How to Deliver Captivating, World-Class Virtual Presentations that will Wow Your Audience – In Just 7 Minutes with Alfred Poor

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to Know How to Keep Your Audience Engaged with Your Captivating Virtual Presentations Without Wasting Time and Money? Learn more about the Speaker Springboard System: speakerspringboard.com/demonstration

Summary

Are you spending most of your time worrying if your audience is still listening to you and your presentations behind the screen?

Do you struggle when it comes to presenting virtually than on-stage?

Have you been spending money and wasting time more but not getting the results you wanted?

Do you want to know how to make awesome presentations that will surely promise you more engagements without your money and time going to waste?

Alfred Poor is a professional speaker and writer with audiences around the world, both onstage and virtual. He is a graduate of Harvard College and is the author of 15 books.

In this episode, Alfred shares his insights on what makes a speaker and presentation captivating and memorable. He also talks about the change brought by the pandemic in on-site events and how to make your virtual presentations more engaging for your audience.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:28 – Alfred’s ideal client: “The ideal client are people who need to speak as part of their job. Now, obviously, this includes professional speakers, but it also includes corporate executives, who need to address both internal and external audiences.”
• 01:48 – Problem Alfred helps solve: “So as people love to say the pandemic has changed everything, and it’s true, we’re now beginning to return to on-site events and conferences. But the fact is, virtual meetings have been shown to have such great advantages.”
• 02:57 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Alfred: “Well, the bottom line is engagement. And the fact is, you know if your audience can’t see or hear you, they’re going to tune out, and you’re going to lose the engagement.”
• 04:11 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Alfred’s solution: “One of the biggest is that they don’t acknowledge the problem. A lot of them, I think, just figure, “I’m a good speaker. Everybody loves to hear me speak. I’m just going to pull my way through.” And that doesn’t work.”
• 05:09 – Alfred’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “My advice is, pick one thing and make it better. Just one. So maybe a different microphone, maybe change the way your lighting is done, maybe change how you dress for the camera, or maybe just stand up instead of sitting down.”
• 05:50 – Alfred’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Alfred’s FREE online demonstration: speakerspringboard.com/demonstration
• 07:06 – Q: How did you get so smart about virtual presentations? A: The answer is I have a long background in technology. My secret superpower is that I can explain complex things to people in ways that they can put to immediate use.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Pick one thing, make that better, and then pick another thing and make that better.” -Alfred Poor Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:09
Greetings everyone and a very warm welcome to Marketing the Invisible. My name is Tom Poland, beaming up to you from Little Castaways beach in Queensland, Australia, where the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the waves are crashing, joined today by Alfred Poor. Alfred, good day. Sir, very warm welcome. Where are you hanging out?

Alfred Poor 00:26
Good day to you too. I’m just outside Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love –

Tom Poland 00:30
Philly!

Alfred Poor 00:31
And the home of the original ENIAC, the first computer, so.

Tom Poland 00:34
Wow! Really?

Alfred Poor 00:36
Technology distribute.

Tom Poland 00:37
And fun fact, you and I both predate that, probably?

Alfred Poor 00:41
Probably!

Tom Poland 00:41
So, for those of you who don’t know Alfred, he’s a professional speaker and writer, as you can probably tell from his background, Speaker Springboard is his business. He has audiences all around the world, both on stage and virtual. He’s a graduate of Harvard College, which means he’s got plenty of gray matter upstairs. He’s also the author of 15 books. Woohoo! So, you’re going to hear from someone from the true voice of experience. Our title today is, “How to Deliver Captivating World Class Virtual Presentations That Will Wow Your Audiences and Without Wasting Time and Money on Expensive Equipment or Learning Complex Technical Skills”. I think we’re all up for that. Alfred, thanks for joining us. Our time starts now. Question number one is who is your ideal client?

Alfred Poor 01:28
So, the ideal client are people who need to speak as part of their job. Now, obviously, this includes professional speakers, but it also includes corporate executives, who need to address both internal and external audiences.

Tom Poland 01:42
Right, perfect! So, question two, and six and a half minutes left, what’s the problem you solve?

Alfred Poor 01:48
So as people love to say the pandemic has changed everything, and it’s true, we’re now beginning to return to on-site events and conferences. But the fact is, virtual meetings have been shown to have such great advantages. They’re going to be part of the whole landscape going forward. And the problem is that many speakers and executives are skilled at on-site presentations, but they’re not prepared for presenting an engaging virtual presentation.

Tom Poland 02:18
Oh. Okay, go on.

Alfred Poor 02:19
And a year of endless zoom meetings hasn’t really helped much. So, most of what we’re taught about speaking on stage is wrong when it comes to virtual presentations.

Tom Poland 02:30
Right, right. Yes, it must be a massiveness difference, missing a whole dimension. So, question number three, thank you for that, just over five and a half minutes left. Question three is, we’ve got this professional speaker, or we’ve got this business leader, they’re needing to speak to groups of people. They needed to speak virtually two groups of people. Tell us about the symptoms that they have noticed, when they’ve been presenting in the past, that would give them a kind of a heads up that they need to talk to you?

