Tips for Virtual Presentations

If your department is hosting a Virtual Presentation event during the Fall 2025 Grad Show & Commencement, the guide below will help you prepare. You may be comfortable on zoom from your classes, but remember that this is a more formal occasion.

Tips for Looking Good on Zoom

Set your Zoom Name

Project Confidence

Make sure the name that shows while you are on Zoom matches the name on your Grad Show Profile, resume, and other professional materials. Use the format “First Name Last Name (pronouns - optional)”.

  • Be dressed and groomed to create a good impression.

  • Upright posture will help you convey a sense of confidence through the screen.

  • To emulate eye contact, look into the camera, not at the screen. Use a sticker or a note placed next to your camera as a reminder to look there.

  • Use the language of your field and speak at a conversational pace.

  • DO NOT read from a script. This puts distance between you and the audience and makes you sound stiff.

Test Your Technology

  • Test with a friend to make sure the camera, microphone, and speaker on your 
computer are working.

  • Make sure you’re able to connect to the internet.

  • Practice sharing your screen so that you can do it fluidly. It’s especially important to practice if you’re using more than one monitor.

  • Check to make sure you aren’t showing gray boxes when screen sharing. 
This article has tips for getting rid of them.

  • Be aware of sound in the environment around you. You may need to use a headset for the best quality sound.

Eliminate Distractions

  • Alert members of your household that you will be on a video call to provide you some privacy and limit distractions.

  • If you have pets, consider strategies to limit barking or walking into the video.

Create a Good Image on Screen

  • Use a light source in front of you so your face is well lit. Avoid strong light sources behind you to prevent being backlit.

  • Elevate your camera so it is at eye level. You want your head and shoulders to be visible and centered on the screen.

  • Position yourself in front of a neutral background that is not visually busy. Consider using the “blur background” feature on zoom.

  • If you want to use a virtual background, make sure it is not too busy and that it does not distract from what you will be saying. Double check that you stand out clearly against the backdrop and do not appear and disappear as you move.

  • Avoid wearing small patterns like dots and stripes that can vibrate while on screen.

How to Present Your Work to Attendees

Introduce Yourself

State Your Career Goals

Share Your Work

Clearly state your whole professional name, with a pause between first and last. Try to have your name and contact info in the first and last image when you present.


Identify the specific kind of artist/designer you are. Some examples:

  • Interior or exterior 

  • Transmedia, print, or packaging

  • Sustainability, social impact 

  • Hardware, soft goods, athletic shoe 

  • User experience, design research

  • Illustration for consumer goods, surface design, fine art illustrator 

  • Product or editorial photography 

  • Visual development, character designer, animator, background artist 

  • Cinematographer, director, editor 

  • Spatial designer, furniture designer, lighting designer, hospitality

  • Art director, copywriter. 

Briefly state your general career goals and what you are excited to do. 

  • What kind of work are you looking for?

  • What kind of impact do you hope to have?

  • Don’t focus on specific companies where you want to work. Instead think about the bigger picture. 

We recommend creating a slide deck to use for your presentation. This lets you have the best control over your images and how they show up on screen. It also forces you to carefully choose what you’re going to show and structure your presentation.



Choose from among the sample prompts below to structure this part of your presentation. 

  • What are your three top creative interests or skills? How do a few (3-5) examples from your portfolio or your Grad Show Profile show those interests or skills?

  • Which of your projects taught you the most? Show a project and describe the new insights it brought or the new questions it led you to ask.

  • How do you follow a project from beginning to end? Choose a project where you can quickly explain your design process/how you think as a designer. 


Some sample sentences you might use while talking about your work.

  • I chose this because…

  • I made this decision because...

Practice, Preparation, & Delivery

  • Create an outline with notes and key words and phrases. DO NOT read from a script.

  • Take deep breaths to help keep yourself calm and open up your chest for good vocal sound.

    Deep Breathing Guide

  • Make sure you’re projecting enough that your mic is picking up your voice, and everyone on Zoom can hear you.

  • Practice your presentation to be sure you have the right amount of content for the time limit.

  • Know your pacing and talk at a comfortable rate that is neither too fast or too slow. A conversational speed works well.

  • Use pitch (how high or low your voice goes), emphasis (the stress you put on words and syllables) and volume/the amount of energy in your voice to help your listeners follow you and keep things interesting.

  • Vary the speed at which you talk, slowing down to emphasize important information. 

  • Do you use filler words often? (oh, um, you know, so, like, etc.) Those will often disappear if you do two things 1) relax, 
2) practice what you are going to say.
    We often reach for these words when we’re nervous or don’t know our content well enough. Practice with someone else or record yourself on zoom to help you understand the words you commonly use. Then practice replacing those words with pauses.

Micro Workshop

View this video to learn key basics for virtual presentations from organizing your thoughts to designing your slides, knowing all about working with zoom, or rehearsing and wrapping up your presentation.

Get tips for virtual presentations in video form as well!