lot, you want to create the illusion that you’re looking at your audience. So, do look directly at your webcam as much as possible. It’s hard to do this with all the distractions onscreen, but here are a few things you can do:
- Hide or minimize the preview of you: I use mine as a mirror, and I know I’m not alone. It’s easy to find yourself checking your hair.
- Dim your screen: Unless you absolutely need to see everyone, try this. It’s more useful to create the illusion that you’re looking at people than to actually look at anyone.
Test Your Internet Connection
Video chats require a reasonably fast, very stable internet connection. It doesn’t matter how good you look on your webcam if all your Wi-Fi can send is a pixelated splodge.
Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, and all the other video-calling apps dynamically adjust the quality of the video you send and receive to maintain the connection. This means that even if you’ve got a slow connection, you’ll still be able to connect, you just won’t look very good.
Zoom’s minimum system requirements give you a good idea of the necessary specs:
- For one-on-one calls: 1.8 Mbps up/down is required to send and receive 1080p HD video.
- For group calls: 2.5 Mbps up/down is required to receive 1080p HD video, and 3.0 Mbps up/down is required to send 1080p HD video.
To check the speed of your internet connection , head over to Speedtest . If you’re getting anything less than 3.0 Mbps, you’re not going to be able to send high-quality video. Even if your connection is 3.5 or 4.0 Mbps, it will likely drop low enough to cause you issues sometimes.
If you have a fast internet connection, that’s wonderful! If not, there are some steps you can take to speed it up for a call. First, ask anyone else who’s using the network to stop (take a break from the Netflix, kids!). Use a device with wired Ethernet.
If these tips still don’t get you a fast enough connection, there are some other tips you can try .
RELATED: How to Speed Up Your Internet Connection
Use Your Best Camera
The webcam on a lot of laptops is, well, mediocre—especially when you compare them to the front-facing cameras on modern smartphones. The 12MP TrueDepth camera on the iPhone 11 is worlds better than the 720p FaceTime camera on a brand-new, 16-inch MacBook Pro. If you use an iPhone as your webcam , you’re guaranteed to get better-looking video than you will on your MacBook.
Of course, it’s easiest to just use your laptop, especially for professional calls. If you have the option, though, it’s worth the few moments it takes to prop up your smartphone at eye-level and plug it in to charge. Not only will you look better on your call, but you’ll also be free to use your computer, if necessary.
If you really want to look incredible, and you have a DSLR camera, you can kick things up even further and use it as a webcam. There’s a bit of setup involved , and not all cameras are capable of it, but the payoff is huge.
RELATED: How to Use a Digital Camera as a Webcam
Go Forth and Zoom!
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to look a lot better on video calls. Whether you’re using Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet, Skype, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or any of the other countless video-chat apps, you can ensure you always look your best.
Just sort out your lighting situation, prop your best camera at eye-level and make sure you look at it, and you’re good to go!
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A Silicon Valley lender collapsed after a run on the bank. Here's what to know
A customer stands outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on March 10, 2023. The lender was taken over federal regulators on Friday, marking one of the largest bank failures since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
A customer stands outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on March 10, 2023. The lender was taken over federal regulators on Friday, marking one of the largest bank failures since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
A bank that caters to many of the world's most powerful tech investors collapsed on Friday and was taken over by federal regulators, becoming one of the largest lenders to fail since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.
California's banking regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank and put it into receivership under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).
That effectively gives control of the bank to the FDIC, which created a new entity to oversee it.
It's nothing personal: On Wall Street, layoffs are a way of life
Regulators announced the takeover after what was effectively a run on the bank. Depositors rushed to withdraw their money amid fears SVB wouldn't be able to meet redemption requests.
It was a collapse that sent shockwaves across the banking industry, hammering shares of other smaller and regional lenders.
Here's what to know about SVB.
What was Silicon Valley Bank?
Although it was not in the same league as, say, Goldman Sachs or J.P. Morgan Chase, Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, punched above its weight during its 40-year history.
