Content Developmen

t for Webinars

What is a Webinar?+ A webinar is an event conducted

online that makes use of audio, video, and interactive elements to communicate with a large number of people.

Why a Webinar?+ Webinars represent more than just a solution

for saving some time and effort in gathering your team together for a meeting or for getting your product some attention.

+ You can use webinars to more effectively target your audience (whether inside or outside your company) and reinforce your message with a host of tools, including recordings and interactive elements.

Producing a successful Webinar

Plan ahead! Prep time — how much time will it take to get all of

your resources together? Participants — who will present (and support

behind the scenes) during your webinar? Resources — where are you going to get your

information, and how long will it take to get everything together?

Schedule — find out when your webinar will reach the most people and do the most good.

Use the right technology+ You want to impress with your webinar

+ Use professional tools to create your presentation

+ It may even mean looking for some outside help, but that’s what the professionals are for, isn’t it?

Create compelling content+ The best webinars feature content that clearly and

expertly communicates your message and provides a defined goal

+ Each webinar participant should leave with a clear message that you’ve communicated with your well-designed content.

Interact with your audience+ Webinar participants gain more when they’re

allowed to ask questions and actively participate with the webinar materials.

+ You can allow a typed chat, or you could provide participants with audio and video connections to directly interact with the proceedings (at well-defined intervals in the presentation, of course).

+ You can also create interactive training materials that allow participants to answer questions and receive results on their training efforts.

Interact with your audience+ Webinar participants gain more when they’re allowed to ask

questions and actively participate with the webinar materials.

The point is that you don’t want the audience to remain passive during

the webinar — you want to get them out of their chairs (not literally, but you know what I mean) and allow them to take part in the webinar.

Interact with your audience+ Ask for feedback (and actually take it seriously)

Plan on opening multiple avenues for feedback:✓ E-mail✓ Forums✓ SMS and mobile messaging✓ Direct audio or visual conversation✓ Social media

No matter how you get the message, be sure to listen to what your audience is telling you.

What shouldn’t go in a webinar+ Time wasters

+ Boring materials

+ Materials not meant for your audience

Producing a successful Webinar

Why Webinars work+ Direct contact with your audience

+ Access your audience across time and space

+ Make use of some great tools

Analyze your audience+ You’re gathering together a sizable amount of people (albeit

virtually) and using their time and attention to accomplish . . . what?

Choose the best tools+ Remember, depending on where you’re located and how

many people are involved, you need to at least consider the following:

Delivering your presenters’ audio and video Delivering the materials those presenters will use Delivering any interactive quizzes or tests Retrieving the results of those quizzes or tests Making sure that your entire presentation doesn’t collapse

when more than three people in your office log in

Getting social and spreading the word+ Social media can help you identify those interested in your

webinar through networks of friends and professionals.+ Post your event on LinkedIn and on your Facebook page.+ Add to registration confirmation e-mails an option for

attendees to post about attending your webinar on Twitter and their own Facebook pages.

+ Set up a Twitter hashtag to focus the conversation.+ Once you’ve moved past the promotion stage, social media

can be used to reinforce what you’ve presented.+ One can also provide a channel for webinar participants to

continue their conversation with you and others about what they’ve learned.

CONTENT

Keep it compelling…

+ No matter how you choose to present your webinar, remember that the information should always mean something — and perhaps even compel your audience to do something.

Write the book – or at least the handouts…+ You can use PDFs or text documents to present summary

notes or an overview of your presentation

+ Put the presentation up for repeated downloads if necessary

Our next speaker is…

+ Having more than one presenter involved in your webinar allows you to tap into a broader range of experience.

+ It also means that you free your audience from having to listen to one person for a long period of time.

+ Consider having one person act as the host for the entire webinar, then have that host pass the presentation off to other speakers for each major section of the webinar.

Multimedia

+ Animations and other computer-generated media may be a little bit more resource-intensive than straight audio or video, but they can be worth the time and effort to put together.

+ You can use multimedia to dive deeply into a complex product and show individual parts in action

+ You can use animation to make abstract concepts more concrete and easy to understand as well.

+ Ensure that your animations and transitions run smoothly, and you’ll add a whole new element to your webinars.

+ Make sure your presenter is comfortable with public speaking.

Executing your Webinar

+ Practice makes perfect – rehearse

+ Have everybody there

+ Have a script and stick to it

+ Test drive your webinar

+ Have a back-up plan

+ Engage your audience

Google+ Hangouts

Notes

+ You need a Google+ Account

+ Create one for the purpose of your Webinar

+ No limits to attendees

+ No annoying ads

Step 1: Create a Hangout on Air+ Do this from your Google+ page

+ Select Hangouts

+ Create an event

+ Invite via e-mail

Step 2: Customize your Webinar with trailers and apps+ Activate two very important apps: Q@A and Showcase

+ Q&A allows you to accept questions posted by the audience and marks them as answered once done

+ Showcase allows you to send articles, websites, products and other online content to your audience

Step 3: Invite your audience to your Webinar

Step 4: Broadcast your Webinar+ Ideally you’d have a slideshow presentation to show your

audience as you speak

+ Screenshare button

+ Start broadcast button

Step 5: Edit or download your recording on YouTube

Congratulations! You have successfully managed to do your

Webinar!

Cheat Sheet+ Send out invitations 2 weeks in advance otherwise attendees

will forget if you send it too far in advance.+ Use a simple form for registration otherwise people will not

bother to sign up. Have a welcoming and user-friendly landing page for registrants.

+ Send reminder e-mails one week before and another on the day of the presentation – sending it on the day of the event may increase attendance by 20%.

+ Schedule your webinar in the late morning, that way participants won’t have issues with commuting during rush hour or have to watch it over their lunch hour.

+ Have your webinar midweek – studies show that webinars on Tuesdays get the most attendees.

Sources: Webinars for Dummiestuts+Webinars for Dummies Cheet SheetHow to use Google Hangouts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPZb3D0500I)

Thank youCarmen Nel (University of the Free State)Talk presented on 10 March 2017 for HELIG Free State Members