Anyone who has ever been unable to appear at an important meeting, whether due to traffic jams or some other unforeseen circumstances, knows how badly such situations can affect the whole concept of group work as well as the business itself.
With today's fast-paced life, it is very difficult to achieve everything you planned on time, whilst simultaneously being efficient and productive. Business people needed the right solution, and apparently, it turned out that the answer to many problems was creating webinars and increasing their popularity.
A webinar is a global tool that connects individuals around the world in just a few clicks. It is an online presentation or, in other words, a seminar held in real-time that more people can join via the Internet. Do you know how to run a webinar? Especially a global one?
Global webinars are also great for promoting business and can help you to do so more effectively, thus your target audience can get all the information they need faster and in real-time. It’s never been easier to collect leads either.
Webinars are used in various spheres, from education to conferences and business meetings, because they are very suitable for both presenters and attendees.
Before you can start creating your global webinar, you must cover a few items first.
Down below, you will see the first steps you need to take in order to make your webinar successful.
After reading this article, you will know exactly how to run a webinar. So, let’s get started!
#1 Determine the purpose of your webinar
So, how to run a webinar? In order to start the whole process of creating a webinar correctly, you must first of all determine the purpose and the ultimate goal of your presentation.
For example, if you want to use a global webinar to help your business grow, you could instruct your visitors on how to use your product, demonstrate services, or even hold training sessions.
Deciding which topics you want to cover is also an important idea. You will be able to answer all the questions that interest your audience and cover any doubts. This is especially nice because you get to interact with your customers directly.
Once you have planned what you’re going to present, it’s time to address the technical requirements.
#2 Know what is necessary to start a webinar
It’s vitally important to take care of technical aspects before entering the webinar room. Although you don’t need much equipment, there are a few essentials. Here you can read a full article on how to set up a home office, but, in a nutshell, presenters need to have the following:
- stable internet connection
- webcam
- headset
- webinar hosting system
As far as attendees are concerned, similar items apply:
- internet access
- headphones and microphone
Now that we have covered the basic technical items that need to be taken care of, we can move on to the global webinar scheduling process.
To start a webinar you need to schedule the event, which is very easy.
First, create an account on a particular webinar platform and choose your pricing plan. When you enter the website, you will see a dashboard with various options for scheduling webinars. Then, set the date on which you will hold the webinar, the exact time that it will begin, and how long the event itself will last - then you’re done.
The registration process can be completed in several ways. For example, you could invite people by sending emails to all interested attendees with a link to register for the global webinar. To make the whole process nice and easy, it’s a good idea to use a webinar platform that has an integration with email automation tools, such as LiveWebinar. After that you can schedule messages to be sent at the right time to the recipients, like a confirmation email to all of those who registered with a link to join the event. Another idea is to send an email with the webinar link that serves to remind people of the presentation the day before it is scheduled to take place.
Make sure the addresses you send the emails to is the correct one, which can be checked easily by using some email verification software.
#3 Decide on your webinar’s format
Depending on your goals, how can you run a webinar alone or co-host it with someone? The most popular options are:
- A single presenter – one expert shares some of their tips on a given topic.
- Dual presenters – two experts share the presenting.
- Panel – host a group of experts who discuss a range of topics and make everything much more engaging.
- Product demonstration - if you want to promote your product or service then this is the perfect choice for you, as previously mentioned.
- Q&A - one presenter or a group of them answers questions from your audience.
Having a guest speaker might be entertaining for your audience, although the process of contacting and finding the right guest one might be very tedious and exhausting for you.
You could combine these formats or opt for just one, but the most important thing is to find the right approach for your audience and what you plan to present to them.
#4 Generate more leads
Lead generation may seem like a complex process, but it is actually not that complicated.
Everything you do and present on your website should be made with your ideal customer in mind.
Your official website should be the place where people can familiarize themselves with your business. It is like your personal ID.
Always try to make your website clear and informative for your visitors. Show them what you do, what your goals are, and where they can find out more about business, etc.
It is also very important to show people that you are there for them and that they can contact you anytime they want.
