You Can Read a Room, But Not a Zoom (so don’t even try!)

Ask any performer what skills are necessary for success, and high on the list would likely be the ability to adapt your execution based on the dynamics of that specific opportunity. In theater, no stage actor delivers the exact same performance to different audiences. Championship athletes modify their game plan at halftime based on what’s working and what’s not on that particular day.

The same holds true for public speaking and presentations.  We often hear it referred to as being able to “read the room.”  Is your audience engaged or are they starting to drift?  Are they showing signs of impatience because you’re not getting to the point quickly enough?  Can you assess their interest level from their body language and facial expressions?  Are more than the usual number checking their phones?  In person, the ability to properly read these signs are an enormous asset.  

But in a virtual-first world, we are stripped of this ability.  As a communications coach who specializes in training clients on proper “Zoomgenics,” I have concluded that while you might be able to read a room, you cannot read a Zoom successfully.  In fact, attempting to do so, could undermine you and hurt your delivery. There are several reasons why trying to read a Zoom may be more of a hindrance than a help.

In person, when your audience breaks eye contact, you can see what else has captured their attention. Perhaps they’re handwriting notes, or following along with the printout of your deck.  On virtual, we might immediately assume that they’re looking down to text a friend or check their email.  Our human nature is to assume the worst.  In that little box, your attendees may appear distracted when they are, in fact, engaged.  

In person, most of us feed off direct eye contact.  It’s what boosts our confidence that we are the center of attention and what we are saying is resonating.  But on Zoom, we appear to our audience either well below or to the side of the webcam, so we never quite feel fully connected to those listening to us.

If you’re presenting, chances are your audience is on mute, so don’t count on getting a laugh or any other kind of audible reaction.  Delivering a clever line that prompts the sounds of crickets rather than chuckles can be unsettling.  

Then there’s the confidence-crushing trend of people turning off their cameras.  This is the virtual equivalent of your audience getting up and leaving the room. Admit it.  If this has happened to you during a virtual presentation, in the back of your mind you’re wondering if they’re even still listening. 

We pay keen attention to all these signals for one simple reason: validation.  We want to know with certainty that our presentation is hitting the mark and getting heard.  But when the virtual dynamic deprives us of the cues we get from in-person meetings, we try too hard to read garbled signals, often to the point of distraction. The less affirmation we get, the more we want it.  And the less we get it, the more our confidence suffers.  Overly focusing on others’ reactions can sap your focus on the most important thing: your own performance.  

Here are some strategies that can keep you from trying too hard to read the Zoom:

It may sound completely counterintuitive but close all the video windows that show your audience.  This eliminates a debilitating source of distraction and frees up more mental bandwidth to concentrate on the articulation of your message.  This tactic also improves your eye contact, which in a video conference setting is straight into the webcam, not vertically down the right side of your screen where your audience typically appears.

If you find it hard to keep your focus on that little green dot at the top of your laptop screen (or wherever your webcam might be) take a small photo of someone you feel comfortable talking to and punch a couple of holes just below their face.  Then, place the newly made holes directly over the webcam and secure the picture in place.  Now you have someone to look at while you’re talking.

Determine who is the most engaged audience member, and then “pin” their window so it is the only one that shows up.  If you feel more comfortable having some member of the audience visible, then at least it should be someone who boosts your confidence.  If you can’t depend on any of the expected guests to be properly attentive, then plant a colleague among the audience members and tell them to remember to nod and smile periodically.

For many of us, public speaking can feel like being out on a limb all alone.  The virtual component can make that limb feel even more shaky when we’re overly attentive to visual cues that aren’t reliable.  For better or worse, we may be in this Zoom-first world a while longer.  So, the more you can control the dynamic, rather than let it control you, the more successful you’ll likely be.