The No-Panic Plan for Virtual Presenters: How To Overcome Virtual Meeting Fatigue While Making an Impact with Your Audience
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We are excited to offer “Three Ways To Win at Virtual Presentations”: through your message, your delivery, and your backdrop.
Most of us are teetering on the edge of virtual meeting fatigue. We have endured poorly planned virtual presentations, so we want to avoid some of the same mistakes others are making when presenting through virtual platforms. We now see our colleagues in tiny boxes at the top of our computer screens during meetings. And what do we do about those holdouts who still refuse to use video? Join us if:
- You want to present the best video version of yourself.
- You don’t want people in the remote audience counting every time you say “um” or “and uh”
- You don’t want to appear lackluster and monotone when it’s your time to shine
- You truly desire fresh approaches to presenting ideas to your team and other audiences virtually
- You simply want to gain a couple of new tips you can incorporate immediately to be the best remote presenter you can be each and every time
Virtual Presentations are a critical skill even after we get back in the office and everyone from the anxious beginner to the confident professional will grow from expert advice such as:
- How to adjust your message for remote presentations
- How to polish your delivery for the camera
- What to pay attention to regarding your lighting and backdrop
Be ready and more prepared than ever before. Here’s what you’ll gain from our crash course that will revolutionize your approach to presenting remotely on the job.
Preparing Your Message
Good openings are sure-fire crowd pleasers. Don’t bore them at the beginning.
- Make the most out of your “Three-Minute First Impression”
- Reinforce your sticking points throughout your message
- Figure out what everyone else is doing—then DON’T do the same thing
- Understand the three must-do’s for any presentation opening and intentionally hook your audience
- Understand the importance of shortening your message for the virtual audience (this is excellent advice)
Delivering Your Presentation
- Don’t be guilty of fizzling out at the end: close with a big bang
- Overhaul your visuals for the virtual platform
- Learn some surprise presentation tips from the pros
Preparing Your Backdrop
Here’s a sneak peek at what you need to know about lighting and background—because most of us are straining to read the titles of the books on your bookshelf:
- Turn off your email notifications
- Become a “Master Muter”
- Avoid the beanbag scenario
- Don’t present sitting in front of a window
- Don’t station yourself directly under overhead lighting
- Avoid the “up-the-nose” view
- Clear the clutter (what actually needs to be in the background)
Best Practice of All
Banish the “ums” and “uhs.” Yes, people will sit and listen to you and count the number of times you say “and uh.” It’s ridiculous. I’ll share the only secret I know to eradicate vocal fillers from all of your presentations for good. This technique alone is worth your time investment.
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Mandi Stanley
With more than 22 years of experience on the seminar circuit, Certified Speaking Professional Mandi Stanley works primarily with business leaders who want to boost their professional image by becoming better speakers and writers. She has traveled throughout North America entertaining and educating m [...]
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This webinar received a total of 3 survey responses. Attendees have given an average rating of 5.0 stars out of a possible 5, reflecting the quality and value of the content presented.
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June 12, 2020
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This was a fabulous course and pertinent. I only wish it came with SHRM certification credit. Some online courses I take violate everything that was taught here today - yet offer credit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Virtual meeting fatigue is a genuine and widespread phenomenon caused by the cognitive overload of sustained video communication—constant eye contact, reduced nonverbal cues, and the self-monitoring that comes from seeing your own face on screen. Overcoming it while still making an impact requires deliberate design choices at every level of your presentation. Keep virtual presentations shorter than you would in person—audiences disengage faster on screen—and break content into tighter segments with varied interaction methods to maintain attention. Manage your own energy by scheduling virtual presentations during your peak performance window and building recovery time before and after. Prepare your environment so technical and backdrop concerns don't add cognitive burden during the session itself. Mandi Stanley, Certified Speaking Professional with over 22 years of experience, addresses all of these dimensions in Aurora Training Advantage's The No-Panic Plan for Virtual Presenters webinar, providing a practical system for delivering memorable virtual presentations without burning out yourself or your audience.
Effective virtual presentation delivery requires adapting skills you may have developed for in-person speaking to the very different medium of video. Key tips include: look at the camera rather than the screen—this creates genuine eye contact with your audience rather than the distracted look of staring at faces; use vocal variety deliberately—monotone delivery is far more obvious and fatiguing on video than in person; keep your pacing slightly slower than in-person, with more pauses to allow processing; use intentional, visible gestures framed within the camera view; and bring authentic energy, because video tends to flatten natural expressiveness. Eliminate vocal fillers like 'um' and 'uh'—audiences notice them more acutely on screen—by practicing pausing intentionally instead. Mandi Stanley, whose three-part framework covers message, delivery, and backdrop, provides specific, immediately applicable delivery techniques in Aurora Training Advantage's The No-Panic Plan for Virtual Presenters webinar.
Your physical setup communicates professionalism before you say a word—and common backdrop and lighting mistakes are among the most distracting elements in virtual presentations. Key principles include: position your light source in front of you, not behind—presenting in front of a window creates a silhouette effect that makes you difficult to see; avoid overhead lighting directly above you, which casts unflattering shadows; place your camera at eye level or slightly above rather than looking up into it; clear your background of clutter or distracting personal items; and if using a virtual background, ensure your lighting is consistent enough that the background renders cleanly. Check your audio quality before every session—audio problems are more damaging to audience experience than video issues. Close unnecessary applications to prevent distracting notifications, and test your mute workflow so you can mute and unmute quickly and confidently. Mandi Stanley's systematic approach to backdrop preparation is a core element of Aurora Training Advantage's The No-Panic Plan for Virtual Presenters webinar.
Holding a virtual audience's attention requires strategic message design because the competition for their focus is far greater than in a physical room—email, chat notifications, and the general pull of the computer environment are constant rivals. Effective virtual message design starts with a powerful opening that creates immediate relevance—within the first three minutes, audiences decide whether to stay mentally present or start multitasking. Use a concrete, counterintuitive statement, a compelling question, or a relevant statistic rather than introductory housekeeping. Structure your content in tight, named segments rather than one continuous flow, and announce each transition so audiences can reorient. Shorten your overall message for the virtual format—content that works in a 60-minute in-person session typically needs to be condensed for online delivery. End with intention: a strong close that reinforces your key message is as important as the opening. Mandi Stanley's framework for preparing virtual messages is covered in depth in Aurora Training Advantage's The No-Panic Plan for Virtual Presenters webinar.
Vocal fillers—'um,' 'uh,' 'and uh,' 'you know,' and similar unconscious sounds—are more noticeable and more distracting in virtual presentations than in person, where physical presence and body language provide competing points of focus. The most effective technique for eliminating them is replacing fillers with intentional silence: training yourself to pause rather than fill the space. This requires first developing awareness of when and why you use fillers—most often at the start of sentences, when transitioning between ideas, or when you've momentarily lost your thread. Practicing out loud with recordings is the fastest path to awareness; hearing yourself on playback is typically far more revealing than any coach's feedback. Structuring your content more clearly also helps—fillers often signal that your thinking isn't organized, so a tighter outline reduces the moments where fillers creep in. Mandi Stanley shares her proven technique for permanently reducing vocal fillers in Aurora Training Advantage's The No-Panic Plan for Virtual Presenters webinar, a technique she considers worth the entire session investment.