Engagement Ideas

• Strong Starts: Capture attention with a story, anecdote, or scenario that is compelling.
• Eye Contact: Establish a connection with people in the room by making eye contact.
• Gesture For Emphasis: Natural hand moments at key points will drive home ideas
• Encourage Interaction: Invite discussion. Approach questions with curiosity. Ask clarifying questions.  

End Powerfully

• Summarize Your Point: Give the audience key take aways to think about later.
• Call to Action: Providing the audience with specific things they can do will create lasting engagement.
• Thank your  Audience: Express gratitude for their time and attention.

How to access the Zoom Event:

• From your emailed ticket (search “Zoom Events” in your email) > View Ticket > Join Lobby
• From any Live Session Page on the website
• Or access the Zoom Event here

Logging into Zoom Events:

• On the Zoom login page, make sure to select “SSO” on the login screen
• The company domain is “uwmadison” (all one word, lowercase), which will bring you to a NetID login

What makes Zoom Events different from regular Zoom Meetings?

• One link for all sessions: Once you arrive into the Lobby, you can access the individual sessions
• Lobby chat (only available on the Zoom desktop client): A space for folks to interact outside of sessions
• Itinerary: Sessions for which you are assigned a speaker/moderator will appear in your itinerary. You can add others by bookmarking them under the Sessions tab.
• In-session branding: We have enabled conference and UW branding for the event that are completely optional
• Chat is retained: Chat for the entire session will show up for those who come in late or leave and come back. In a Zoom meeting, you won’t see chats before they appear.
• That’s pretty much it! Controls in the session should look the same.

Learn more about the Zoom Events platform by watching the video on the Attendee Resources page.

Setting the Scene

If you’re planning to be on camera, you want to make sure that you have a good setup so your audience is not distracted by your video and they can focus on the content of your presentation. Follow these tips to set the scene for your video:

• Avoid a cluttered background. A bookshelf with lots of books or knick-knacks can distract your audience. A blank wall or wall with limited artwork is your friend.
• Try to put your camera at eye level. This may mean propping up your computer or propping up yourself.
• Talk directly to and look at the camera when possible. It is often uncomfortable to watch videos where the speaker is not making eye-contact with the audience and are always looking down or away from the camera. If you need help with this, consider putting a sticker or image near the camera and talking to that.
• Make sure you have a comfortable seat and posture, so you’re not moving/shifting position much during the presentation.
• If you decide to stand, avoid moving around and out of the camera’s view.
• Avoid using a swivel chair or chair on wheels when recording, because it is easy to nervously move or spin.
• Find a space that avoids interruptions from children, pets, partners, roommates, etc.

Good Lighting

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR LIGHTING. You don’t want to be too bright (like a ghost) or too dark (like a shadow) in your video if you are going to be showing your face. Follow these helpful tips to make yourself look great on camera:

• Avoid using only overhead lighting, which will shadow the bottom of your face.
• Avoid backlight like a window behind you during daylight.
• Put yourself facing a window for natural light during daylight.
• Make your computer screen white/light yellow in front of you to illuminate yourself. Your computer screen gives off lots of light
• Use a lamp in front of you or slightly to the side of you to illuminate your face.
  • Try taking off the lamp shade or putting it back on to find which looks best. Bouncing lights off of walls also helps soften light on your face.
• If possible, use multiple sources of light (3-point lighting) for limiting shadows on your face.

Good Audio

TEST YOUR AUDIO BEFORE YOU RECORD OR GOING LIVE! Try recording something using whatever you’re going to use and play it back. If it sounds bad to you, try these helpful tips to make it better:

• Avoid large rooms and rooms with wood flooring, which can create echoes.
• Try to find a smaller room, preferably with carpet/rugs.
• If you live near a busy street or the airport, avoid recording during busy times/rush hour so you don’t get traffic noises.
• Avoid rooms near HVAC systems or refrigerators, which have small hums and other electrical noise interference.
  • Test this: If you hold your breath and listen for a few seconds to the ambient sound in the room and it starts to sound “loud” then it isn’t a good room.
• If you have an external microphone, use it!
• If you have earbuds with a microphone on the cable, try to avoid letting the microphone rub against your clothing. Hold it away from your body or prop it away from your chest with a clip.
• If you’re using a built-in computer microphone, make sure that it is unobstructed and there is a direct line from your mouth to the microphone.
• Speak clearly as if you are talking to a room full of people. It can be easy to forget when recording that you are presenting.
• KEEP A BEVERAGE NEARBY. Whether going live or pre-record, you don’t want to be caught with a tickle in your throat. Drink between takes or as often as you need to keep yourself hydrated.

All live sessions will likely use Zoom or WebEx.

Practicing: Work with your speaker contact to find a time to practice or come to one of the practice sessions.

Moderating: You will be working with your speaker contact to coordinate how you would like to run your session. Your speaker contact will moderate for you or find someone who can moderate for you if they are unavailable. You do not need to run the session alone! 🙂

Participant Discussion: You will work with your speaker contact to figure out the best way to run discussion, whether you would like to be interrupted, you would like raised hands, you would questions only in the chat, or some combination of these.

Sharing Content:  You can either share your screen, share a Google Chrome Tab, or share an application window. You can also share files. Practice how you’ll be sharing content prior to your appointment so you can be sure it works the way you would like!