Public Speaking in Virtual Presentations and Webinars
Liam Sandford
Liam Sandford is a public speaking coach, marketing leader, and 2x best-selling author, including the book Effortless Public Speaking. He helps introverted professionals and leaders take control of public speaking anxiety and use speaking to market themselves, build influence, and communicate with impact.
Delivering virtual presentations in meetings, webinars, and online conferences is now an essential skill for professionals across industries. While presenting from home may seem easier than speaking in a physical room, online presentations present their own challenges. You may feel self-conscious staring at your own video feed, worry about keeping your audience engaged, or stress over technical glitches. These challenges can make virtual presenting feel just as nerve wracking as in person public speaking.
However, virtual presentations are also a unique opportunity to connect, inspire, and leave a lasting impression. With the right preparation, mindset, and techniques, you can deliver online talks with clarity, confidence, and authenticity. This comprehensive guide will walk you through practical strategies, preparation methods, and presentation skills that will help you engage any virtual audience and speak with presence.
Why Virtual Presenting Can Be Just as Nerve Wracking as On-Stage Talks
Even experienced speakers often underestimate the challenges of presenting online. Virtual presentations trigger many of the same physiological responses as in person talks. Your heart may race, palms may sweat, and your mind may jump ahead to potential mistakes. In a virtual setting, these reactions can feel magnified because feedback from the audience is limited. You cannot always see nods, smiles, or engaged body language, which can amplify self-consciousness and anxiety.
Physiological Responses to Virtual Presenting
The physical reactions to nervousness are part of your body’s natural fight or flight response. A racing heart, dry mouth, or butterflies in your stomach are signs your body is preparing to perform. While these sensations may feel uncomfortable, they are not indications that you are unprepared. Instead, they are signals that your body is gearing up to help you deliver a high energy, engaging presentation. Recognising these reactions as normal can help you approach virtual presenting with a sense of control rather than panic.
Reframing Nervous Energy as a Performance Tool
Rather than fighting your nerves, learn to channel them into performance energy. Nervous energy can make your delivery more dynamic, helping you emphasise key points, vary your tone, and highlight important messages. Structured preparation, rehearsal, and mental reframing transform anxiety into focus, clarity, and presence. Understanding why you feel nervous is the first step toward mastering virtual public speaking.
Treat Virtual Presentations as Conversations, Not Performances
One of the most common mistakes in virtual presentations is overthinking your performance. It is easy to imagine criticism from participants even when none exists. Many presenters focus on delivering a flawless talk rather than connecting authentically with the audience.
Reducing Performance Pressure
Your audience is not there to scrutinise every gesture or word, they want to understand your message. Shifting your mindset from performance to conversation reduces pressure and helps you communicate more naturally. Think of your virtual talk as a dialogue with your audience. Even when speaking to hundreds of participants, framing your presentation as a conversation keeps it engaging and relatable.
Engaging Authentically with Pauses and Interaction
Pauses, questions, and interactive elements should feel natural, not scripted. Pausing after a key point gives participants time to process information and mentally engage. Asking questions or encouraging chat responses creates dialogue that makes the presentation feel interactive. When you focus on connection rather than perfection, your authenticity comes through, and your energy translates into engagement.
Master the Platform Before You Present
Technical familiarity is essential for confidence in virtual presentations. Knowing your webinar or meeting platform reduces anxiety and allows you to focus on delivering your message effectively. It removes one thing that could be causing you public speaking anxiety if you are already familiar with the platform.
Familiarise Yourself With Platform Features
Every platform has unique features. Take time to explore screen sharing, polls, breakout rooms, chat, and other interactive tools. Understanding these features allows you to use them strategically to increase engagement. For example, a well timed poll or chat question can break up a long presentation and keep participants actively involved.
Testing Your Setup
Before presenting, check camera angles, lighting, and audio quality. Ensure your camera captures you clearly and that your voice is audible without distortion. Testing transitions between slides, videos, and polls prevents technical issues from interrupting your flow. A polished, professional setup increases audience trust and allows your energy and personality to shine.
Reduce Cognitive Load During Presentations
When you are confident with your platform, you reduce cognitive load, meaning you can focus entirely on delivering your message. Practicing with the tools you will use ensures that you are not distracted by technical concerns and can engage fully with your audience.
Let Your Personality Shine
Personality is your greatest asset in virtual presentations. Online audiences respond to authenticity and energy. When your personality comes through, the presentation feels less like a broadcast and more like a genuine conversation.
Expressing Personality Through Voice and Gestures
Your voice, gestures, facial expressions, and pacing communicate energy and enthusiasm. Smiling, moving naturally, and varying tone keeps the audience engaged. Your energy is contagious, even through a screen, and it creates a sense of presence that keeps participants focused.
Building Audience Connection
When you allow your personality to shine, you build connection and trust. Authentic speakers capture attention and make their message memorable. Audiences are more likely to retain information and take action when they feel a personal connection with the presenter.
