Now that board directors are stepping into the virtual spotlight for eAGMs and online investor meetings, many of their questions are about the visual aspect:
Can they see me?
At what moment am I visible – and how do I know?
Can I control when I am seen?
It’s a new arena for us all, even those who’ve been videoconference warriors for years. Acceptable behaviours among a group with established rapport are different from those you adopt in the singular annual event for this key set of stakeholders.
Your guiding thought throughout your online event should be simply this: always on.
Your eAGM is an always-on moment because you cannot totally control when you are being seen. In a standard online meeting, you might stop your video for a few moments. But you cannot do this on an investor event, as it could suggest the wrong conclusions about the board’s focus and transparency.
It’s impossible to predict when your image will appear on-screen, as every videoconferencing software behaves differently. Some can show only nine faces at a time; others can show dozens. The display can change during the call, so you may suddenly be in view without notice. You may be moved to a prominent position when you are speaking; but that does not happen on all apps. Your only option is the always-on stance.
Keep this in mind as well: your view may not be the same as others’. This week I attended an investor meeting where speakers reported different views at the same moment. One person spoke but I could not see her at all; yet for some participants she came fully into view. This may be down to different devices – a tablet versus a laptop, for example. So you may not see yourself on the screen, but others may well be seeing you.
We’ll offer more tips in this series for ensuring you maintain your executive presence while on-screen. In the meantime, hold onto the most important guidance for your participation: you must maintain an ‘always on’ stance throughout the entire event.
Red Shoe coaches boards and management for a successful virtual AGM. This article is part of a series on executive presence in an eAGM.
Image by webphotographeer via iStock
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