webinar best practices

1. Simplicity is key. Don’t over do it with tons and tons of text. Your slides should be an addition to your presentation. You shouldn’t be reading off your slides verbatim.
2. Limit bullet points & text – images and charts are more powerful when telling your story
3. Here’s a biggie – limit your animations, transitions, and builds. Too many of these can be overwhelming and cause you to get off track. Also, some transitions and animations may not translate well to your webcast platform, depending on what you are using. Always check with your producer on best practices.
4. Use high-quality images
5. It’s great to have a theme and company template to incorporate. Avoid using the PowerPoint Templates.
6. Incorporate charts where appropriate, and make sure numbers and text are legible.
7. When using colors, stick to your theme or your company colors. This makes your presentation more professional and cohesive
8. Choose basic, clean fonts and keep it consistent. Sans serif fonts are cleaner and easier to read.

Below are some great tips on how to engage and get your audience hooked into your presentation within the first few minutes. The biggest items to think about from the attendees’ perspective are: What am I  going to get out of it? How does this benefit me?  Start simple by filling in the below remarks with content that fits your presentation.

• During this session you will hear from (speaker names/bio/background, how their expertise brings value).
• You will have the opportunity to ask questions about (key topics to be covered in the presentation).
• You will discover where to get more information about  (great idea to include contact information and other handouts at the end as well).
• During this session you will see a demonstration of (software or other products that might benefit from a live demo).

Follow these tips and we guarantee attendees will be engaged, ask questions, and stay for the duration of your presentation!

Jessica Bradford
V2 | Virtual Event Manager

Many of you have probably attended webinars or webcasts where the speaker demos an application or software from their desktop to give a sneak-peak or preview to audiences that may be interested in purchasing a software or application license. While most speakers tout their “live demo” in the webcast description, sometimes, those “live demos” are pre-recorded and shared as video content. I know, I know…gasp! The reason many speakers do this is to make their demos as smooth as possible and to be able to edit out any mistakes, pauses, or “ums.” However, pre-recording your demo is not necessarily always the answer, sometimes it’s best to run the demo live. Let’s take a look at each option in more depth, shall we?

Here are some top instances when pre-recording your demo is a good option:

1. If the speaker who is giving the demo cannot be on the live session, then it is obviously a good option to have them pre-record their demo content and share it as a video. In this situation, you don’t have much choice if they are unable to make the scheduled time of the webinar.
2. If the content you plan on sharing is highly technical and requires graphic heavy and bandwidth intensive software or multiple applications to achieve, then it may be a good choice to pre-record the demo as a video. Trying to share too many data rich applications at once can really slow down your connection to the webcast and cause a bigger delay in the audience demonstration.
3. Your speaker will be traveling or is in a location with poor internet. This is a good reason to pre-record the demo in this instance to avoid delays or issues connecting to the webcast sharing Having a solid wired connection to the internet is KEY when presenting on any webinar or webcast!
4. Some best practices to follow when recording your demo – use software that allows for good audio quality and try not to make the video too large in size. Make sure you are checking with the webcast provider on optimal video bit-rate specs to ensure the video isn’t going to run into buffering issues.

Here are some ideas on when to run your webcast demos live. (Don’t Be Scared!)

1. Your demo is relatively straightforward – you are sharing one application, platform, or software, and you’ve tested the sharing option in the webcast and everything is working fine. Doing the demo live does tend to sound less “scripted” and you can better respond to questions as people are asking them.
2. Often, presenting your demo live allows you to bring up your sharing screen again later in the session. Perhaps an audience member asked a question about a feature that you initially hadn’t thought about sharing; doing a live demo gives you the freedom to do so.
3. Practice, Practice, Practice. One way to alleviate your nervousness about doing a live demo is by doing what you do during any presentation…practice! Practice by yourself, in front of colleagues, in the webcast meeting room. Practicing will calm your nerves and will allow your presentation to flow naturally.

Jessica Bradford
V2 | Virtual Event Manager

We work with a lot of companies, big and small and have worked with all kinds of presenters on the webinars and webcasts that we produce. As they say, “practice makes perfect” when it comes to giving a top notch online presentation. However with our many years of experience in this field, we have gleaned some very important tips if you are presenting on a webcast that will make you feel prepared and less anxiety ridden for those last 30 minutes before presentation kickoff.

1. Have a back-up of your slides – either a hard copy, or a soft copy saved to your desktop in the background that you can easily reference. This will give you peace of mind if you have any trouble with your internet connection. Hard copy is most fool proof – in case your computer shuts down because you forgot to install those updates! This way you still have a visual of your slides, but can have another colleague or your producer move slides for you as a back up.
2. Grab a glass of water. This sounds pretty basic, but we always recommend this when we talk to new virtual presenters on rehearsals. Water or tea is best to clear your throat – did you know that milk in your coffee actually can create dry-mouth?
3. Shut down your mobile phone – We recommend this not only so this isn’t buzzing or ringing in the background, but also so you don’t get distracted by checking your email. Same goes on your laptop or computer – shut down your email and all other applications you don’t need. This will keep you focused on the presentation at hand.
4. Reboot your computer before logging in and presenting on any webcast. The morning of or even the day before we recommend this – that way if there are any updates that need to finish, etc., you won’t be caught with prompts in the middle of your presentation.
5. Make sure you login to the webcast at least 30 minutes in advance. Whether a rookie or an all-star at virtual presentations, we do this on every single webcast we produce to ensure presenters can get connected, and can do audio checks, and make sure everything is set to go. This time will allow you to feel prepared and not rushing minutes before you are scheduled to begin.

