Wedding Business Solutions

Is virtual selling still a thing? – With John Chen

• Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

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Is virtual selling still a thing? – With John Chen  

During the pandemic, a lot of you started to sell virtually (phone, zoom, etc.). Now that things have settled to the next normal, is virtual selling something you should be doing, or considering? I invited my friend John Chen, who’s a wizard at helping companies host virtual and hybrid (combination of in-person and virtual) meeting and events. His knowledge of the technology and the processes is fantastic, and whether you’ve been selling virtually, or not, and whether you like to do it, or not, there are some great tips and perspectives in this episode. 

About John Chen 

John Chen is the CEO and Author of Engaging Virtual Meetings, published by Wiley and Sons Engaging Virtual Meetings Planner, Producer and Emcee.  

He is also the President for National Speakers Association Northwest 

 

Hear him speak live by registering for The Engaging Conference, 10/1/2024 – 10/3/2024 -  http://evmconference.eventbrite.com?discount=evmjohn to here more about The Secrets of the Most Engaging Conferences, Summits and Masterclasses. 

 

Connect with John: http://linktr.ee/ceojohnchen 

 

If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com 

Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com  

Alan hasn’t done a virtual master class since Covid, and since there’s been so much interest, he’s going to host only one before the end of 2024, to get you ready for engagement season, 2025 and beyond!

Only 16 Seats for this, so get your ticket(s) now! Click here

I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

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©2024 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com

Virtual selling. Is it still a thing? I think it is, but you're gonna want to hear how to do it better. So listen to this episode. Hi, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I am so excited to have my friend John Chen on to talk about virtual selling. John, thanks for joining me. 

 Thank you for joining me. Joining me. Thank you for joining you. We're here at Thrive, National Speakers Association's winner convention, and so we're so excited we're actually here together. It's so weird. 

And we first met at a. I think it was a nace meeting in Seattle by accident because my train was canceled or something like that. And we've been connected ever since. And John is such a guru when it comes to virtual meetings. This is what you do. 

You produce virtual meetings, virtual hybrid, and now in person meetings. What a concept, right? 

Right. And I speak for some associations that do hybrid meetings with me and things. But we want to talk about two parts of this. So, one is the technological part, which you know way better than anybody I know. And the other thing is more of the. Just the nuts and bolts of selling and doing presentations virtually. So we'll get to the technology part, but let's talk first, because I know during COVID everybody went to virtual. That's what they were doing. 

And some people haven't gone back, which is great. And some people have, thinking that, gee, I want to be back in person, which is great, but anytime you say, I want to, you're doing what you want, not what the customer wants. So what are you finding in terms of virtual selling? People that maybe during COVID tried it out, and now are you finding people trying to go back to in person again, or are they shunning the virtual, or have they embraced it? 

It's gone a little bit all over the map. 

Right. 

And I think this is one of the parts about we're coming back now, and I think everybody's spending time figuring it out. And so what I've seen is there are some people who went to virtual who are never there, and they love it. For me, as a salesperson, I can clock 14 meetings in a single day, and I could never do that in Seattle with traffic and parking and all that other. I get three in a whole eight hour day if I'm lucky. So I think that's a challenge. So there's that group, right? There's the other group that went back to in person. And for some businesses, it's really key. I'm actually sitting on some new research, look for a new program I'm gonna release in the next two or three months with one of my friends. 

But the key part of it is if you're attempting to create relationships, this is still the best way. Relationships. 

Right. 

But if you're just delivering educational content about your product, it could go any of the three avenues. And I think that's something that's really important that's inside of there. And so, and the smart people are doing a mix. I think the smart people are doing a mix where they will take time to meet in person. Like one of the companies, they use this example, they got a new leader, so they invested the money to fly 150 people who work under that leader into one place. When that leader got introduced in, but six months later, they said, we want to have another in person meeting. And headquarters said, nope, because of budgets, layoffs, this is the time. This is a factor. 

And so then they called me and I helped arrange a four hour virtual meeting to assist the process and follow up on what happened in that in person meeting. So those, I think that's a great example of hybrid, and using each of the vehicles correctly is really the key. 

