how to give a good webinar presentation

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How to Give a Webinar Presentation

• Dorie Clark

Strategies to make the experience less awkward for you — and your audience.

Presenting in a webinar — when you often don’t have access to visual cues about how the audience is responding — can sometimes feel disconcerting or awkward. Here are a few strategies to improve the experience for you and your audience. First, make use of the camera. Many professionals don’t like looking at themselves on camera, but that’s not a valid excuse when you consider how much more engaged listeners are when watching a real person talk to them. Next, an important corollary point: If you’re using the camera, you have to be mindful of visual aesthetics. Specifically, adjust your camera so that it’s giving a straight-on view of your face, and test out how your chosen backdrop appears to participants. It’s also a good idea to rehearse the mechanics of the webinar software you’re using. And finally, decide in advance how you’ll handle audience participation.

As more and more companies cultivate a global workforce and international client base, it’s increasingly necessary to present remotely. For years, teleconferencing was the best option, but in the past five years internet speeds and web conferencing technologies have become sufficiently robust to support a shift to live video streaming. But presenting in a webinar — when you often don’t have access to visual cues about how the audience is responding — can sometimes feel disconcerting or awkward.

• Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and keynote speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. Her latest book is The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World (HBR Press, 2021) and you can receive her free Long Game strategic thinking self-assessment .

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How to Create Successful Webinar Presentations (Tips & Templates)

Written by: Rae Oliver

Webinar presentations have become an important communication tool for many businesses around the world, and their popularity is increasing year on year.

In fact, 83% of marketers in the United States believe in the continued effectiveness of webinars in 2022.

They are a tool for the present and the future.

If you’re looking for an effective way to reach customers and clients, market your products or services, or simply present an idea, a webinar presentation does the job. And it does it well.

Being able to create an engaging webinar is an excellent skill, and it’s certainly one you should cultivate.

To help you master the art of great webinar presentations, we’ve created the ultimate guide.

Get your creative thinking hats on and let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

• What Is a Webinar Presentation?

How Can Webinar Presentations Benefit Your Business?

Webinar presentation design tips and best practices, how to create a webinar presentation in 6 steps, 5 webinar presentation templates you can customize, webinar presentation faqs, what is a webinar presentation.

In the modern world attending events are no longer only “in-person” affairs. We're firmly in the digital era now, and virtual events are the norm. Being at the same event as someone on the other side of the globe has become as simple as clicking your mouse.

A webinar is essentially a gathering of people in an online space utilizing some sort of conference room technology. In other words, a webinar is a seminar, but on the web.

These online conferences usually involve a video presentation (aka webinar presentation) by the host or others invited to present. But they can also be used to host meetings, talks, and other public or private online events.

Webinars are especially useful in the professional world. Businesses and entrepreneurs can host meetings, present pitch decks , or conduct employee training . The possibilities are endless.

There are three main types of webinars hosted by companies:

• Pre-recorded

An on-demand webinar is a recorded version of a live webinar that can be accessed at any time after the actual webinar has occurred. Visme’s presentation software allows for the hosting of live webinars should you be looking to share your presentation online using a simple link.

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Webinars are powerful tools for growing your brand and your influence. Let’s take a closer look at how webinars can benefit business owners and marketers specifically:

Interact with customers in real time.

Just because you aren’t in the same room, doesn’t mean you can’t engage with your target audience. With a live webinar presentation, you have the ability to build stronger relationships with your customers. They can ask questions about your brand, and you can ask them for feedback to better understand how to meet their needs.

Generate leads.

More interaction and engagement with your clients lends itself to lead generation. With an interactive webinar, you can better understand what drives your visitors and how you can offer them better deals.

Holding an effective webinar presentation is also the perfect opportunity to position yourself as a thought leader and an authority within your field. By providing value to your audience through a webinar, you can demonstrate your expertise and build trust with potential customers.

Create brand awareness.

Webinar presentations are a cost-effective promotional tool to increase awareness around your brand . It’s essentially free advertising — those who attend your webinar are your potential customers. They’re already either interested in your product or services, you just need to showcase your brand in the best way possible.

This is where a branding kit comes in handy. Visme gives you the power to store your logo, fonts, color palettes and templates and apply them throughout your webinar presentation. You can also use them in your other brand and marketing materials later. This way, even if multiple members of your team are creating visuals, they can all stay on-brand and use a consistent design.

Keep these tips in mind for an effective webinar presentation that keeps your audience engaged.

