You finished delivering your entire online video presentation. You’re feeling terrific. After all, the presentation went off without a hitch, the audience asked some good questions (which you handled appropriately), and you ended with a spirited call-to-action.
Mission accomplished!
Maybe.
Did Your Online Presentation Miss its Target?
If, a day or two later, your call-to-action seems to have been forgotten (or worse, ignored), you should be asking yourself, “What went wrong?”
Chances are, you haven’t done anything wrong. But you may have been assuming that a brilliantly delivered presentation, by itself, would accomplish your goals.
Essential Online Presentation Follow-up Actions To-Dos
Your presentation does not end with your last slide and the roaring applause from your audience. To make the biggest impression and, more importantly, get your desired result, do these 6 Follow-up Actions After Your Online Presentation is Over
1. Confirm that you accomplished your presentation’s specific purpose
What was the specific purpose of your presentation? Was it to inform your audience, get resources committed, get alignments from various constituents, or something else? Take a moment and think about what you communicated and how it aligned (or didn’t) with your specific purpose? If it did, everything is cool. But if not, determine what you need to communicate now, and to whom, to achieve your specific purpose.
2. Follow-up and provide answers to any open items or questions
Often, your audience will ask questions that you defer due to time constraints. You may get asked a question that you don’t know the answer. Or a question might require further research. In any event, it is not a crime to tell the audience ‘you don’t know’ and that you will “follow-up”. It’s always good to have a trusted colleague taking notes in this situation. That way, you can review all open questions at the end of the presentation while remaining focused on delivering the presentation. And checking the open questions conveys that you care about the group’s questions and have a plan to follow-up.
But here’s the secret – you need to actually follow-up. Research the appropriate answers and then communicate them to the entire team who attended the presentation. This simple action serves to remind the audience of your presentation and its specific purpose. Plus, your diligent follow-up underscores that you care about their concerns and questions.
3. Check-in with your decision-makers and influencers
This may seem obvious, but presenters often presume their audience understood 100% of what was being communicated and asked. The reality, of course, is something less. So, meet, call or email your decision-makers and influencers to check-in with them. If you are seeking a decision or commitment of resources, now is the time to ask. And by encouraging a discussion with decision-makers and influencers, you will understand any remaining questions, concerns, and roadblocks.
4. Solicit feedback from the audience
The best feedback often comes after someone has had time to process the information delivered in a presentation. A day or two later, you reiterate that you value your colleague’s feedback by soliciting advice. Moreover, people are more likely to give you thoughtful feedback once they have had time to ponder your material.
5. Follow-up with those who couldn’t attend
Everyone is busy, and busy enterprises often mean people need to be in more than one place at a time. So be sure to follow-up with those who could not attend, giving priority to critical decision-makers and influencers. You don’t necessarily need to deliver the entire presentation, but a quick video or call enables you to highlight your key points and ask for support.
6. Debrief with trusted advisors/colleagues to understand what worked and what can be improved for future presentations
Take the perspective that every online presentation can be improved. Ask those that you trust what worked and what didn’t. Did you adequately prepare? Were your ideas clearly communicated? Was your presentation style engaging? Were you a bore? There are potentially lots of questions to ask, but I think you get the idea.
And so, in Conclusion…
Delivering an online Presentation with impact requires a superset of skills relative to in-person presenting. But, in both cases, follow-up is necessary to make sure your efforts yield the desired result.
TalkShop has a complete workshop to sharpen your online presentation skill set. With all the time we are spending online, this workshop is really resonating with teams. Interested? Please talk with us.
