Tips and Tricks
Presenter Tips
- Provide clear objectives for presenting the webinar and list any intended outcome(s).
- Know your WebEx® software.
- Provide clear instructions on the collaboration tools and ground rules (ie..mute your phone) etc.
- Use a headset with a microphone.
- Vary your tone of voice and enunciate.
- Speak slowly.
- Limit “pause” words like: “um,” “like you know,” “ah,” etc.
- Avoid reading your slides to the audience.
- Interact with and engage your participants every 4 minutes or so.
- If you are using a webcam, stay in frame, be still, and in focus.
- Enlist a producer to assist you during the webinar (OED can help).
- Practice your webinar with your producer.
- Acknowledge your participants by first name.
- Enthusiasm works!
- Be prepared and practice.
- Avoid “information dumping” on your students!
PowerPoint® Tips
- Create a powerful Welcome slide.
- Use relevant graphics to emphasize key points.
- Use animations and transitions wisely. For example, having text and graphics appear on screen just when you need them can be a nice touch, but overdoing animation detracts from your presentation.
- Avoid using all-text slides and reading to the audience.
- Use high-contrast colors on your slides.
- Choose a light slide background color with dark text.
- Use the SmartArt tool in PowerPoint® to create interesting graphics with text. Animate parts of the SmartArt graphic so that each object can be displayed as you present them.
- Leave some white empty space on your slides.
- Use sans-serif fonts, such as Helvetica or Arial for text.
- Include appropriate USGS branding on your slides.
- Include accessibility (Section 508) requirements for people with disabilities:
- Have a script for your presentation and make it available to your participants.
- Make sure all graphics or photos have an ALT tag describing the image.
- Videos must be closed-captioned or a script provided for your blind participants.
- Avoid using red, orange, or green as a text color. Eight percent of men and 0.5 percent of females have a form of color blindness. (Wikipedia, Color blindness)
- For tables, make sure each column has a heading.
- Use a live, real-time, captioning service for deaf or hard-of-hearing participants.