Webinar Guide

    Recently, online seminars or, as they are now called, webinars have become very common. The trend itself is very useful and revolutionary in the field of distance learning. Only the experience of conducting webinars is still very small, because the impression of most of them remains far from positive. And this applies not only to people who have no experience in public speaking, but also to professional speakers.

    When I conducted the first online seminars and trainings, I stepped on almost all the rakes that could be, so I want to share my best practice with you so as not to undermine the credibility of webinars among professionals and serious businessmen.

    I am sure that I will not list all the pitfalls, but, as I understand it, by participating recently in webinars, these tips will be useful to the vast majority of online presenters.

    1. General recommendations

    1.1. Usually, any presentation sets a goal - to convey some information to people or teach them something. The main objective in achieving this goal is to attract the attention of the listener. This is not always done simply by speaking “live”, and broadcasting through the Internet is even more difficult. That is why usually webinars last no more than 90 minutes. As practice shows, the listener is enough for 45 minutes of continuous information, then you need to move on to questions or exercises.

    1.2. To keep the attention of the audience, you can periodically ask them questions. It is not necessary that all listeners answer them, the main thing is that they make them concentrate on the topic and keep their brain active. For example, when talking about employee motivation methods, you may ask what are the most effective methods that students know. The question should not be too complicated and accept and comment on the answers should not be more than 1-2 minutes.

    1.3. On the other hand, not all of us are audiences (hearing information well), so any report is best supported by visual information. The solution can be slides, videos, or workbooks. Even if you have nothing to draw, simply post the abstract of your report with a small design.

    1.4. Another way to attract the attention of visuals is to use a webcam. I will not say that this solution is suitable for all the presenters, but if you already decided to conduct a video broadcast of yourself:
    a) Look at the camera, i.e. to the viewer, he is pleased :)
    b) Your gestures should go beyond scratching your nose and clicking on the mouse buttons. Speak as if you are speaking to an audience. For an example, watch Dovgan video seminars.
    c) Do not forget that the audience will see the surroundings of you, so prepare the background in advance;).

    2. Preparation

    2.1. Naturally, the first step will be preparation for the performance. Write your speech in advance and rehearse the story several times, rather than reading. A fully readable report during the webinar puts the listener to sleep in the literal sense of the word. If you have someone to listen to from your loved ones, then speak to him, it does not matter live or online. If there are none, record your performance on the microphone and listen to it yourself. This is very useful for beginning speakers, for you will hear all your mistakes.

    2.2. Prepare slides, animations, and other materials you want to show off to your audience.

    3. The purpose of the webinar

    3.1. When the material for the conference is ready, you need to publish
    information about the conference. You need to do this in at least a week, so that all interested can plan the time for her.

    3.2. Even if the tool with which you organize a webinar allows you to specify the time, ALWAYS indicate the time and time zone in the description of the seminar. It makes sense to do, because some users may have the wrong time zone on their computer and see the wrong time. For example, you indicate the beginning of the webinar at 21.00 Moscow time (+3 GMT), and the user has a default time zone (–8 GMT) and he will wait for your presentation at 10.00.

    4. Beginning of the conference

    4.1. Usually, just a few units join the conference on time, so you should not start the report right away, but wait until at least 50% of the stated number of participants (but no more than 10 minutes). It is natural at this time to be silent on the air is not good at all, it is best to say something related to the conference: tell a bike / parable on the topic of a webinar, gently promote your site or other services or answer questions from the first participants that appeared.

    4.2. Prior to the conference, you can answer general questions about the upcoming conference. Any specific questions should be put aside at the end of the webinar.

    4.3. If you answer questions asked not on the air, but in the chat mode, voice them and answer on the air so that other participants do not listen to silence.

    4.4. If one of the participants does not ask substantive questions, just tell him and leave the question unattended, respect other listeners who are interested in the webinar, and not your mother’s maiden name.

    5. Holding a conference

    5.1. Once you have started your keynote address, put all participants in listener status and STOP NOTicing what is written in the chat. Chat will only bring you down.

    5.2. If your report does not provide for the participation of listeners, say that answer all your questions at the end and focus on the story.

    5.3. If the webinar provides for the participation of listeners, answer their questions on the air so as not to create pauses. Questions that are not relevant to the current part of the report should be postponed to the end so as not to distract the rest of the audience.

    6. Questions and completion

    6.1. Once you have completed the main part of the webinar, you can accept questions, or answer the questions that have accumulated during the report.

    6.2. Again, there should be no silence on the air:
    a) If there are no questions for a while, then start answering the most obvious questions or the questions that you were asked last time at a webinar on this topic.
    b) You can talk about other webinars that you host and announce the coming ones.
    c) A good option is if your good friend who has already listened to you before is participating in the webinar. You can ask him to come up with some interesting questions in advance.

    6.3. If new questions do not appear for a long time, thank the participants and end the conference.

    Where to find out more?

    If you want to master the art of conducting webinars to a greater extent, I can recommend Evgeny Zhurbu to you . He conducts online seminars and trainings for more than 1.5 years and teaches his partners about it.
    Another great webinar host is Konstantin Kharchenko . He has even more experience, although I only know him from corporate online seminars.

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