Speaking at Conferences and Webinars: 15 Effective Steps

Let’s face it—speaking at conferences or webinars can give you major butterflies. We’ve all been there, worrying about tech issues, audience reactions, or just going totally blank in the middle of your talk. Yep, it’s totally normal to feel that pinch.

But here’s the good news: with some simple tips and tricks, you can beat those nerves and deliver a fantastic presentation every time. Stick around, and you’ll see how easy it is to get prepared, engage your audience, and confidently handle technology issues—no sweat.

Ready to rock your next event? Let’s jump right in!

1. Prepare Your Content for the Audience

Alright, let’s start with the basics: knowing your audience makes or breaks your presentation. If you’re speaking at a webinar or conference, it’s not enough to wing it or use the slides from your last talk.

Spend some time figuring out who your attendees actually are—are they beginners or seasoned pros? This info will guide your message so you’re speaking their language.

A quick trick: Look up previous conference materials or social media posts related to the event. See who comments and engages; this gives you a sense of who shows up and participates.

Avoid cramming too many points in your presentation. Most keynote sessions nowadays run 30 minutes or less, making every minute count, so stick to three to five key takeaways for maximum impact.

Consider creating an easy-to-follow structure for your talk, similar to how well-planned course outlines help guide educational content. This helps attendees stay with you from start to finish.

Practice your content with a friend or co-worker. Not only does this ease public-speaking nerves, but they’ll also tell you if a story drags on too long or if something isn’t clear.

2. Use Interactive Elements to Engage

Let’s be real, no one’s attention span likes long monologues, especially online. Variety is your friend, so sprinkle interactive elements throughout your presentation.

Polls, short quizzes, or even quick breakout sessions keep listeners involved. For online events, platforms like Zoom or WebEx have built-in polling, so learn these beforehand or have someone help you run them smoothly.

Consider including a quick and simple quiz mid-way through your session, similar to when teachers use strategies on how to make quizzes engaging for students. It wakes people up and shows you’re paying attention to their participation.

If you’re using slides, develop visuals that showcase your points clearly, including images, graphs, or short videos. Just don’t overcrowd your slides—too much text and folks will tune out.

Encouraging chat discussions also keeps energy up. Ask attendees to type a short answer or personal example in the chat and acknowledge interesting responses as they pop up.

3. Tell Stories to Connect with Attendees

Stories aren’t just reserved for campfires—they’re your secret weapon to grabbing attention fast. Telling a brief, relevant story or experience at the start hooks your audience from the get-go.

Relatable stories help attendees see you as a real person, making your ideas memorable and easy to understand. Whether it’s about your first time speaking publicly or a funny mishap related to the topic, make it genuine and brief.

Think of your presentation as providing a journey for your listener. Begin with a situation they might face, describe how you handled it, and conclude by tying it neatly to your main strategy or point.

Using real-life scenarios helps attendees grasp concepts better, just like how clear examples guide effective lessons in teaching. Check out this resource if you want to learn more about planning successful presentations using beginner-friendly lesson planning methods.

Avoid going on tangents—your story should directly support the topic you’re discussing. That keeps your talk cohesive and meaningful.

4. Deliver with Passion and Enthusiasm

If you don’t sound excited about your topic, there’s no way your attendees will be.

Showing genuine passion isn’t about shouting or waving your hands wildly—you simply want your audience to feel that you really care about what you’re sharing.

One way is making sure to highlight the parts of your content you’re genuinely interested in or passionate about and emphasizing them clearly.

Vary your pitch and speed to avoid sounding monotone or robotic—think of it like chatting with friends about something exciting rather than reading off slides.

Light-hearted humor works wonders to keep enthusiasm flowing—just make sure your jokes are appropriate for your audience and topic.

5. Communicate Non-Verbally with Body Language

Body language is a big deal—even behind a webcam, your gestures and posture tell a story on their own.

Sit or stand straight to show confidence (maybe even position your laptop on a stack of books if needed to get the perfect angle).

Use your hands naturally while speaking—but don’t wave around constantly, which can distract rather than engage.

Avoid crossing arms tightly across your body because this can come off as closed-off or defensive on camera.

A friendly smile also helps break down digital barriers and makes attendees feel like they’re with you instead of miles away.

6. Maintain Eye Contact through the Camera

Here’s a common online speaking mistake: staring at your own image or the attendees’ faces instead of the camera lens itself.

Looking right into the camera mimics eye contact, making the people listening feel you’re talking to them personally.

A neat little hack is placing a sticky note or small object next to your webcam as a reminder to maintain that direct gaze.

Occasionally glancing at attendee reactions or the chat window to gauge reactions helps, but keep returning your focus straight into the lens.

If your camera is placed oddly or too high, consider repositioning it so your gaze feels natural.

7. Set Up Your Technical Equipment Properly

Nothing frustrates attendees faster than tech problems like buffering videos, echoing audio or glitchy webcams.

