In today’s world the online webinar is taking over from the familiar face-to-face presentation. This can be a scary switch, especially if you aren’t familiar with this format and suddenly find yourself the lead host.

The main question people are now asking themselves is how do I give the perfect, engaging, and above all interesting webinar? In today’s post we’re going to go through a checklist of good practices to help you deliver that presentation with confidence and ease.

1.       Get someone to help

Having an extra person or even two to help you out when presenting your webinar can make all the difference. The last thing you need when trying to deliver a great presentation is worrying about the slides or the questions coming through the chat box. You may find it beneficial to have someone on hand who can keep an eye on questions as they come in, and perhaps another who can control the slides so all you have to do is focus on delivering a fantastic presentation.

2.       Practice

Once you have your script written out, remember to practice. This could be for your colleagues, or perhaps even for a family member. By running through the script a few times you’ll notice anything that perhaps doesn’t make sense. It will also help you to become more confident when you do run through it for real. It’s likely that you’ll always stumble or trip over words during the practice run but try not to become too frustrated and remember that when it comes to delivering the actual presentation you’ll get through it with ease.

3.       Be Early

Make sure you arrive at least 10 minutes before the webinar is due to start. By doing this you can eliminate the stress of discovering any technical issues at the last minute. Arriving early will also ensure that the presentation begins on time and may even help you to relax while you wait for your audience to arrive.

4.       Be prepared

Make your working area ready for the webinar by perhaps alerting your family you need quiet or turning off your computer notifications to avoid an email ping interrupting you. Clear away anything else that may distract you, such as turning off your mobile phones. Final tip, make sure you have something to drink next to you to avoid the dreaded dry mouth.

5.       Know your audience

Be aware of who will be attending your event, and how many people will be there. This may sound daunting or possibly even obvious but being aware will help you to create a presentation that is suitable for the audience and will enable them to take something useful away from it. You want your webinar to teach them something new rather than something they already know about.

6.       Use the correct equipment

Use a headset with a microphone rather than relying on the built-in microphone on your laptop. This will help to ensure your voice is clear and not faint or distorted. Headphones help to ensure that any background noise won’t be heard by the audience – great for busy households with children or pets! If you have new equipment always test them out before the event, the last thing you’ll want is for that new headset to let you down on the day.

7.       Engage your audience

You want your audience to remain interested in what you have to say rather than having them lose interest quickly on. Encourage them to ask questions and remember to leave time at the end to answer these. Perhaps you might want for them to discuss various matters further, in which case place them into breakout groups which you can go in between to monitor discussions. Or you might even want to give them polls to answer, even simple ones to ask how they are feeling today.

8.       Know which platform you’re going to use

Zoom or Microsoft Teams are the two best platforms to carry out a webinar. If you have a platform with which you’re most comfortable with then go ahead and use that. However, Zoom only allows 45 minutes of free meeting time before asking you to pay, so unless you or your company has a subscription you might want to consider using Teams. If you are unfamiliar with any platform, then research your chosen method and run a few trial video calls to ensure you are comfortable with the system ahead of the webinar.

9.       Accept that things may go wrong

The internet may suddenly loose connection, or your children may come running through, or perhaps your dog decides it wants its voice heard too. Remember that no amount of preparation can prevent things like these from happening. The sooner you accept this, the easier it will be to deal with if something happens. You may even find it helpful and a good way to relax the audience by informing them that these things may happen, and you can share a laugh together if something does go wrong.

10.   Get feedback

At the end of the webinar, you might want to ask the attendees what worked well for them, and what didn’t. You don’t have to do this at the end of the presentation, it could even be in the form of an email or a survey sent out afterwards. This will help you for any future webinars you may host and will increase your confidence.

Remember, sometimes the best way to carry out a webinar is to learn what works best for you. Know what your strengths are, but don’t be afraid to push yourself to go out of your comfort zone. Take each webinar as a learning experience, one that you can improve on ahead of your next one.

Do you have any great tips to share not just for beginners but for everyone? Tell us your thoughts!

BLOG, MAR 21

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