Good webinars can be a little like independent movies – they leave you feeling wonderful, inspired, and ready to take on the world. Webinar gone bad are like bad dreams which you wish to forget.
In today’s post and next few posts, we’re going to look at why, how, and when to plan a webinar. a checklist of webinar best practices and I will also share some valuable lessons from my own experience.
What is a webinar?
Webinars (web seminars) are video presentations, workshops, or lectures hosted online, usually via webinar software. These online events are usually interactive or business-related and allow us to share our knowledge with virtually anyone in the world. They can also be used as a relationship-building or authority-building tactic. But the possibilities are endless. You can even use webinars for internal team meetings if you’re part of a remote team.
Believe it or not, before creating a webinar a few question that you must ask yourself.
- Will it be useful to my audience.
- Can it be done by email or phone call or will a webinar create a genuine value.
- If in doubt, think about whether you would watch your webinar.
Now that you’ve settled on an idea for a genuinely interesting and useful webinar, let’s talk about what is the biggest takeaway from a webinar?
Planning a webinar is much easier than organizing a seminar or lecture in real life. Mainly because you don’t need to have a big venue to host a large number of attendees. You can invite people from all around the globe, to meet in real-time, and if they can’t participate live, you can record the webinar and send them the recording later.
Here are the other reasons you should host a webinar:
Webinars are inexpensive to produce.
You don’t need a ton of special equipment to create a webinar. In fact, the smartphone in your pocket has everything you need. Webinars can be done for free if you’re cash strapped. But, even with a tiny budget, you can produce a webinar that looks just as professional as the big brands.
Webinars improve your connection.
It is often easier to connect with others when you’re sharing video and/ or audio with your team/audience. It may be hard to communicate or explain the idea or procedure through written words alone. This is where technology helps us in connecting and creating a positive impression.
Webinars are the gifts to viewers and yourself.
Every registered person is a new contact in your database. Webinar establishes you as an expert, trustworthy, and reliable source in the industry. If you record the webinar they will serve you as a valuable content that you can share with the audience later.
Webinars give you space to educate your audience.
You’ve invited people to listen to you, and they’ve accepted that invitation. You have uninterrupted time to teach them something useful while promoting your brand at the same time. You can reach superhero status just by solving your audience’s problems. Your audience becomes qualified leads, making it easy to nurture and convert them.
Webinars are easy to create.
Sure, it all looks very easy. Webinars are easy to create, but it’s still hard work. You’ll need to dedicate hours of your life to making it happen. They are tougher than giving a lecture or presentation or live demo because you can not easily catch the vibes of your audience. It would be more appropriate to say that earlier you don the shoes and hat of your audience easier it will be for you.
With that word of caution I end my blog here.
In next part we will see types of webinar and steps you need to take to create a winning webinar.
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