Hello everyone! My name is Ladek and my guest for today is Bridgett McGowen. Bridgett is an award-winning author, publisher, and international speaker who is known to be both comical and memorable. She will not only energize you, but she will inspire you to not let anyone or anything get in the way of you being the most unforgettable person in the room.
In this ‘very presentable’ conversation Bridgett and I talk about
00:00 › Start
03:39 › The Art Of Engaging an audience effectively—Bridgett shares where she would start when it comes to captivating an audience, whether online or in person
04:00 › Your Engagement Style—Bridgett then tackles the positive aspects of engagement by outlining what successful engagement looks like across different teaching formats, offering actionable insights for educators and presenters alike
06:31 › Enhance, ENHANCE—Bridgett discusses common challenges faced by individuals aiming to enhance their presentation skills and provides solutions to overcome these hurdles and elevate your presenting game
08:29 › Role Nuances—Bridgett breaks down the roles of facilitator, teacher, and presenter, explaining how each persona interacts with their audience and the unique challenges they face. This segment is crucial for understanding the nuances of effective communication
14:03 › For Introverts—Bridget considers introverted professionals and their path to engagement success, by sharing personal anecdotes and tips for those who may not naturally seek the spotlight but still wish to make a significant impact
19:18 › Pacing—We shift to content delivery and pacing. Bridgett advises on how to balance your material within the constraints of time without overwhelming your audience
24:49 › Tweak It—Bridgett shares one or two small but powerful adjustments you can make to up your game in online presentations or webinars
26:33 › Cues—Finally we discuss the importance of nonverbal cues, camera positioning, and the choice of attire in enhancing online engagement. Bridgett provides practical advice to create a more personal and impactful online presence.
🎓
Subscribe for the latest news, practice and thought leadership at eLearnMagazine.com
Hello everyone! My name is Ladek and my guest for today is Bridgett McGowen. Bridgett is an award-winning author, publisher, and international speaker who is known to be both comical and memorable. She will not only energize you, but she will inspire you to not let anyone or anything get in the way of you being the most unforgettable person in the room.
In this ‘very presentable’ conversation Bridgett and I talk about
00:00 › Start
03:39 › The Art Of Engaging an audience effectively—Bridgett shares where she would start when it comes to captivating an audience, whether online or in person
04:00 › Your Engagement Style—Bridgett then tackles the positive aspects of engagement by outlining what successful engagement looks like across different teaching formats, offering actionable insights for educators and presenters alike
06:31 › Enhance, ENHANCE—Bridgett discusses common challenges faced by individuals aiming to enhance their presentation skills and provides solutions to overcome these hurdles and elevate your presenting game
08:29 › Role Nuances—Bridgett breaks down the roles of facilitator, teacher, and presenter, explaining how each persona interacts with their audience and the unique challenges they face. This segment is crucial for understanding the nuances of effective communication
14:03 › For Introverts—Bridget considers introverted professionals and their path to engagement success, by sharing personal anecdotes and tips for those who may not naturally seek the spotlight but still wish to make a significant impact
19:18 › Pacing—We shift to content delivery and pacing. Bridgett advises on how to balance your material within the constraints of time without overwhelming your audience
24:49 › Tweak It—Bridgett shares one or two small but powerful adjustments you can make to up your game in online presentations or webinars
26:33 › Cues—Finally we discuss the importance of nonverbal cues, camera positioning, and the choice of attire in enhancing online engagement. Bridgett provides practical advice to create a more personal and impactful online presence.
🎓
Subscribe for the latest news, practice and thought leadership at eLearnMagazine.com
This is the eLearn podcast. If you're passionate about the future of learning, you're in the right place. The expert guests on this show provide insights into the latest strategies, practices,
and technologies for creating killer online learning outcomes. My name's Ladek, and I'm your host from OpenLMS. The eLearn Podcast is sponsored by eLearn Magazine,
your go -to resource for all things online learning. Click -by -click how -to articles, the latest in edtech, spotlight on successful outcomes and trends in the marketplace. Subscribe today and never miss a post at elearnmagazine .com and OpenLMS,
a company leveraging open -source software to deliver effective, customized and engaging learning experiences for schools, universities, companies and government. around the world since 2005.