Right. 

And it's a tool. I think this is what people have to think of. And you've heard me talking about reducing the friction, meeting people where they are. When my website, I give them the option of calling me, texting me, emailing me, filling out a contact form, all these things. And because of the widget that says text me on my website now I get more texts than I ever did before. 

 Wow. 

And I've made sales through texting because the conversation was fine. And this is about me being comfortable having that conversation that way because the client already was. That's why they texted me instead of calling me or emailing. 

Right. 

It was me saying, well, why would I change this to phone? Or in the case of virtual here, why would you try to force somebody to come in and meet you in person, which requires traffic and time and all these things and maybe people who having trouble getting them together when you could just do this. So what are some of the tips for better engagement? So let's say, because we are talking to a lot of wedding and event professionals, meeting professionals. So if you had, whether they're in the same room or they're in different places, what are some of the tips that you give your coach, your clients on for a better engagement in that process? 

Well, engagement is the key. And by the way, this pin right here, if you can't see, this is my meeting. Professional international, 15 year MPI. 

MPI. 

So I'm a little bit of one of you. Cause we're selling sometimes dissimilar with the same clients in the key. Tips for sales. I think number one is that it's kind of the 80 20 rule, meaning that the client should be talking in that first meeting 80% of the time if you want to prep. And I just saw. We just saw somebody else. I think it was Sherry who talked about, or somebody else who was talking about. How do we go through and map through the client and prep for that client meeting? Because there's so much stuff available on your client or their company or whatever it is. 

Like, if you're asking those kind of questions during the meeting, they immediately would go, why are you asking me that? That's on the Internet. When you tap into a really deep question, though, like, why is this this way? Something that is not accessible on the Internet now, they're like, oh, you know, my business. Or you're curious. You want to find out, oh, so. 

In the case of an engaged couple, it's not a business. You could be looking at their socials. 

Oh, yeah, that too. 

But that idea of 80 20 is regardless of whether you're in person on the phone, they should be talking. 

Yeah. This is universal. 

Well, I like to say, when we're talking, we don't learn anything. 

 That's right. 

Right. 

We're only learning when they're talking. So the why questions. 

Right. 

If are you asking better questions that get to not what's important, but why it's important. 

And that goes to my number one question. Doesn't matter what industry you're on, and it sounds like such a simple question, but when you ask it, you'll find a lot of people don't know the answer. And that question is, what do you want? 

Right. 

 And then you can actually kind of take the SNL version of it. No, no, no. What do you really want? Because they will tell you, like, let's take a wedding. They'll tell you the B's answer, we want the most perfect Instagram wedding, blah, blah. No, you don't. 

Really. 

Maybe. 

Right? 

Maybe you want something else. Like, in my wedding. My wedding was in San Francisco, and one of the reasons why it was in neither of our hometown or our living towns at the time is because the matriarch of the family, my grandmother, was 104 at the time, and for her to attend the easiest thing to do was to have it in San Francisco. And so, you know, and that's some of the reasons why bride and grooms, I think, make their choices with that is. And so what if you got to get to that reasoning. Otherwise, you suggest all this stuff that in their head, they're like, nope, don't want that. No, no, no. 

Which is also important, because when you find out what they don't want, instead of telling them what you can do, only to then find out they don't want it. If you're asking a better question, you find out if there's interest in finding out more. And this is why, when you see me talking about sales and asking better questions, if it's something you want them to know, ask it as a question rather than just talk at them. 

Make a statement. 

Make a statement. So, for instance, the easiest example, you're an entertainment company. You provide sound. 

Yes. 

 So for the ceremony, and so many dj's are selling discreet wireless microphones. 

Oh, yeah. 

 Right. 

Which is a means to an end. But it's. My question is, have you ever been at a wedding ceremony and you couldn't hear what the couple was saying, and you get that look. 

Right. 

We're gonna make sure that doesn't happen at your wedding. Now, how we get there, they don't care. But if Aunt Sally in the 7th row can hear your vows, you have gotten to the result. And I think that's the word I use a lot, is you're selling the results of choosing you, not the way you get to those results. 

