Virtual Events: What do we change when they aren’t physically together?
One of my favorite analogies to describe great digital experiences involves the movie The Matrix. (Don’t worry, I mean the awesome first one, not the so-so second or let’s-pretend-they-didn’t-try-that third.)
Throughout the film, the protagonist Neo (Keanu Reeves) gets pushed and prodded to do great things by his mentor and leader, Morpheus, which mostly leads to Neo feeling some combination of stressed, confused, and despondent — which, if we’re honest, is a pretty accurate description of how many of us in the events industry are feeling right now.
By the end, he’s a hero, practically Superman, literally flying around the digital world of the Matrix.
What changes? He starts seeing the code of the Matrix and understands what it is: tiny parts and pieces which he can control.
THAT is what it takes to be a great virtual keynote speaker. We have to see the tiny parts and pieces which are native to virtual events. When moving from offline to online with our events and our talks, small differences make all the difference in the world.
Whether speaker or event organizer, we are in the business of shaping experiences that transform others for the better. To do that, we need to see the tiniest parts and pieces of a still-foreign system, virtual events, compared to our more-familiar territory of conference rooms, banquet halls, amphitheaters, or stadiums.
The good news: We can learn from a tangential field already doing this well
Luckily, there’s a very close niche that does this already, one in which the masters of the medium create irresistible, immersive experiences for audiences, which we can learn from: narrative-style podcasting.
For the rest of this post, I aim to take you inside the “code” of this craft, adapted for public speaking and virtual events, not just podcasts. First thing’s first…
What’s a narrative-style podcast, and what are they good for?
As the name implies, narrative podcasts rely on a narrator, i.e. voiceover, to guide a listener through a story from start to finish. Additionally, and unlike most interview-based podcasts or co-hosted conversations, narrative-style podcasts weave together a few elements added during post-production to pair with the show’s hallmark voiceover technique: quotes from multiple other voices (subjects, as opposed to “guests”), music, sound design, and sometimes overt introductions of segments and other gimmicks.
NPR shows like This American Life or Radiolab are among the best-known versions of narrative-style podcats, but other top-notch makers of narrative-style shows include Radiotopia, Wondery, and Gimlet, just to name a few.
BOOK SUGGESTION: Want to be a masterful narrative-style podcaster, or learn the techniques tangential to your world of public speaking (but virtual)? I highly suggest the book Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel. It’s not only amazing, going inside the top teams in narrative-style audio, it’s packaged as a cartoon strip!
So what are these shows good for? The very same skill we all must master when organizing or speaking at a virtual event: holding attention.
The golden rule of audio is the same golden rule of virtual speaking: Get Them To The End.
For podcast listeners and virtual event audiences alike, endless distractions abound. In both cases, the audience is not physical with others, and therefore, there’s no social pressure from peers to pay attention and stick around. Sure, we always have our phones with us, but for virtual events, we can flit between any number of millions of distractions online in the browser … plus those ever-present phones … plus the ability to grab a snack, quickly hit the bathroom, deal with a dog barking, refill our coffees, answer the door, and so on.
When it comes to virtual events, we as experience creators must hold attention, not just grab it.
We must craft experiences, end to end. The housekeeping can’t be quite as dull as it is offline. The talks can’t simply get copied and pasted from in-person to online. There are no cocktail hours, no jaw-dropping lighting or expo halls or snacks or lunch buffets. Entertainment can’t come from the same sources. Everything we do within a virtual experience must match the virtual delivery, while understanding just how much harder it is to convince audiences to actually pay attention.
Thus, our Golden Rule…
Don’t just grab attention. Hold it.
How to create an immersive, virtual talk
I’ve produced and hosted more than a dozen highly produced podcasts or video docuseries, including my personal podcast, Unthinkable. With each project, the production value I’d add as the creator and speaker came from a place of fear — fear that I wouldn’t get audiences to the end, fear that they would bail at any moment.
The solution to this very real issue is to mold something utterly immersive — the exact reason the narrative-style show exists. Given the techniques and post-production capabilities at your disposal, you can consciously craft a digital experience that “maximizes the medium,” deploying audio, video, music, voice, visuals, and more.
Everything right down to the timing of the tiniest musical moments or sentences can make or break the ability to hold attention. (The episode below is a good example of that timing.)
Although we might create a virtual speech, not podcast, this is still the approach speakers need to mimic. Unlike a static bunch of slides with a voice hidden behind it (the stereotypical and rather boring webinar experience), speakers can create more immersive experiences by adding production value to their talks, fit specifically for virtual experiences — the same way we add production value when we use our words, slides, tone, and physical presence on stages when operating offline.
Note: Given the sudden rise in virtual events, and the need shared by both speakers and event organizers to deliver immersive virtual experiences, I’ve started to consult on this type of work. For my virtual speaking, contact Josh White (speaking@unthinkablemedia.com). For my virtual speech consulting, email me, jay@unthinkablemedia.com). Expect a reply the same day.
