Do you have a few great ideas that you want to share with the masses? Are you looking for a great way to reach out to the folks in your contact database aside from sending an email or posting to social media? It’s always great to mix up the way you deliver content to your audience, and putting on a webinar is a great way to do that. You could be saying, though, “I don’t know how to host a webinar.” Don’t fret! Here are 8 terrific tips that will help you learn how to host a webinar in no time!
1. Research What Your Audience Wants
Maybe you think you have something great to say, and chances are, it is something great. But if it is only of interest to you, then it might not be a great thing to do your first webinar on (unless, of course, your followers and fans love every word you say!). We recommend researching what knowledge people are desiring the most. Two ways you can do this are by looking at what pages on your website get the most traffic and by looking at what email campaigns get the most opens.
2. Prepare Ahead of Time
Don’t wing it. If you do, it will be obvious. We aren’t saying you need to have everything memorized or every piece of your presentation typed. We are saying that you need to thoughtfully prepare for what you want to say and use whatever organizational method works best for you. In addition, make sure you know what presentation software and webinar software you will be using. We recommend Prezi and GoToMeeting.
3. Make Sure Your Technology is Working Well Beforehand
Like many bandwagon sports fans, technology is fickle. One minute it works great, and then next you lose everything you’ve been working on (that reminds me, I need to save this…). Test all your systems before you go live with your audience.
4. Begin on Time
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Don’t lose credibility with your audience before you have a chance to speak. Starting when you said you would is a great sign of respect for the time that people are taking to tune in for your webinar.
5. Deliver Exactly What You Said You Would
Don’t pull the old bait-and-switch technique. If your title is “14 Cool Things about Polar Bears,” give them 14 cool things about polar bears. Changing the topic is another great way to lose credibility.
6. Use Time at the End for a Q&A
Inevitably, you will not be able to answer every question and address every aspect of a topic in your allotted presentation time. That’s why it is a great idea to go ahead and reserve about 15 minutes at the end for questions and answers. Many times folks will be able to submit questions through a chat panel. You can review the questions and answer the ones that are most relevant to the subject matter.
7. Follow Up to Your Attendees to Say “Thanks”
“Whew! My first webinar is over, and now I can relax.” That’s true to an extent, but your work shouldn’t be completely over. Make sure you send a “Thank You” email to the folks who stopped by your webinar. It’s also a nice gesture to give them a copy of the webinar or other pieces of content or literature that pertain to the webinar.
8. Repurpose the Webinar to Create Additional Content
A webinar takes a lot of time to prepare for, so wouldn’t it be a shame if all that time leads to only an hour with your audience? Make sure you repurpose your webinar material. This can be in the form of a blog, shorter video snippets of key points in your presentation, email blasts, educational giveaways, or any other way you want to disseminate your message.
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Great! Now you have an excellent foundation on how to host a webinar. These are all broad topics that create a skeletal blueprint for an awesome webinar.