When it comes to webinars, you only have one chance to make a first (good) impression.  Here are four simple steps to help you prepare for a successful marketing webinar. 

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Video Transcript:

Four Preparation Steps for a Successful Marketing Webinar

You know online events are a great way to ramp up revenue for your products and services but they can also be a little nerve wracking. Don’t panic! When it comes to preparing for an event, the rules for success are the same online as they are for any in person presentation. Be prepared! Here are four steps to help you prepare for a successful online presentation.

Step 1- Choose technology that caters to your audience.
Step 2- Make sure your room layout makes sense.
Step 3- Time your presentation and plan out your interactions.
And finally,
Step 4- Conduct a dry run.

Let’s start with number one – Choose technology that caters to your audience.

Online events can be very engaging and offer a great return on investment if you prepare ahead. Test your event from an attendee point of view from form registration, to entering the meeting room, to accessing the audio. Nothing loses an online audience like technical or user difficulty. Remember they are putting aside important work to attend your event. Don’t deter them by making them download software, or remembering a twenty digit password to get into your event.

Step 2- Make sure your room layout makes sense.

As you create your meeting room layouts,keep the attendee view in mind. Do they have to scroll through a poll question to see all the options? Do they need super vision to read the text? Upload and run through your slide deck to ensure each slide is appearing correctly. Test each item that you want your attendees to interact with. And don’t forget about your attendees that are on the go. Test everything on both a computer and mobile device.

Step 3- Time your presentation and plan out your interactions.

If you are trying to cram too much information into a presentation or don’t have enough substance to your event, then your audience will lose interest and chances are they won’t convert to into potential clients.

A best practice for webinars is to interact with your virtual audience every 5-7 minutes. For example, incorporate an Open Chat pod in the Lobby layout for folks to chat prior to the event – a question at the top helps control and direct the chatter. Conduct a poll where the results can be broadcast at any time. Or to get your audience engaged more intimately with your topic, set up two Open Chat pods so that group A and group B can express the reasons for their support of two differing ideas.

Bonus Tip:

Selecting a platform that allows you to build multiple layouts will help you to move along seamlessly through your agenda.

Step 4- Conduct a dry run.

Whether you’re the solo speaker, or there is an entire panel of speakers, schedule and conduct a dry run of your event. Choose a moderator that is responsible for moving the meeting along, including changes that are being seen from the audience point of view, facilitating questions that are coming in, and transitioning from speaker to speaker.

Ensure that all presenters are invited and present at the dry run. Use this time to familiarize all involved with the platform you are using and to set up the webinar room exactly the way you want it for the event.

Choosing a platform with a persistent room where all content and layouts are saved is a huge time saver for webinars.

Determine the flow of the event and each person’s role.  And of course, you’ll want to polish your presentation. So find a friend or colleague that can help reveal any holes in your presentation to ensure you drive those important talking points home to your attendees. Most importantly, have fun and get creative!

InteSolv has worked to help organizations all over the world create and deliver successful and impactful online events. And we can do the same for you. Remember, better webinar experiences lead to higher conversion rates.

Want to revamp or possibly just fine tune your online webinar experiences? Reach out today for a no pressure chit chat.