 Oh, my gosh, Alan, this is so funny, because I was in San Francisco, and I got asked in to help with this wedding, right? And one of them was Av. And luckily, my brother has an audio company. He usually sells much bigger sound systems. But he kind of agreed to do this as a favor. He turns out to be my client. So here's the setup, right? Big garden setup. 

Right? 

And he's a smart guy, but he's. 

On his second wedding, okay? 

And she's first time bride. 

Okay. 

 And she is a PhD. So what we learned in the first ten minutes of being with her, she's a person who's a researcher. Duh. 

Right. 

She wants to know all the options possible, and then ideally, pick one that is the right one, and you can't. You can't accelerate. 

 Right, right. 

Because if you do, you cut her off. Right? You want this. No, no, no. Some clients want that, too, by the way. So you're learning the style. So we gave her lots of choices. 

Right. 

And so one of the setups was they do their toast up high on a bar, two speakers behind her. And so it's a little bit like, you know, on that big staircase in a place. This is what I felt. And there's a garden below. 

Okay. 

All right. And then she came around, and she goes, no, no, no. It's so important. I don't want the elders to feel left out. I really want to be, like, do the toast and, like, have it feel like a garden party. Like, it's very casual, not this big thing. So we reversed the whole setup, and we put the speakers down, you know, and she goes, I don't want a head table. I know. 

I know you don't have a head table. But we'll put some, you know, regular circular tables are the same as everyone else. But you two need to sit here, because, one, we need to feed you. You gotta put your stuff on. Two, this is where you're gonna speak from. And she goes, okay, I'll do that. So that was a great case of, like, listening to the client giving choices. And then in that particular case, since you knew it was important, let the client choose. 

Right, right. 

This is a thing I've spoken about where I forget which book I was listening to, I think was the paradox of choice. Barry Schwartz. 

 Oh, yeah. 

 Or actually, it could have been another book that I was listening, but similar. People want the perception of choice. 

Yes. 

But you don't want to give them too many choices. No, because then they can't choose. 

They go overwhelmed. Yeah. That's a real thing. 

Right. 

There's decision paralysis. 

Right. 

Decision fatigue is when they've made so many decisions, they can't make any more. But decision paralysis. But yet, if people feel they didn't have a choice, that's no good. Now, like you said, there are some people, like, tell me what I need. Yes, tell me what. 

Now. 

But if you're not dealing with. Tell me what I need. People, you need to give them a perception of choice. Your job is to reduce the number of choices before you present to them. 

Yes. 

Because if you say, I can do any of this, and 80% of that. 

Doesn't apply, well, they don't even know too. They don't even know what that 80% is. 

Right. Right. 

 Cause that's not their skill or expertise. 

 Right, right. 

 But yet you want them to feel like they had some choice. Unless they're the people that say, just do it, I don't care. Just make it happen. 

So here's one of my strategies around it. Though, is the suggestion. 

Yes. Right. 

 So you need to come across as an expert. You should be an expert, by the way, in your field. So based on my experience, you could do this or you can do this, but based on my experience, now that what you've told me so far, I suggest that we do this and we can take care of all the things around the side. 

Right. 

And she ended up taking that suggestion. So I think that that's a great way to give the client choice and maintain your expert status and your control of the situation. 

That's right. Right. And if you say to them, so what I think I heard you say was important is. And now they feel validated. 

 Let me tell you, though, that that's company culture in our company. What I think I heard you say is you gotta write these words down. Like, if you don't say these words all the time, you're messing up. 

 Right. 

Because, and here's the key. Client says all these things, and you could, like, you pretend like you're a client, you went on a diatribe for 20 minutes about what you wanna feel, and blah, blah, blah, all these things, and you gotta come back and just say, what I think I heard you say is. And sometimes you boil it down to the simple things, right. You want to feel connected to your elders. And then she's like, oh, my God. 

You get me, right? 

 And you just gave them back their words. 

Yeah. 

 Yeah. 

