Sharing your screen is the moment a call stops being a conversation and starts being a demonstration. Done well it replaces ten follow-up emails; done carelessly it broadcasts your private chat notifications to the entire client base. This chapter covers technique and hygiene.
Window, Desktop, or Presentation
The share menu offers three scopes, and the choice is a security decision as much as a visual one:
- Single window — only that application is visible. Switching to another app shows nothing. This is the default you should want.
- Full desktop — everything, including the notification that pops up mid-demo. Reserve for multi-application walkthroughs.
- Slide deck or whiteboard — the app renders the content itself, so your cursor moves independently and your desktop never appears.
The Ninety-Second Pre-Flight
- Close every window you would not show a client, then open only what you will present.
- Enable do-not-disturb so banners cannot photobomb.
- Zoom the document to a readable level before sharing — viewers on laptops cannot squint.
- Test audio sharing separately if you will play video; "include computer sound" is a toggle people discover too late.
Remote control, granted and revoked
While sharing, you can hand keyboard and mouse control to a participant — ideal for "no, the other button, let me show you". Grant it per person, watch the cursor, and take control back the moment the teaching moment ends. Never leave control granted while you open anything private.
Co-Editing Instead of Show-and-Tell
The stronger pattern for document work is not sharing your screen at all: open the shared file from the channel, have everyone open it simultaneously, and talk over it. Coloured cursors and live edits beat a spectator experience, and the document keeps its own version history. Use screen share for systems the audience cannot access; use co-editing for artefacts they must own afterwards.
Whiteboards and Quick Sketches
Collaborative whiteboards suit architecture discussions and process mapping: infinite canvas, sticky notes, and a board that persists after the call so decisions survive the meeting. Name the board after the topic and pin it as a tab in the owning channel, or it becomes one more unfindable artefact.
Accessibility Is Part of Technique
Describe what you are doing out loud — "I am opening the policy list now" — for participants on audio-only and for screen-reader users. Keep slides high-contrast and text large. Announce when you switch shared content. These habits cost seconds and include people who would otherwise be guessing.
Presenting is the peak of synchronous collaboration; the artefacts it produces, though, live in the file library. The next chapter starts the files half of this handbook: uploading, co-editing, and version history inside channels.