1. Use the right platform.

Using a platform that’s tailored to presentation design is the first tip for webinar presentation beginners. But there’s no need to work at it alone. Visme’s presentation software helps you create beautiful, highly effective professional presentations in no time.

In terms of presentation design , Visme is all-inclusive. It allows for the creation of all types of presentations with built-in graphics, backgrounds, stock photos, videos, and shapes. Choose from a variety of presentation theme templates that will enhance the message of your webinar. These bells and whistles are what bring your webinar presentation to life and capture your audience.

2. Choose visuals over text.

Use minimal words (no more than 6 lines per slide) so as not to dampen the visual aspect of the presentation. Instead, use visual cues such as infographics, charts and graphs to convey the point you’re trying to make. These visual aids are often more effective than spoken words.

Make sure to avoid using blurry images or pixelated photos in your slides. Using high-quality images and visuals is key to capturing your audience’s attention. Visme offers you over 1,000,000 of high-resolution stock images and videos . No matter the topic, we’ve got a selection of hand-picked visuals to suit your presentation.

Want to tweak an image a bit? No problem. Our photo editor lets you drag and drop photos, and fully customize to fit your design needs.

3. Decide on a color scheme.

If there’s one thing that’s going to make your webinar presentation look professional, it’s maintaining a strong color scheme throughout. Having a mix match of random colors is going to distract your audience from what your presentation is really about.

When choosing a color scheme, be mindful of the power of color psychology in marketing. Choose colors that resonate with your brand or message. Knowing how colors combine and emit different moods and feelings will help you get better results.

To make your life even easier, Visme offers an AI-powered brand design tool to seamlessly integrate your branding colors to your presentation. Once you’ve selected your primary color palette, you can apply your chosen colors throughout your presentation to create a unified, professional look. It’s that simple.

4. Practice your presentation skills.

Like with any presentation, success isn't reliant solely on the design of your slides and graphics. It also relies on your hosting etiquette and ability to convey ideas through your words.

Listeners should walk away knowing exactly what it is you were trying to explain. Your speech and the slides you display should work in tandem to create the perfect audio/visual experience.

Have a look at these common presentation mistakes to avoid.

5. Add some variety.

No one likes a long and boring webinar. A practice that many experienced hosts like to observe is to get more than one speaker to handle different parts of a complex topic. Having multiple good public speakers at a webinar will give the audience different voices and different experiences to enjoy during the presentation. This keeps everyone interested and engaged and ensures the success of your presentation .

Lastly, you need to make sure that all of the speakers are comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. Don’t let a nervous speaker ruin your online event.

6. Include dynamic, moving visuals.

Psychological research shows that we remember things more easily if we watch moving pictures compared with static ones. The movement of moving pictures can immediately catch the attention of your audience's eyes, directing them to look at your content.

Here are just a few ideas for ways to include movement in your webinar presentation:

• Use animated transitions between slides
• Insert fully animated graphics to explain concepts
• Insert audio and videos
• Include interactive infographics
• Add popup graphics and hover effects

Here’s a short video tutorial on how you can create popups and hover effects in any Visme design.

A great example of when to harness the power of moving visuals is with a product demo webinar presentation. Let’s say you want to give a product demo on a new mobile app you’re launching. You can show your product works in real-time, pointing out key features and benefits. Seeing a video of how users can interact with the app will be much more effective than static screenshots.

By following the steps below, and adding your own touch of creativity, you can create a professional webinar that audiences will love.

1. Choose and Research a Topic

Step one is to have a full understanding of what your webinar presentation is about.

Maybe you have expert knowledge that you’d like to share with your peers. Or maybe you have a ground-breaking product that you’d like to market via a webinar presentation. The reasons for your webinar will lay the groundwork for a successful seminar.

Once you’ve chosen a focus area for the topic, start brainstorming ways to convey the information to an audience. This may require some additional research to better understand your presentation’s audience , so you can tailor the information to them.

2. Create a Presentation Outline

This is an essential step in any creative project. Whether you’re writing a book, doing a case study , or a roadmap is essential to long-term success.

Give your presentation structure by mapping out all the major points in your presentation. This will help keep you focused during your presentation. Knowing what’s coming next as you work through each section of the presentation will help you to create a flowing and easy-to-understand webinar.

3. Choose Your Team and Brainstorm Visual Ideas

The more creative minds involved in a project, the more engaging and diverse the final product will be. Having several people involved in a presentation will throw more ideas into the mix when deciding what you want to present, and how.