And that's why it's so important in team building, is where we also used it, is saying, as a leader, you need to make sure and be able to say these things. Or more importantly, when you give a command or instructions, saying, now say it back to me. 

Right. 

And you teach them this phrase. What I think I heard you say, john, is you want speakers here, these wireless mics here, and this. And you say, yes, you nailed it. Or you're not listening. Let me help you out. 

Because a basic human need is to be heard. 

Yes. 

So if they're talking, they expect you to be listening. If you're thinking about the next thing you want to say, you're not listening. 

 You're not listening, and you will miss it. 

And this is virtual. Same thing. You have to make sure you've reduced your own distractions. 

Yes. 

Right. 

Because you should be paying attention to them. Let's talk about technology a little bit. I got myself something called center Cam. 

Yes. 

So I can put the camera on the screen. So when I'm talking to John on zoom, it looks like this. It's right next to his face. So he can't tell that it's an inch or two off. But I'm not with my old camera, and I still have it there. I have a beautiful 4K camera, but it's above the screen. So if it's just me talking, not on a conversation, I can look at that camera. But otherwise our tendency is to look at the screen and you know you're not being looked at. 

I know center cam is one thing, and that's actually. It's a brand. You don't have to use that one. Are there other ones like that? 

 Oh, so here's my new latest, quote, unquote secret tech. 

Okay. 

 The secret tech is Elgato, the people who make the stream deck. There's a push button automation. We'll talk about that in a sec, is that they put out something called a prompter. 

 Okay. 

 And so that's their version of a teleprompter. And why it's better than the other ones I've seen is that it incorporates a video screen. So the video screen is down here hidden. 

Right. 

 Then they have beam splitter glass. And then you could put any camera, your current 4K camera, you're missing. Or you can put, like I put a DSLR, which is a very high end camera, right? And again, these are the things that can help you on technology. 

Right? 

People snap judge you in the first two minutes. They meet you on virtual, okay? If you have crappy video, you have crappy lighting, you have your audio sucks, right? They will rank you as an amateur no matter how much an expert you are in your field. 

Right? 

 And so that's why these things are so important. So why is this prompter so important now? Because it incorporates a video screen. I take one of my Zoom screens, which is the active speaker, and drag it in there. That means that active is speakers, right? Now, I finally have the benefits of both because I tested the center cam. Why I love the center cam. One is the cameras on the screen, and occasionally, in the wrong place, I can't read something. And the second one is, it's not as good a camera as I can. And it couldn't, it can't be suits like this small. 

But if you're just having a sales meeting with someone, you need a good camera. You don't need that. Now, for those of you. 

 Well, I would actually disagree with that. I would disagree a little on that. 

Well, let's talk for those of you that missed that whole thing about prompter. If you ever see or saw on tv or a movie of a news reporter reading the news. 

President. 

 Yeah. Right. 

Or the president or whoever. They're looking through the words that. The words that are there, they're reading and the camera is looking through. And that was that glass you called beam splitter. 

 Right. 

 So what happens is the camera doesn't see the words. 

 Yes. 

 The camera only sees the person. The person sees the words isn't actually seeing the camera because they're looking at that. So that's that thing in front of a camera that you'll see on those things. And you can actually do that in your office. 

So the reason why this is important, number one. So I took this new technology and wasn't sure how much I was gonna like it. But one is I found a way to use it every day. And that's what, that's how, you know, you get tech that you love when you use it every day. So even in my regular meetings I will put it in there. And so let's say Alan was on there. I can look at Alan, I'm looking at his eyes while we're having this conversation. What's most important too is that I can read all his body language. 

 Yeah. 

Right. And the body language is giving you way more information. Right. Than if. Especially if you. Then if he had a camera off. The second thing is that either when I'm recording videos or sometimes when I'm presenting like I do, I do virtual mc work. So if I do that, I'll put my key points in here. 

 And now I'm delivering them all while looking at the camera and not doing this. 

 Right. 

Coming up next, this amazing speaker. 

Right. 

That's totally different than coming up next, this amazing speaker. 

 All right. 

