What Is a Webinar? A Complete Guide to Hosting Your First Event
Webinars are no longer a tool reserved for advanced marketers, salespeople, or trainers. Today they are one of the most common ways businesses and schools communicate online – from a single product demo to an international conference. In this guide, we’ll walk through what a webinar actually is, how it differs from an online meeting, and how to host one from start to finish.
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📌 Key Insights
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Before we look at webinars from every angle – features, uses, and setup – let’s start with the definition. Once that’s clear, everything else falls into place.
What is a webinar?
A webinar, in the most basic sense, is a seminar held over the internet – the word itself combines “seminar” and “web.” It’s a multimedia form of online communication in which the organizer meets their audience in a virtual conference room and presents content in an interactive, engaging way.
What sets it apart from a simple video is the toolset around it. Equipped with a camera, a presentation, polls, and a chat, the host doesn’t just broadcast – they hold a conversation. The audience can ask questions, respond to surveys, and react in real time, which is exactly what makes the format work.
What features does a webinar offer?
Webinars didn’t become popular by accident. They let you reach a scattered audience with ease, share knowledge effectively, and see how it lands in real time. Let’s look at the features that make that possible on the ClickMeeting platform.
The webinar room – the heart of your event
The space where your webinar takes place is the webinar room – a virtual conference room and command center where you meet your attendees. This is where you switch on your webcam and microphone so the audience can see and hear you, and where all your presenting tools live.
Inside the webinar room, you can also:
- Show a prepared presentation or other files – graphics, text, spreadsheets, or video;
- Draw and write on a virtual whiteboard and share the results with participants;
- Play a video clip directly from YouTube;
- Share your screen to walk the audience through an app, document, or work in progress;
- Stream your event live to Facebook or YouTube;
- Run polls and surveys, then discuss the results on air;
- Sell a product, service, or course with a Call-To-Action button linking to your landing or registration page;
- Talk with your audience through the chat box or a moderated Q&A session.
How to match the webinar’s look to your brand
Beyond the toolset, you also control how everything looks. You decide whether your logo and brand colors appear, and which background image gives your virtual room its character – and the same custom branding carries across the pages your attendees see:
- The registration form;
- The waiting room with your event agenda;
- Your profile page;
- The thank-you page.
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Want to see the webinar room and branding tools for yourself? Set up your first event in minutes. |
What can you use webinars for?
Now that we’ve answered the “what,” let’s tackle the “what for.” Webinars are flexible enough to fit very different goals, and most events fall into a handful of clear categories.
The most common uses are:
- Online courses and training – both external programs and internal team training;
- Product demos and marketing – showing a product to many prospects at once and generating leads;
- Online business meetings – smaller, working sessions with partners, managers, or teams.
The scale these events reach can be striking. In its HR training series, Centrum Verte gathered more than 30,000 unique attendees, with a single event drawing as many as 6,500 people – and a record 81,018 leads collected in a single year. That’s a clear picture of how far a well-run educational webinar program can go.
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“ The biggest mistake I see from people starting out is treating a webinar like a broadcast – talk for an hour, then leave. The events that actually convert are the ones built around a two-way rhythm: a poll early on to read the room, questions taken as they come, a clear next step at the end. We see it in the numbers – attention holds much longer when people feel part of the conversation. You don’t need a studio or a big team to do this well. You need one good topic and the willingness to actually talk with the people who showed up. Tomasz Bołcun, Brand Manager @ ClickMeeting |
Webinar vs. online meeting – what’s the difference?
Courses, demos, and marketing events fit neatly into the definition of a webinar, but online business meetings are a slightly different creature – even though organizers have most of the same tools at hand. The difference comes down to three things:
- Purpose – to reach a large audience with a lecture, conference, or product presentation, you want a webinar. To run a working session with a smaller group – managers, partners, or your team – you want a meeting.
- Number of attendees – a webinar communicates with a large audience; a meeting is a more intimate event for a smaller group.
- Event mode – a webinar clearly separates the presenter from the audience (presentation mode). In a meeting, participants can speak with the same rights as the host (discussion mode).
How to host a webinar step by step
Knowing what a webinar is and why it’s worth running, let’s walk through setting one up. The process is simpler than it looks, and each step takes just a few clicks.
Step 1: Open your account
If you don’t have a ClickMeeting account yet, registering a free trial account is your starting line – it runs for 14 days and needs no credit card. If you already have one, simply log in to your account panel.
Step 2: Create a webinar and choose the type
After logging in, click “Create a webinar.” You’ll be able to choose from three formats, each suited to a different goal:
- Live – the classic real-time webinar;
- Automated – a pre-recorded webinar that starts and runs on autopilot at a set time, which you can enrich with polls, video clips, or a CTA button;
- On-demand – a recorded webinar available whenever an attendee wants to watch it, with no fixed date; a strong lead-generation tool for marketing and sales.
For your first event, pick Live, then give the webinar a clear name. A good title helps attendees recognize what the event is about – and helps you find it later once your dashboard fills up.
Step 3: Set the room type
Next, choose how the room behaves. This decision shapes when and how people can join:
- Permanent – no fixed start time; a standing room you can enter whenever you like;
- Time-scheduled – the classic live format with a precise date, time, and time zone.
Step 4: Choose the access type
By default, events are open to everyone with the link. That’s convenient, but not always the safest choice – open rooms can attract uninvited disruptors. To keep control over who joins, you have two options:
- Password – only people with the password can enter;
- Token – a one-time ticket that works for a single attendee and can’t be reused, making it the most secure option.
