A webinar is very much like a seminar, the difference being that a webinar is presented online. Attendees listen and watch from their computer, which saves them travel expenses.
Here are some tips on holding a successful webinar:
Think about your audience, and schedule a time when you think most of them will be able to attend. Remember that there is a 3 hour difference between the West Coast and the East Coast. Also, people tend to be very busy on Mondays and Fridays. Often times, people find that an afternoon midweek webinar is the best option.
Give yourself enough time to promote your webinar. Promotional possibilities include creating potential strategic alliances with other groups who have similar demographics, posting it on your website, announcing it via email to your list, and using social networks ( in a non spammy way ) to create buzz.
Send out a reminder email a day before the event starts.
Dial into your webinar twenty minutes ahead of time to make sure everything is working properly. If you have another speaker make sure that he/she knows how the important functions work on your webinar software.
At the beginning of the webinar, inform the participants how long the webinar will last and how they can ask questions. Some presenters like to have discussions throughout the presentation, while others prefer to answer questions at the end.
Provide a brief overview on what you will discuss, so that the audience knows what to expect.
Attendees love it if they can get the slides or a recording of the webinar emailed to them after the event. In that case, they can relax and listen to the webinar, rather than have to take a bunch of notes. If you do email the slides, think about adding a call the action to another webinar, product or service.
Post a Comment