Prepare and Deliver Remote Presentations

Sven Peters
June 26, 2020 | Updated: May 26, 2022

When we talk about delivering a presentation we assume a stage or at least people physically sitting in a room. While this has some challenges on its own giving a presentation remotely from your desk is different. You don't have the immediate reaction of the audience like people laughing about your jokes. On the other side of the screen people can leave much more easily. It's simple to close the stream compared to sneaking out of a session room. You'll need to adopt your presentation to these circumstances.

Planning the talk

Plan for a strong start

The beginning of a presentation is much more important in a virtual environment. It's easier to leave a virtual presentation than to leave a room at a conference. Starting with a story or with information that captures the attention of the audience will make it more likely for them to stay through the rest of the presentation.

Appealing slides

Staring at a screen for one hour can be quite tiring. Therefore it is even more important for a remote presentation to not just show boring slides (for example, just slides with bullet points), but more interesting or interactive ones. Often people only see your slides and hear your voice. Even a tiny camera feed doesn't make a huge difference. So be sure to put in a little more effort on your slides!

Be interactive

At a presentation on stage you can ask for a "show of hands". How about in virtual talks? You can still do that and you should. It helps you connecting with your audience. Not only that, you can imagine a lot of people watching the presentation will nod but it also reminds you that you're not doing that talk just for yourself or for a machine, but for many others.

Some platforms let you do live polls. Ask questions, give people the possibility to pick an answer on screen, and share the results with the audience. It helps make your presentation much more engaging.

Look for a co-presenter

The dynamic when presenting with two people is often very different than presenting alone. It helps you sound more natural and engaging. This, of course, can cause some issues in handing over the control for the slides or screen sharing but it can improve the overall experience.

Animations

Animations require quite some internet bandwidth (on the presenter and the attendee side). Avoid complicated animations if you want a smooth experience.

Prepare for delivery/recording

Camera

Some virtual conference platforms and screen capture software offers you to use your camera so people can see you while you give your presentation. Use those. It makes your presentation more interactive and the audience feels more connected. Some things to look after: clean up your office or the room you present from. Try to find a background that doesn't attract people's attention too much. Your content is what matters, not the cool picture behind you!

No interruptions

This seems obvious but you've probably seen this video:

Make sure you don't get interrupted by your co-workers or family members during your presentation or the recording of it. Tell co-workers or your family to not enter the room for an hour and put a sign at your door.

No background noise

Your connection

Have a stable internet connection. If you do this more often you should think about buying a larger package or having a second internet provider to switch to. Make sure your family is not streaming HD movies at the same time. You might need all the bandwidth.

Be ready

Reboot your home router
Reboot your laptop
Close all apps you don't need for the presentation. Especially everything that has notifications, like Slack or Mattermost.
On MacOS: Turn off all your notifications (System Preferences → Notifications)
On Windows: Turn off all your notifications (Windows Key + R → "presentationsettings.exe")
Be ready to go 30 mins before you are set to go live. Use this time to check your connection, slides etc.

Remote Q&A

At conferences people can catch you after your talk in the hallway to ask questions, in addition to the Q&A on stage. This is not possible for remote presentations. Make room for Q&A if the platform allows for it.

On a virtual platform, questions usually stream in during the talk. Some platforms allow attendees to upvote questions: concentrate on your talk and do not read questions in between. You could plan for some breaks to answer the most recent ones. Make sure your presentation flow is not affected too much by this and try to address the questions after your talk.

At the end

This is the standard for virtual presentations: answering questions at the end. The great thing about virtual platforms is that you usually can answer EVERY question:

Have a moderator pick questions and read them to you
Read out the question and answer those with the most votes
Answer other (not so highly voted) questions afterwards on the platform or on a public page

Answer questions during the talk

Instead of you answering questions directly during the talk, a co-worker can answer questions as they come into the Q&A screen. This actually adds value to a virtual live presentation compared to watching a talk on YouTube.

Another tactic is to pre-record your talk, stream it, and answer questions yourself (via chat or Q&A screen) as they come in. It can come across a bit strange since it looks like you're answering questions while also giving your presentation, so be clear about this or answer them by logging in with a different user name.