The easiest way to do so is to make contact forms or use live chat and implement them on your website.
You will not need much time to implement these, just use website plugins and in a couple of minutes your website will be an optimized and user-friendly place.
When your target audience sees that there is a real, professional team behind your website, you will gain trust more easily and visitors will be more willing to join your webinars and learn more from you.
#5 Increase website conversion rates
By running global webinars, you have a much greater chance to grow your email list and nurture qualified leads to become your future customers.
The best way to collect leads is to convince them that you can solve their problems quickly and easily. So, you need to present your webinar as the best solution they could possibly come across online.
You could ask for their email addresses in order to join your webinar, then when it is ready to start the user will be sent a link as a "ticket entrance" to join.
You should know that many people do not scroll all the way down to the bottom of a website, which is where contact forms are usually found on a page. As you might therefore conclude, it is not the perfect place to invite people to join your global webinar.
You should rather choose a much more visible position for this invitation.
The best and far more simple practice is to use pop-up windows.
Source: Daniel Waas
By using pop-ups, you can show your global webinar offer at the right time to the right people. These windows use triggers, so you can set them up to appear after e.g. a visitor clicks on a particular link or element or spends a certain amount of time on your website.
Thanks to that, you can increase the number of subscribers up to several times.
After users leave their addresses they will become your e-mail subscribers, and you can continue sending them some important news and announcements to raise your brand awareness.
#6 Make your webinar more interactive
If you thought it was enough to sit in front of a computer and start giving an online presentation, you were wrong.
You need to visualize everything as best as possible for your audience to understand your webinar’s content completely. The use of interactive tools such as desktop sharing to show graphs, tables, pictures, and more can take your presentation to the next level.
For example, Marie Forleo is an entrepreneur who knows how to run webinars regularly. She includes different exercise sheets that all of her listeners can download and start working on immediately. This practice is a great way to nurture your leads by giving them a small but effective gift.
Use a chat or forum to communicate with your visitors. They can also communicate and engage with one another.
Keep it interesting by mixing slides and formats, and try to maintain their undivided attention but also try not to confuse them.
Use humour and storytelling to personalize the whole experience. If you are talking about your brand then try to connect your audience with it, and create an immediate connection that will last or even become stronger as they become your loyal customers.
Use different media formats in your slides to make them more engaging.
Polls and surveys give the impression that the opinion of your listeners is important to you, which leaves a very good feeling but also provides you with potentially useful feedback.
You don’t need any special skills to create a good-quality global webinar, you just need to make an effort.
#7 Practice makes perfect
Rarely does a global webinar go by without at least some small disruption. That is why you need to be ready for everything and you have to prepare well.
To reduce the possibility of some bugs happening, it is best to run a trial webinar.
What does this actually mean?
Well, practicing a webinar does not mean memorizing a bunch of slides, but being sure that everything will work well when the time comes.
By using the webinar software of your choice, test your speakers and make sure you sound clear.
Of course, to be heard loud and clear it is just not enough for your speakers to work, but also you also have to enunciate well and say concise sentences. You need to keep your speech interesting and easy-to-follow.
Without knowing how to run a webinar, it will be hard for you to do the job. You should use some kind of notes, but you can also be more flexible and spontaneous from time to time because that is exactly what distinguishes an average webinar from a high-quality one.
To Sum Up
Nowadays, global webinars or online seminars are increasingly in demand because people have less time to travel to meetings and do multiple things simultaneously.
Also, webinars became interesting the moment people realized that they could use them to promote their businesses and reach a larger number of potential customers. This became an ideal way to increase conversion rates.
It's important to know how to a webinar. In this article, we mentioned a couple of tips on how to run a webinar globally, and if you follow them then you will be on the right track.
Webinars can be used for various purposes. You could offer your visitors a demonstration of your service in the form of a tutorial, or present your product in a nutshell but effectively enough to encourage the growth of conversions and sales. Lead generation is a process that requires a lot of effort, but it definitely pays off.
Try out these tips, and be ready for your webinars to become unbelievably popular!