You will deliver a real online presentation to a small audience and review the recording.
Arjun's clinic managers' talk went well in the room. A month later, the group's regional director asked him to present the same findings to clinic managers in two other countries, by video. He assumed it would be easy, since the content was ready. Then he remembered his laptop fan, his habit of looking at the faces on the screen instead of the lens, and the silence he usually got when he asked an online group for questions.
This exercise puts everything from module 8 together in a real online talk, delivered to a small audience and reviewed from the recording. It takes about thirty minutes, plus the time to set up a call with two or three people.
Find two or three people who will join a video call for about twenty minutes. Colleagues, friends or family all work. If you can, include at least one person who does not know your subject, because they will tell you when they got lost.
Use the platform you are most likely to present on for real. Before the call, set up your space using lesson 8.1, Camera, light and sound that make you easy to watch: camera at eye level, light in front of you, headset or earphones with a microphone. Then run your checklist from lesson 8.3, Share your screen without the usual mess: close other apps, turn on do-not-disturb, choose the single window to share, and set up your notes.
Arjun invited a colleague, his friend Mei, who works in logistics, and his sister, who had already heard his core message test back in module 1.
Adapt your talk to a ten-minute online version. Online talks should run shorter than their in-room versions, as lesson 8.2, Keep a remote audience with you, explained, so cut back to your core message, your three points with their strongest evidence, and your close.
Build in at least two interaction points, ideally about five minutes apart. Choose from the options in lesson 8.2: a question for the chat with a one-word or number answer, a quick poll, or calling on someone by name with warning. Plan exactly what you will ask and when, and note it in your outline.
Arjun's two interaction points: after his opening, "In the chat, type the day of the week you think has the most missed appointments." And before his third point, "Mei, I'll come to you in a moment for the view from someone outside healthcare." The chat answers were split between Monday and Friday, which gave him a natural lead into the Monday chart.
At the start of the call, ask everyone's permission to record, and start recording only once they agree. If you are using a work platform, check your company's policy on recording calls too. Then give your ten-minute talk as you would for a real audience, with your interaction points, and take a few minutes of questions before your final close.
Treat it as the real thing. Do not stop to restart if something goes wrong. If the screen share freezes or the chat stays silent, handle it as you would on the day. That is useful practice in itself.
Afterwards, thank your audience and ask each of them one question: "What was the moment you were least engaged?" Their answers are often more useful than general praise.
Watch the recording from start to finish, as one of your audience would have seen it. Do not skip ahead, and do not analyse as you go the first time. Just notice how it feels to watch.
Then review it again with four columns on a page: camera, sound, energy and interaction. Under camera, note your framing, your light and how often you looked at the lens. Under sound, note clarity, background noise and volume. For energy, note your pace, your voice and whether you sounded as engaged as you would in a room. Under interaction, note whether your interaction points worked, how many people responded, and whether there were long stretches with no change.
Arjun's notes. Camera: framing good, but he looked at the lens only twice, both during the opening. Sound: clear, no fan noise, but the earphone cable rustled against his collar whenever he gestured. Energy: flatter than in the room, and his pace slowed noticeably in the middle section. Interaction: the chat question worked well, but he forgot to come back to Mei for nearly two minutes after warning her.
Finally, pick one small, specific fix for each of the four areas. Arjun's list: a sticky note with an arrow beside the camera to remind him to look at it during key points; the earphone cable clipped to his shirt so it could not rub; more variation in his voice in the middle section, practised with a recording; and calling on a warned person within one point.
You are finished when you have a recording of a ten-minute online presentation with at least two interaction points, a short four-column review of camera, sound, energy and interaction, and a list of the fixes you made in each area. If you can, test the fixes in a short second call, even five minutes with one person. Your next step is to choose your audience and send the invitation now, with a time in the next week.
Deliver the online talk, review the recording, and list the fixes you made for camera, sound, energy and interaction.
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