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Surviving the Stage

Most speakers are nervous before they go on stage - even the speakers that are doing this almost every day. Being in front of hundreds of people that watch you and listen to every word you say is not a usual situation. This guide hopefully helps you to be well prepared for this. We want you just to concentrate on one thing: delivering a great talk! Remember: The audience wants you to succeed. They came to your talk to learn something. Most people are probably happy to sit comfortably and enjoy your talk instead of staying on the stage. Keep that in mind: The audience is full of supportive, friendly people. Before the talk Speaking time Please double or even triple check the agenda. When is your talk? Sometimes conference organizers change the agenda last minute and forget to inform the speakers. Check again and find out what time your talk is scheduled for, even on the very same day of your presentation. Room The same applies to your room. Often the organizers of a conference pick rooms based on the people showing interest in your presentation. This can be through an app or on a webpage. Based on the popularity of the sessions that happen at the same time, they might change the room for your talk. To calm your nerves you should also check out where the room is in the building at least one hour before your talk is happening. It could also be a good idea to take a look at the room during a break. How does the setup look like? What microphone do they provide? How many seats are there? What does the stage look like? How bright are the lights? All of this can help you get more comfortable with the speaking situation. Be there on time A rule of thumb is to be in the room at least 15 minutes before your presentation starts. It could take some time to get your microphone adjusted, to connect your laptop, to try out your clicker, etc. There's often a 10+ minute break between talks. Pro tip: Don't wait outside the room if there's a presentation still going on in there. You don't want to lose setup time by letting the attendees out while you can't enter. The setup Here's a typical conference setup: a headset mic or one to put on your shirt. Handheld mics are very rare these days. It's also hard to carry a handheld mic in one hand and a clicker in the other hand for a 45 minute presentation. There's usually a technician that helps you put on the mic. Make sure the cable from the mic to the transmitter is not visible (on the back or under your shirt). It would be good to wear something with a pocket or a belt for the transmitter, which is normally the size of a box of playing cards. Furthermore you connect your laptop to the projector cable. These days HDMI is the standard and VGA is very rarely used anymore. Ask the organizers before the event what adapter cable you should bring. Often the conference sends you that information a week before you go. You put your laptop on a podium or desk. At larger stages you have a confidence monitor: a TV that is showing your actual slide. If you need to see the speaker notes on the "presenter display" of your slide software, these will be on your laptop screen for 95% of all conferences. Only large keynote stages offer the opportunity to attach another confidence monitor that shows your "presenter display". Some other things to remember when setting up: Connect your clicker and try it out Bring extra batteries for your clicker and/or a second clicker Connect your laptop to power - even if you have enough power. Some laptop models put out a stronger video signal when connected to power Turn your phone onto flight mode - you don't want to get calls on stage and the phone signal can interfere with the microphone transmitter Take off your badge - it looks unprofessional to wear a badge on stage. When you wear a MongoDB shirt, make sure the logo is visible and not hidden behind a badge Jewelery - avoid large earrings when you have a headset or bulky necklaces that may bump into a lavalier mic (those that clip onto your clothing) Don't panic A lot of speakers are asking themselves right before their talk "Why am I doing this? I could sit in the audience and listen to someone's presentation instead!" That's normal. Breathe and calm down. Here are some other tips: Bring some friends: It's always good to see a friendly, familiar face in the audience. Talk to your friend right before you go on stage so your mind is not focused too much on the challenge ahead of you. Find friendly faces: Look around in the audience and find some friendly faces. You can use those attendees later in the talk to get visual confirmation that you're doing great. Talk to people at the entrance or in the first row: have a casual conversation or just say hi. Connecting to the audience helps you to not think of them as strangers that are going to raise critical questions. Always remember: The audience wants you to succeed with your talk. They came to learn something. They don't want you to fail. The audience is full of friends that wants to support you. The talk So it's time for your talk. Someone gives you a sign or you decide to start the presentation. You go on stage. Take a deep breath. All people are looking at you. Music turns off. Silence. You start speaking. Do you have sweaty palms by just reading these lines? Here's my pro tip: Practice the first 5 minutes of your talk very intensely. You must be so well prepared that someone can wake you up in the middle