 Is this. He's a sales genius. You got to meet this guy, Alan Burke. 

 Alright. 

So you just did something which I don't know if you caught when he looked that way, the sound changed. 

 Yeah, that too. 

 Right. 

So now let's talk about microphones. 

Okay, cool. 

 Because your camera might have a microphone in it. 

 Right. 

A lot of cameras do. I don't use that. I have three different microphones in my office. 

And you should. 

And I have one if it's going to be more than just myself. So I have my blue eyed which I used to use only for me. But now I only use that when there's more than one of us. I have my audio technica mic. There's my podcast rig microphone. I do have a little actually the one in the camera that's probably at four different microphones. But without, without busting the budget. Without busting the budget on technology. 

 Talk about microphones for a second. 

 Well, number one is get an external microphone. And Alan and I were talking that I'm like a mic whisperer now. So when I'm listening to you, if I meet you online and I actually see like a podcasty, like, you mic something like this or on here, and it sounds like crap, I know it. And that means I know your mic is not connected correctly. So the worst part is you spent the technology or you spent the money and the energy and effort to have this great mic here and you're not using it. 

 Yeah. 

 So that's number one. And the other corollary to that, almost every single, like 90 plus percent of the laptop mics suck. They just suck. And they don't. They're tinny. They sound like you're in a bathroom. None of them are good for you. 

 Well, they're tiny. There's this tiny hole in your computer. 

 That's all it is. It can't be good. No. So number one, get a mic. 

 Okay. 

If you're serious about what you do, second one then is like, you can solve the basic mic problem for like $50 to $100. So, 50. I recommend the snowball. The $50 snowball is a great sounding mic. It's usb. You plug it into your computer, switch mics, you're good. This one here is another one I recommend. This is called an IRig HD two from ik multimedia. 

 And the reason why I like it, it's in a handheld format, so you can use all the same tools like Boom mics or, you know, mic stands and other things like that with it. I am a fan of the Yeti. The Yeti can do a lot of things, but it is a desktop mic. And the problem with me is when it's on the desktop, some people have to get a stand to get it out of the way. But what I really use, if we really want to go further on audio, let's say you have multiple people. Well, you all know that when two of you log in the same place, you're going to echo. So I'm actually carrying with me today a USB mixing board. So if you had lots of people, like, we had a panel of six people, we're going to mic them individually because we want the best sound quality. 

You plug this in, you can take those six mics and now give each person their own mic instead of sharing one, and really get perfect audio from each of those people. And again, you can either use, I use Shure SM 58s, which were classic in the music industry, if we're wired and if we're wireless, I really prefer a Sennheiser. It's called an EW 100. So that's a wireless pack. If we were going to walk around like our great keynote speakers are taught, and then I use a countryman mic, which is over the ear. And here's the key. The mic is here. And this is why I don't like lavaliers, because even in a lavalier, if I do this, your voice starts to fade like you sound like the. 

 Right. 

And so I like mics that are close. 

Right. 

So if you're doing a lot of virtual presentations, investing in better equipment, certainly. I own a countryman mic. I actually bring my own as a speaker. 

 I do, too. 

I have four different cables, depending upon the body pack and all that. But most people in their office aren't going to go there. I use an audio technica. I think it's a 100 something 100. It was about $100. Now when they go looking, they're going to see things like cardoid and these different things. What's the key phrase they're looking for in a USB plug in mic? 

 Well, I think one is sampling rate and quality. It doesn't even matter about all these other patterning and things like that. The key for that is that, I mean, it has to convert our audio, which is analog, into digital. And so a lot of what you pay for the $100 in the mic is what's processing. Okay, so that's number one, like pattern. What he's saying in cardioid and stuff is like this mic here, in this case is moving forward. So, like here, we're good. If we go behind the mic, it will not hear us very well, which. 

 Is good if there's any noises going on behind. 

So if you're trying to minimize background sound, those are other kinds of things like that. But I think the number one thing is the quality of the microphone. And I mean, the second part too is like, again, our good friend, I'll give a shout out to our good friend Seattle Amazon. Get the mic, try it, record. This is the best thing you can do. Go and just have a meeting of one click, record to your computer, say a bunch of things the way you normally would do it. Stop it, wait for the video, render and listen to it. And actually, we did that before this meeting. 