Learn more at OpenLMS .net. Hi there,
my name's Ladek, and my guest for today is Bridgett McGowan. Bridgett is an award -winning author, publisher, and international speaker who is known to be both comical and memorable. She will not only...
only energize you, but she will inspire you to not let anyone or anything get in the way of you being the most unforgettable person in the room. In this very presentable conversation, Bridgett and I talk about the art of engaging an audience effectively.
Bridgett shares where she would start when it comes to captivating an audience, whether it's an online or in person. Bridgett then tackles the positive aspects of engagement by outlining what successful engagement looks like across different teaching formats,
and she offers actionable insights for educators and presenters alike. Bridgett then discusses common challenges faced by individuals aiming to enhance their presentation skills and provide solutions to overcome these hurdles and elevate your presenting gain.
Bridgett then breaks down the roles of facilitator, teacher, and presenter, explaining how each Bridgett then tackles the positive aspects of engagement by outlining what successful engagement looks like across different teaching formats. Bridgett then tackles the positive aspects of engagement by outlining what successful engagement looks like across different teaching formats. with their audience and the unique challenges they face.
This segment is crucial for understanding the nuances of effective communication. Bridgett then considers introvert or professionals and their past two engagement success by sharing her personal anecdotes and tips for those who may not naturally seek the spotlight,
but still wish to make a significant impact. We then shift to content delivery and pacing. (upbeat music) Bridgett advises us on how to balance your material with a constraints of time without overwhelming your audience.
Bridgett then shares one or two small but powerful adjustments you can make to up your game in online presentations and webinars. Finally, we discuss the importance of non -verbal cues, camera positioning,
and the choice of attire in enhancing online engagement. And remember, we record this podcast live so that we can interact with you or the our listeners, in real time. So don't be surprised when you hear Bridgett and I answer questions and reactions to comments as they come in.
And if you'd like to join the fun every week on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on YouTube, on X, or on Instagram, just come over to elearnmagazine .com and subscribe. Now,
I give you a Bridgett McGowan. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Elearn podcast. How are you today? You know, we've heard my name an awful lot. But the Bridgett... show is not about me at all. It is about my guest here.
I'm very excited to welcome Bridgett McGowan to the podcast. How are you, Bridgett? - I'm great. How are you, Ladek? - I am fantastic, actually. And I can honestly say that, you know, a lot of times we say fantastic,
but I've had this series of intimate, unexpectedly amazing conversations over the last like 48 hours. I'm just, I'm glowing from these connections.
connections. I'm excited to bring that energy to this conversation today. Let's keep that trend going. Yeah, no, this is going to be awesome. I'm super excited. Tell us, we have had guests from all over the world.
What part of the world do we find you sitting in? I hail from the Phoenix, Arizona area. However, I am a native Texan, so you might get a y 'all never so often and ain't no telling what else.
- As long as I can say y 'all too. I mean, that's the only thing. Like I want to be able to say y 'all as well, like with conviction. So there you go. - I feel like I need to mail you a 10 gallon hat to make it truly.
- Oh, I'm going to bust it out. I'm going to go over here. It's on the shelf right here. I own a John B. Stetson. You didn't know that, but I do. - So, and the reason is I will tell everybody.
later. So Bridgett, you are, we're here to talk about public speaking at writ large, and most importantly, we want to talk about how to really kind of kill it as a presenter.
But before we do that, back me up into, who are you? Give us the 60 seconds on who you are. Maybe tell us about some of your books that you've written and kind of position yourself for us. Absolutely.
