On (Nearly) Winning at Audience Engagement

My 2020 started off with big plans -- a busy schedule of flights and hotels and dozens of face-to-face training sessions on the calendar. Then Covid hit. Like many of you, I have had to adapt to this new challenge by taking my workshops and meetings online. I began offering pieces of my interactive teacher training workshop through 1-hour information dump webinars via GoTo Webinar. As an educator, with 15 years of experience in higher education, this hasn’t felt right. I miss the movement of in-person training sessions, the back and forth exchanges, the energy that comes from leading a group to that 'aha' moment.

 Unfortunately, the GoTo Webinar platform does not allow for participants to chat or speak to each other, which is not really manageable with larger audiences in any case. Through trial and error, I have attempted to increase audience engagement in my webinars, which GoTo calculates as an audience “interest rating.” I have managed to maintain an interest rating right around 70 through the use of polls, hand raising opportunities, and question box interaction. I have also experimented with pre-webinar Kahoot quizzes to get participants more engaged at the start. 

 Most recently, I began logging in early to make small talk with my audience. I also began encouraging participants to use the question box to share their own ideas, suggestions, and/or challenges throughout the webinar, which I then share with the larger audience. By engaging in conversation with audience members and allowing space for them to participate as well, I saw the interest rating jump to 78%. Erika Maki at LogMeIn calls anything in the 90's “fantastic,” so I am gonna call this a near-win!

Teaching and training through webinars will never be the same as in-person, but with a bit of creativity and bravery (if your heart doesn’t skip a beat every time you hear “the broadcasting has now started,” you aren’t human), I am learning that webinars can be engaging and meaningful exchanges when face-to-face opportunities are not possible.

Have you faced similar challenges with your webinars? Do you have suggestions for increasing audience engagement? Leave your comments and advice below; I’d love to learn more!