of the night and you give the first 5 minutes of your presentation without thinking. If you are at that stage you can deliver the first 5 minutes of your talk without thinking about your content or looking for words. It's like putting you on auto pilot. During this first 5 minutes you get the feeling that everything works well and you'll also rock the rest of your talk. It really works. Try it. Speed I once saw a speaker giving a 40 minute presentation in 15 minutes. Talking very fast. Without a pause. You know your content: the audience doesn't. They hear everything for the first time and need some time to process the information. Slow down. Pause Use pauses for your advantage. When you stop speaking for 2-3 seconds there can be this awkward silence. Guess what: with that you get everyone's attention. People will look at you and wait to see what is coming next. Use pauses when you have something really important to say and you want everyone to hear it. Prepare or improvise? Unless you are a super natural speaker that feels comfortable on stage, don't improvise. There are not a lot of presenters that are really good at this. For all others I have one advice: stick to your script. It's not a problem that you've given the same talk before and the recording is freely available. Believe it or not: not a lot of conference participants are watching conference talks online. What's the value of improvising? Ohh ohh - Black out? The show must go on. If you stumble or you don't know how to proceed: Make a short break Take a deep breath Skip the current slide and progress with the next one Yes, you should skip it. No one knows your script and will recognize that something is missing. Just go on with your next bullet point or slide. Don't talk about the talk Some presenters start with: I worked on the slides late night, I just flew in, I added this chapter this morning, etc. The presentation is about the topic, not about how you've put together the slides or about what you did this morning. Find the nodder Believe it or not: there's always someone in the audience that nods to every argument you have. To make eye contact with this person during your talk is super motivating. It builds up your self confidence. Find the nodder. Use the stage The stage is there for a reason. Try not to hide behind the podium. Of course if you're running a demo you have to be at your laptop on the podium. If you feel comfortable use the non-demo part to move around. Don't turn your back to the audience If you need to read something from your slide, don't turn around. Normally there is a monitor on the stage showing your current slide. If not, go to your laptop and read. But don't turn your back to the audience, even if you want to point something out on your slides. Q&A You can prepare for your talk, but how about Q&A? Some speakers are afraid of Q&A sessions especially those with imposter syndrome: What if they find out that I'm not a true expert? What if I get a mean question? What if I don't know the answer? Q&A is often not under our control and this can be scary. You don't have to A lot of organizers are asking to reserve a few minutes for Q&A at the end of your talk. It makes every presentation more interactive. That's why people go to conferences instead of just watching a webinar. Here are some tips to avoid the Q&A situation: Use the full session time - This requires some training and you need to watch the clock. If you use all the time for your presentation you can end with: "I'm out of time but I'm happy to answer questions 1:1 in the hallway" Ask the organizers if it's alright to skip Q&A and offer to take questions 1:1 after your talk. I guess most organizers are fine with that. Say "I don't know" If you don't know the answer say it. There is no need to pretend. Ask the attendee for their contact information and follow up afterwards. Include the audience If you don't know the answer maybe someone in the audience does. Don't be shy to pass the question on to the audience. This is another great advantage of conferences. Prepare Guess the questions in advance. Prepare FAQs and write down the answers. If you've given a talk a few times you'll also know possible questions. People that want to argue or don't stop speaking You've got the mic. Say that you two can continue the conversation afterwards. Repeat the question If there's no mic for the audience to ask questions, make sure to repeat the question. Didn't get the question? Obviously, if you couldn't hear the question well, ask to repeat the question. If you didn't understand what the person is asking, ask them to reframe the question. If you're unsure you got it right, ask the question in your own words. Leave the stage Pack & answer Don't forget your stuff: Laptop, power supply, clicker, adapter, and take off the mic. Double check if you have everything before leaving the stage. Often people are waiting after your talk to ask questions. Pack your stuff before you answer those so the next speaker can set up their technical equipment. If there's a tight schedule leave the room and take all the people with you that have questions. Continue the conversation in the hallway. Improve the talk After answering all the questions take some time to reflect on your talk. What went well, which parts felt really good, which didn't? Write those down. If you consider giving this talk at other events, work on those improvements. Q&A is also a great indicator for which parts of the talk you could expand on.