Well, this is all about eLearning, and that is what it is. I got my startlatic. I started teaching back in 2002. I knew nothing about teaching whatsoever. And so as I'm trying to figure this thing out,
I was teaching at a community college. I also taught at a four year institution, pro -review A &M university as a matter of fact, second oldest institution of higher education in Texas.
Yeah, I love Texas. (laughing) And then I started online for a proprietary school, University of Phoenix. So I was teaching at these three institutions, but I didn't know how to connect with students.
And so I was going to conferences, going to workshops, going to anything I could go to and get my hands on to understand what does it mean to connect with learners when you're at the front of the room.
I'd always been out in the audience, just sitting waiting to see what would happen. and get my hands on what does it mean to connect with students. So I'm going to go to the front of the room So I'm going to go to the front of the room So I'm going to go to the front of the room So I'm going to go to the front of the room I started with teaching back in 2002, and I was also a presenter before then. I was a
professional speaker back in 2001. But then teaching in '02, then I started consulting and working with an ed tech company around '09 or so, while I was traveling the country doing faculty development workshops on all kinds of campuses,
four -year, two -year, tech schools, auto, mechanic... schools. I'm right in there with them with the hard head on, walking through the area to get to the faculty development workshop area.
And then I started out on my own in 2016, being a full time professional speaker, but I would still spend time with faculty members in that area of how do you engage learners in the classroom?
How do you make it the best experience possible? And it all came down to great. facilitation and an amazing set of presentation skills.
Fantastic. I love that. We've got these two buckets to talk about. So you tell me, where would you like to start? So I can either take us down, like, you know, paint the picture of what engagement done right looks like.
You could, or we could say, like, or you could give us, like, what's your top 10 list of things that people do wrong? So do you want to go positive or negative? Which way do you want to go? - You know what, you go in the direction that you know listeners are going to love.
- Let's start with the positive end. So like, so if, if I am engaging my class online, in person, whatever, what does that look like? What, how do I know that I'm doing it right?
How, what's the feedback I'm getting? What are the cues I'm looking for over to you? And for those of you who don't know, you who are tuning in, there was a lesson in what I just did with that.
I'm answering Laddick's question in terms of, how do I know people are engaging? What do I do? But the first thing to do is to give them a reason to listen. And so you said,
Bridgett, do we want to go positive or do we want to go negative? I said, let's go in the direction that you know your audience wants you to go. Go in the direction you know your audience wants you to go. to go.
And that means giving them a reason to listen. Bridgett, what does that mean? If you have adults in front of you, they want to know, how are you going to make me smarter? How are you going to make me richer? How are you going to save me time?
How are you going to make me a better mom? How are you going to make me more successful in my career? Whomever is sitting in front of you, those are the questions relative to their personal scenario going through their minds.
Give them a reason to listen. a reason to immediately put the phone down, turn off the television, get off social media, forget about email and focus in on what you have to say.
That is how you give people a reason to listen and how engagement is done right. You definitely give them a reason to listen. You don't spend a lot of time on a bio or a lot of time on your background.
Give them some reason to listen. pieces that are relevant, that kind of show that you know what you're doing, but how you really demonstrate credibility and that you know what you're doing is by giving them the goods and that means giving them real tangible things that they can do.
So immediately give your audience something that they can use. Solve a mystery, solve a problem, let them know what they'll know or be able to do by the end of.
of your class, your session, your presentation. By the end of this conversation, you're going to be rockstar presenters. That is my, I don't know if I'll call it a guarantee, that's my message to you.
Nice. And so, as I'm thinking about bringing that level of engagement or bringing that level of intimacy to a conversation, what are some of the common challenges that you see when you're working with clients or you're working with people who want to get to Bridgett's level,
right? What are the stumbling blocks that you see them going through? One is oftentimes we see people who are great speakers. We think of the big names, the Grant Cardons,
the Les Browns, the Brene Browns, Lisa Nichols. We think of those big names and then we try to do what they do. exactly to a T,
and it doesn't fit you. So the one mistake is not being yourself, not using the language that you use, not using the facial expressions, not using the gestures,
not bringing to the microphone the personality that your family, friends, and colleagues have gotten to know, but instead you're trying to pull something from a big name playbook.
