Dead Air Kills

Wha'ts the one thing you notice almost instantly if you're listening to the radio or a podcast or online music?

SILENCE

It's literally a show stopper for any event that relies on people talking. You know, like speeches and presentations and annual meetings.

And yet so many formal Zoom meetings and presentations actually start with dead air.

In pre-Covid days, the doors would open up to an hour before a meeting or conference and, on the rare occasions when the event began on time (a real annoyance for online attendees), there was plenty of time to find a seat and get settled beforehand.

Now in the time of Covid, too many sessions begin with nearly complete dead air prior to the official start time - How do you like staring at a screen while a faceless voice begs you every 60 seconds to please not hang up while elevator music gives you ear worms? Or the doors open and the event begins at the exact same moment.

An easy solution? Have a casual pre-event session, just like you would if we were back to in-person gatherings. This is a good time and place to work out any last minute bugs or tech issues, and let your attendees poke around the system (even now, there are occasional newbies).

Because you know what people do when there's dead air: they switch you off.