June 26, 2020

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Building a Culture of Growth: SVP Simon Eid on MongoDB's Massive Opportunity in APAC

Simon Eid is Senior Vice President Asia-Pacific (APAC) at MongoDB and leads the sales teams across Australia and New Zealand, India, ASEAN, and Japan. Simon's go-to-market organisation in APAC is growing rapidly and has nearly tripled in size in the past three years. They are hiring in all regions . In this article, Simon discusses MongoDB’s opportunity in APAC and how he builds a culture of growth and accountability. Simon Eid, SVP APAC, MongoDB (left) and Anoop Dhankar, RVP ANZ, MongoDB (right) MongoDB's opportunity in Asia-Pacific Out of the top 13 economies by GDP in the world , five of them are located in APAC: China, Japan, Australia, India, and South Korea. And that's to say nothing of the ASEAN countries which alone have more than 650 million inhabitants. Combine this with the worldwide database market, one of the largest markets in the software industry. IDC estimates that it will grow to $137B in 2027, and MongoDB has just reached $1B in ARR. This gives you a sense of the massive market opportunity we have globally. Regardless of industry, product, or service, almost every company is becoming a technology company, which means that every company is becoming a data company. We believe MongoDB is the Developer Data Platform that is best placed to support and accelerate that trend. We’ve already captured thousands of customers around the globe, but it’s important to keep in mind that our world is still in the early stages of shifting to the cloud and changing how applications are built and run. Compared to other software, what's special about the market we play in is that the database is not a “nice-to-have”; it’s mission-critical for organisations. As our world continues to undergo this digital transformation, we have the opportunity to transform how our customers use software and data to innovate, create, and disrupt industries. For example, look at Cathay Pacific , Hong Kong's home airline carrier operating in more than 60 destinations worldwide. The company's digital team turned to MongoDB on their journey to become one of the first airlines to create a truly paperless flight deck. Flight Folder, their application built on MongoDB, consolidates dozens of different information sources into one place. Since the Flight Folder launch, Cathay Pacific has completed more than 340,000 flights with full digital integration in the flight deck. Their innovation is enabled by MongoDB. Building a team across regions and cultures Our team in APAC is unique because of the different markets and cultures within the region. What this means is that we go to market differently in India than we do in Australia, in Singapore than we do in South Korea, and so on. Each market is completely different, but within all of them, there is a huge opportunity. Different from many of our peers, in APAC we've established business leaders who run regionalized teams in India, ASEAN, and ANZ with all functions reporting to them. These teams essentially operate as their own business and implement local best practices into their strategy. But, it doesn’t mean they’re operating in a silo. At the leadership level, there is an immense amount of collaboration and sharing of experiences to identify what’s working and what isn’t within each region. We also have a fantastic global sales organisation that rolls out extensive training and best practices to help enable our local teams to best help our customers and grow the business. Members of our APAC team at a recent offsite in Phuket Culture The most important thing is culture. We have a very high standard around everything we do and how we interact with each other. We don’t entertain politics. You can teach someone new skills and coach them on how to be successful in a new role, but if they’re not aligned with the culture, they will not be a fit. It’s a non-negotiable for me and why the most important aspect of the hiring process is the cultural aspect. If you get the culture right, everything else starts to fall into place. What I hear at MongoDB and from the teams I've built at other companies is that this is the kind of culture they can really thrive and grow. At MongoDB, our culture is defined and shaped by six core values . One of the values that’s most important to my team is “Embrace the Power of Differences”. Within APAC, there are a variety of cultural identities and nuances that can often be difficult to navigate, whether it is cultural values, beliefs, or go-to-market strategy. It’s important that everyone who joins my team is respectful of each other’s regional culture. What we’ve done within the APAC region, and with teams across the globe, is take everyone on a journey to understand and embrace these cultural differences. Our role as leaders is to develop our teams, from the bottom all the way up, which is part of MongoDB’s BDR to CRO career development initiative. We need to develop the next wave of leaders so that they’re prepared to step up when the time comes. For APAC, this means that regardless of where someone is from, each team member has been coached and developed on the cultural nuances so that they can lead people and go to market in each of the different regions. It’s also important that each team member contributes to a culture of psychological safety. Being part of a high-growth tech company requires taking risks and making mistakes. We have a high standard and we hold each other accountable, but it never comes at the cost of creating an environment where people are afraid to fail. When someone faces setbacks, I encourage them to share those experiences so that we can collectively learn. Through mutual support, we foster a stronger team capable of delivering exceptional results. The future of MongoDB in Asia-Pacific For any organisation to be successful, I believe it’s critically important for the entire ecosystem to act as one. As I mentioned earlier, at MongoDB the whole country ecosystem is aligned around one set of goals, so it's not a case of different teams running off in different directions. The teams are willing to lean in and do what's required to help each other build a great business. I can confidently say that in APAC, we are one team. This means sales, marketing, customer success, solutions consulting, and professional services all working together to focus on three things: making customers successful, building technical champions, and driving new workloads. As we continue to grow our team and MongoDB’s footprint in the region, these are the three things that will drive our success. As I mentioned earlier, there's a huge opportunity for MongoDB in APAC. Despite hiring slowing down or stopping completely at many other organisations, we're continuing to invest heavily in the region. To give you a sense of that - we've nearly tripled the size of our APAC go-to-market team in the past three years, and we've got more open roles across the different functions and regions. If you want to be part of this journey, there are three things I want to reiterate: First, we are extremely passionate about our culture, from the field level up to the leadership level. As a team, this is the brand we bring to the market. Second, the opportunity here is massive based on the total addressable market and our current share. And third, we place critical importance on development. By joining this team, I can promise that you’ll be provided with countless opportunities to develop your career and make an impact. I’m confident in my team and the leadership we have in place who are ready to take MongoDB APAC to the next level. Join us !

September 28, 2023