Simple Things You Can do to Make Your Next Webinar Interactive
Hosting a great, informative webinar is a success on its own. But, were the webinar participants actually participating? When you moved from slide-to-slide and asked if anyone had any questions, are they asking questions? How do you know if they were paying attention to the content you were presenting?
Getting your webinar participants engaged in the content you are sharing is the ultimate goal. There are a few simple changes you can make right now so that your next webinar is full of participants who have something to say.
First, think about the topic you’re going to be talking about on the next webinar. Is it something people will be interested in? Is it something current that people want to know about? Is it a topic that lends itself to participation? And finally, is it something you can speak to really well? You always want to make sure that your webinar topics not only attract people, but also that they keep people listening. Pick a topic that you’re familiar with, so you can keep the information flowing for more than 20 minutes.
Start the webinar by reevaluating your usual tone. Instead of jumping right into strict business, consider making the webinar more of a discussion. Participants may be nervous to speak up if they feel their voice isn’t welcomed. You can set the tone right away by opening up a discussion at the start of your webinar.
Try asking questions, or using a polling feature to get people talking from the start. Of course, you can ask questions related to the webinar topic. For example, try asking, “How familiar are you with the topic of the webinar?” This way, you can gauge how much time to spend on certain slides as you are presenting. You could also ask a simple, “How is everyone doing?” or even, “Where is everyone from?” just to break the ice.
Speaking of webinar features, consider using the chat feature to spark conversation. If you are lucky enough to have someone helping you host the webinar, have them take to the chat and provoke questions during the webinar. Doing this will keep your audience from wandering off and getting distracted by other tasks.
Is it possible to get a third coworker to help you with the webinar? If so, have them be a participant. When you open up the “floor” for questions, have the coworker start by offering up a question or two. This will help other participants feel more comfortable with asking the questions on their minds.
How you get folks to participate in your webinar may also depend on your goal. Why did you decide to host a webinar in the first place? If the goal is to get people to download an ebook or a whitepaper, then perhaps you can use that as a way to keep people interested.
So, in order to get more webinar participation: consider your topic, begin with interactive discussion, use the webinar platform tools ask questions and poll the audience, get a coworker to ask questions and break the ice, and consider the end-goal of hosting the webinar. Give all of these tips a try, and we’re certain you’ll see greater participation in your next webinar.
