5 ESSENTIAL things for webinar presenters

If you're used to being on stage, you'll have a bag of tricks for the tight spots you can find yourself in as a speaker. Got the after lunch slot? You'll be bringing in big gestures and throwing questions out to the audience. Noisy after dinner crowd? You'll let our voice drop just a little so that people stop talking and start to listen.

What the live event has, though, is interaction. When you're on a phone line doing a webinar, you don't have that instant feedback from an audience to tell you they've not followed a point, grown restless or decided you're the most inspiring speaker the world has ever seen. How do you present - which in a live setting is a dynamic, interactive process - when your audience is spread around the world, invisible, listening with their phones on mute? If they don’t like you, they’ll simply hang up – and you’ve lost them.

After delivering speech and media training to CEOs, politicians, sportspeople and entertainers, here is my absolute must-do list of things to do when you're hosting a webinar.

#1 You need another person

As with every other presentation, you shouldn't be working alone, even though the webinar can lull you into a false sense that you could. But solo webinaring is not for the rookie. There are lots of reasons for having another person with you and they will all help you to overcome the limitations of the technology and the format and make your webinar a success.

It’s an old rule with radio that your audience is one*. If you talk on your webinar as if you’re talking to just one other person – and for technical presentations, I usually suggest that the ideal tone is one you’d adopt for a smart 11-year-old – you’ll get it about right. Having that other person in the room is really good for keeping you on the rails and stopping you from just... drifting...

Another person is also great to have on hand if things go wrong, there are interruptions or questions come in. If you can concentrate on the audience while someone else filters the questions and mops up the spilled drinks, the end result will sound a lot more professional.

*Veteran broadcaster Terry Wogan was often asked how many listeners he had. ‘Just the one,’ he’d say.

#2 You're in charge, so be prepared.

You are probably not actually responsible for the tech behind the webinar, but if it goes wrong for someone, the buck will stop with you. You really need someone with you who understands the ins and outs of the platform. If attendees have a problem, your assistant should be handling that, leaving you to deliver to the others.

**REMEMBER** Webinars can be recorded and accessed on demand. If the recording is going to have a life after the live event, it may well get more listeners on demand than it did live. If you let the tech tail wag the presentation dog, your priorities are wrong.

Do make sure you have a dry run, rehearsal or whatever you want to call it, with your screen shares, videos and slides working. Technical hitches are exciting for the person they're happening to (feel your pulse increase) but not for the audience. Again, prepare, prepare, prepare. Because if it goes wrong, you'll be blamed for it, not the platform.

It therefore makes sense to have an option for when nothing works: know how to deliver without visual aids.

#3 You have to bring your 'A' game

Interaction will be very limited in a webinar environment - so you have to up your game. The temptation is to sit on a call with your browser window in front of you and forget the people listening in. You lose energy, you ramble on points, and your voice drops to a monotone.

How can you avoid this?

This is yet another good reason to have another person with you, as they can signal to you if you’re losing energy.

Your voice is important so make sure you’re properly hydrated and have water to sip.

Rather than sitting in front of your computer, stand up. Use a hands free head set so that you can use your hands as you would in natural speech (voice artists wave their hands around while recording radio voice overs. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for you).

**REMEMBER** Once the webinar attendee hangs up, they’re gone for good and you cannot chase after them. For this reason I do NOT recommend keeping an eye on live attendance records while you are speaking: you’re talking to the people there, not the ones who’ve gone.

Check back on your numbers afterwards and if you find you get a lot of drop outs, ask yourself what you could do differently next time.

As with all speaking, failure is about something you DO not who you ARE. Change what you DO, your personality is fine.

#4 Don't forget the audience

In a live event the audience is a living breathing part of the speech. In a webinar it's easy to forget they're there, as all the opportunities for interaction are reduced down, sometimes to a question typed into a Q&A box.

How do you overcome this?

Take advantage of every interactive opportunity given to you by the platform. If you can run one poll, run six. If you checking in with your audience once every two minutes feels like overkill, think about how many times you check in with an audience when they're sitting in front of you.

Check your slides: are they word heavy? Space them out with a couple of compelling images. There is nothing wrong with a blank screen if you’re making a point that’s so important the words need to be listened to.

Some platforms will allow you to use video, so this is worth checking out as a change of pace.

Can you bring in a guest? And if so, is their voice different from your own? Think about getting a co-presenter with a different accent or timbre.

**REMEMBER** if you’re reduced to a voice, being distinctive and characterful is a huge advantage – as long as you are also understandable. Ask for honest feedback if in doubt. If not in doubt – be in doubt. 

If you're going to use a webcam, do make sure that what people see looks attractive: I think that however dressed up you might get for a live event (or even a TV appearance) is a bit too formal - but equally you don't want to show up in your dressing gown. The lighting can make a big difference, and if you're using a cam you should also be using a decent mic that leaves your hands free to gesture.

#5 Structure

Once the audience member hangs up, it doesn’t matter how interesting your material is, or how good your learnings, you’ve lost them and won’t get them back.

Your choice is either to front load your speech with the gold and let it peter out, or ensure that you signpost and spread key points through the presentation.

You can start this with the lobby page and opening slide. If this article were a webinar I might write these as:

‘The UK’s most trusted speaker coach’ (Square Mile) Ian Hawkins talks you through 5 key lessons for delivering brilliant webinars (1). In this session you will learn:

1 – Why having another person is ESSENTIAL (2)

2 – How to establish your authority (3)

3 – Bring your A game (4) – tips to be at your best

4 – Don’t forget the audience – tips to interact in a difficult environment

5 – Structure – how to keep the audience listening to the end (5)

NOTES:

(1)   I’ve put in my credentials from Square Mile magazine and numbered the points so that your expectations are there will be five things to learn. I’m less likely to get people hanging up at point 3.

(2)    Is it? The capital letters says this is REALLY IMPORTANT.

(3)   This is an anxiety for many speakers in live situations or on other media.

(4)    Probably the least distinctive point; it’s hidden in the middle and has a promise of takeaway tips to perform well

(5)   This sounds like quite a promise – will it work?

Though the speech you can then come back to this slide with an arrow showing progression (subtly saying ‘We’re at point three, stick around for points 4 and 5’), and say ‘Point 3 of 5 today is to bring your A game…’

In an hour, audience attention will drop off at around the 20min mark, so it’s a good idea to put a video or interview at this point. There is another drop at the 35min mark (you’ll notice the attendance gaps shortening) so this is a good time to go to Q&A. It’s also sensible to have a couple of recaps – so that anyone who’s gone off to boil a kettle or answer an email can come back up to speed.

Lastly, structure is the hook we hang our experience on. Introduce the session and yourself – listen to radio presenters and see how they do it. It might sound quite formal to say, ‘Hello my name is Ian Hawkins and I’m the Editor of PEX Network. Welcome to this webinar on how to present webinars,’ but sounding confident and professional is a big part of getting attendees emotionally invested in what you’re doing. If you sound like you’re in charge, the audience will believe it.

CONCLUSION

Is a webinar better or worse than a live speech? I'd say it's different. There are advantages to webinars: the reach, the ability to record and replay them afterwards, the mix of visuals and your voice(s). On the downside you don't get to look your audience in the eye as you deliver, but of course that's also true of radio. Take advantage of the pros and minimise the cons – and you’ll quickly learn to love the webinar, the way they can put in front of an audience that would never get to a conference - and the luxury of presenting from your own office. 

What are your top tips? What are your pet hates? Share your thoughts in the comments!