by Katie Tindle
Over the past year or so, we here at SRHE like many others have moved our activities online. Although it has been a steep learning curve for event organisers, speakers, and delegates alike, we like to think we’ve got a few things down pat.
Our call for papers for the first virtual SRHE Conference has just closed, and knowing many of you will be considering how best to present your research at this or another academic conference in the near future, we would like to share some handy tips we’ve gathered together.
- Test your video and audio before your meeting.
We would advise having a meeting online with organisers and other presenters ahead of your session – particularly if you are working from a new space in your home or office. Speaking from experience, if you can avoid jogging around a university campus looking for a decent wifi connection 10 minutes before you present all the better. Zoom has a handy feature at https://zoom.us/test where you can test your settings without joining a real call. It’s also always worth checking you don’t have a filter turned on by accident.
- Headphones are everyone’s friend
Headphones with an attached mic are recommended when presenting not only for clear audio for you, but less background noise and more focused sound for your delegates. If your headphones don’t have a mic – not to worry, we would still recommend using them.
- Have your slides or handouts open on your desktop and ready to share with your audience.
This one sounds simple but having the things you need to hand will save you time and stress during your presentation. If you are speaking from notes consider printing them off or using a second screen.
- Use plenty of bold/easy to read visuals in your slides as the audience will only have your virtual (not your actual) presence to maintain their interest.
It’s even easier online to get distracted by either reading the slides ahead of the presenter or by drifting on to other tasks. Less is more when it comes to text on slides as you want to keep viewers focussed on your voice. Using sans serif fonts (like Calibri, Verdana, Arial) and dark coloured text on light (not white) single-coloured backgrounds is helpful for any dyslexic viewers you may be speaking to.
- Try and make sure you are somewhere quiet with no distractions (phones switched off etc) where possible.
This is easier said than done, and everyone is understanding of the odd interruption during home working. That being said, if you can be somewhere reasonably quiet you’re less likely to be flustered by external factors.
- Keep an eye on the time and rehearse timings to keep yourself on track and cover the key elements of your presentation.
Timings are always key during presentations but it’s worth bearing in mind that remote working has made it easier to book back-to-back meetings – running over may not be an option so make sure you have plenty of time for what you would like to say – plus a couple minutes extra just in case.
- Be instructive – let people know when you want them to read a slide or consider an issue.
If you would like your audience to interact, be clear in your instructions, and give them a chance to organise themselves. It will probably take your audience longer than you expect to gather themselves and formulate a response to a question for instance so don’t be too concerned if you get a couple moments of silence before responses roll in.
- Be mindful that you may be being recorded.
This may mean being aware of sensitive information, or just keeping things concise for when the recording is watched back. We would always ask your permission before making any recordings but it’s a good rule of thumb to behave as if you are being broadcast live, even if you’re not.
- Use a ‘Ghost presenter’.
This is a nominated person to keep an eye on the chat and let you know if anything is amiss during your presentation. This will normally be the chair, or if you are presenting with us, a member of the SRHE team so please do let us know if there is anything you want us to keep an eye out for in particular. If you would like to ask another colleague to be involved who has a good knowledge of your area or existing research most facilitators would welcome the extra help.
- It’s different
Finally, presenting online is just that bit different from being in the room with others. You may find it tricky to have less feedback in terms of body language from your audience, but you may reach people you would have never have been able to meet otherwise. Don’t try to replicate your in-person style exactly, and think about that this medium will offer you instead.
We hope this is helpful to some and a refresher for others. Remember – the SRHE Conference 2021, (Re)connecting, (Re)building: Higher Education in Transformative Times will take place on 6-10th December 2021 and we hope to see you there. If you are an SRHE member it’s even free to attend. You can register via this link
Katie Tindle is Team Coordinator at SRHE. She also teaches on the undergraduate Fine Art course at Central Saint Martins, University of London, and is studying for her masters at Goldsmiths, University of London.