 Right? Right. 

 We tested the video, we tested the audio, we tested the lighting to make sure that it's right, because we're not in a studio, we're in a hotel. And this is it. So the quality matters. Video and audio matter. If one of them was going to be not great, it would be the video over the audio. Cause if they can't hear you, it doesn't matter if they can see you. 

 That's right. 

That's not saying that's not getting you off the hook for bad video. Not getting you off the hook for bad video. But again, you're gonna come across more professionals. So something I was thinking of virtual backgrounds versus real backgrounds. Okay. Personally, for me, it's visually disturbing to see the virtual backgrounds. They don't look real. And people's body parts start moving and disappearing when you're doing that. 

Definitely not. 

And then there's that whole blur background, which is just way too blurred. So when you're producing events like this and they don't have a great background, what do you do? 

 Well, I was definitely on team analog or team regular background in the beginning. And I still think there's value that you should set up your office in such a way to do that. And here's the side benefits for it. Your authenticity factor goes up because it says, I'm not hiding anything. That's the subconscious part. The second part is too. Is like, I'm not a train wreck because I have stuff arranged in my background specifically for my head to be in the middle. But there's interesting things in there, right? There's awards, right? Oh, he's actually won something. 

 There's my book. Oh, he wrote a book. He must be an expert. I put a picture of me skydiving in there. 

Oh. 

You know, and I ask people, what's something. You've never met me. What's something you can guess about me? And goes, well, you're a risk taker. 

 All right. 

 And so that they're getting that. So you can. You should think about what you put in there and put them items that are about you and your business. And I think that's wasted a lot of time. 

 Right. 

Because they are going to notice. 

 They are going to notice. 

 Right. 

So my background is a real background. That's what I've done. Yeah. I had. I have these cube units. You get them at target, these cube units. And I had a piece of wood made with my logo on my URL, which is always over my shoulder. My desk is adjustable motorized. 

 So whether I'm standing or sitting, it's there. 

 It looks good, right? You tested both angles? 

 Oh, yeah. It was important when I was sitting up. My books are all over my shoulder. 

 Yes. 

And even though they're behind me. I go like this and point. I'm actually not touching the book. No, but it looks like I'm touching the book. And I say, well, shut up and sell more. And why are they ghosting me? And, you know, I just. Just do this here. But it's a real background now. 

The truth is, what's going on in front of me, you can't see, right. So if you have a messy desk and all that, that's fine. They can't see. 

 They can't see it as long as it's not on camera. 

Right. 

 So just think about yourself. When you're watching or having a conversation with somebody else on Zoom, are you being distracted by what's behind them? 

 That's right. 

 And I love what you said about, you know, what are you hiding? 

 Right. 

 Like, that whole thing of what are you hiding? But for me, it's just this kind of noise, this friction when I'm seeing and somebody moves and I don't see their arm because it went into the background. 

 It's actually. That's one of the leading causes of zoom fatigue, is that you make the attendee work extra hard to figure out what's wrong with Alan's head. 

Got it. 

 And it's not this, right? 

No. All right, so technology, again, you don't have to totally nerd out, but it does matter. So whatever microphone you're using, whatever camera you're using, definitely do some practice ones and see. What does it actually sound like there? 

 Yeah. I do want to talk about virtual for a minute, though, because I did go. Now I'm on team virtual. 

Okay. 

And here's the only couple ways that you can do team virtual. Number one is, I mean, you can use a static background, again, that has things over the left and right shoulder. You can design yours. Although, you know, I actually took a real photograph of my office, and that is now one of my backgrounds. So I can actually do both. Pretend like I'm in a real environment. And if you get a high enough quality camera and all these other things, you can get very close to where people don't know. 

 Right. 

 People don't know. So that's one key. So now the second key is that in virtual, that ideally now, still, like, if you're going to go really do it, get a green screen, because the green can get rid of these weird artifacts. And this is the test, by the way, if you hold this up, right, and you see weird artifacts in between the fingers, right now, that's the current artifact that your virtual background is not. 

