How do you deal with technical issues and glitches during your webinars?

I've run hundreds of virtual events and webinars. My top insights would be: - Find a clear background wherever you can, avoid distractions and make yourself the centre of the audience's attention. - However experienced you are with running webinars, always take part in the tech check and avoid being complacent. - If you're working from home, be aware of the effects of other house members' internet usage where applicable. Whilst your internet connection might be fine during the test, if your children decide to watch movies during your session then it might interfere; obviously connection dependent. - Ensure that you have a telephone number for the facilitator and that they have yours if there is an internet issue.

Create an online back up plan. I find it useful to have a few pre-written messages ahead of time to copy and paste into the chat box. Similarly, consider the easiest way to communicate with your audience if the webinar software failed and have it ready. For example, I have a pre-written email on my email software that could be quickly sent if there were any issues.

It is key to communicate with the audience, explain that there is a technical failure and that you need a few minutes to be able to transfer the information in another way. On occasions like these, I have notes prepared to be able to continue by some possible means with the presentation, either only verbally or with a camera without the assistance of the software where I had the previous graphic presentation for the audience. Maintaining an interactive and enjoyable presentation where the audience feels involved is very important, to maintain fluidity and avoid losing their attention.

Having a backup device or connection can be valuable. Recording a talk rehearsal and sending this as a back up plan can be useful. Alongside this, you could offer a follow-up Q&A session at a later date.

Many of the online softwares will show join and leave times for delegates which can be useful in identifying any trends. Be human about the errors, there can be lessons in this and made relevant to the topic in good humour in many circumstances.