No, that works for Grant. That works for less. It works for whomever, but it may not necessarily work for you. So that's one mistake. Be yourself. I cannot say it enough.
Another mistake is making it more about you and less about the audience. A lot of times people like to spend a lot of time talking about all of their accolades. I think you told me to talk about one of my books or two.
I didn't want to do that. I didn't bother. Go to Amazon. Search for Bridgett McGowan. You'll find a great award -winning book there about presentation skills. A lot of times people will spend so much time thinking it's about the speaker and a presentation and a learning experience is far more about the audience.
It should be audience -centered and audience -centric. -centric. So start off by looking at what are some of the problems that they're facing and letting them know. I'm gonna give you answers to those problems. What are some of the challenges that they're facing and letting them know you're going to be okay because I'm going to give you some clear,
easy steps to follow. So one, not being yourself. And then two, making it too much about yourself and not enough about the audience. Two of the biggest mistakes, but I could go on. - Hi there.
I'm sorry to break into the show right now. but if you're enjoying this show, if you are challenged, if you're inspired, if you're learning something, if you think that you're going to be able to get something out of this to put into your practice, do me a quick favor.
Pause right now and just hit subscribe on your podcast player right now. It doesn't matter which one, just hit subscribe because that way it'll make sure that you never miss an episode in the future. Thanks. Now,
back to the show. So, talk me through that. I feel like there's a great moment here to talk about the difference between a teacher or a teaching position where,
at least still today, you're, you know, this is content delivery, right? There, you know, here, we're at point A, we want to get to point B, here's the steps to get, you know, in between. And sort of the facilitator,
then maybe there's a third one, like the presenter piece. Talk me through those three different personas of being the person in front of the,
on the stage, in front of the room, how they might differ and your ability to interact with your audience, et cetera. Right. So definitely if you are a facilitator versus a teacher versus a,
what was my third one, a presenter? Yeah, just sort of somebody who's getting on the Ted, you know, getting on Ted's a TED stage. - Right, and then even with being a presenter, are you presenting a keynote? Are you presenting a workshop?
Are you presenting a breakout? So all of those things. So as a facilitator, I want you to think about the word facile. That is the root of the word facilitator.
Facile means to make easy. So as a facilitator, you are supposed to facilitate learning. learning or make learning easy. So I want you to start thinking in these terms.
When you are getting ready to facilitate a workshop or facilitate learning, I want you to think about what is this like that I'm teaching? What is it similar to that the audience already knows?
And then try to make those connections and create that familiarity so you're making learning as easy as possible. possible for them. So that's what facilitators do. They make it as easy as possible so people walk out of there feeling like they can do this.
With teaching, you tend to have more than one bite at the apple. You tend to have several sessions. So with teaching, you're wanting to, you're still a facilitator in a sense because it's about trying to make things easy.
make things easy. But you're also need to think about Bloom's taxonomy, where you're starting at the bottom making things easy, where you're making sure people understand the concept,
but then you want to start moving them up. So you're facilitating learning at the easiest level. But as a teacher, you're wanting to push those learners.
So they're getting a little uncomfortable. They're getting out of that. zone of familiarity. And they're moving into a space of, oh, I never thought about that.
Oh, this might be a little tough. This might be a little uncomfortable. But I'm thinking I'm growing. Now I'm creating my own ideas. I'm creating my own theories. I'm coming up with my own philosophies.
So teaching pushes them beyond the baseline and up to that point of creation in Bloom's taxonomy. Now, with presenting, you're going to be a presenter,
whether you're a facilitator or a teacher or a key noter. And there are some hallmarks of a fabulous presenter, no matter which one of those zones you are in.