Now, take a breath: This feels more complicated. “Production value” sounds expensive, too. But it needn’t be. Let’s address that head-on using a framework I call the Virtual Speech Production Value Spectrum.
The Virtual Speech Production Value Spectrum
We typically associate “production value” with “post production” — the crazy, creative edits that make something feel glossy and richer. In reality, production value is a spectrum, with every choice we make contributing to the quality and immersive feel of the experience.
Here’s a look at the whole spectrum before we break it down.
A few ways to understand this…
0) Colbert vs. Coldplay: Why Your Virtual Talk Should Be Pre-Recorded
Talks that are pre-recorded and edited to maximize the virtual event medium far surpass talks that are delivered live. Some call these pre-recorded talks “simulive.” These are far from specific to virtual events. Every talk show on TV is “simulive.” They are recorded, edited, and aired as if during that time — when they actually happened earlier. Even some sporting events are aired on a slight delay.
For keynote speakers, our version of simulive can mean recording and editing our talks days before the event happens.
So why “simulive”? Well, in-person events are all about exactly that idea: everything happens live and in-person. Because, in-person, “live” is better. But once we go digital, that idea gets warped. Just think: Isn’t getting coffee with a friend or colleague so much more energizing, and the communication is so much smoother, compared to holding a video conference call with them?
Partly, this is due to how the technology becomes too disruptive, whether through glitches or just the need to navigate controls. (Imagine sitting at an in-person event and the lighting above the stage starts to fall, or the floor of the stage creaks as the speaker walks. It ruins it all.)
Partly, this is due to how inserting a screen between people deadens the atmosphere. The energy gets lost, the charm and warmth are both greatly diminished, and the “we’re in this together” attitude is a lot harder to drum up.
When you pre-record, you can now maximize the medium, re-insert all the warmth and dynamism and energy that most virtual event platforms disallow, since you are restricted to simply running slides and talking over them. Mimicking the powerful feeling of a keynote in-person means re-shaping the keynote to fit a virtual experience.
Put bluntly: Live video is a cheap facsimile of live in-person.
Thus, our talks should be simulive, or pre-recorded. Be more Colbert than Coldplay.
1) Pre-Production (Better Planning)
Some speakers script everything, some script a few key moments and fill in the transitions, and others script very little. With virtual events, especially simulive talks, I believe the choice is made for us by the medium we must embody: We need to script the experience.
That doesn’t mean your every word should be scripted, especially if you already know what you’re going to say (and you should), but you should create at least a high-level rundown or “run of show.” As with TV episodes, the entire end-to-end experience should have an underlying framework broken into blocks and beats — big sections with discrete purposes for the audience, and smaller moments that make up each block.
(A quick tangent on rehearsing: I believe the vast majority of a talk should be rehearsed such that you don’t need slides, and you know what you’re going to say, which allows you to perform better. To me, the difference between a pro and amateur speaker is often rehearsal time, and the ability to seem like you’re just coming up with it in the moment, but you really know each move. You’re in full command. To speakers who believe rehearsal makes them “sound rehearsed,” then as my friend and mentor Andrew Davis might say, “That’s a sign you haven’t rehearsed enough.” More ranting on this some other time…)
With our virtual event cousins — narrative-style podcasts — scripts are the focal point. Almost every word is written out (maybe with a “RIFF” placeholder here and there).
Within a good script, in addition to the blocks and beats, two more things become helpful: Notes for your post-production (e.g. “cut to video” or “music underscore here”) and notes for your performance on the microphone (e.g. “pause for a moment” or “said super sarcastically” or using all caps to ensure you say something WITH GUSTO or using ellipses … when you want to pause … for effect.)
To go deeper on scripting for digital experiences, not articles or offline speeches, I wrote a longer piece about how to write for audio recordings as compared to other mediums. (link>>)
Lastly, when crafting slides, ensure slightly more text appears to compel the audience to watch, or even take screenshots. In-person, too much text draws attention away from the speaker. In a virtual talk, oftentimes, the speaker isn’t on-camera — though there are production techniques to ensure that’s not the case.
Remember: the content, aka the experience, must add certain virtual-specific touches to hold attention in order to replace what is lost. What’s lost is physical presence (yours, and the feeling of sitting in a group) and the energy and social norms that creates.
We must plan for that.
2) Production (Better Performance)
I wrote a lot about this in my last piece on virtual events, so I won’t belabor it here. In that piece, I outline four key differences in delivering a talk digitally versus in-person, including touching on why you’re speaking to ONE person, not an “audience,” in a virtual talk, how humor changes when you can’t hear laughter, and more.