Going, okay, so explain for those that don't know what a green screen is, okay, so what? 

 In my office, I have a green screen. So, like, all these curtains here in drapes, we would make a green screen. And what happens is in television and movies, they use something called chroma key because the green is chosen because it's not on any of the colors on our face, usually not on our clothes. 

Gotta be careful. 

 That's right. 

 Yeah. 

 You gotta be careful. And that then you can remove it. And the advantage that I get for doing that is that now I can take my image of me, cut out everything else around me, and now I can put myself inside of anything. 

 Right. 

And so now that's where I'm at. And I can tell you right now, Alan, that less than 1% of the people I know are doing this really well. So when I present, I can actually still have this same presence. If you're seeing me on screen here. 

 Right. 

 My head is up here in this stage, and I can have this much presence, but I can change this background to be anywhere. I could put Alan and myself right in our favorite locations. Seattle, Portland, east, east Coast, Boston, Taiwan. Yeah. And just by clicking a button and the attendees don't have to see it. And I think when people use it masterfully, I think that you can now do something you could never do in a sales environment. So going back to sales, if you're not using something called PowerPoint as virtual background, I think you're missing out. And the reason why is because you can get into your product like your books. 

 You're pointing at your books. There's nothing here. It's a green screen. But on virtual, you can say, I'm selling this, a 3d printer. I'm selling my dj station. This is my lighting setup. And you can click through slides of that and transport people to the thing that they want. 

 So that PowerPoint is an actual PowerPoint deck of the images you want to show, but instead of it being on a screen, it's actually behind you. 

Yeah. So Zoom is one of the top that has this feature that you can actually take a PowerPoint deck, and then it will translate it and put it in. And now make it your backgrounds. And the key to it is that you can change very quickly from background to background. If you do it the old way, you have to have the background control up, and you. And you could, like, you can make mistakes, but here you can use our powerful tool that most people know, PowerPoint, and be able to do things so that you could quickly go through a presentation that would really show your potential customer what you do and what you do. 

 Great. 

Now where are you? The image of you when that PowerPoint's. 

 Going on, it's like this right here. I'm going to slide over with Alan. 

Right. 

 Ok. I'm going to be in the middle of the screen and I'm going to be surrounded by my technology for that's what. Because that's what I sell. I can put people saying this is what, in a hybrid it's going to look like. So. And in my studio, I can even do crazy things, which is I can get up and walk backwards and I can put my whole full body and look like I'm walking around my venue or my client's venue or something else. That's super advanced stuff. But the key here is that you're maintaining your presence. 

 You are not a small, tiny postage stamp. 

Now, the only thing is you'd have to be aware of where you're going to be so you're not blocking the things you want to do. 

Yes. I'd redesign all my slide decks so that here in the middle right, there's nothing. 

 Got it. Right. 

 And over here on the top left and top right is where I put all the key content I want my customer to know. 

 Right. 

So, and we have to end soon. So an idea could be if you have worked at their venue before and whether you're a florist or whether you're the photographer or the band or the DJ, whatever, you could actually put their venue behind you or an image of the wedding at their venue that you did. And now they're looking at you and they're seeing their venue and there's a connection to that. So, John, we could talk about this forever. 

 Of course. 

 So I'm going to put in the show notes and any way for them to find you, but if. What's the easiest way for them to find out more about you? 

 Yeah. My website, engagingvirtualmeetings.com. And one of the gifts I'll give Allen, it's my equipment list. So I tell people, so many people have asked me, what are you using? So I give my equipment list out, and everything that's in there is something I use every single day. 

Okay, fantastic. So we'll put that into the show notes so you can see all what we nerded out on all those things if you didn't take notes on that. John, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom. 

Here you go. And look, I don't have to do virtual. This is the one thing. 

 Real hugs. 

 Yeah, that's right. Real hugs. 

 Thanks for tuning in. 

 See you next time. 

People on this episode

Contributor

Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

Host