Webinars have become popular tools for relaying information to a targeted audience. They are convenient to the participant (who can participate from anywhere), visually stimulating (with the incorporation of videos and graphics) and targeted at the right people (only those interested in the topic). Hosting a webinar for the first time may seem intimidating, but with the guidance in this article, you will be delivering a flawless webinar in no time.
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Promote Your Webinar To Attract An Audience
In order to obtain a decently sized audience, you must invest time in promoting your webinar. For smaller companies on a budget, email is the best method. Think through the people that may have an interest in the webinar, and utilize all of the contact lists that you can.
When sending mass emails to promote your webinar, be sure to include the registration link in an easy-to-see place. Include enough details to capture the recipient’s interest, but do not make the email too lengthy or you run the risk of losing recipient who do not want to read a long recitation. Short and to the point is best, considering that people are busy and the Internet audience has a short attention span.
Also, develop a visually attractive flyer to be physically distributed to select recipients as it applies in your industry and a well-designed landing page to be posted online. There are a number of free websites that allow you to promote your webinar event, and social media websites such as LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook cannot be ignored.
Bloggers in various niches can be some of the best resources for promoting webinars, reach out to those who are popular in your industry, introduce yourself and invite them to attend and promote. Most bloggers will be interested as along as the content is stellar.
If you are a larger company with a budget, you can pay to have your webinar promoted to targeted groups through these sites and many others. For a fee, Facebook even allows you to create a targeted ad to be displayed to people who would be specifically interested in your event based on their “likes” and interests.
Create A Detailed Outline
Before the big day, you will want to create a detailed outline of the points you want to address. Organizing content is very important because it allows you to be completely prepared during the live event.
If you have fears about public speaking, it might be best to write whole sentences so that you can read directly from the page, though it is best to sound as natural as possible. Bullet points help to keep you focused but they also help you sound more natural. The important thing is to make sure you cover all the necessary content.
Rehearsals and Dry Runs
Practice, practice, and practice again. Did we mention that you should practice? This cannot be overemphasized, even when you know the topic inside and out. Practice not only helps to familiarize you with the presentation, doing a dry run with your webinar software, such as ClickWebinar allows you to become familiar with the interface and how it will all work on the day of the live event.
The importance of rehearsing before the actual webinar really cannot be emphasized enough. You will sound much more professional (and not to mention prepared!) when you practice your presentation and smooth out any rough spots. You do not want to be stumbling over your words during the event.
Practice speaking slowly because some web applications and speakers may not be top of the line, and participants could have difficulty hearing you. Also, be sure to time yourself as you are practicing so that you do not go over the time limit planned for the event. Participants get annoyed when a webinar goes longer than the advertised time.
Perfect The Technical Aspects
You do not want any technical problems occurring – this can ruin a presentation. Run the presentation several times using the same software and equipment that you will use during the real thing.
Familiarize yourself with the program’s video and audio controls. If necessary, hire an assistant or technical specialist to work with you prior to and during the event to fix anything that goes wrong. Participants usually have questions about how to turn on their microphone or fix their webinar screen, and a specialist can help you answer such questions.
In addition, participants may send you email or try to call you during the webinar if they are unable to log on altogether, and it is useful to have an assistant who can check your email and phone while you are presenting and address any issues that need to be addressed.
Summary
Webinars are not easy endeavors, but they do become so with experience. Learn as much as you can, take advice and put what you learned to good use!
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