One thing that I didn’t mention in that post, however, is the need to have professional-grade microphones and cameras for your virtual talk. Although people tend to buy too much technology too soon in any project, rather than focus on their own skills, when a speaker delivers a virtual talk, the tech really does matter up front. This applies most specifically to audio, i.e. the microphone. “Stage presence” can be mimicked digitally with tone of voice and confidence, sure, but the quality of your audio helps a ton.
My audio setup that works for both podcasting and virtual keynotes: Shure SM58 microphone (with pop filter and windscreen, both of which prevent that harsh popping sound letters like P will make, also known as “plosives”) + an Alesis Multimix to fiddle with my gain, volume, and hi/mi/lo settings (not necessary and it’s fine to use a mic that directly plugs into your laptop’s USB port). I record directly into GarageBand, then enhance the audio using Audacity.
I have a firm belief that your microphone matters more than your camera, given how high quality most laptop and phone cameras have gotten. But one thing that greatly enhances any appearance on camera (and mimicks the on-stage grandeur of a big event) is your lighting setup.
I recommend buying at least two lights to face you on angles (your 10 to 11 o’clock and 1 to 2 o’clock). You can also add a light in the back. The video below is the best explainer I’ve seen on this, thanks to the graphic depicting good lighting setups:
(Disclosure: Podia, the makers of that video, is one of the brands that hired me to host/produce a highly produced podcast for them. Here’s an example. The intro of that episode is a good illustration of how we should approach virtual events.)
3) ⭐ Post-Production (Better Editing) ⭐
Every piece of the spectrum can help, but this is the single biggest difference between in-person keynotes and virtual speeches: actually editing your content prior to delivery.
Great keynotes are performances. Yes, they need to teach something practical, but they must also connect emotionally, viscerally, and in lasting ways. They challenge the status quo, reveal new ways of thinking, and deliver content with compounding, long-lasting value.
All this to say, it requires a performative touch to really work, and that’s the biggest missing piece in so many virtual talks. Once more for the people in the back… who aren’t really in the back, because this is all virtual after all…
We can’t deliver performative, high-impact keynotes without editing our talks for the virtual medium specifically.
Because the in-person dynamism is lost online, we have to add it back. This might include…
- Splicing in audio and video clips to convey parts of your stories, vs. simply recounting the stories with slides and voiceover.
- Using picture-in-picture features to overtly appear on camera over your slides.
- Adding more slides and other supporting media to move more quickly between visuals as you talk (less voiceover per slide, please!)
- Adding music and/or sound design to underscore and enhance key moments, ensuring it rises and falls in the right places.
Imagine a story about trekking through a forest. You don’t have any good video of that actual story as a speaker. This is where post-production techniques can help. As you introduce the beginning of the story and mention the forest, suddenly, you the speaker fade from the attendees’ view, replaced by a hi-res image of the forest floor, with some light motion effect added to the visual. The attendees hear the crunch of leaves, and some distant, ominous music. You continue to narrate the story. You were nervous. Then scared. This is where your in-person performance typically includes you hunching downward, towards your stomach, nervously glancing towards the ceiling of the event venue, as you begin to frantically run across the stage — but they can’t see that.
No matter, you planned for this: The music swells. It feels more ominous. The crunches get faster and faster, conveying your pace quickening. Then, finally … the break in the tension! Your music cuts off abruptly, the sound effects with it, and you deliver a well-timed, hilarious punchline: “Sally, my neighbor’s daughter, wandered past. I was 50 yards from home the whole time!”
(Pause. There’s no laughter. You’re on a virtual event after all. Oh, right. But thanks to your Pre-Production script, you planned for this. You laugh gently at yourself and sigh. The audience, sitting at home, unbeknownst to you, is now given a sort of “permission” to laugh too. They’ll never forget this story, this speech, or this speaker. They’ll never forget this event — despite the digital medium.)
THAT is a powerful moment. THAT is a keynote performance … not your voiceover set to the single image of a forest you typically show on-stage.
And THAT can’t happen unless we customize what we do as an immersive, virtual experience.
Take the Blue Pill or the Red Pill?
Creating a virtual keynote is unquestionably harder and more complex than a speaker simply firing up a webcam and delivering their usual talk with their usual slides. It’s unquestionably more complex than delivering the same talk they’ve given dozens of times in-person, too. It’s a discrete, different product, for a discrete, different experience had by the attendees.
The tiny little parts and pieces — the “code” of this new Matrix — can lead to confusion, stress, and boredom … or something truly powerfu. The choice is ours. We can take the blue pill and remain blissfully unaware of the tiny little details that make virtual events different than in-person events. Or, we can be like Neo and take the red pill, and we can see how far the rabbit hole really goes.
My advice? Grab the red pill, but don’t head down that hole alone. We’re in this together, and we can look to our friends who have mastered narrative-style podcasting as a model for how to thrive inside the Matrix — far sooner than Neo did. If you do so, you’ll adapt quicker, but the outcome will be the same: This medium will be yours to control.