Use a quality external microphone instead of relying on built-in laptop mics for clearer sound (a cheap lapel mic often works great).

Make sure you have adequate internet speed—ideally, plug into ethernet over relying solely on Wi-Fi to avoid unexpected connection drops.

Have a backup device ready like a smartphone or tablet that can quickly join if your main computer decides to crash right before you go live.

Always position yourself with clear lighting, ideally facing a natural light source, so attendees aren’t trying to make out a mysterious shadowy figure on screen.

8. Master the Webinar Software for Seamless Delivery

You won’t be able to confidently switch slides, lead polls, or manage breakout rooms if you’re fumbling around the software features last minute.

Schedule a test session by yourself or with one person to familiarize with tools like Zoom, WebEx or whichever platform your event uses.

Practice using key interactive features like screen sharing, polling, chat moderation or virtual whiteboards, which different platforms handle differently.

If your session is hybrid, consider reviewing some of these effective teaching strategies used by educators in multiple formats for engaging your audience both remotely and in-person at the same time.

The goal: using the software becomes second nature, so you’re comfortable interacting naturally with it throughout your talk.

9. Conduct Tech Checks Before the Event

Prep time is absolutely necessary: Do tech rehearsals several days in advance and once again around 1-2 hours before going live.

Use the same headset, microphone, and camera you’ll use during the event so you can troubleshoot if anything acts up.

Test everything—the wifi speed, lighting conditions, sound clarity, camera angle, and how smoothly those slides transition.

If you’ve got a backup device ready for any emergencies, confirm it reconnects easily even when your main device is active.

Doing dry runs beforehand minimizes anxiety and allows you to comfortably focus entirely on your delivery during the live event.

10. Stay Composed under Pressure

Mistakes—even small ones—feel bigger when you’re live, but attendees often don’t notice or don’t mind nearly as much as you think.

If things go wrong—slides freeze, you misspeak—acknowledge it briefly, then smoothly move on without getting overly flustered.

Taking a brief pause, breathing calmly, and smiling through a hiccup conveys confidence and professionalism.

Consider having concise notes printed out as backup, so if your visuals stall temporarily, you can smoothly continue speaking until everything is resolved.

The audience isn’t expecting perfection; just sincerity, good content, and a professional demeanor— don’t beat yourself up too much about tiny glitches.

11. Manage Your Time Effectively

With most keynote presentations now running under 30 minutes, structuring your talk like a well-planned lesson outline helps you hold attention and manage those precious minutes effectively.

Use simple cues like an outline or printed timer to pace your delivery, keeping an eye on your speaking speed and trimming useless fluff.

Try practicing with intervals that align exactly with the timing of your actual presentation slots, so your internal clock naturally keeps subconsciously ticking.

Always have a digital timer clearly visible during your talk—maybe a phone placed by your laptop—to avoid any time surprises.

If you’re ahead of time, have optional points or questions prepared you can smoothly switch to; if you’re late, calmly summarize points faster without panicking.

12. Encourage Audience Participation

Ending up talking at attendees instead of with them is a quick way to lose their interest.

Polls, quizzes, discussion prompts, or asking attendees to use chat features not only break up lecture-style talks but also encourage active involvement.

Specifically calling out responses or questions from chat engages quietly listening attendees and helps develop genuine connection with the crowd.

Make participants feel heard by acknowledging their names or comments directly when addressing their points or answering their questions.

Carefully structure your session content in advance to naturally weave engagement opportunities throughout your presentation rather than scrambling last second to squeeze interactions in.

13. Monitor and Respond to Feedback in Real-time

Keep an eye on chat or Q&A panels (and ideally have someone else dedicated to helping moderate) so you immediately see what’s resonating, confusing, or sparking interests.

If multiple attendees flag the same point of confusion, pause briefly to re-express that point differently before moving forward.

If someone offers a particularly good insight, highlight it quickly and incorporate it into your discussion—it encourages more people to chime in.

Acting on feedback instantly creates a two-way conversation where attendees feel their input genuinely shapes your talk direction rather than just passively listening.

14. Share Event Recordings with Attendees

Nearly half of attendees might tune in remotely if unable to attend in-person, and hybrid events offering session recordings afterward have become increasingly popular.

Share your recorded session promptly after the webinar or conference by email; include timestamps highlighting key points or engaging sections so people can quickly navigate to points of interest.

Consider adding short supplementary notes or references with the recording—sharing valuable content creates additional goodwill and solidifies your expertise in attendees’ minds.

15. Engage on Social Media After the Event

Continue conversations afterward, posting highlights or answering additional attendee questions on platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter.

Encourage attendees to tag you in their posts so conversations can evolve naturally and extend the lifetime of your presentation reach.

Acknowledge attendee insights online, further building connection and increasing your visibility among potential future audiences or event organizers.

This continuous presence after the event builds your reputation long-term, potentially increasing acceptance rates for future speaker proposals (which generally hover around 30%).

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