For example, working with others to choose the right visuals and the right fonts will be hugely beneficial. Having more than one set of eyes examine the visual aspect of the presentation will allow for a level of artistic consistency to be achieved.

Visme has a whole host of collaboration features that will help you create the ultimate webinar presentation with your team. Leave comments, tag collaborators, and share ideas, all within one engaging platform.

4. Compiling And Proofreading

At this stage, you’ve decided on your presentation fonts , colors, visuals, text, and images. Now it’s time to put all the individual parts of the presentation together.

This part isn't always easy, but luckily Visme has numerous tools to create presentations from scratch and streamline the process. Once the final product is created, proofread the project and save it.

5. Rehearse With the Team

The actual presentation requires more than just good-looking visuals and a striking set of slides . Overall success will require rehearsal and practice from all of the speakers to ensure success on the day of your big webinar presentation.

Figuring out the outline and format for webinar presentations can be challenging and unnecessarily time-consuming. Visme offers a host of webinar presentation templates that can be downloaded in either PDF or PowerPoint format for you to customize. You can even add branding to your presentation such as your logo, fonts and colors, to really make it your own.

Here are a few templates for you to choose from:

1. Finance Webinar Template

Personal finance and management is a topic that many young people are working hard to come to grips with. In the modern world financial advice is highly sought after, and giving a webinar presentation on financial literacy is a great idea. This template uses money as the visual cue and the aesthetics of financial expertise. It is perfect for conveying messages related to saving and growing your money.

2. Motivation Template

Are you the head of an office and feel as though it’s time to motivate your employees? This template is the perfect presentation to cultivate an environment of hard work and productivity. It provides an aesthetic that suits a productive workplace with a team of inspired workers. This motivational presentation provides a great foundation for a webinar that could inspire your team.

3. Business Webinar Template

If you’re someone who understands the ins and outs of the economy and the global business world, then this template is for you. The infographics presented include graphs and charts so that you can easily convey economic messages and the trends of the business world.

4. Technology Template

Do you want to showcase a new piece of technology or discuss the trends in the realm of modern technology? This template provides a brilliant futuristic-looking presentation to potential organizers and speakers. The template is clean and sleek looking, mirroring what many people hope the future to look like.

5. Graphic Design Template

The realm of graphic design is filled with color and the Visme graphic design template perfectly reflects this reality. This template is perfect for anyone looking to share knowledge and creative techniques when it comes to graphics and designs. The visual style and bright, contrasting colors perfectly represent the career at hand.

Have you still got some questions and queries about webinar presentations? We cover some common queries below.

What is the difference between a meeting and a webinar?

A webinar and a meeting are two very different things. Normally, when someone schedules an online meeting, all participants are allowed to screen share and interject into the conversation with their own viewpoints. A webinar, on the other hand, is hosted by one or more people. The invitees are simply guests who have elected to listen to the speakers of the webinar presentation.

How many slides should a webinar have?

There’s no set rule, but a good webinar presentation should have around 30 unique slides. Ideally, your webinar shouldn’t exceed 60 minutes, so you can keep your audience engaged and interested. Slides should never be text-heavy. Instead, use bullet points so that speakers can move to the next slide every two minutes.

How do you start a webinar speech?

The best way to start your webinar presentation is to introduce the audience to the schedule and all of the speakers, including yourself. Make them feel comfortable and warm, and make sure that all invitees understand the topic of the webinar presentation.

Webinar Presentations Are The Way Forward

Webinar presentations are extremely valuable in a world that relies heavily on technology for communication and collaboration. Many companies are making use of webinars to talk to employees, investors, or any other group of people that might have an interest in the services of the business. With Visme, you can even track your webinar analytics to see how many people are watching. This is especially useful for pre-recorded webinars that may get viewed at different points in time.

Whether you need to educate and inform people or simply want to share a great idea, a webinar is an excellent way to go about it. Visme offers top-of-the-range webinar technology that makes creating a webinar easy and ensures your audience is engaged right from the first slide.

Get started with our presentation software today.

Create engaging webinar presentations for your audience.

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Webinar best practices: How to design, write, and host presentations

Webinars are a powerful asset in a marketer’s toolkit. Break down the elements of a stunning webinar presentation with this guide.

More than half (53%) of B2B marketers report webinars are a successful lead generation tactic. And 58% of B2B professionals say virtual events like webinars and online courses also produce the best business results — compared to assets like research reports and short articles.

And 62% of webinar attendees feel ready to request product pricing after watching a relevant vendor video. 

