As technology improves, webinars are becoming an increasingly common component of workplace training. They provide trainers with even more tools and opportunities for engagement than a typical classroom environment.
Webinars present a unique set of challenges that can cause the session to crash and burn if you’re not prepared. Understanding these challenges and how to handle them is crucial to the success of your webinar.
Below we have a number of strategies for you to utilize in order to host a successful webinar:
Platform:
When planning, make sure to plan a presentation that is appropriate to the platform. This means, making sure you don’t overwhelm your participants with too much information or text. Webinars should be used to deliver “need to know” information only, leaving you more time to combine content with interactive exercises that foster learning.
Keep in mind that your participants cannot read and listen at the same time. Minimize the necessity for them to choose between the two by using as little text as possible in your slides.
Engagement:
It’s important to be aware that engagement is even more crucial in a webinar than in a classroom. Because you have no face-to-face contact and less control over the learning environment, it is much easier to lose your audiences’ attention in a webinar.
Use a quality opener to engage your participants right away by pulling their attention from distractions (like smartphones and email) and provide new opportunities to engage at least once every four minutes.
Extra tools:
Remember to utilize the extra tools webinar technology makes available to you. Webinars can foster collaboration even more effectively than traditional classrooms. The chat feature allows more people to share at once and empowers even shy or reserved people to share too.
Polling lets you generate broad participation at the touch of a button. You can even put participants into breakout rooms to have small group discussions about key concepts that can be brought back to the larger room later.
Yes, webinars have a number of advantages, but they also present a unique set of challenges that can sabotage your training.
Download our FREE training guide: Do’s & Don’ts of Designing a Successful Webinar.