Alfred Poor 02:57
Well, the bottom line is engagement.

Tom Poland 02:59
Right.

Alfred Poor 03:00
And the fact is, you know if your audience can’t see or hear you, they’re going to tune out, and you’re going to lose the engagement. Now, this is true for both onstage and for virtual. Onstage, you can see them clicking off, but when you’re on virtual, you’re talking to the red dot on the screen, and so it’s more difficult. So, the thing was with onstage, you’ve got all kinds of people supporting your sound, your lighting, your stage, and all that. When you’re presenting virtually, it’s a lot more of that’s on you. And so, you need a different set of solutions and support, to engage your audience and keep them with you.

Tom Poland 03:37
Right, so if they have a sense that they’re losing audiences, or if they don’t even know if the audience is still there, or if they look at people and their eyes are not making contact in Zoom meetings, they might need to talk with you because they’re not getting engagement, then they’re not getting their message across. So, let’s look at some of the common mistakes, question four, four, and a half minutes left. Your smart leader or smart professional speaker is going to know they’ve got this problem. They’re going to understand that they’re not connecting and engaging, etc. They got to try stuff. So, what are some of the common mistakes that people try to fix that problem before they find your solution?

Alfred Poor 04:11
Well, I think one of the biggest is that they don’t acknowledge the problem. A lot of them, I think, just figure, “I’m a good speaker. Everybody loves to hear me speak. I’m just going to pull my way through.” And that doesn’t work. Those who do want to improve, they recognize that they want to learn how to do more. They typically will waste time and money, either on buying expensive equipment, or you’ll start learning fancy technology that, you know, will hopefully make things better, but, you know, that’s a big investment that many of them don’t need to go into.

Tom Poland 04:43
Right. It’s the wrong answer. It’s a mistake. It’s not addressing the core issue.

Alfred Poor 04:48
It can be a part of the answer.

Tom Poland 04:49
Right.

Alfred Poor 04:49
But it certainly isn’t- there’s not a silver bullet that’s going to solve it all.

Tom Poland 04:53
That is not the core part. Okay, so question five, just over three minutes left, can you give us a tip, one valuable reaction that someone listened to those that were to increase engagement through virtual meetings? One tip that they could take that isn’t going to solve the whole problem, but it could make a difference?

Alfred Poor 05:09
My advice is, pick one thing and make it better. Just one. So maybe a different microphone, maybe change the way your lighting is done, maybe change how you dress for the camera, or maybe just stand up instead of sitting down. I’m standing when I talk because it gives you more energy. And, yeah, it’s a very simple little thing to do.

Tom Poland 05:30
Right.

Alfred Poor 05:30
So, pick one thing, make that better, and then pick another thing and make that better.

Tom Poland 05:36
Maybe what I do, just take a bit more time off my hair, right? Okay. For those of you listening to the mp3, I don’t have too much here on my head.

Alfred Poor 05:46
We could be cousins!

Tom Poland 05:47
Oh no. You got a bit more than me. You’re being kind. Alright, so question number six is we’re going to have leaders listening to this. I mean, pretty much all of our subscribers are influences. They’re going to be speaking to groups of people at some point in time internally, externally, not for profit, for-profit, etc. Let’s give them some more resources. So, question six, please, is where are some more free, valuable stuff that folks could go to and get help with increasing engagement?

Alfred Poor 05:50
So, every month I give a free online demonstration about the Speaker Springboard system. It’s an hour-long session, and in it, you’ll gain valuable specific tips that you’ll be able to take right away and put to use. But more than that, you’re going to learn to understand the three foundational principles that are going to make a big difference and help guide you to be more engaging with your online audiences. And you’re going to be the speaker that everybody wants to have on their program. If you want to sign up, reserve a spot for the next one, just go to speakerspringboard.com/demonstration.

Tom Poland 06:51
Perfect! Speakers with an S, plural, springboard.com/demonstration.

Alfred Poor 06:58
Thank you.

Tom Poland 06:58
Perfect. And question number seven, we’ve got a minute left, so plenty of time. What’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Alfred Poor 07:06
I think it would be, how did you get so smart about virtual presentations?

Tom Poland 07:10
So how did you get so smart about virtual presentations?

Alfred Poor 07:13
The answer is I have a long background in technology. My secret superpower is that I can explain complex things to people in ways that they can put to immediate use. I wrote for PC Magazine for over 20 years. I’ve got thousands of articles for them. But more than that, I’m not a Johnny-come-lately when it comes to online presentations. I’ve been doing my own webinars for more than eight years. I have been hired to speak at other people’s online events and webinars. I’ve even produced events for a pretty summit and online trade shows for clients. So, I have a deep understanding of it. And I’m also on the board of advisors for a new group called The Virtual Events group where I also provide their content and help build their database of more than 400 online virtual platforms.

Tom Poland 07:59
Alfred Poor, thank you so much for your time.

Tom Poland 08:02
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.