This makes it clear: not only do professionals use webinars as a great resource for internal communication and remote training , but webinars can also help generate leads for sales.

Download our free presentation template

Present your next big idea with a webinar deck template. spotlight inspiring quotes, thought-provoking stats, and additional resources your audience can take with them after the event..

Learning how to create a webinar is half the battle. Successful marketers focus on designing content and presenting a compelling webinar that holds attention. So how do you do it? Thankfully, we’ve got some presentation ideas and tips for you.

We know webinars are a great way to attract leads, convert customers , and share your brand’s story. While webinar promotions and the right content will attract your audience, keeping their attention is all about nailing your live presentation.

In this post, we’ll dive into the nuts and bolts of how to design, write, and host webinar presentations — from choosing a webinar platform to gathering feedback. By the end, you’ll master the fundamentals of presenting an attention-arresting show. Here’s what we’ll review:

How to set up a webinar in five steps

We’ve distilled the art of creating a webinar presentation into five easy steps.

Need more tips? Learn how to create a webinar , or check out Vimeo’s Webinar Confidential to hear real-life stories of virtual event mishaps and tips on how to run a great event. Watch now

1. Work out the webinar’s structure and presentation style

Dedicate this first step to ensuring smooth functionality and planning the nitty-gritty details of your webinar:

• What topic will you cover? 
• Who is your audience? 
• Will it be a real-time live webinar or pre-recorded? 
• Where will you host the landing page where guests can register for the event?
• Will there be an on demand video of the webinar available afterward?

Also, ask yourself how the webinar will unfold — the sequence it will follow, who will present, and the order of topics/content to share.

Once you’ve planned out the webinar’s basics, work out which presentation styles will complement your show: slides and audio, screen share, webcam, or a combination of the three. Ideally, show yourself and/or the speakers to connect with your audience.

2. Dump your thoughts into an outline

So you’ve ironed out details about your presentation style, webinar speakers, and structure. What’s next? A brain dump so you can start organizing your thoughts.

At the top of your outline, write down the key message you want to deliver. Next, write down all your topic-related presentation ideas — visuals, main points, transitions, etc. At this point, it’s advisable you don’t hold back or try to filter or pause to evaluate if an idea is good or bad. Simply 👏 write 👏 it 👏 down. 👏

As you jot down your thoughts, add any supporting evidence to your points. Think examples, data, stats, and customer stories that tie into your main webinar thesis.

Now, work on refining your brainstorm into an outline. Here’s a three-step process to get your outline in top shape: 

• Filter: Whittle down all your information so you have no more than three to five key takeaways.
• Distill: Select the most impactful data and examples to back your points.
• Polish: Make sure everything in the outline aligns with your webinar’s goal and is relevant to your target audience.

Remember that it’s important to only present the most important, most impactful content.

As Chris Anderson, curator at TED, describes in the Harvard Business Review , try to limit abstract language and focus on concrete examples:

“If you try to cram in everything you know, you won’t have time to include key details, and your talk will disappear into abstract language…You need specific examples to flesh out your ideas. So limit the scope of your talk to that which can be explained, and brought to life with examples, in the available time.”

“Limit the scope of your talk to that which can be explained, and brought to life with examples, in the available time.” Chris Anderson, curator at TED

Your final outline should read like a script or guide that will map the webinar presentation.

3. Make a plan to engage your audience

There’s nothing more disappointing than a bland webinar that does little to excite the audience.

In fact, in a recent internal Vimeo survey, we found that the main reasons participants exit webinars are technical difficulties (59%), poor moderation (46%), or boredom (44%). This means it’s imperative to have your production in order and content that’s concise and relevant.

Of course, grabbing your audience’s attention with well-designed presentation slides is crucial — and we’ve got tips on that a bit later in this article — but attendee engagement and getting your audience to “act” during the live event is your top priority.

Online whiteboard software Miro’s customer education manager, Jennifer Clark, acknowledges the importance of improving your attendees’ user experience for this. Not only does it help convince participants to stay till the end, but it also encourages them to attend more of your webinars.

“I [engage attendees] by welcoming folks with music, asking interesting icebreakers to warm up the chat, and offering several opportunities to raise hands or respond in the chat throughout the session. Humor is critical too — if we don’t have someone’s attention or we aren’t interesting to listen to/look at, we’re not going to retain our learners long enough to teach them something cool.”

