Differences between online and live presentations
Performing online is different from performing live in many ways. Our silhouette is visible only from the waist up, because normally we sit during conference calls, which allows free access to the computer screen and keyboard. The perception of sound and image may also be different, as they may be distorted by digital processing and unstable internet connection. In online meetings, there is a rule that the microphones are turned off due to static and reverberation. For this reason, there is no auditory interaction with the audience (Harper, 2020).
Online presentations during COVID-19
In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 88% of companies switched to remote work (Puls HR, 2020). The OECD estimates that in Poland about 58% of jobs require being physically present in a shop, office or factory. Among all respondents, 12% wanted to keep working remotely, 14% preferred a hybrid model and 16% wanted to return to the workplace (Business Insider, 2021). The pandemic also changed the way we share private information and shifted the boundaries of socially acceptable behaviour (Nabity-Grover et al., 2020). As Crabtree and Pillow (2018) showed, sharing your private life online can help build a positive image.
Remote learning and studying online
This raises the question of whether studying and working remotely can be effective. Students taking online anatomy classes rated them positively but found them less engaging than classes with real bodies (Klein et al., 2020). In a study of people learning English online, Alfadda and Mahdi (2021) found a strong positive correlation between using Zoom and students’ attitudes and intentions to keep learning.
In another study, many students found five days of Zoom classes a heavy burden, and most wanted to return to the classroom. At the same time, they appreciated that recordings allowed them to revisit the material at any time (Roy et al., 2020). During the pandemic, the term “Zoom fatigue” was coined to describe exhaustion from taking part in online meetings on platforms such as Zoom, Skype or Microsoft Teams.
Disadvantages of online presentations and video calls
A study by Jeremy Bailenson (2021) at Stanford University showed that video calls can affect participants negatively. We are exposed to excessive close-up eye contact, which doesn’t happen in live meetings, and seeing ourselves on screen makes us constantly monitor our facial expressions and body language. Sitting in front of a computer also means we move much less, which may reduce our cognitive performance. Finally, because we can’t see other people’s whole bodies, we miss many gestures and body language cues, which increases cognitive load and makes it harder to interpret what others are saying (Bailenson, 2021).
Advantages of online meetings
However, there are also positive indications for online meetings. 74% of respondents believed that after the end of the pandemic, conferences should continue to be held virtually or contain such elements. Online conferences give you more opportunities to participate in the event to people from all over the world, thanks to lower costs, without the need to travel and generate a carbon footprint. On the other hand, they make it impossible to create conditions for networking as before and make it difficult to participate in the case of living in a different time zone (Remmel, 2021).
How to do online presentations?
A person who speaks in public must meet many criteria to come across as professional. When presenting online, they also need to operate equipment for sound, monitoring and video recording and take care of the space they’re presenting from. As a result, they may experience a greater cognitive load (Boutin, 2020). Apart from technical aspects, the quality of an online presentation is influenced mainly by the presenter’s head and upper-body movements and gestures(Chakravarty et al., 2015). In video conferences, both the speaker and the audience are responsible for technical preparation, which isn’t the case during live presentations (Michels and Chang, 2011).
What most distinguishes online presentations from live ones is the lack of direct interaction with the audience. However, remote presentations can still be satisfying, as shown by Hamdan and colleagues (2021). Students who switched to remote learning in 2020 were satisfied with it when they could interact with other participants and use interactive content (Hamdan et al., 2021). This suggests that online presentations should be designed to be interactive.
Summary
The cited research shows that online speaking differs in many respects from live speaking. Listening to speeches online can cause audience fatigue due to a higher cognitive load, which can affect how the speaker is perceived by the audience. People presenting themselves virtually may consider the different specificity of such speeches – background, interaction, equipment, to achieve the intended impression and effects.
Bibliography:
- Alfadda, H.A., Mahdi, H.S. (2021). Measuring Students’ Use of Zoom Application in Language Course Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.
- Bailenson, J.N. (2021). Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue. Technology, Mind and Behaviour, 2(1).
- Bursak, l. (2019). Szkoła mówców. Wydawnictwo One Press.
- Business Insider (2021). Pół Polski przeszło w pandemii na pracę zdalną? Rzeczywiste liczby zaskakują: https://businessinsider.com.pl/firmy/praca-zdalna-w-polsce-w-czasie-pandemii-ilu-z-nas-pracowalo-z-domu/c5rwvdm
- Chakravarty, P., Mirzaei, S., Tuytelaars, T. i Hamme Van, H. (2015). Who’s Speaking? Audio-Supervised Classification of Active Speakers in Video. Publikacja z International Conference on Multimodal Interaction. Seattle, USA.
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- Harper, H. (2020). Coronavirus, and moving presentations online: https://www.brightcarbon.com/blog/coronavirus-and-moving-presentations-online/
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- Puls HR (2020). 88 proc. firm wykorzystuje pracę zdalną w czasie pandemii: https://www.pulshr.pl/zarzadzanie/88-proc-firm-wykorzystuje-prace-zdalna-w-czasie-pandemii,72240.html
- Remmel, A. (2021). Scientists want virtual meetings to stay after the COVID pandemic. Nature 591, s. 185-186.
- Roy, H., Ray, K., Saha, S., Ghosal, A.K. (2020). A Study on Students’ Perceptions for Online Zoom-app based Flipped Class Sessions on Anatomy Organised during the Lockdown Period of COVID-19 Epoch. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research 14(6).
Author:
Hi, I’m Magda Kern. I’m a psychologist, the top 11 public speaking coach worldwide, a lecturer, working for companies from the Fortune 500 list, a business trainer with 12 years of experience, a TEDx coach, and an ex-vocalist based in Switzerland. I help people prepare and deliver unforgettable presentations and deal with stress.