Chris Dawes, founder and managing director of Swindon-based Open Dawes Training, which provides CPD accredited public speaking and presentation training, looks at how presenting and training have needed to be adapted to make them work well online.

The key to a successful presentation is a killer opening that hooks the audience from the get-go, says Chris Dawes of Open Dawes Training

Lockdown has led to a boom in online meetings, webinars, presentations, demonstrations, and training. Business people who formerly presented face-to-face have been forced to turn to video software such as Zoom and Teams, and we have all probably experienced the full quality spectrum of them in the last three months.

Indeed, it is not just presenters and trainers who have moved online. Company owners and managers are now networking, meeting and liaising online with their teams, customers, prospects and suppliers.

Award-winning motorsports commentator Chris Dawes is in the driving seat for a new venture – commentating on e-sports.

Lockdown due to Coronavirus, and the cancelling of live sports, has led to an explosion in the popularity of e-sports – or gaming sports – and Chris is now being engaged to commentate on motorsports.

Face-to-face business meetings might be off the agenda for now, but they’ll be back soon enough. Meanwhile, take this opportunity to improve your presentation technique.

If you thought public speaking wasn’t relevant to your business, then think again. Because whether or not you or your team have to stand up and address an audience, you are still speaking – to colleagues, clients, prospects, or suppliers – and so being effective is a key skill.