“If we aren’t interesting to listen to [or] look at, we’re not going to retain our learners long enough to teach them something cool.” Jennifer Clark, customer education manager at Miro

To create a memorable user experience for your webinars, try adding a few things like an intro slate, a handful of ice breaker questions to fire up the chat, and a pause between sections. This gives presenters and speakers time to comment live by answering audience questions from the chat or to pose questions to the audience to help them retain more info.

Clark also focuses on paying attention to the small details to make your webinar stand out:

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to think through the end-user experience for the webinar itself. The sound and video quality should be high, the field of view should be clean if you’re sharing a screen, and ‘do not disturb’ mode should be on.

We shouldn’t see any bouncing apps or notifications. I think those little details mirror what I’ve done in person as an educator. In the past, that let your audience know you care about the small things and want their experience to be seamless.”

Technical execution is critical to keeping folks engaged in webinar content. Schedule a rehearsal before the live event to troubleshoot any issues with video and audio prior to the live stream.

How do you structure a webinar?

Typically, webinars contain an introduction, the meaty show time, and a q&a session to wrap things up. but you can get creative with presentation ideas, too, by trying anything you think will engage your audience., 4. prepare a short but engaging introduction.

A poor introduction can make attendees feel like it was a wrong decision to sign up, so they wouldn’t hesitate to take the exit route. Translation: you need a strong introduction .

So what makes a good introduction?

👋 Start with a greeting

A simple yet effective way to start is with a ‘Hi! Welcome to [webinar title].’ It’s also a good idea to thank participants for taking the time to join you.

⌚️ Reinforce the webinar is worth the time investment

Be quick to tell attendees how the webinar will benefit them. Consider sharing the takeaways in bullet points: three to four points maximum so you aren’t overloading things to the point that you make them easy to forget.

Or you can share a one-line take-home message. For example, a webinar on Google Analytics to track blog post traffic can have the following what’s-in-it-for-me message for its attendees: ‘You’ll leave feeling ready to use GA for tracking your blog performance.’

🎓 Share why you’re an expert in the topic you’re presenting

Introduce yourself next. Explain what makes you an authority on the subject. But instead of reading out your resume, consider summarizing your career highlights — packaged as a story. Stories are personal; therefore, they help you connect with your audience and gain their trust. A story is always way more memorable than a plain speech on what you’ve accomplished so far.

🏗️ Explain your webinar’s structure

Think of this as your general housekeeping. It helps set audience expectations, which makes it an absolute must component of your introduction.

Simply tell viewers what’s in store for them. Have a live Q&A session at the end? Tell them so they can start writing down their questions. Have polls in place throughout the sessions? Again, tell them.

Vimeo’s Master Class on hosting engaging town halls shares key takeaways in four simple bullet points:

• Why are town halls crucial to your business?
• Tips for planning the best content for your town hall
• How to boost employee (attendee) engagement during town halls
• How to extend the life of your town hall

Pro tip: Create a useful template, checklist, or framework to get your audience to stick around till the end. Tell them you’ll be sharing a gift or freebie at the end. But don’t reveal exactly what it is — build the suspense instead.

5. Prepare your presentation slides

With the legwork done, start creating your presentation slides. Use the outline you’ve created to write copy for the slides. Roughly, you’ll need to work on the following slides:

• Section headers/dividers
• Text-heavy slide
• Combination text + high-quality image(s) slide
• Big stats slide
• Pull quotes

The key, however, is to make sure you don’t stuff the slides with too much text. A good presentation slide formatting rule that can help here is the 5-5-5 rule:

• Add no more than five (5) words per line
• No more than five (5) lines per slide
• No more than five (5) consecutive text-heavy slides

How to build a webinar : Four design tips

Now, for some expert tips from Vimeo’s design team. Don’t worry; you don’t need design chops for this.

1. Variety is the spice of presentation slides

Text-based monotonous slides are the recipe for losing audience attention. Our in-house design team suggests leveraging animation, GIFs, motion, imagery, or iconography to break the monotony. Short video tutorials, such as screen recordings illustrating a point, also work well. For example, showing a product feature in action.

The general rule is to have less text and more visuals since you’ll be voicing over information as you present.

2. Make your slides easy to read

Use a legible font that’s displayed at minimum 30 points. This is important for making your slides accessible to attendees joining using their smartphones.

3. Brand your slides

Design using your brand colors and logo in your slides for brand consistency. This will also help leave a memorable impression on participants, especially if they continue to join more of your webinars.

Splash , for example, creates presentation decks using its brand colors.

