Running Your Very First WebinarPosted by Smith Kaspersen on February 5th, 2021 When I asked a webinar audience why they hadn't started using webinars yet, these folks were a few of their most typical responses: "I do not know what technology to use" "Frightened of the inability manage the technology" "Not confident about questions in the audience" "Haven't reached it yet, I need to build sufficient followers" "Was very concerned about setting up a mess of computer as well as a fool of myself" Most from the responses were about doubts, concerns and even fear about using webinar technology. Even experienced workshop and seminar presenters suffer from this problem, since they obtain the webinar environment unfamiliar and daunting. For many individuals planning their first webinar, the issue is not too things fail, nonetheless they worry things might make a mistake. That either holds it from getting started or brings about nervous whenever they do start. As Mark Twain really should have said: "I've had many troubles in my life, a few of which haven't ever happened." The solution is simple: Simplify. Think about the difference between climbing a mountain and choosing a casual hike in a national park. An experienced climber can tackle probably the most challenging mountains on the planet confidently and safety, because she's got the best equipment, the proper training, a lot of preparation, a qualified support team, and so on. If you did not have all the, climbing a mountain can be foolhardy. On the other hand, even without a great deal of training, equipment, support and experience, you can take a casual hike on well-signposted trails in a popular national park. I recommend you treat your 1st webinar being a casual hike instead of a challenging climb. Rather than attempting to policy for exactly what might fail, design a webinar therefore it can't get it wrong. That may seem obvious, but you may be surprised how many people over-complicate their first few webinars, and increase the pressure and stress like a result. Here is something I recommend you don't do in your first webinar: Don't charge money because of it. Don't invite as many people as you can, in case you could reach them. Don't switch on audience microphones during the webinar, because that boosts the probability of a crowd member taking you off course. Don't use multiple windows - for instance, switching between PowerPoint, your Web browser, Excel, Word and PDF. Live streaming pricing have multiple presenters, because it adds extra steps when switching screens, turning microphones off, and so on. All of these things add extra potential problems. Instead, perform following: Make the first webinar free. Make it private: Invite only selected, trusted people - for example colleagues, friends or your best clients. Take questions in writing only, either sent in advance by e-mail or shipped to you throughout the webinar. Use PowerPoint only (or Keynote over a Mac), and close all other windows. Be the sole presenter. This is obviously not the way you will certainly run every webinar down the road, but it's a powerful way to get going.Like it? Share it! More by this author |