After a day out of the office, I opened up my email and found a request from a friend to have lunch and talk about how to do a webinar.
But, I’m not an expert on webinars – although I’ve been featured on them I haven’t produced one of my own –yet.
So, I went online to see what I could find out about how to be successful at webinars, from a content and a production standpoint.
What is a Webinar?
Short for Web-based seminar, a webinar is a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the Web. A key feature of a Webinar is its interactive elements — the ability to give, receive and discuss information. Contrast with Webcast, in which the data transmission is one way and does not allow interaction between the presenter and the audience. Source: Webopedia.
Sample Webinar
One site, Shoemoney, recommends using GotoWebinar with a link to a blog monetization webinar with a video video.
My friend – and maybe you, too – isn’t interested in blog monetization, but Jeremy’s presentation goes beyond that into what also makes a good webinar.
He gets into:
- being passionate and focusing on what you want to talk about;
- connecting with your readers [or audience];
- how your story is their story [celebrate your failures and successes with your readers – show a human side];
- why to get credibility you have to back up what you’re talking about; and
- how your website is a representation of your house [for example, AdWords can turn people off].
I’ve only seen Jeremy present once – at BlogWorld Expo last year. He was late. We tweeted at him. He walked in – with free t-shirts. Jeremy is a rock star, but he’s also a down-to-earth kind of guy. Presenters who connect will be the most successful, even if they run a little late. By the way, Jeremy’s blog incomes: 2007 $108k; 2008 $514k and 2009 $750k projected.
Online Resources for Webinar Creation, Production and Delivery
Webinar Best Practices – including an event timetable
10 ways to produce your best webinar – good production insights
How to conduct a webinar – step-by-step guide
MarketingProfs Knowledge Exchange with webinar best practices
Personally, I’ve done one webinar that was produced by someone else who recorded, edited and uploaded the audio. So, it wasn’t live. I like the live approach and check into a few webinars a month. Offering the recording online afterwards is not only helpful, but could be a good money maker, too.
What would I tell my friend? I’d tell them to present much in the same was as they do in person. Prepare by doing some background research on the audience, keep the slides simple, insert a few pictures or illustrations here and there, have a co-presenter ask questions to vary the tone and range and make sure to include a call to action or a checklist. People love to be told what to do – or at least that’s what they tell me.
What would you add?
English
22 thoughts on “How to create and produce a Webinar Best Practices”
I’ve produced many webinars in the last few years and the key to success lies in three things:
1) Content — get an “outsider” be it an industry analyst, customer, or someone from the media to co-present and spend time creating an educational webinar with real-life examples that does NOT just pimp your stuff.
2) Timing — download one of the event timetables and follow it. Planning a webinar takes approximately 2-3 months to determine the content, recruit the speaker, set up the event, market to your list, remind your list, practice the delivery, and produce the webinar.
3)List — you need to promote the webinar everywhere and I’ve found partnering with a media company to produce and market to their list gets the best results. You need to reach out via email, newsletters, blog posts, and yes, phone calls, to recruit attendees. Then remind them the week before and the day before to keep it top of mind. Follow up afterward. Expect 50% drop off from registration to attendees.
I’ve produced many webinars in the last few years and the key to success lies in three things:
1) Content — get an “outsider” be it an industry analyst, customer, or someone from the media to co-present and spend time creating an educational webinar with real-life examples that does NOT just pimp your stuff.
2) Timing — download one of the event timetables and follow it. Planning a webinar takes approximately 2-3 months to determine the content, recruit the speaker, set up the event, market to your list, remind your list, practice the delivery, and produce the webinar.
3)List — you need to promote the webinar everywhere and I’ve found partnering with a media company to produce and market to their list gets the best results. You need to reach out via email, newsletters, blog posts, and yes, phone calls, to recruit attendees. Then remind them the week before and the day before to keep it top of mind. Follow up afterward. Expect 50% drop off from registration to attendees.
Hi Barabara
You’ve already got the ball rolling with a lot of great info here.
The definition of “Webinar” vs. “Webcast” is a little questionable, however, since Webcasts frequently have interactive features such as live Q&A, polls, surveys, and testing.
Here at my company, a webcasting software and service provider called Streamlogics, we typically define the difference between a webinar and webcast a little differently–
Webinars (also called a Webconference) are best thought of as meetings conducted on the internet; usually a one-to-a-few type scenario accomplished with the help of a desktop sharing application such as WebX or GoTo Meeting.
Webcasts, on the other hand, are *presenations* on the web, usually custom branded and viewed by 50 or more participants. Here at Streamlogics, our webcasts maintain the functionality more commonly associated with smaller online meetings, like question and answer periods, polling and testing.
Our webcasting platform adds to this format robust reporting capabilities on the back end, enabling presenters to find out who watched what and for how long. Customizable registration, poll and survey questions provide even further insight into each webcast participant.
If your presentation is aimed at a larger audience, and/or you want to utilize the content on your website, it is essential that you select a webcast vendor with reporting and branding capabilities. Webcasts are ideal for marketing programs- but if they are executed on a sub standard platform the resulting presentation will be of poor quality, and could do more harm than good to your brand. And if the content is going to reside on your website, you’ll want to know as much about the individuals who view it as possible.
There is a really helpful page on our website I’d like to point you to: http://www.streamlogics.com/whitepapers.asp
This includes a number of whitepapers and case studies, including a quick two-page article on the difference between webconference and webcasts, as well as some whitepapers on webcasting for different industries and applications.
