Tips for Running a Successful Webinar

1. Inform, Don't Sell (Well, Don't Sell Too Much).

People attend Web seminars to learn something: news about market trends, tips for using a software program, best practices for their profession—something that's genuinely useful. They might assume that you're going to do some selling in the course of your presentation, but if you lay on the sales pitch too heavily, you'll turn off your audience. And they'll show it by hanging and disconnecting from the session.

If you're presenting genuinely interesting information is a compelling way, you'll lose only a few audience members in the course of a 30-60 minute presentation. If you're dropping audience members every few minutes, it's time for you to go back and rethink what you're presenting and how.

2. To Inform, Present New Information That's Not Readily Accessible.

This is where guest speakers come in. Opening your Web seminar with a 20-minute presentation by an analyst or expert sharing new research is a great way to drive up registrations and keep your audience engaged.

The other advantage to guest speakers is that they often have their own mail lists and promotional materials, which can dramatically bolster the size of your audience.

3. Keep the Format Lively and Varied.

Studies show that audience members begin to lose interest in a presentation after hearing only one voice talk for seven minutes, so never let one person talk for more than five or six minutes straight. Be sure to have at least two people in the seminar, even if one is a moderator who only introduces the main speaker, then interjects comments and questions from time to time.

Some of my most highly rated seminars followed the format of a radio talk show: a conversational tone, real back-and-forth dialog, a little humor. (After all, what would you want to listen to for 45 minutes in your office? A dry presentation of a script or two people really engaged in conversation?)

Here's a format that's worked well for several of my clients:

1-2 minute introduction and overview by moderator 20-45 minute presentation by guest speaker with comments and interjections by moderator

or another speaker 5-15 minutes open Q&A with audience members – have questions ready from the

audience 1 minute close by moderator; if the seminar is part of a series, point audience members to

a Web page listing other events Leverage polling, and Q&A panel in Live Meeting to keep people engaged

4. Give Audience Members a Chance to Ask Questions.

Whether they type questions into a Q&A feature of your Web conferencing software or ask questions at the end, do give audience members a chance to ask questions, express doubts, and dive deeper into the subject matter.

5. Give Audience Members Extra Time to Get the Software Started.

Inevitably you'll have audience members racing to join your event after getting out of a meeting or coming back from lunch. Some of them won't have downloaded or tried out the seminar software ahead of time. Give them a few minutes to get through the download and start-up process. Greet your audience a few minutes before the event, and then every minute or so let them know that you're going to start a few minutes after the hour to give everyone a chance to join the event.

6. Always Let Audience Members Know They've Come to the Right Place, and Where to Go for More Information.

You don't want audience members wondering if they've come to the right place when they connect to your seminar. Fifteen minutes before the seminar starts, post a welcoming slide identifying the title and time of the event, along with contact information for technical support or questions.

In the final moments of the seminar, display a slide or Web page offering phone numbers, email addresses, or URLs where people can get more information or contact the presenters.

7. Avoid Interruptions.

Always mute the audience's phone lines during the main presentation. Otherwise, you'll have some audience members conducting side conversations in their offices, ignoring your requests to mute their lines, and turning your carefully planned event into a cacophonous jumble. That ping-ping-ping sound is the phone system letting you know that other audience members have lost patience and are hanging up.

So keep the audience phone lines quiet until the Q&A session, and do everything possible to keep attention focused on the presentation itself.

By the way, be wary of those free conference call services. I've found them to be unreliable. One of them—a popular, free service used by many IT companies—disconnected our main guest speaker, just as he was beginning his presentation. It took him several minutes to rejoin the seminar. The other speakers and I were able to cover for him, but it was nerve-wracking (and potentially a waste of a speaking fee).

8. Rehearse. A Lot.

I can't stress this enough. I recommend at least three complete run-throughs of any seminar. In the course of rehearsals, you'll discover that the flow of your presentation can be improved, that some material is redundant, and that other material is cryptic. Especially if you have two or more speakers, you'll want to rehearse transitions from one section to another.

I ran a Web seminar series for a client last summer. We had different guest speakers every week

for several weeks in a row. (We had just launched the company, and we wanted to make a splash.) We rehearsed daily, sometimes twice daily. Everyone agreed that these rehearsals dramatically improved the quality of our presentations. They also gave us an opportunity to get to know our new business partners and to better understand how they presented their offerings to customers.

9. Perform a test run (especially with first-time speakers)It’s common for first time speakers using the technology to become worried if a slide takes a little bit more time than expected to load or that the screen does something funny. Take first time users through the system; show them how things move, what buttons to push, etc. By letting them see and learn how it works, as a speaker, the less worried they’ll become when something goes wrong. Don’t worry about it, keep going through it if it’s not up or fixed in the first minute – people are still on the phone.

10. Support RequirementsHave one administrator of the presentation running things (they can act as the host too). They will get the conference up and running, get the Live Meeting up and running, and test the system prior to the event. We recommend getting everything set :15 minutes before the start. They are also responsible for uploading the documents.

Have a backup administrator. This is someone that also understands how to run the show, but can deal with calls or people that are having problems logging in or if they need some one-on-one support. People that dial in might ask for some help. Take down their email and phone number and then call them to walk them through set up if necessary. The back up person also works with Live Meeting Support if something goes wrong.

11. Timeline1. 60-90 days before event, develop strategy, and offer, as well as content

a. Headline, copy, benefits of attendingb. What time? Remember Pacific Timec. What is the role of national and EU’s

i. Who’s developing invite?ii. Who’s running the Live Meeting?iii. Who’s mailing/emailing the invitation?

1. EU, Corporate Marketing, both?2. To what audience?

d. What is the goal of the web seminar? Credibility building? Leads? Awareness?i.

2. 30 days before event, at minimum, send invitation.a. Non-registrants get sent 2nd offer 5 – 10 days laterb. Registrants are loaded up

3. 1-2 weeks before: a. send reminder email to registrantsb. Presentation team does 30 minute run-through (do this twice or three times if you

are able)i. Who will run the slides? Each speaker or admin, or bothii. Who is saying what at the beginning and ending? Is there a call to action

(we will send you this white paper or a link to get one, etc.)iii. Draft presentations dueiv. Do speaker feel comfortable? If not, create a panel.v. Will we record event?

vi. During the presentation who might you tap (employees) that would have some preset questions to ask to make the presentation more engaging? Get two or three people and give them questions to ask and tell them when to ask them. This will encourage people to engage.

4. 3 days before, upload final presentations5. 1 day before, send second reminder to registered attendees with link information6. Day of event:

a. Test live meetingb. Primary administrator and back up confirm materials are up and speakers are

ready.c. Test polling feature, and Q&A panel. The speakers should be able to concentrate

on speaking while the admin reads questions asked or administers polls. It is recommended that the primary administrator and host or main speaker be in the same room so you can speak to each other, one-to-one as needed.

7. 2-5 day after the eventa. Send thank you email with an offer to engage. Could be a white paper, the

recording, offer to sign up for next webinar or be notified.8. Live Meeting Support Number

Live Meeting Screen shots with explanations of how it works and what is happening from the attendees point of view:

Share Content

Open and Close Q&A Panel

Perform a Polling