Find Your Local Club
ASC-wording-logo-transparent-retina
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Aims & Organisation
    • Meet the National Team
    • Speakers Clubs
    • Membership
    • National Conference
    • FAQs
  • What We Do
    • ASC Development Pathway
    • Become a Better Speaker
    • Become a Better Presenter
    • Become a Better Leader
  • What’s On
    • Club Meetings
    • ASC Events
    • National Conference 2023
  • Resources
    • Development Pathway
      • The Pathway
      • Qualifications & Certificates
    • Speaker & Presenter
      • Speech
      • Evaluation
      • Topics
      • Applied
      • Online
      • Education Sessions
      • World Speech Day
      • Games & Activities
      • General
    • Leadership
      • ASC Roles
      • Judging
      • Leadership Awards
      • Feedback
    • ASC Competitions
      • Roles
      • Rules
      • Marking Sheets
      • Previous Winners
  • The Speaker
  • ASC Governance
    • Our Policies
    • Regions and Areas
    • Clubs – Roles & Meetings
    • The Speakers Guide
    • Forms
    • Marketing Assistance
  • Blog
  • Partners
  • Shop
  • Contact

3 simple tips to help you nail Zoom

by Editorial Team Leave a Comment

Using Zoom for work?

In the last 10 months, many of us have had to move to online platforms for work as well as play, whether that’s for meetings, presentations, or even job interviews. And speaking online should be easy, right? After all, all you have to do is log on, remember to unmute and off you go.

But for anyone who has been Zooming regularly (other online platforms are available), you’ll know that it’s not necessarily as easy as it looks. So with this in mind, and having taken part in a lot of Zoom meetings here at the ASC, we thought we’d share three essential lessons we’ve learned during the last 10 months:

online public speaking tips 1. Invest in some lighting.

Unless you have a home studio, lighting can be a real problem, with your face cast in darkness, or with strange shadows falling across your eyes. With your audience now only able to see your head, your facial expressions and eye contact have become two of your most important tools and will send valuable non-verbal messages to your audience. If your face is in shade, this is lost and it can be both distracting and off-putting as well as made more obvious if the person who appears on the screen next to you is well lit. A simple ring light and stand is a cost-effective solution and can be positioned behind your computer. You can adjust the light levels and the tone of the light (from bright white to golden) which will fall equally across your face. No weird or unsightly shadows in sight! Just you, at your best.

2. Consider recording yourself.

And then playing it back. There are a number of things you need to think about when you’re online: your background, what you’re wearing, the position of your camera and your head on the screen, and your eye contact. One of the quickest ways to check how you look is to do a dummy run and play it back to yourself. You may find that you hadn’t realised the dog was in the background having a scratch (or worse), that your funky earrings are too distracting or that your eyes appear to be focussed somewhere above the screen.

3. Think carefully about your notes.

You won’t always need to use notes but when you do, this will require a little planning. The noise of notes rustling can be amplified by your speakers, and if you have them on your desk, you are at risk of constantly looking down and away from the screen. You will also be amazed at how obvious it is when someone is reading, as their eyes move from left to right. There isn’t necessarily a right or a wrong answer when it comes to notes, but you need to try different things, record yourself, and see what works best for you.

So there you have it. Three super easy tips to help you improve the quality of your Zooming. And if you’d like to learn more, or if you’d like a safe and supportive place to practise your Zooming (somewhere where you’ll get valuable and constructive feedback too), why not come along to one of our many Zoom meetings.

Get in touch to find out more.

Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged With: online public speaking, Public speaking, public speaking tools, publicspeakingtips

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Find Us On Facebook

The Association of Speakers Clubs

Join Our Mailing list

Keep Up to date

Get regular updates from The Speakers Club
!
!
Subscribe Now
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.

Essential Resources

  • ASC Governance
  • Our Policies
  • National Conference and AGM
  • Regions and Areas
  • Areas
  • Clubs – Roles & Meetings
  • The Speakers Guide
  • Policies & Compliance
  • Forms
  • Marketing Assistance

Quick Contact

Please enter your name.
Please enter a valid email address.
Please type your message.
Send
Message failed. Please try again.

Thanks for your message! We’ll be in touch soon.

Privacy Policy

© 2023 the-asc.org.uk
Maintained & Hosted by Ellosk09.com

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT