Faking it ain't so bad
Want to promote yourself as a virtual presenter and don’t have any events lined up?
No problem - fake it, :)
I was on the phone with a speaker the other day and she came across my virtual event work through one of her mastermind groups.
She was excited at the prospect of getting her hands on virtual webinar photos that she could leverage to get keynote gigs and grow her online community.
She only had one problem…
She wasn’t booked for anything in the foreseeable future.
Rather than having her exit the conversation frustrated and defeated, I told her that we could still make magic happen regardless if she had an event scheduled or not.
All we need to do is fake the damn thing.
Not only is faking a webinar or other online presentation an option, but it also offers unique advantages to an actual meeting.
How so?
Your attention and effort is solely focused on creating compelling and dynamic image content.
Rather than being present for your presentation and the audience, your attention is exclusively geared towards creating valuable photo assets.
And that does make quite a difference in the grand scheme. You can:
Start, stop and take a break since there’s no audience
Make constant technical adjustments to your lighting and camera angle
Adjust background elements such as books and other props in and out of your web camera’s sight
Create slides that highlight various high-level aspects of your thought leadership framework that can be used to create more visual variety in your virtual event photo portfolio
Have multiple outfit changes - well, at least tops and jewelry - pants optional, of course, :)
Change physical background settings by moving your laptop into different rooms
Change virtual background settings that highlight your logo and match your brand aesthetic
While there’s many positives to faking a virtual presentation, there are some drawbacks that pop up, as well.
And these drawbacks revolve around whether or not showing you interacting with an audience is important to the way you market your virtual services.
When you fake a presentation with no audience, there is no Q&A, no chat functionality and polls, no interactivity of any kind.
For the woman I mentioned earlier, she had no need for an audience as she was only interested in candid photos that highlighted her ability to present virtually.
For some of you, this would pose a major problem.
Keep your specific marketing goals in mind before you book a virtual session.
And if it works for you, fake it till you make it, folks - it can be a magical experience, after all, :)
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