Presenting over the phone has its own set of communications challenges such as:
- No immediate connection with the participants – no eye contact or body language feedback (unless you have a system like Telepresence)
- Audio requires different signals, cues and instructions
- You never know what other things the listener is doing
Here are a few suggestions to better the chances your key points will be heard:
1.Prepare yourself as a different type of presenter
- Listen to talk radio, specifically call-in shows for examples of presentations via phone
- Tape a practice lecture and listen to it
- Increase voice modulation by 20%
2.During your talk
- Have a hard copy of your slides; spread them out on the desk or table
- Use a headset – UNLESS IT’S A SUPERIOR SPEAKER PHONE
- Stand up
- Remind the listener what slide you’re on as you advance through the presentation
- Work on transitions between slides
- Suggest your audience to write down key points – keep them from multi-tasking
3.Handling the Q&A/wrap up:
- Call on participants by name and location
- Moderate between participants calling in from different locations
- When facilitating Q&A, have participants give their name, location and specialty before the ask the question
- Summarize the key take-aways from the call