Building your charismatic presence on Zoom is vital in a digital world. You can display a charismatic presence during online meetings by focusing your eye contact on the camera, using hand gestures within the frame, and using storytelling to hook the attention of participants. There are also some bonus extras that can add to your virtual charisma, such as dressing appropriately, arranging good lighting and framing, as well as bringing energy into the online meeting.
How to Build a Charismatic Presence on Zoom
Developing charisma for online meetings or virtual conferences is no small task. It requires purposeful action and practice to hone charismatic techniques, which are:
- Master Your Eye Contact (via the Camera Lens)
- Use Purposeful Gestures (within frame)
- Use Storytelling to Hook Attention
- Bonus Technique
Master Your Eye Contact (via Camera Lens)
As a leader conducting online meetings, you want your team to trust what you are saying. You may think that not looking at the camera is no big deal. Well, a study conducted by Princeton found that eye contact activates bonding circuits in the brain.
The study into human behaviour during online meetings found that individuals were less connected to each other on Zoom or Teams calls compared to in-person meetings. Online meetings had lower levels of social cues and synchronisation between participants, affecting the bonding that occurs when face to face with someone. The results indicate that if you want to be more charismatic during online meetings, you need to consciously look at your camera to simulate the bonding effects that take place in real life.
Example
Take a look at the image of a person on a Zoom call. Looks familiar, right?
Which, to you, has more charismatic presence: the left or the right?
Use Purposeful Gestures (within frame)
On a Zoom call, we are tempted to have just our head and shoulders in frame. The problem with this is that we lose a key component of charisma, which is our body language—specifically our hand gestures.
Hand gestures help emphasise our communication and add to our charismatic presence, so by orienting the camera to cut off this section of the body, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Open palms, pointing, and counting on fingers are no use if no one can see them.
Joep Cornelissen of Erasmus University conducted a study on how “entrepreneurs” pitched their ideas to investors. If the entrepreneur used hand gestures to showcase their products, investors were 12% more likely to invest in their idea.
People are constantly assessing our body language, and more hand gestures are usually associated with more excitement and passion for an idea. Hand gestures also help communicate the message you want to deliver. In the study, investors who witnessed a pitch with more hand gestures also commented that they understood the idea better.
Example
Take a look at this elevator business pitch. Let’s not focus on the pitch itself, but instead consider the hand gestures she is using. Look how they emphasise each point she is making, all while sitting down.
Would her pitch be as effective if she were not using her hands?
Use Storytelling to Hook Attention
The number one mistake I see people make when it comes to charismatic presence on Zoom is that they cannot hold their audience’s attention. This is because it’s so hard to keep people engaged during online meetings. Your audience has the ability to be distracted by emails, notifications, spreadsheets, YouTube, kids in the next room, the doorbell ringing, and a million more ways to divert their attention away from you.
Hook attention right from the start with a story.
Don’t jump straight into content. People will tune out as soon as you share your screen to an empty, lifeless document.
When you tell stories, a psychological effect takes place called neural coupling.
Research has found that neural coupling occurs when the storyteller’s and listener’s brain patterns synchronise, creating a sense of connection.
People don’t just feel engaged after hearing a story—they act in line with those feelings too. In studies, participants who heard a story about a child dying of cancer were more likely to donate money to a cancer charity.
Example
Bonus Technique
Here are some bonus techniques to elevate your charismatic presence on Zoom.
Optimise Framing & Lighting
This small detail can take your digital charismatic presence to the next level. Having good natural lighting directed at your face can make you appear warmer and more positive—key components of charisma.
Dress Appropriately
Just because you’re in your bedroom doesn’t mean you can skip wearing trousers! Make sure you dress appropriately for the meeting you are participating in. Even if you are an expert in your field, wearing a hoodie over your pyjamas does not communicate that you are a competent leader.
Example
Take a look at this example. Which, to you, has more charismatic presence on Zoom?
The leader on the left has poor framing, inappropriate clothing, and bad lighting. He may be the best candidate for the job, the ultimate CEO, or an effective team member, but that is not being communicated. The leader on the right has that X-factor, which is associated with charismatic presence.
My Opinion on Charismatic Presence on Zoom
From what I see in Zoom meetings, people cut corners they wouldn’t otherwise cut in a face-to-face meeting. No one would go to the office in a dressing gown; you would make an effort to make eye contact and draw attention naturally. When delivering meetings online, your charismatic presence is just as important as it is in person.
Digital communication has become a massive part of our jobs as leaders, and to remain effective, we need to harness positive charismatic techniques so we can continue to inspire and motivate remote teams. I am all for online meetings on Zoom or Teams, but what I am against is lazy delivery, just because it’s online.
