Course description

Presenting through a screen is a different job from presenting in a room. Your audience sees a small, flat picture of you, often beside slides they can barely read. You can't see their faces, so you lose the nods and laughs that tell you how it's going. A notification can pop up mid-sentence, a clip can play in silence, and a dropped connection can leave you talking to nobody. This course shows you how to handle all of it, step by step, so you come across as clearly and confidently on a call as you do in person.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and every lesson ends with a practical task for your own presentations. You follow Mojca, a learning and outreach manager at a small museums trust in Hull, from a board update where almost everything went wrong to a grant pitch, a public webinar for 71 people and a hybrid all-staff meeting. Along the way she raises her camera, fixes her silhouette, cuts 14 slides to 7, learns to share a window, misses two chat questions, plays a clip with no sound and recovers from a dropped connection in 90 seconds. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and practice files, including a self-review spreadsheet, setup and framing checklists, a run sheet that works out your timings, a contrast checker, a webinar run sheet and a tech failure plan.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what changes when you present through a screen, the kinds of online presenting, the dozen controls that matter and a recorded practice call to find your starting point.
• Your setup: camera height and framing, lighting with what you have, sound first, backgrounds, a steady connection and a written backup plan.
• Presence on camera: eye contact through the lens, face, posture and gestures inside the frame, your voice through a microphone, nerves on camera and notes that sit under the lens.
• Planning talks for screens: one main message, short segments with signposts and resets, openings that land in the first minute, clear endings, follow-up messages and run sheets.
• Slides for small screens: point headlines, text size and contrast checked against WCAG 2.2 AA, numbers and demonstrations, presenting without slides and speaker notes.
• Screen sharing: sharing a window rather than your screen, presenter layouts, video with sound, handovers between presenters and a two-minute pre-share routine.
• Keeping your audience involved: reading a camera-off room, chat, reactions and raised hands, polls, taking questions and handling interruptions and difficult questions.
• Webinars: roles, working with a producer, practice sessions and green rooms, questions, polls and captions, and the follow-up.
• Special situations: hybrid rooms, technology failures, pitches and interviews, recording a presentation, and accessibility and inclusion.

Who it's for

Anyone who presents in video calls, webinars or hybrid meetings: team updates, board reports, pitches, job interviews, training and public events. It suits nervous beginners and confident in-room speakers who find the screen harder. You don't need special equipment. Every skill works on any video call tool, and short boxes give the steps in Teams and Zoom where a button or setting matters. It doesn't repeat general public speaking basics; it focuses on what changes on screen. It ends with a final project: plan, rehearse, deliver and review a real online presentation of your own, or a fictional charity's induction talk, then set a 90-day plan to keep improving.

What will I learn?

• Set up a camera, light, sound, background and connection that make you look and sound clear, using what you already have
• Use eye contact through the lens, posture, gestures and voice to come across warmly on a small screen, and manage nerves on camera
• Plan online talks with one main message, short segments, a strong first minute, a clear close and a same-day follow-up
• Design slides that are readable on a phone, with contrast checked against WCAG 2.2 AA and nothing carried by colour alone
• Share a window rather than your screen, choose presenter layouts, play clips with sound and hand over cleanly between presenters
• Keep a camera-off audience involved with chat, reactions, polls and well-handled questions, including difficult ones
• Run a webinar with a producer: roles, run sheet, practice session or green room, captions, questions and follow-up
• Present well in hybrid rooms, high-stakes pitches and interviews, and recorded videos, with a backup plan for technology failures
• Make online presentations accessible, with captions, described visuals and clear language

Frequently asked questions