Paid webinars – turning expertise into income
A fourth access option is to charge for attendance. If you have expertise the market values, a paid webinar is one of the most direct ways to earn from it – as a side income or a main one. According to the State of Online Events 2025 report, the average paid webinar brings in around €1,020, and the record for a single event reached roughly €36,000. Payments run through Stripe, PayU, and PayPal, directly from the platform.
Step 5: Save and invite attendees
Once the name, room type, and access are set, one click saves everything and lets you start inviting attendees – and, if needed, co-presenters. After the invitations go out, you can turn to preparing your content, slides, and delivery.
Step 6 (optional): Set up promotion and automation
This step isn’t required for your first event, but it pays off quickly. In the Automation tab, you can put much of your promotion and follow-up on autopilot – and it’s far easier to configure than it sounds.
Automation covers three areas:
- Event actions – publishing the event on your profile page, auto-streaming to Facebook or YouTube, starting recording automatically, and publishing that recording afterward;
- Promotion rules – a sequence of reminder emails, from a day before down to five minutes before the start, sent on the schedule you choose;
- Follow-up rules – a thank-you page, an automatic post-event email with your materials and recording, a separate message to no-shows, and invitations to your next event.
Step 7: Start and run your webinar
Everything’s ready – now you just join the room and go live. Whether you’re meeting students, leads, customers, or coworkers, the full toolset is at your fingertips: presentation and files, whiteboard, YouTube clips, screen sharing, polls, the CTA button, and chat with Q&A. You can also rearrange the room on the fly – move the camera pod or resize the chat as you go.
How long should it run? That’s up to you and your content. For reference, the average online event lasts 106 minutes, so don’t be afraid of depth – attendees who chose to invest their time will stay as long as the value keeps coming.
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Ready to run your first webinar? Create your account and follow these steps live. |
Reach expert level by integrating webinars with other apps
Whether your goal is education, training, marketing, or sales, you can push your webinars further by connecting ClickMeeting to the tools you already use. Integrations span several categories:
- CRM – HubSpot, Keap, Pipedrive;
- LMS – Moodle;
- Marketing – GetResponse, HubSpot, Zapier;
- Analytics and remarketing – Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel;
- Social media – Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube;
- Others – Slack, Google Calendar, WordPress.
Which of these you plug in is entirely up to you. A tool like Zapier, for instance, can build automatic connections between apps – adding a new registrant to your CRM the moment they sign up, with no manual work on your side.
Why are webinars worth it?
Even before remote work became routine, the webinar already had a solid reputation as a versatile, effective communication tool – confirmed by marketing research and by daily use among teachers, trainers, marketers, and organizations of every size. Today it’s become far more than a way to present content: it’s a core channel for reaching, teaching, and selling to an audience anywhere.
With a browser-based, feature-rich platform like ClickMeeting – and plenty of educational material to help you master it – you can bring webinars into your organization or your own business without a steep learning curve. The definitions are behind you; the next step is running one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to the questions people ask most often when they start working with webinars.
What is a webinar in simple terms?
A webinar is a seminar held live over the internet, where a host presents to an audience gathered in a virtual room. What makes it a webinar rather than a video is interaction – attendees can ask questions, answer polls, and respond in real time.
What’s the difference between a webinar and an online meeting?
A webinar broadcasts to a large audience with a clear split between presenter and viewers. An online meeting is a smaller, two-way discussion where everyone can speak with equal rights. The choice depends on your purpose, audience size, and how much you want participants to talk.
Do attendees need to install anything to join?
No. ClickMeeting runs in the browser, so attendees join with a single click on a link – no downloads or plugins. This lowers the barrier to entry and helps more registrants actually show up.
What are the three types of webinars?
Live webinars happen in real time. Automated webinars play a pre-recorded event on a schedule, running on autopilot. On-demand webinars have no fixed date and are available whenever an attendee wants to watch – useful for continuous lead generation.
How long should a webinar be?
It depends on your topic, but data offers a benchmark: the average online event runs 106 minutes. Don’t fear length – attendees who chose to invest their time will stay as long as the content stays valuable. Just keep the pace varied with interaction.
Can I make money from webinars?
Yes. You can charge for attendance or sell recordings through built-in payment integrations. According to SOE 2025, the average paid webinar earns around €1,020, with the record for a single event near €36,000.
How many people can attend a ClickMeeting webinar?
ClickMeeting supports events for more than 10,000 attendees, so the platform scales from a small workshop to a large conference. For context, the average online event draws 75 people, leaving plenty of headroom to grow.
How do I keep my webinar secure?
Instead of leaving the room open to anyone with the link, protect it with a password or a one-time token. Tokens are the most secure option, since each one works for a single attendee and can’t be reused.
Can webinars be automated?
Yes. Beyond automated and on-demand formats, you can automate promotion and follow-up: scheduled reminder emails, auto-recording and publishing, thank-you pages, and separate messages to attendees and no-shows – all set up in a few clicks.
How does ClickMeeting help you run better webinars?
ClickMeeting gives you a browser-based webinar room with presentation, whiteboard, screen sharing, polls, chat, Q&A, and CTA buttons, plus automation and integrations with CRMs and marketing tools. Data is hosted in Europe with full GDPR compliance, and you can try everything free for 14 days.
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You’ve got the full picture – now put it into practice. Start your first webinar today. |
