Webinars are a tried and tested way for getting valuable leads and promoting your business, product or services. They are also a useful medium for delivering training.
[featured-image single_newwindow=”false”](Image courtesy of Dollar Photo Club)[/featured-image]
You may have heard it said that ideas are a dime a dozen, but people that make their ideas happen are worth their weight in gold.
So I took action and I am pleased to say that I launched my first webinar earlier this month. If you missed it, you can register for the second session this Friday 26th February 2016.
[callout]Register for the free Webinar: From Club Champion To District Champion PT 2 – 21 World Class Speaking Tools To Help You Win Hearts Win Minds And Win Trophies‘[/callout]
Some of you may have been doing webinars for a long time, and this is no big deal, but for the rest of you who have plans to do webinars and have not acted on that plan, I will share with you seven things that contributed to the successful launch of my first webinar.
7 Things that make a successful webinar
#1. Take time to learn how to create successful webinars
About six months before this first webinar I signed up for a webinar training course.
[shareable cite=”Aristotle”]For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.[/shareable]
There are still a lot of things about webinars that I can only learn by doing but I have found great value in the initial training I went through. This helped me cut short the learning phase and get off to a successful start.
#2. Decide on a Topic
A webinar topic like a speech topic must be at the intersection of three circles
- Something you know about
- Something you are passionate about
- Something your audience wants to know about
The first two are dependent on you while the third is related to your audience. How do you know what your audience want to know about? You ask them, you find out what their pain points are, or you find out what questions they are asking your competitors.
If you are thinking of doing webinars and need some help, sign up to my mailing list as I will be teaching about webinars in the not too distant future. You will also get a free copy of my eBook ‘7 Ways To Increase Personal Productivity‘.
#3. Find a partner or co-host
You could run a webinar on your own but for me I chose to find a partner and co-host a webinar.
This is part of my collaboration strategy and it also helps you get started in some topic areas where you know there is a demand but you do not at the moment have the domain expertise or credibility.
A co-hosted webinar also increases attendee engagement and benefits from a richer and more valuable content for attendees.
#4. Scale the technology hurdle
The technology for webinars fall into two categories.
- Cheap and cumbersome
- Expensive and easy to use
I chose cheap but then had to go through the stressful experience of making it work for myself and my co-host. After much pain, I had to pay for a more expensive webinar platform.
The main disadvantage of the cheaper option for me was that two of us had to scale the technological hurdle. That did not happen and you will have to make your own choices.
#5. Pay for seamless registration integration
I was quite pleased that I chose to pay for registration platform that seamlessly integrated with my webinar platform.
My registration page integrated seamlessly with my webinar platform and my email marketing provider. Many of these things can be done manually but nothing beats the beauty of a fully automated webinar registration system.
This was another free versus paid for service decision that I had to make. I have to say that it all adds up but if this is something you are serious about, you will at some point have to make decisions like this.
#6. Have visually effective slides.
If you are going to use slides, they have to have a compelling visual appeal. Your attendees invariably have other visual and audio cues contending for their attention. To keep them listening to you, you will need to grab and keep their attention with your visual aids and other attendee engagement activities throughout the duration of the webinar.
And you will need many slides to keep the attendee interest in what you are saying. Again, these are some of the things I learnt from my webinar course.
#7. Practice to test your materials and timings.
Proper prior practice prevents poor performance. This is even more important if you are doing your first few webinars. We had several practice sessions days before the webinar and on the actual day of the webinar. This increased our confidence in the technology, helped us focus on engaging our attendees and deliver an impactful experience to them.
[callout]Sign up to my mailing list to keep informed about future webinars. You will also get a free copy of my ebook ‘7 Ways To Increase Your Personal Productivity’[/callout]
[button href=”http://thespeakershub.com/from-club-to-district-champion-pt-2″ primary=”true” centered=”true” newwindow=”true”]Click To Register For Free PT 2 Webinar![/button]