And what is going to be making sure you don't sound like the Charlie Brown teacher? (laughing) - I think it's, it's... Yes,
that sounds about like it. It's making sure you show up with some personality. It's making sure you show up with some light. It's making sure you look and sound like you want to be there and nowhere else.
As a presenter, you have to show up and show out. As a presenter, usually you're working with some kind of a... event contact and that person is behind the curtain,
hoping and praying you don't do something crazy. Or maybe they want you to do something crazy. I don't know, crazy. So often it's the, you know, the trip on the stage or the wrong word that comes out that makes all the difference.
And when you do that, it makes you look human. I don't want you to mistake presenting presenting with perfection. When you get up there and you act like you've never tripped,
you've never fallen, you've never lost your way or lost your train of thought. People cannot connect with that, Lattic, because now you look superhuman.
You look untouchable. And that's not cute for your audience members. They want to know, yeah. yeah, you may have attained a level of expertise or a level of perfection on some level,
if you will. But at the same time, they want to feel like you get them and they get you. And that they can do what you do. And that you want to make them feel like it's possible when you're up there on the stage.
Mmm, 100 % 100%. Talk to me about, not a pivot, but just sort of a, I'm thinking of the professors and the trainers and the L and D professionals,
the teachers in the audience who are listening to us who said, you know, "Hey, but I'm just, you know, I'm not a huge extrovert. I'm more of a librarian." Or, you know, especially if I'm thinking of the professor realm and say,
"Hey, look, I do really great research, and I know I have to teach, but..." I'm not gonna, I don't want this to be my forte. What are your, your tips, your advice,
your, you know, how would you help them to just take their game to that next level so that, you know, there's engagement happening? - I feel like this is a trick question.
So, let it, do you know a secret about me? - No. no. - And it's not too much of a secret because I've started sharing it in recent years.
I am an introvert. Did you know that? - I think there's exactly zero people who believe you right now. - I know, right? It happens all the time. And then I have to start arguing with people and yeah,
I am. So my answer to that professor who said, says I'm an introvert I get my energy from being alone Getting into my research looking at my data and my statistics and my journals.
That is where I get fired up. I Don't need to be on the stage. I don't get any joy out of being at the front of that classroom waxing poetic poetic.
And I'm here to tell you, it's okay. I am so an introvert. Here is my advice to you. There may be one person in your classroom who's never felt inspired,
who's never felt motivated to truly learn, who's never felt motivated to truly learn, felt fired up about education. And you may be that one person.
If you get up there and you facilitate learning and you teach and move them out of their comfort zone and you get them in a space where they feel like,
I can do this. You will be that one person. You may be that one person who gets that student to shine. And it's all in your words.
So no, you don't have to end up submitting proposals to conferences and going on this speaking circuit and signing up for keynotes and putting up your hand to deliver the next commencement address.
Absolutely not. But each time you enter that classroom, whether it's a physical classroom or a virtual classroom, tell yourself, in this next 50 minutes or this next hour and 20 minutes,
I have a chance to make a difference with at least one person in this room through my delivery. I'm gonna give it all I've got. And then you can go back to your office and shut down and eat macadamia nuts and read through your research papers.
- I just wanted to let that hang there because I find that, again, as I alluded to in the beginning, I had these inspiring conversations. I feel like that is just, that is inspiration to me,
right? Like if, and I don't know, you tell me if you agree with this. If you can't muster that, Maybe maybe it's time to find a different direction. I don't know. Maybe it's maybe it's time to find yourself a different plate different way to go because Maybe you just work in the lab,
right? Maybe you just work in the research division and you just don't teach, you know, but That alone that was enough for me when I was teaching it was enough for me to know that that I had this opportunity to make a difference with a student based on my area of expertise.
And if I made a difference with more than one student, fantastic. But even if it was just one, I was ecstatic. And I would go in there and I was so lame lattice like what what college freshman is excited to talk about.
about research papers, one of the courses that I would teach was a writing course. What 18 -year -old is over the moon about listening to me on a Monday morning talking about Modern Language Association MLA style?