Jessica Bradford
V2 | Virtual Event Manager

Let’s pretend your webinar or webcast is a party. Okay, these informative and lead-generation gatherings maybe aren’t quite the same without the appetizers and beverages  — but on the planning level, there’s that same nagging fear. What if nobody shows up?

For webinars (and, presumably, parties) — we believe that high attendance can be linked directly to the invitation email, and by extension, the registration page.

Email is simply the most effective channel for promoting webinars. The 2013 ON24 Webinar Benchmark Report states that 80% of registrations come from a combination of email and site promotions.

Your invitation emails are key to a successful webinar! Let’s take a look at some proven strategies to increase the effectiveness of your email Invitation.

Webinar invitation emails are all about making it easy for people to say yes to registering and by extension, attending.

1. Be concise, and use an active voice. People don’t want to read a novel to figure out what your event is about. They want to be able to easily see in a few seconds or less what the event is about. Use a clear call to action like “Sign up Now” or “Register Here” so they know they have the opportunity to attend a virtual event.
2. Optimize your email for HTML, plain text, image-free and mobile viewing. Make sure your email can be opened in all of these formats.
3. Use bullet points and numbered lists. Across the board, people like lists – they are easy to read and digest, and our eyes naturally gravitate toward them.
4. Your email subject line is maybe one of the most important parts of the invite. This is the first opportunity to grab attention and get your prospect to open the email. It should feel personal and exciting, and should be between roughly 25 to 50 characters at the most. We also suggest testing out different subject lines to different segments of your audience.
5. Use a sense of urgency to get the audience to register sooner rather than later. Using phrases such as “space as limited” and “Register Now” are good ones to get people to sign up.
6. Include a short summary of the webinar topic as well as bios and photos of the speakers.
7. Make sure the graphical elements and branding match the registration page for the event so everything is cohesive and isn’t confusing to the audience.
8. Keep things personal by using their first names at the top of the email. People are more inclined to open emails if you use the recipient’s name in the first line of the email.

We guarantee if you follow these tips, your invitation emails will get more views and you will see a rise in attendance.

Jessica Bradford
V2 | Virtual Event Manager

Many event coordinators are so overwhelmed with the creation of the content and organization of the webcast that they forget to focus on other important elements such as participant engagement and interaction. In fact, there are many simple techniques that are used during in-person meetings that can be applied to virtual meetings. Below we have outlined 3 simple ways to engage the audience on your next webcast.

1. Kick things off with an Ice Breaker – Instead of spending time with lengthy presenter bios and formal intros, fun ice breakers can be a great way to allow the audience to get to know the speakers. Tell a story that applies to the topic at hand, and then ask the audience to respond with their thoughts on a similar experience. Have them use the chat feature to chat their thoughts and ideas about your story and their own experiences to allow them to feel a part of the meeting and become an active participant.

2. Include live polling questions and engage audience in Q&A – Actively encouraging the audience to type their feedback into the presentation via polling questions and Q&A keeps them actively engaged in the presentation and also helps them feel like they have a voice. Reading some comments aloud and acknowledging this feedback at several points during the presentation is a wonderful way to maintain engagement. You can easily save this feedback for later reference in the poll and Q&A transcript as well.

3. Include Videos – Giving your presenter this tip of sharing a video clip or two is a great technique to get your participants engaged. Videos can help get your audience in the right mood by creating an emotion and reinforcing the story you are telling.

Even if you are short on time, try incorporating at least one of the methods above and you will see a noticeable change in the amount of interaction from the audience on your webcast. Remember to utilize the other tools and features that your webcast has to offer such as a live demo, and social media apps, such as a live twitter feed to keep the conversation going.

Jessica Bradford
V2 | Virtual Event Manager

Earlier this week, V2 was excited to host an event with webcast expert Roger Courville of TheVirtualPresenter.com and author of The Virtual Presenter’s Handbook. Roger is a veteran of the web conferencing industry (since the modem days of 1999), and has taught tens of thousands people worldwide, and he’s reached tens of thousands more with writing appearances, interviews, and while sitting in airports.

If you were unable to join us for this informative and engaging presentation, you can view the recording here. Roger shared some invaluable tips on presentation design and elements that keep the attention of your audience and prevent them from multi-tasking while viewing your online presentation. He also lists the 7 most common pitfalls made by online speakers, and how to avoid them.

Often our clients say that it can be challenging presenting online when you are used to speaking to people in person. Roger helps you take action in translating the things you do in an in-person presentation to an online one, and points out the differences and opportunities that can come from communicating to an audience in an online medium.

V2 will be hosting another webinar with Roger on December 15 at 11:00 am PT entitled: Webinar Strategy: Research-Based Ideas for Immediate Action. Register now and learn the following:

• Determine when webinars are – and are not – the right content channel
• 4 tactics for increasing registration rates
• How to get registrants to actually attend the live webinar
• 3 ways to improve the quality of content and sales-readiness of leads

Thanks again to Roger for imparting all his awesome knowledge. The V2 Crew looks forward to “seeing” you on our next webinar in December.