When Online, Human Presence becomes Paramount

Presenting online with a whiteboard

Say no to screen-sharing for at least 5 minutes.

Screen sharing dehumanizes us as we become a little itty bitty person in the corner. Instead of screen sharing right away, open with a story, use a whiteboard for visuals, use a prop--or do all 3!

We need to establish our connection and our humanity before we can disappear. And then when we do screen share, use the cameo feature in PowerPoint so you don't disappear completely into the corner. This let's you maintain a dynamic presence within the PowerPoint.

Using the Cameo function to appear inside your PowerPoint

And the advantage of Cameo over other programs (mmhmm, OBS, etc.) is that you can do the dynamic aspect all in pre-production so wen you are presenting all you have to think about is presenting.

Here's a short video where I talk about more about the importance of this approach, give an example of whiteboard, prop, and PP cameo based presenting. Then as bonus, there's quick directions on how to activate Cameo in your PowerPoint to get started.

So next time you present online, remember, the audience's demand for the interaction to be more human gets higher not lower as we enter a digital medium.

And 2 bonus videos about the set-up.

The cameras I'm using for toggling between whiteboard and cameo

& why having them portable matters for mental health.

The camera I'm using for the whiteboard work

& how this helps with my coaching work too.