Based in Santa Clara, Calif., its clients included venture capital firms and startups, and it became a big player in the tech sector, successfully competing with bigger-name banks.
"They really developed a niche that was the envy of the banking space," says Jared Shaw, a senior analyst at Wells Fargo. "They are able to provide all the products and services any of these sophisticated technology companies, as well as these sophisticated venture capital and private equity funds, would need."
But it remained little known outside of tech circles — until this week.
People walk through the parking lot at the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on March 10, 2023. The bank suffered a run on deposits that led to its collapse. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
People walk through the parking lot at the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on March 10, 2023. The bank suffered a run on deposits that led to its collapse.
So why is the bank in trouble now?
Silicon Valley's business boomed as tech companies did well during the pandemic. That filled the lender's coffers, and SVB had about $174 billion in deposits.
But in recent months, many of Silicon Valley Bank's clients had been withdrawing money at a time when the tech sector as a whole has been suffering.
SVB said earlier this week, that in order to make good on those withdrawals, it had to sell part of its bond holdings at a steep loss of $1.8 billion. Bonds and stocks have been hammered since last year, as the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates aggressively, and SVB also noted it wanted to pare down its bond portfolio to avoid further losses.
But that announcement spooked the bank's clients, who got worried about SVB's viability, and then proceeded to withdraw even more money from the bank — a textbook definition of a bank run.
That led to a major slump in SVB's shares. The bank's stock price fell by 60% on Thursday, and as its share price continued to sink overnight.
Trading was halted on Friday morning, and by midday, SVB had been taken over by the FDIC.
Traders working at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 10, 2023 in New York City. Shares of Silicon Valley Bank slumped before it was taken over by the FDIC. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
Traders working at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 10, 2023 in New York City. Shares of Silicon Valley Bank slumped before it was taken over by the FDIC.
What does this mean for other banks?
Though the problems appear to be isolated at SVB, the run on the bank sparked concerns about the banking sector as a whole. On Thursday, shares of all kinds of lenders, including the big banks, sagged. J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America were all down about 5%.
Investors feared that other lenders, especially smaller and regional ones, would suffer a similar surge in withdrawals and would struggle to meet the redemptions.
The troubles at SVB come as Wall Street had already been on edge. Earlier this week, Silvergate, a California-based bank that caters to the cryptocurrency industry, announced plans to unwind its operations.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warns inflation fight will be long and bumpy
Yet by Friday, fears about the health of the broader banking sector had eased, even before the FDIC took over SVB.
Bank analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note "the funding pressures facing" Silicon Valley Bank "are highly idiosyncratic and should not be viewed as a read-across to other regional banks."
"We want to be very clear here," they wrote. "We do not believe there is a liquidity crunch facing the banking industry."
Wells Fargo analyst Shaw also said other banks were hit by panic selling.
"It's really just a fear that has gripped the market, and is sort of self-perpetuating at this point," says Shaw.
What happens next?
The entity created by federal regulators to oversee SVB, the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara, has quite a few things to sort out.
The FDIC said those with insured deposits with SVB, typically up to $250,000, would be able to access their money by no later than Monday.
The fate of those with deposits at SVB that exceed insurance limits is less certain, however, with the FDIC saying they will receive an "advance dividend" for a portion of their funds along with "certificates" accounting for their uninsured funds.
The regulator did not spell out what that would entail for these uninsured depositors.
Investors will also continue to monitor for any further impact on other banks. The Treasury Department said Secretary Janet Yellen discussed the situation at a meeting she convened with financial regulators.
"Secretary Yellen expressed full confidence in banking regulators to take appropriate actions in response and noted that the banking system remains resilient and regulators have effective tools to address this type of event," the statement said.
- silicon valley bank
- Jerome Powell
- venture capital
- Silicon Valley
- Private Equity
- Morgan Stanley
- Federal Reserve
- interest rates
- Wall Street
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The best way to present well on Zoom - when the stakes are high - is to create a wholly business-like environment and attitude. Use a space in your home or field location that's as bland and clinical as possible, with no potential noise disturbance. Dress smartly from head to toe to create the best mindset.