Slides Should Support Your Presentation, Not Replace You
Slides are a visual tool to support your story, not a script to read from. In virtual presentations, the speaker is often small on screen, which means slides can easily dominate attention if overused.
Design Slides for the Audience
Slides should enhance the audience experience. Use images, keywords, charts, and graphics to reinforce your message rather than prompt you to read. Each slide should add value for participants, helping them understand and remember your points.
Minimalism Over Bullet Points
Avoid cluttered slides with dense text or traditional bullet points. Minimalist slides focus attention on your message and allow your personality to remain central. Slides should reinforce, not replace, your presence.
Stop Sharing Your Screen
If you are sharing your screen, your image on screen becomes small and in the corner. This makes the presentation less engaging as typically the screen is mostly static. When you switch between sharing and not sharing your screen, it will capture attention from the audience and reengage them if they have switched off. It’s not how webinars are usually delivered, but it should be. This is particularly important if you want to repurpose the recording of the session as a video on YouTube or other social media. You will be more engaging if you speak directly to the camera compared to staring at the same slide for 5 minutes.
Using Notes Without Reading a Script
Notes are essential for support but should never replace preparation or natural delivery. Reading from a script reduces energy and engagement. You can use the Nano speech to deliver your presentation, ensuring that you stay on track, keep it moving for the audience, and have a guideline to follow rather than a script.
Safe Reference Points
Use concise notes placed around your workspace to guide you. They should serve as prompts for key points rather than full sentences. Notes help you stay structured while keeping your delivery natural and conversational. Place them around your screen but make sure you aren’t looking too far away from the camera to keep your audience engaged.
Maintaining Natural Delivery
Practice speaking freely using your notes as reference points. This ensures your delivery feels authentic, energetic, and professional. Avoid reading word for word, and focus on connecting with your audience through tone, gestures, and eye contact through the camera.
Start Small and Build Confidence Gradually
Confidence grows through consistent experience. Avoid jumping straight into large webinars or high stakes presentations where possible. It is much easier to build confidence presenting in team meetings before then presenting to large groups. The same goes for presenting internally vs externally where the stakes might be higher or might be tied to converting prospects into customers.
Begin With Low Stakes Presentations
Start by presenting in smaller, low pressure environments such as team meetings, check-ins, or online workshops with a limited audience. These settings give you a safe space to practice key presentation skills without the anxiety that often comes with large webinars or high stakes events.
In these smaller sessions, you can experiment with techniques like making eye contact with the camera, varying your vocal tone, and using gestures naturally. You can also practice reading your audience’s subtle reactions, such as responses in chat or body language cues from video feeds, and adjust your delivery in real time.
These low stakes opportunities allow you to trial interactive elements such as polls, chat questions, or brief exercises without the pressure of a large or critical audience. They provide immediate feedback and let you see what works and what doesn’t, which builds confidence and helps refine your style.
Using small presentations as a rehearsal space also helps you manage energy effectively. You can test pacing, timing, and transitions between topics to see how your delivery feels both on camera and in terms of audience engagement. Each small success reinforces your competence, making the transition to larger audiences less intimidating and far more manageable.
Gradually Increase Audience and Complexity
Once you feel comfortable with small, low pressure presentations, start gradually increasing both audience size and content complexity. Move to slightly larger meetings or workshops to practice managing engagement, projecting energy, and maintaining eye contact with the camera.
Add more detailed content, visual aids, or interactive elements like polls or Q&A sessions. Each successful presentation builds confidence and reinforces previous successful presentations you have delivered, reducing anxiety for future presentations. Gradual exposure ensures you are prepared, resilient, and confident when speaking to larger or more formal virtual audiences.
Techniques to Engage Your Audience Online
Audience engagement in virtual presentations requires deliberate planning and strategy. Unlike in person settings, where presence and energy alone can capture attention, online audiences need more cues to stay focused and involved. Without intentional engagement techniques, participants can easily become passive viewers, multitask, or lose interest. By combining visual, auditory, and interactive strategies, you can create a presentation that feels dynamic, memorable, and engaging from start to finish.
Eye Contact with the Camera
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to engage an online audience is to look directly into the camera instead of focusing on your own video feed. This creates the illusion of direct eye contact, making viewers feel addressed personally. Even small moments of direct camera focus, especially when delivering key points, can significantly increase perceived connection and trust.
To make this easier, place reminders near your camera or use sticky notes on your monitor. Practicing this technique in low stakes settings helps you become comfortable looking at the lens naturally, rather than darting between your own video and participant thumbnails. Consistent eye contact builds presence, establishes credibility, and keeps your audience engaged throughout the session.
Vocal Variety and Pausing
Monotone delivery is one of the quickest ways to lose attention in a virtual presentation. Using vocal variety by altering your pitch, pace, and volume, adds energy and keeps participants attentive. For example, slow down when introducing a critical point, and use emphasis or a slightly louder tone to highlight important ideas.