Hope this helps! Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to chat with you about webcasting.
Hi Barabara
You’ve already got the ball rolling with a lot of great info here.
The definition of “Webinar” vs. “Webcast” is a little questionable, however, since Webcasts frequently have interactive features such as live Q&A, polls, surveys, and testing.
Here at my company, a webcasting software and service provider called Streamlogics, we typically define the difference between a webinar and webcast a little differently–
Webinars (also called a Webconference) are best thought of as meetings conducted on the internet; usually a one-to-a-few type scenario accomplished with the help of a desktop sharing application such as WebX or GoTo Meeting.
Webcasts, on the other hand, are *presenations* on the web, usually custom branded and viewed by 50 or more participants. Here at Streamlogics, our webcasts maintain the functionality more commonly associated with smaller online meetings, like question and answer periods, polling and testing.
Our webcasting platform adds to this format robust reporting capabilities on the back end, enabling presenters to find out who watched what and for how long. Customizable registration, poll and survey questions provide even further insight into each webcast participant.
If your presentation is aimed at a larger audience, and/or you want to utilize the content on your website, it is essential that you select a webcast vendor with reporting and branding capabilities. Webcasts are ideal for marketing programs- but if they are executed on a sub standard platform the resulting presentation will be of poor quality, and could do more harm than good to your brand. And if the content is going to reside on your website, you’ll want to know as much about the individuals who view it as possible.
There is a really helpful page on our website I’d like to point you to: http://www.streamlogics.com/whitepapers.asp
This includes a number of whitepapers and case studies, including a quick two-page article on the difference between webconference and webcasts, as well as some whitepapers on webcasting for different industries and applications.
Hope this helps! Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to chat with you about webcasting.
Thanks for posting this blog. Helpful for people that are beginning to think of expanding from doing live workshops or teleseminars to webinars. The info is useful and appreciate the additional links.
Thanks for posting this blog. Helpful for people that are beginning to think of expanding from doing live workshops or teleseminars to webinars. The info is useful and appreciate the additional links.
How do you know and address a webinar audience who is multi-tasking and paying limited, little or no attention?
How do you know and address a webinar audience who is multi-tasking and paying limited, little or no attention?
Hi Carlos
Some tips on engaging your audience:
1. Content is king. Ensure to invest the time in your slides, the flow of your presentation, and recruiting engaging speakers.
2. Shorter is better. Keep on-demand content under 40 minutes, preferrably around 20-30 minutes.
3. Video is more engaging. Audio-only webcasts are hard for people to pay attention to for an extended period of time.
4. Interactive features are key. When selecting your webinar or webcast vendor, ensure to ask about the features for audience interaction, such as polls, surveys, and live Q&A.
I moderate a group on LinkedIn dedicated to Webcasting Best Practices–if you have further questions or want to learn more about webcasting please feel welcome to join: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/152218
Hope this helps!
Hi Carlos
Some tips on engaging your audience:
1. Content is king. Ensure to invest the time in your slides, the flow of your presentation, and recruiting engaging speakers.
2. Shorter is better. Keep on-demand content under 40 minutes, preferrably around 20-30 minutes.
3. Video is more engaging. Audio-only webcasts are hard for people to pay attention to for an extended period of time.
4. Interactive features are key. When selecting your webinar or webcast vendor, ensure to ask about the features for audience interaction, such as polls, surveys, and live Q&A.
I moderate a group on LinkedIn dedicated to Webcasting Best Practices–if you have further questions or want to learn more about webcasting please feel welcome to join: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/152218
Hope this helps!
Nice post/article on webinars and I’ll bookmark. I see virtual meetings overtaking real ones within the next 30 years as 3-D technology becomes widespread. Thanks for the links!
.-= Chuck´s last blog ..Time Clock Management on Smartphones =-.
Nice post/article on webinars and I’ll bookmark. I see virtual meetings overtaking real ones within the next 30 years as 3-D technology becomes widespread. Thanks for the links!
.-= Chuck´s last blog ..Time Clock Management on Smartphones =-.
Wonderful insight – thank you for sharing. I am beginning to add webinars, vodblogs and such and this was very informative.
Wonderful insight – thank you for sharing. I am beginning to add webinars, vodblogs and such and this was very informative.
@MelanieVanNuys I completely agree. This is definitely an write-up to learn from and a concept to put into practice.
@MelanieVanNuys I completely agree. This is definitely an write-up to learn from and a concept to put into practice.
I like the helpful info you provide in your articles.
I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently.
I am quite certain I’ll learn many new stuff right here!
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I like the helpful info you provide in your articles.
I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently.
I am quite certain I’ll learn many new stuff right here!
Good luck for the next!
You can even get your new consultants started easy, that way they’ll
have a chance to start adding people into their business the
very first week. Remember when you saw the “top dogs” in your company give a presentation. They are a legitimate direct sales
company that has survived this industry and been around for over 15
years.
You can even get your new consultants started easy, that way they’ll
have a chance to start adding people into their business the
very first week. Remember when you saw the “top dogs” in your company give a presentation. They are a legitimate direct sales
company that has survived this industry and been around for over 15
years.
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Hello there, I discovered your website by waay of Google while searching
for a related topic, your website came up, itt appears to be
like good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that
it is really informative. I’m going to be careful for brussels.
I’ll appreciate in the event you continue this in future.
A lot of people will probably be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
Here is my page – questions for personal injury attorney