Here is a quick step-by-step guide on how you can give a presentation on Zoom: Step 1: Install Zoom Download and install the Zoom application to your desktop. To download the application, visit https://zoom.us/download and download the Zoom Client to your computer. Step 2: Login to your Zoom Account
The first rule of good presentations or pitches on Zoom is to stand up. Standing instantly gives you more confidence because it allows you to breathe easily and to use relaxed gestures. It also brings a massive boost to your energy and your voice power. Using your hands when you speak has been shown to increase vocal variety. It's a game-changer.
If you would like to make your presentations more dynamic and exciting, try using zoom for PowerPoint . To add a zoom, go to Insert > Zoom. To summarize the entire presentation on one slide, choose Summary Zoom To show selected slides only, choose Slide Zoom To show a single section only, choose Section Zoom Overview
The secret structure of great talks. From the "I have a dream" speech to Steve Jobs' iPhone launch, many great talks have a common structure that helps their message resonate with listeners. In this talk, presentation expert Nancy Duarte shares practical lessons on how to make a powerful call-to-action. 18:00.
How to Give a Good Presentation. Here's a quick look at the 11 tips on how to give a good presentation. Plus, you'll find a bonus resource you won't want to miss, The Visme Presentation Guru Course. Rehearse What You're Planning to Say. Prepare Mentally, Emotionally and Technically. Start Strong.
Set up a problem at the beginning and lead the audience through how you discovered the solution you're presenting (the "Aha! moment"). 3. Use visual aids Aim to incorporate photos or videos in your slides. Props can also help reinforce your words.
Changing up your Zoom backgrounds can really enhance your Zoom presentation by keeping your audience engaged and focused on the call, rather than clicking onto another tab. You can also play some fun online icebreaker games together like "guess that destination".
Don't get sucked into the pool of Zoom mediocrity. Making a world-class virtual presentation takes effort, planning, and practice, but that's a good thing. When everyone is bland, grey, boring ...
Product walkthroughs and quick reference videos are featured throughout the in-depth training courses in Zoom's Learning Center. We've collected them all here for you as an easy resource to find what you need when you need it. Browse by product category below or search the continuously growing collection for a specific video.
Open the PowerPoint file you want to present. Start or join a Zoom meeting. Click Share Screen in the meeting controls. Select your primary monitor then click Share. If you are not sure which monitor is your primary, select the one that PowerPoint opens in.
Go to Zoom.us and log in Navigate to the "Settings" menu on the left-hand side of the screen Select the "In Meeting (Advanced)" option Scroll down to "Virtual background" and enable it by toggling to the right Launch the Zoom desktop app and login Click the gear icon in the top right corner Select "Virtual Background"
Use these 7 Zoom presentation tips to help you sound and look more professional. (844) 493-6249 Log In Plan & Start Business Planning Take the first steps toward turning your idea into a business. Find Startup Costs Research Your Market Make a Business Plan Licenses & Permits Government Grants Products & Pricing
Before a Zoom meeting. Add a profile picture. Mute Zoom audio when joining a meeting. Turn your Zoom video off by default. Give attendees a waiting room. Automatically schedule meetings—and let people know about them. Schedule recurring meetings with the same URL. Let someone else schedule your meetings.
While you're at it, test all your tech—the event link, sound, and video to ensure you're good to go on the big day. Pre-Event Prep If you're presenting with others, arrange a pre-event prep call....
Go Forth and Zoom! It doesn't take a lot of effort to look a lot better on video calls. Whether you're using Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet, Skype, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or any of the other countless video-chat apps, you can ensure you always look your best. Just sort out your lighting situation, prop your best camera at eye-level and make ...
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. A bank that caters to many of the world's most powerful tech investors collapsed on Friday and was taken over by federal regulators, becoming one of the largest ...