How to Adapt In-Person Presentations for a Digital Audience
Presenting well for a digital audience isn’t just a matter of moving your in-person talk to an online platform.
It’s a shift in how effectively you can engage with your audience and hold their attention.
In a digital environment, you face two main challenges: people are more easily distracted, and you lose the ability to read the room.
When your audience is online, they’re surrounded by competing demands. Email notifications pop up. Internal chat messages appear. Many people are multitasking between meetings, juggling open tabs, or dealing with small interruptions at home. All of this makes it harder for them to stay focused than it would be in a room with you leading the discussion.
And without the usual visual cues from your audience, you can’t always tell when attention has slipped.
When you’re used to drawing energy from a live audience, speaking into a camera can feel awkward and unfamiliar. Those subtle cues on which you normally rely, such as nods, smiles, shared laughter or even confused frowns, are muted or missing. Without them, your natural rhythm can feel disrupted.
Yet the core principles of strong communication don’t change.
Clarity, confidence, and genuine connection still shape every effective presentation, whether you’re standing in front of a crowd or appearing in a small window on someone’s screen.
The key is finding new ways to bring those principles to life in a digital space.
When you adapt your presence with intention, your message can carry just as much impact online as it does in a physical room.
Here are 9 tips to help you adapt your in-person presentation for an online audience.
1. Create a strong structure
These days, attention spans have taken a nosedive.
With so many apps, alerts and messages competing for their attention, online listeners are working harder than ever to stay focused on your message.
This becomes even more challenging when your presentation is bland, text-heavy, or lacks opportunities for interaction. When your content isn’t all that gripping, people naturally drift toward something more stimulating on their screen.
These distractions also contribute to what has become known as Zoom fatigue.
Stanford University identifies several reasons for this mental drain or zoom fatigue, including the overload of close-up eye contact, and the pressure to monitor one’s own image. All of this impacts your audience’s ability to stay engaged.
The good news is that you can design your presentation to counteract these temptations and make it easier for people to stay present.
What you can do
Create a clear structure. People feel more grounded when they understand where the session is heading. A simple overview at the start gives them an anchor.
Deliver your content in short chapters. Short, purposeful segments help people digest information and stay with you.
Guide the audience through one idea at a time. This reduces cognitive load, and makes it easier for listeners to follow your message without drifting off.
When your presentation has a strong structure, you give your audience the best chance of staying focused and absorbing your message, even in a distraction-heavy digital environment.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
2. Sharpen your opening
The first 30 seconds of an online meeting - or any presentation for that matter - are critical.
In a physical room, people naturally focus on you when you stand up to speak. Whereas on a screen, you need to earn that attention quickly.
Start with something that reels your audience in from the get-go.
It could be a short story, a question, a group activity, or a surprising insight.
You want your audience to feel that what comes next is worth their time. Otherwise they may decide to drift off.
For different ideas to create a strong opening, refer to: this post.
3. Be deliberate with your voice
Your voice takes centre-stage online.
Vocal variety signals energy and confidence.
Slow your pace just slightly. It is important not to rush - Your goal should be for your audience to digest and absorb every word you say.
Use pauses to highlight key points.
Vary your tone to break up longer sections.
These adjustments help your delivery feel engaging even without the full support of body language.
It’s particularly important to avoid habits that could potentially grate on your audience.
See this post which outlines various vocal habits that could alienate your audience and cause them to switch off.
4. Adapt your slides for digital viewing
Slides that are visually rich can overwhelm online audiences.
Too many words, too much information to digest and absorb.
It’s Death by PowerPoint.
People are often viewing from laptops or tablets and may have multiple windows open.
Here’s what you can do to keep your presentation more enticing:
Aim for high contrast, minimal text, and clear imagery.
Large fonts work best.
Use attractive and thought-provoking visuals say, in the form of images, charts and graphs, and minimal or no words. A picture really is worth a thousand words.
Keep one idea per slide.
Turn off screen sharing when appropriate. This helps people absorb your message more effectively, and keeps the focus on you, not on the screen.
5. Invite early and frequent interaction
Online engagement needs to be built into your presentation from the get-go.
Simple techniques can make your presentation feel more personal.
You could:
Ask for a quick comment in the chat, say a response to a question.
Invite people to vote in a poll.
Run an activity in breakout rooms.
Encourage a brief reflection at key moments.
These touches increase attention, and create a sense of shared experience.
6. Manage your on-screen presence
Strong on-screen presence comes from some small but meaningful adjustments.
Look at the camera lens when making important points. This is the digital equivalent of eye contact, and it helps people feel included.
Position your camera at eye level. You don’t want people looking up your nose - Very disconcerting!
Use soft lighting from the front, so your face is clear
Choose a background that feels calm and uncluttered.
These details all contribute to how trustworthy, and credible you appear on screen.
7. Reduce friction with reliable technology
Confidence comes more easily when you are prepared and your tools are dependable.
A quick tech. rehearsal can prevent many of the common issues that derail virtual presentations.
Remember to:
Check your microphone.
Test your camera framing.
Close any unnecessary tabs.
Have your slides open in the correct mode.
Have any documents you wish to share during the presentation open in the background
These small steps help you stay composed and focused.
Here’s a post that outlines some of the things to check prior to your presentation, to ensure that nothing gets forgotten and left to chance.
8. Build moments of connection
Connection does not disappear online. It simply takes more intention.
Ensure that you:
Use people’s names when responding to comments.
Share brief personal anecdotes. Remember that people love stories!
Allow a small pause for reflection before moving to the next point.
These personal touches help your audience be more engaged with your content, and most importantly, feel seen and included.
9. Close with clarity
A strong close reinforces your key ideas and leaves your audience with something practical to take away.
Here are some ideas to end your presentations with a bang!
Online listeners appreciate a clear next step or a simple action they can apply immediately.
It helps reinforce the value of your message and leaves a strong and lasting impression.
In closing
Adapting from in-person presenting to the digital environment is simply about fine-tuning your delivery to suit a different context.
When you simplify your message, use your voice with intention, and design your experience with a distracted, multi-tasking audience in mind, you will be well on the way to creating a presentation that captivates your audience.
With practice, these adjustments become natural.
You will show up online with authority and warmth.
And you will deliver an online presentation that is engaging and memorable.
© 2025 Susan Weser. All rights reserved.
Susan Weser is the Founder of Speaking2Win, a boutique public speaking and presentation skills consultancy, based in Melbourne, Australia. Susan’s mission is to demystify public speaking and presenting. She loves to fast-track her clients’ public speaking success, empowering them with the skills and confidence to excel in all their public speaking endeavours.
