While plans for office re-openings are continuously evolving across the globe, it is clear that virtual meetings are here to stay.

Whether it’s with your own team or external stakeholders, making a strong impression in remote meetings is important.

In Inc.com, speaker and author Carmine Gallo offers four ways to sound like a pro in virtual meetings.

Slow your pace

There should be a difference between how you speak in casual conversation and how you speak in online meetings. One clear difference is that you should speak slower.

Speaking slower can account for many of the difficulties that come with virtual meetings such as glitches and delays.

“Find the pace that’s right for you. Don’t slow down so much that you put your audience to sleep, but it’s likely that your conversational speech is too fast for a virtual meeting,” Gallo recommends.

Pause for impact

Pausing after a key message helps you slow that pace as well as helps you get your ultimate point across. It can aid in eliminating filler words.

“Use silence as a tactic,” Gallo says. “Nothing is more dramatic than a well-placed pause.”

Enunciate every word

There are many distractions that come from virtual meetings such as attendees paying attention to whatever else is on their computer screen or a pet wandering by, so it’s important to be as clear as possible when speaking.

Gallo recommends practicing by reciting tongue-twisters.

Use a high-quality microphone

We all know by now that the built-in microphones that come with your computer aren’t very good, so if you are going to be speaking in a lot of virtual meetings, you should invest in a better microphone or headset.

“Video-chat software compresses audio, so the higher quality the input, the better you’ll sound to your listeners,” Gallo explains.