Deliberate pauses are equally important. Silence gives participants time to absorb key information, consider examples, or mentally respond to a question. Pausing before or after major points can also create a sense of anticipation, making your content feel more impactful. Practicing these techniques ensures your audience not only hears your message but retains it.
Interactive Moments
Interactive elements such as polls, chat questions, and exercises transform your presentation from a passive experience into an active learning opportunity. For instance, a quick poll can check understanding or gather opinions, while a brief exercise encourages participation and reinforces key concepts.
Encouraging responses in the chat, asking open ended questions, or using breakout rooms for small group discussions also enhances engagement. Interactive moments increase focus, make the audience feel involved, and improve long term retention of your message. Even in large webinars, incorporating interaction at regular intervals prevents fatigue and keeps energy levels high.
Supporting Slides
Slides should complement, not dominate, your presentation. They are most effective when visually reinforcing your message rather than replacing your voice. Use slides strategically with images, graphics, charts, or a few key words to highlight important points.
Avoid cluttered slides with dense text or bullet points, which can distract and reduce engagement. Instead, ensure that slides support your narrative and allow your personality and delivery to remain the focus. Properly designed slides maintain audience attention and enhance comprehension, especially when paired with eye contact, vocal variety, and interactive techniques.
Practice Regularly to Build Camera Presence
Consistent practice is the cornerstone of confident virtual presentations. Being comfortable on camera does not happen overnight, it requires deliberate, repeated practice. The more time you spend practicing your delivery, the more natural and engaging you will appear to your audience.
Repetition Builds Confidence
Every video call, no matter how small or informal, is an opportunity to rehearse. Treat team meetings, client check ins, or even casual virtual conversations as mini practice sessions. Focus on speaking clearly, projecting energy, and maintaining a professional on camera presence.
Repetition reduces anxiety because it familiarizes you with the experience of being on camera. The first time you present virtually, you may feel self-conscious about your presentation. With repeated practice, this becomes second nature, allowing you to focus on your message rather than worrying about how you appear. Even practicing short segments of your presentation or key talking points can build confidence for larger, higher stakes sessions.
Develop Second Nature Skills
Consistent practice allows essential presentation skills to become automatic. Eye contact with the camera, vocal tone, pacing, hand gestures, and overall energy delivery improve with repetition. Over time, these skills integrate naturally into your presentation style, making you appear confident and authentic.
To enhance these skills further, consider recording your practice sessions. Reviewing recordings helps you identify areas for improvement, from speaking clarity and body language to timing and visual engagement. Practicing in front of the camera regularly ensures that when you present to a larger or more critical audience, your delivery feels polished, natural, and fully under control. Want to learn more about polishing your public speaking delivery? Check out the Ultimate Guide to Public Speaking.
By building camera presence through consistent practice, you transform the virtual presentation experience from a stressful event into a familiar, manageable, and even enjoyable activity. The more comfortable you become on camera, the more your personality and energy can shine, keeping your audience engaged and connected throughout your session. These skills become transferrable into the marketing space too, where you might be recording videos for social media.
Optimize Your Virtual Environment
The environment in which you deliver a virtual presentation has a direct impact on how your audience perceives you. Unlike in person settings, where you can rely on natural stage presence, virtual audiences are highly influenced by visual and audio cues. A cluttered or distracting environment can pull attention away from your message, while a well-prepared space enhances professionalism, focus, and engagement.
Clean and Professional Backdrop
A clean and professional backdrop is essential for maintaining audience focus. Ensure that your background is free from clutter, personal items, or distracting visuals that could draw attention away from you. Neutral walls, simple decoration, or branded backgrounds work best for professional settings.
Lighting is equally important. Position yourself so your face is well lit, ideally with natural light or soft front facing lights, while avoiding harsh backlighting that creates shadows. A well lit, visually appealing environment communicates professionalism and keeps your audience focused on your message.
Sound quality also contributes to perception. Minimise background noise by using a quiet room, close windows, and consider using a quality microphone or headset. Small adjustments in your environment can dramatically improve how clear, credible, and engaging your presentation feels.
Notes and Prompts
Accessible, minimal notes and prompts are a valuable tool for virtual presentations. Place them strategically around your camera so you can glance at them without breaking eye contact with your audience. Notes should be concise and aligned with your Open, Body, Close structure, giving you a safety net without turning your delivery into a scripted reading.
Use prompts to remind yourself of key transitions, examples, or interactive elements rather than full sentences. This allows you to maintain natural flow, energy, and authenticity, keeping your personality front and center. Having notes nearby reduces anxiety, supports confidence, and ensures that you stay on track even during longer or more complex presentations.
By carefully optimising both your physical environment and the placement of notes, you create a professional, distraction free setting that enhances engagement, reinforces your message, and allows your presence and personality to shine through every virtual presentation.
More From Liam Sandford
Read my book: Effortless Public Speaking. Learn how to speak confidently, reduce stress, and turn public speaking into your competitive advantage. These actionable public speaking tips will help you improve your presentation skills for any audience.
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