The Truth About Zoom Fatigue

The harsh reality most speakers won’t face, and how you can overcome it.

Zoom Fatigue is a phrase used to describe the feeling people get when they have been sitting on too many virtual meetings.

The theory behind it is that staring at a screen — sitting at a desk, paying attention to multiple people’s video feeds, trying to think or learn, all while resisting the temptation to click over to a different tab and start surfing social media — simply burns too much energy. On some level, it is true. It does use energy in a much different way than an in-person setting, but it doesn’t necessarily use more energy.

We discovered the actual problem: dull, boring presentations!

The realization came when we realized that while some speakers were complaining about having trouble keeping virtual audiences engaged, others were having even better success in the virtual world than they did on in-person stages. How could this be? If Zoom Fatigue was such a universal problem, how was it possible that different people were getting different results?

They know that the audience feeds off their energy, and if they don’t stand up, they can’t deliver with enough energy to keep the audience properly engaged.

The simple point is, you need to stand up when you deliver. Elevate your computer, invest in a standing desk, even just prop your laptop up on a chair on top of a table. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but make sure you stand up to deliver your presentations and you will very likely find your audiences are more able to stay engaged through the entirety of your presentation, and you will be less tired by the end as well.

Listening to poor-quality audio is absolutely exhausting.

One of the primary ways humans form connections with each other is face-to-face contact.

Use screen sharing sparingly or, even better, use a virtual camera tool to superimpose your camera and slides together. There are a number of ways to do this, and it can make you look way more professional than just clicking through slides on a shared screen. If you take your presentations seriously, it is worth taking the time to learn how to use tools like OBS, Stream Yard, Many Cam, or other virtual studio software to take your virtual presentations to the next level.

The real problem is boring, disengaged, unprofessional presenters.

If people like Tony Robbins and Eric Edmeades can hold the attention of audiences with hundreds of people over 8+ hours each day at 3–5 day events, you can too. But it’s going to take some effort on your part. Don’t fall into the complacency trap of thinking that “it’s just a Zoom call” so you can roll out of bed, get half-dressed and then log in.

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Speaker Nation is an international community that provides education, career development, and coaching for aspiring and professional public speakers.

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Speaker Nation

Speaker Nation is an international community that provides education, career development, and coaching for aspiring and professional public speakers.