5 Tips For A Successful Webinar

5 tips for a successful webinar

​The average human attention span is… not long. We’d check how long, but our attention span isn’t long enough to look.
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We all know by now that trying to hold a virtual audience’s attention is no mean feat, so here’s 5 quick tips to keep your attendees’ attention whilst presenting on your next webinar!
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1. Practice makes perfect
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​Your presenting skills will no doubt grow with practice as you learn from each webinar experience.

• Run a rehearsal at least 24-48 hours prior to allow time for any last-minute fixes.
• Why not invite a trusted colleague to offer constructive feedback? Or record your session and see for your yourself!

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2. Consider their goals
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​Deliver content that appeals to what they want and need to keep your audience present and engaged.

• Try to avoid shaping your content around yours/your brand’s needs.
• Try to avoid opening with a sales pitch.
• Consider the right angle that is appropriate to present your content from.​​

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3. Mix it up
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​Keep your audience on their toes by varying the content styles throughout your webinars.

• Use your interactive options - Q&As and polls.
• Make visually engaging presentations with image heavy slides and embedded video.
• Go light on the text– use your audio to deliver the majority of the content and use your visual slides to supplement this instead.

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4. Show your personality!
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​You may not be able to see them, but they can still see you! Show the personality and energy you would bring to an in-person event!

• Smile! Of course everyone would like to see you enjoying yourself! And this can carry in your voice, helping you sound happy and engaged.
• Use cue cards or take cues from the presentation rather than reading from a script, to help give a more natural and conversational delivery.
• It’s not a race – take your time, be present with your audience, use humour, embrace silences and pauses (they’re not as long as they seem) and relax in to it.

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5. Add some comic relief

​Infuse your content with lighter segments to break up the content and keep it fun!

• Why shy away from virtual fatigue? It’s not a secret, we all know it happens, you can make light of it with your audience and acknowledge you’ll be doing your best to combat it!
• Add some humour in to your presentation - throw in some puns, memes, dad jokes – wouldn’t you enjoy that if you were in the audience?!
• Maybe open segments with an interesting/surprising fact (on or off topic!) or a joke.
• Make it interactive with the chats and polls! Why not make them a bit silly with some funny opinion polls or quiz questions?!

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​What good are lessons if you can't share them? Give a shout to our Events Team for some webinar guidance - c[email protected]

The AP&C Virtual Events Checklist
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And while we're at it, feel free to download our Virtual Events Checklist  to share with your presenters and panellists to be sure your events get off on the right foot.

AUTHOR:  CAITLIN V.
DATE:  20TH AUGUST 2020