OK, you have your technology in-hand and your presentation honed. You’re done, right?

Not so fast.

As noted in How to Wow, people retain approximately 7% of what you say. 38% of your impact comes from your tonal quality and 55% from what your body is doing while you’re speaking.

That’s in person…now you have screens.

What to do?

First, sit up straight (yes, some things are that simple) and wake up your face with the pumpkin/raisin face exercise, pictured above.

How does that work? Begin by making your face as big as a pumpkin then make it as small as a raisin. (Before you scoff, consider that when I demonstrated this for my ultra-fabulous-supermodel client she said, “Oh, we all do that before a shoot.”)

So forget about whether or not you feel silly and remember that no one is intrigued by a blah/immobile face.

Second, consider your tonal quality. Do you vary it? Do you drone? Do you suffer from vocal fry or up-speak? (Do you know?)

Now’s the time to figure this out; if you don’t know ask around among your (trusted) peers.

What can you do if you find you are tonally blah?

Record yourself reading children’s books. Why? Because it’s impossible not to vary your tonal quality as you get into “The Mama Bear, Papa Bear and the Baby Bear…” I promise that when you listen to that recording, you will hear how much more interesting you sound.

Finally, record your presentation and watch yourself with the sound off. Do you look interested? Interesting? What makes you want to turn the sound up? Do you want to?

If you don’t, who will?

So take another crack at it.  Sit up straight, wake up your face, get animated and watch yourself again.

I guarantee you will be happier with what you see.

I hope these tips come in handy as you present your best (virtual) self in so many new situations.

On the off-chance that some of you have been feeling as if you were tossed out of a plane without a parachute, take a look at “Sometimes There’s No Map and That’s OK”