Who wants to do that? But I was so fired up because I thought, I'm teaching them process, and then when they go out in the world, they'll understand the importance. of it. That's what this MLA jazz is all about.
I don't know if they were picking up what I was putting down, but I was giving it a whirl. So yeah, I mean, it's just knowing that you can make a difference with somebody because, you know, let's be honest with the pandemic, a lot of young people,
a lot of people period, regardless of age, at a hard time. And so just to give them that spark, man, oh, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man. what a fantastic responsibility that you have to get in front of that classroom.
- And I can only imagine the feel good that comes back to you when that one person does come up after class or sends that email, after the semester says,
"Hey, you know what? "This was really important to me," right? - Yeah, yeah. - Absolutely amazing. - How do I know? or what's your advice around how much to put into a presentation or a class or a moment,
right? So as you said, you've got that 50 minutes, you got that 30 minutes, whatever. How do I make sure that I'm not trying to pack too much in there and make sure that I have enough?
So it's not, hey, this was, it's not too easy, but it's not like, is there, what's your barometer for that? Or how do you feel? that out? Yeah, that can be tricky because some Topics can be dense some topics can be heavy and If you've got this 16 week schedule and all of this content to get through it can be a real challenge So here are a couple of things that I like to recommend one One is to never speak for
more than about 10 to 12 minutes at a time, maybe 15 minutes in person before having your students having your audience engage with the content that you just shared.
So let's say there are three parts to a theory that you're presenting on in class that day. Present one part, 10 to 15 minutes max.
max. When you start to get the glazed donut look, people are starting to melt into their chairs. It's time to stop and shift gears. So even if you don't make it to the 15 minute mark,
that's okay. As long as you recognize folks are getting bored and they're checking out. This is a mistake that people will make later. People will feel like I've got all of this content to cover and I've just got to turn on this fire hose and I've got to get it.
it all out. And they're not thinking about just getting it all out is as ineffective as not saying a thing because people are going to start to check out about five minutes before the official end time of a presentation.
They are. And so those last five minutes or so, you really want to make that the wrap up time. You want to make that the Q &A time or something like that or just five minutes. moments or something.
Don't give them everything. Don't feel like it's a hot dog eating contest where you've got to squeeze in as many words as you can in the course of your hour class.
So one, speak for about 10 to 15 minutes at a time. People start checking out on you. That means you need to stop and ask a great question. And here's a key to great engagement is asking a great question.
A question that has the audience audience thinking about what you just taught them. It checks for comprehension and understanding, and then it also breaks up the monotony and gives them a chance to talk.
Because there's auditory learning, me sitting listening to you for those 10, 15 minutes, and then there is also visual learning where maybe I need to view your PowerPoint as you're talking.
There is read, write learning where maybe I need to read. something down after you've spoken to me There's kinesthetic learning or kinesthetic Maybe not kinesthetic learning. I shouldn't say that but people have a kinesthetic preference where they need to stand up They need to manipulate objects.
They need to walk around the room a bit So as they sat and listen to you ask a great question It has them standing and talking to a neighbor to discuss their answers to that question where they're showing a they understand the content but then they're also breaking up that that boredom from listening to you and I'm just going to put it out there it's boring listen to some listening to some professor I know it's
boring just to me and then give them another piece of that theory and then three to five minutes to process that information with a great question and then another piece of the theory and then wrap things up roughly speaking you want to be able to cover maybe three to five pieces of content in an hour.
The best way to figure out exactly how much content is to actually practice. And I know that can be impossible when you have three or four different preps as a professor and you've got,
you know, maybe you're teaching four or five different classes. But, and I don't advocate this kind of practice but when it comes to-- professors, sometimes you kind of have to mentally just kind of think through how much time does it take me to cover this?
