Five Webinar Mistakes You Can`t Afford to Make Five

Five Webinar Mistakes You Can’t
Can t Afford to Make
And how to avoid them!
From the book:
8 Steps to Amazing Webinars
Available
A
il bl on A
Amazon and
dB
Barnes
and Noble
Hosted by Sharon Burton
March 2012
Available on Amazon and
© Sharon Burton 2012
I’m Sharon Burton
In the Communication industry for 20 years
• Content strategy consultant
• Run hundreds of webinars
• Teach communication at various
i
iti
universities
S
a o Burton
u to
Sharon
sharon@sharonburton.com
951-369-8590
© Sharon Burton 2012
Benefit of webinars
• Add value to your brand
• Generate industry buzz
• Introduce potential customers to your products
• Position your company as a leader in the field
• Present related secondary topics to interest possible customers
• Support current users with in-depth
in depth demonstrations on advanced topics
© Sharon Burton 2012
Benefits of webinars
• A well run webinar adds value to your company and brand
• A poorly run webinar makes your company look clueless
and out of touch
© Sharon Burton 2012
What not to do and why.
Five classic mistakes people make in Webinars.
© Sharon Burton 2012
1 Not muting the audience
1.
• Typical business work area is a noisy place
• Mute the audience to reduce the noise distractions for the attendees
Use it
• Attendees want to hear you
Not the clicking of keys on a keyboard
• Always mute your audience
© Sharon Burton 2012
2 Not using backup support
2.
• Cannot simultaneously
Resolve the technical issues of 50 people and present your topic
Answer live questions from 250 people and present your topic
• Don’t ignore the questions that come in during the webinar
• Your backup person manages this while you focus on your topic
• Always use a non-speaking person to support you
© Sharon Burton 2012
3 Not providing enough lead time
3.
• Giving a week notice or less that you’re doing
a webinar
Not enough time
• People have very busy workdays
They need time to adjust their calendars
• Need time for social media outlets to get the
word out
• If you don’t give enough lead time
Recognize that the live attendance rate may
b a llow as 30%
be
People depend on the recording for
on-demand viewing later.
• Always allow at least 2 weeks lead time
© Sharon Burton 2012
4 Doing a bait-and-switch
4.
bait and switch presentation
• Don’t publicize a webinar topic and then do whatever topic you want
when the webinar starts
• You asked people to give you an hour to hear a topic
They signed up for that topic
Don’t change because another topic is more interesting to you that day
• Do what you said you were going to do
© Sharon Burton 2012
5 Not being certain how the technology works
5.
• Watching the speaker stumble though webinar technology is painful
• It casts doubt on everything that speaker is saying
“How much can this person know if they don’t know how to use the
technology?”
Attendees dismiss the speaker and topic
• It’s rude
Looks as though you couldn’t
couldn t be bothered to prepare for a pleasant
experience for your attendees
• Always learn your webinar technology
© Sharon Burton 2012
Bonus WebEx Tip: Not Recording Your Session
• If you are using WebEx, you have access to recording.
• Leverage your hard work, record the session and then post it on your
website, via social media and more.
• Post it on WebEx Channels and reach the entire WebEx network.
© Sharon Burton 2012
Learn More! 8 Steps to Amazing Webinars
More tips and strategies to run amazing
webinar series:
• eBook available now at BN.com and
Amazon.com
• Available April 15 in paperback at
Amazon.com
• Sharon Burton
sharon@sharonburton.com
Thank you!
© Sharon Burton 2012