Photo by madmolecule
Starting a webinar off with a whimper sets the tone for the entire experience. How do you want your audience to feel? Resigned, underwhelmed, dreading the next hour… or excited, curious, and attentive? I thought so.
Let’s take a look at four things too many folks do that suck the momentum right out of a webinar, and what you can do to avoid the same mistakes.
| Lousy webinars start this way: | Instead, try this: |
|---|---|
| Cover “housekeeping” instructions for 2-3 minutes. You know what I’m talking about — how to use the Q&A window, how to raise your hand, where the virtual bathroom is. | Put most of that info into “lobby” slides, then set them to auto-repeat for 10-15 minutes before the broadcast. You can also put these instructions in a small text window that remains visible during the presentation (if your webinar platform allows it, that is). |
| Read the speaker’s long bio aloud. Or let the speaker drone on about her credentials and her company’s client roster. Even worse, they do both! | Do a short, informal bio instead. “It’s great to have Jane Doe with us today. Jane wrote one of my favorite books, How to Crochet a Website. Ready to go, Jane?” That’s enough. Chances are good that your audience already read Jane’s long bio when they signed up for this webinar. |
| Chitchat with the speaker about her hectic book tour or the enviable weather in her neighborhood. | Save that for a private conversation. Your audience wants you to get things moving. |
| Let the speaker start by reading a text slide that lists what he’ll cover in the presentation. | Get him to start with a brief, compelling story to grab attention and make his point. Follow that with a list of important learnings he’ll be discussing. That’ll make the audience salivate, not snore. |
In sum… keep the intro material short and dive into the good stuff! They’ll love you for it.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Working on ways to improve my real estate webinars, I appreciate this a lot!
Glad to hear it, Jonathan! I’ve always thought that real estate was a ripe topic for webinars… would love to know more about what you’re doing. :)
Great stuff, Shelley! You’ve hit the nail on the head with how to open a webinar.