How much time does it take me to cover that? How much time does it take me to cover that? But also factor in the engagement piece. The students need to have an opportunity to write down some thoughts,
to ask questions of you, of each other, and to discuss with each other. So, you know, about 10 minutes for each piece of content. And then when it comes to PowerPoint slides,
you don't want to have a ton of text on them. People can read faster than you can read to them. So, bullets, great images,
you know, especially when you're teaching. I mean, again, I know a lot of textbook companies do a fantastic job with providing power. decks to try to help you with your time management.
Yeah, yeah, but I didn't use a lot of PowerPoints when I taught just because a lot of times I didn't have time to create one for all the different classes that I was teaching.
But if you do create them, fewer words, a lot more images and opportunities for that engagement, that's where students are going to learn. learn is when they're talking to each other and talking to you.
- Take me to the online world, where we know that everyone now is either hybrid or high flex, whichever word you like to use there. What are one or maybe two small things that I can do as a professor in an online space to up my game when I'm either delivering a webinar or I'm delivering that in -person synchronous learning.
to make a difference or create this engagement. Right. So very similar to the in -person environment except in the online environment, I don't want you talking for 10 or 15 minutes before you give the audience a chance to engage or before you give your students a chance to be heard.
I want you to talk for no more than about five, seven, eight minutes at a time before you then pause and never ask are there any questions. online or in person?
Because the answer almost always is what when I say, are there any questions? What is silence? Brickets, silence every time, partially because it's a really tough question to answer.
It's like, uh, well, yeah, I kind of do have a question, but it was about that thing and I can't remember exactly how to pronounce it and it's too hard. So never ask, are there any questions, ask something.
like what was your biggest takeaway? What will you do now that you know how to do this? What will you do differently? What would you add to this concept? What was the biggest challenge you had with figuring this out?
Right? Ask a question that really digs into them comprehending. So in the online environment, definitely have your camera on if you can. You don't always have to be dolled up and you know,
what? Oh, you're about to steal my thunder for my next question, because I'm not saying dolled up, but, and I apologize for cutting you off mid, mid, mid answer there,
but talk to me about the nonverbal cues, especially in the online environment in terms of like, you have this wonderful background, you know, you're, you're put together, you know, you look, you look delightful.
Obviously, your energy is infectious, but, but I'm talking, I'm thinking about that where camera positioning, a decent light. Talk me through some of those things and your opinion on how important that is in terms of this engagement piece.
Yes, absolutely. So definitely engaging your audience online includes not talking for too long. If you have slides, again, same thing, have arresting graphics, make it look fantastic.
And then giving the students and opportunities to engage either on camera, verbally with you or in the chat, give them that option. Don't be such a stickler that they must be on camera. People being on camera is not the equivalent of engagement because they can be on camera doing something else.
They could sit here and look at you while they're searching for a cat video on YouTube. So just because they're on camera doesn't mean they're engaged. They're going to be engaged if you create the engagement. Creating engagement means personality,
showing up, being on camera, asking great questions. questions. Now, in being on camera, you're going to want to, one, make sure your light is right in front of you. Don't backlight yourself.
Put your light right in front of you. Another thing, if you can, stand when you are delivering presentations on camera. If you can, I know not everybody is able to,
physically able to stand. There's something to the notion of being able to think on your feet. There's a totally different energy. when you speak from a standing position. If you can't stand at least sit with both feet on the floor,
don't do that swiveling in your chair. Again, having those feet planted on the floor, it positions you to be able to think very quickly from left brain to right brain and process information and respond to complex questions more easily.
When it comes to your background. you don't have to have this lovely background with bookcases and awards and degrees and such. You can just have a blank wall,
but try to make sure it's not something that's distracting. You, Ladek, have a lovely virtual background. It needs to be something that doesn't have people wondering, you know, what is that? What's that on the floor back there?
What, you know? Because I've been on Zoom. Oh, yeah. I'm like, what is, what is that? Distracted also,
and this is going a little bit further than we probably want to go, but I'm going to throw it out there just because it's my thing. There are four colors that look fabulous in the online environment.
