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We've discussed webinars many times in our blog, and we even host them! However, we've haven't yet gotten the chance to give you an all inclusive guide to how you can host your own, awesome webinar. Below are some of the best tips in the industry, compiled through research and personal experience... Enjoy!

Find A Knowledgeable and Capable Speaker

This may go without saying, but we still feel we should say it. If you're going to host a webinar, you need a knowledgable and capable speaker. They not only have to be able to speak about the topic at length, but also need to be able to answer unplanned questions. For this reason, having a good actor or speaker read from a script simply won't work. 

Specify Your Topic

To keep things concise and avoid droning on too much about some random, unrelated facets of a bigger theme, try specifying your topic as much as possible. By doing this, you ensure that there is a cap on how many things you can talk about, so it won't take hours to go through a few different topics. Additionally, this lets people know exactly what your webinar will be centred around, and allows you to access a specific niche of people who may be interested. These people will become leads, and potentially even future clients. 

Create Amazing Visuals

As your webinar will be online, it will require visuals to advertise it, and to go along with your presentation. This doesn't need to be super complicated, sticking to Google slides or PowerPoint presentations are definitely an option. However, you don't want all your slides to be beige with a ton of writing on top. Keep things interesting by picking a uniform colour or pattern scheme for your background colours, maybe even matching them to your company's colours as part of your branding. Also, if there is only one thing you retain from this article, let it be this: make sure to keep the amount of writing on slides extremely short! Stick to bullet points with a few targeted keywords, too much writing will turn people off from your presentation, or overwhelm them.

Pick A Platform

Next, you'll need to pick a platform to diffuse your webinar on. There are countless options online, so feel free to do your research and explore a little bit. However, here are a few great options we love: Zoom, AnyMeeting, EzTalks, Google Hangouts, etc. Whatever platform you choose, try to practice using it before to make sure you like it. It's always best to know whether something will work for you or not before jumping on board with it!

Advertise

If you're going to dedicate your time and energy to hosting an event, you'll definitely want people to show up. Generate interest by posting your event on your social media channels, sending an email out to all your clients, and maybe even pay for online ads. Make sure people register somehow, either by emailing you or filing out a form you may have on your website pages under the events section. This way, you can estimate the amount of interest being generated, and collect people's information to follow up with them afterwards. 

Practice & Set The Stage

Just like you would practice for a speech at a special event, you should also practice for your webinar. You want to try doing a full run through with everything you'll be using on the day of. This means slides, camera, the room you're in, microphone, and anything else you might need or want. This eliminates the risk of anything going wrong during the presentation itself, and gives you a chance to practice your points one last time. Additionally, make sure wherever you are, your internet connection remains solid the entire length of the presentation. Without internet connection, webinars become impossible. 

Quick Tips

Here are a few last things to keep in mind to ensure your success. 

1) Make sure to choose a time that is relevant to your customers 

2) Record the webinar for those who may not be able to attend the live taping, but want to watch it later. You can even add it to your website and social media afterwards!

3) Stick to your time allocation so you don't take up more time than you said you would and irritate or lose viewers

4) Share information freely and be ready to answer many questions! Give your contact information afterwards to open up the possibility for more questions. 

Conclusion

Voila! You are now fully equipped to start hosting your own Webinars. Now, not only do you have a way to provide your clients with knowledge and stay in contact with them, but you can also use this as part of your marketing strategy, and perhaps even gain popularity and new clients from it. Pro tip: record and save your webinars, then add them to your site for your visitors to enjoy anytime that suits them.