With COVID-19 forcing everyone to more or less stay at home, plenty of businesses, both small and large, have taken a hit this year. This means adapting to a more remote way of doing business; marketing products differently, appealing to customers who can’t actually visit your stores, and finding new ways to make loyal customers return to your brand.
2020 has brought about plenty of changes, but one thing that hasn’t changed is that webinars are a great way to expand your business, attract new customers, and solidify the authority of your brand in whatever industry you operate in. If you’ve never hosted a webinar, don’t worry—we’ll be covering webinar services, and how to host your first webinar and generate more leads in the guide below.
This is specifically written for people hosting their first webinar, but these tips generally apply to all webinars.
Use Vast’s Webinar Services
The first thing you need to do is find the right hosting service for your webinar. You can have an excellent presentation put together, but finding the right platform to host it will likely dictate its overall success. You want a platform that’s reliable and supports webinars, like Vast Conference. Webinar software might come in many varieties, but that doesn’t mean every piece of software is optimized properly.
The last thing you want during your webinar is for the feed to cut out or there to be other technical issues that cut into the webinar time. Vast is reliable and easy to use, so you won’t have to worry about either of those issues, and you’ll have a successful webinar your first time around.
The great thing about Vast’s webinar service is that you can try it out for free for 14 days to see if you like it or not. You’ll get unlimited webinars, pre-recorded event capabilities, tracking and reporting, and more!
Be Prepared for Your Presentation
Just like with any presentation or meeting, you need to be prepared for your webinar. Even if you’re pre-recording the webinar, being unprepared really shows and affects the quality of the presentation. If you’re pre-recording your webinar, don’t be afraid to do a few practice takes in front of the camera to get warmed up. It’s better to do it 10 times and succeed on the eleventh than to publish a half-done webinar the first time. You want your first webinar to be as close to perfect as possible, so you can make the right impression on those watching it.
Be an Expert in Your Content
You need to be an expert in what you’re presenting, otherwise, the audience will know you’re just blowing smoke. That’s no way to appeal to new people, and certainly no way to solidify your brand’s authority in your industry. If there’s anything you’re unsure about, research it thoroughly and find the answer well before you start your live event or recording.
Put Together a Guide
Your webinar guide will serve a twofold purpose. First and foremost, it acts as a roadmap for anyone viewing pre-recorded or live content. They’ll know what to expect, and, in the case of pre-recorded webinars, they’ll know where to skip ahead if they don’t want to watch the entire thing.
The guide will also help you decide how you want your presentation to flow. You’ll be far more organized and sound much better if you have a guide to tell you where to go next, rather than just trying to improvise. Remember, this is your first webinar! You need to make a good impression.
Don’t Be Shy
I understand that not everyone is great at public speaking. Most of us get a bit nervous in front of others, and if you’re talking to an audience of strangers, your nerves can take over and ruin the presentation. This is why it’s good to practice in front of family and friends and record yourself speaking, so you can get a better understanding of where your weaknesses are.
Know Your Audience
Another important thing to remember is that your audience is just as important as your content. If you don’t know who you’re presenting for, it’s ten times more difficult to create a well-tailored presentation that appeals to the audience. Are you presenting to other experts in your field? New customers? This will likely change the tone and approach that you take with the content. You wouldn’t present information the same way to an expert as you would to someone who’s never heard of it.
Trim the Fat
Last, but not least, keep your content streamlined. Don’t overload it with humor or excess information. The best presentations, meetings, and webinars are short and concise. You can, of course, include some light-hearted humor to keep things friendly, but don’t overdo it. Stay focused, deliver your presentation confidently, and you’ll be excited for your next webinar.