Oh my God, this is a good one. Hit me. Hit me. What are the four colors? One of them is going to be fuchsia. fuchsia or coral, which I'm kind of wearing those colors now. Fuchsia or coral,
royal blue, Kelly green, and purple or violet. Solids look terrific on camera. Those four solids in particular.
- That was the most unexpected color palette I've, like I did not expect that at all. Okay. - Yes, those four colors look terrific. on camera tight patterns like herringbone patterns.
Those can look buzzy and just aren't very flattering. But if you can wear solids or if you have a very wide stripe like this and it's kind of subtle, these colors kind of meld into each other.
I kind of have a coral and a fuchsia stripe here. But those colors look terrific on camera. What else can I tell you about being on camera? And they like look,
look in the mirror. - This was the one, how many times have you been on and they're like, hi Bridgett. Yeah, no, I really want to talk to you. You know, no, this is a great conversation. And the whole time you're talking to them,
they're like, you know, they're talking to the, clearly the screen over there from, you know, as you're in your professional, how important it is it to, you know, focus on that.
camera? You have so much work to do to decrease that physical distance between you and your virtual audience. I want you to start thinking,
Texas, when you get online, make the, you've noticed I've been gesturing, if I were in person, I wouldn't be doing all this mess with my hands, but it creates a different energy.
So I want you to think, Texas, I want everything to be bigger. Your smiles to be bigger. Your gestures to be bigger. The leaning in to be bigger. I need that to be bigger.
And I need you to look in the middle of your screen. Not at the camera because when I look at the camera, it kind of looks like I'm looking above your head ever so slightly, doesn't it? But if I look in the middle of the screen,
it looks like I'm looking at you and it creates a better connection. And I understand we have these fabulous. in -home studios and all these setups and monitors and stuff. Don't talk to people looking like this.
And then you tell them, you know, I'm going to look over at this monitor and that doesn't make me feel any better. The fact that you're telling me you're looking at them, that makes me feel worse that you know good and well you are not looking at me.
Right. Well try your very best. And I know life gets hectic. Sometimes you might have to start a session in the car while you're racing into the house because a meeting ran over. Happened to me yesterday.
- I was gonna say, it happens to me all the time. - There you go, right? I didn't start it in the car. I just quickly text the person while I was at a red light. I'll be there in three minutes, you know? So I get it. And students understand too.
As a matter of fact, if you are finding yourself having to start a call from your phone while you're, you know, running from the car. garage or what have you, and then you jump on your laptop.
Don't don't feel like that's problematic or that's unpolished or anything like that. No, that gives them a window into your world. And it shows them, wow,
my professor has a hectic life sometimes too. And everything doesn't go as according to plan as according to plan in her world either. And that makes it and that's okay.
It shows that you're human. Students want to know that there's a human side to you. Now you ain't gotta tell them all your business and let them know why you're late 'cause you had to go see your parole office non -plan.
- Bridgett, this, I mean, I can't believe that I got a half an hour of your day out of this, it's amazing. Your energy is infectious. This has been an incredibly valuable. it wasn't a bullet list of how do you do engagement better.
This was a presentation on how to be a better presenter. I absolutely cannot thank you enough for taking time to be on the show today. So thank you. - Thank you, Ladik,
I had a lot of fun and I trust the listeners walked away with one or two gyms that they can use immediately in their presentation. - And finally, what's the best way to get a hold of yourself?
you if they want to learn more? Sure. Visit ConnectWithB .com, C -O -N -N -E -C -T, with B .com. And you can find me,
all of my social media handles are there. Just click away. My podcast is there. All of my books that I didn't mention are there. All of my articles and newsletters connectwithb .com.
.com, can't wait to be a community with you. Thank you again for listening to the eLearn podcast here from OpenLMS. I just wanted to ask one more time, if you enjoyed this show, if you learned something,
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