If you choose to keep your logo but want to experiment with other colors, follow this expert advice from a Vimeo designer:

“Choose colorways that are complementary and provide enough contrast to be legible (i.e., don’t use white text on an off-white background).”

4. Highlight key information

This helps you catch attendees’ attention better. Our designer advises you to “make important callouts big and bold! Whether that’s a quote or a key stat that you want to highlight.”

“Make important callouts big and bold!” Designer at Vimeo

Now that you have a good idea about how to design and format your webinar presentation (remember: lower thirds are your friends!), let’s get into how to write a great webinar script.

Five tips for writing a great webinar script

A webinar script is a written version of what a speaker delivers in their presentation.

You need it as a guardrail to structure your thoughts into a cohesive layout while helping you communicate key points efficiently. If you’re having a bout of writer’s block, you can also leverage an AI script generator to get ideas flowing.

Besides outlining your introduction, webinar agenda, and call to action, use the script to include timing details (how much time you’d dedicate to each section and speaker) and navigational instructions such as which slides to share, interactive elements to intro, and more.

Begin creating your script as soon as you’ve finalized your presentation topic — go back to the outlining step in the section on how to create a webinar presentation for a refresher if needed.

Then follow these five steps to write a good webinar script.

1. Know your audience

Your webinar content can only be as relevant to your audience as your knowledge of them is. Speak their language, use examples that resonate with them, and touch on their pain points — show them you did your homework.

Here are a few tips on how you can write a simple script that is relevant to your audience:

• Remove business speak or jargon.
• Get rid of heavy vocabulary and an overload of abbreviations.
• Use as many short and medium-length sentences as possible.

Most of all, always front-load sentences so that important information is at the start.

The more you know your audience, the better you’ll understand their struggles, how to solve them, and how to present that solution within your webinar. By extension, you’ll be able to engage attendees better. Briar Goldberg, the director of speaker coaching at TED, talks about this :

“When your audience doesn’t feel like your words apply to them, when they don’t understand what you’re trying to say, or, worse yet, they don’t care about your ideas, then your carefully crafted slides, agenda or jokes simply don’t matter.”

“When your audience doesn’t feel like your words apply to them, then your carefully crafted slides simply don’t matter.” Briar Goldberg, director of speaker coaching at TED

A useful starting point then is one that Goldberg shares: ABC or Audience Before Content. Translation: before you put pen to paper, research your audience. The following three tips will help:

• Ask the marketing team to share audience demographics and buyers’ persona.
• Understand why attendees are making time for the webinar — what do they really want to learn?
• Figure out your audience’s expectations and how you can meet their expectations (social listening and asking this question in your sign-up form are two helpful ways to find your answer).

2. Know your goal

When learning how to create a webinar presentation, don’t saturate your content with too many ideas. Doing so dilutes your main message.

Semrush’s head of influencer marketing, Anton Shulke, stresses the need to have a clearly defined goal:

“Before doing a webinar, ask yourself why you are doing it, and if you have multiple reasons — just drop it. Webinars as any type of content serve one [to] two purposes; defining them before starting the work is absolutely essential.”

But what if you’ve gotten to this point and realized your goal isn’t necessarily relevant? Time to revise. What can you do to refine your intention and make your purpose better match your content and audience?

Revising your webinar’s goal is also crucial for writing a script that aligns with your goal and helping you tie in goal-relevant examples, screens, product tutorials (if needed), and calls to action.

3. Leverage storytelling

Good presentations are ultimately about telling a great story. Stories and real-life examples fascinate where business speak bores people — there’s science behind this too.

But what does this mean for you? Start with a story and build your ideas into your presentation as examples. This can help differentiate your webinar content, making it memorable and more human.

In a product-led webinar targeted toward people at the bottom of your funnel, for example, this would mean you don’t focus on your company or product. It means you tell a story about a customer, their problem, and how your solution can help them achieve their goal.

At Vimeo, we’re fans of sharing our customers’ success stories. It’s why in our Master Class on engaging town halls , we shared how Rite Aid created successful all-hands meetings with video.

Pro tip: If you plan to back your story with data, choose only two to three mind-blowing statistics. Dumping a laundry list of numbers increases your audience’s mental load.

4. Use the three to five takeaways rule

This one’s a hat tip to Vimeo’s content and programming lead, Julie Bergstein, who leads our event strategy.

The plan is easy: strip your script down to its simplest form. Why? Because simple is easy to understand and easy to remember.

One good way to keep things simple is by reducing your audience’s take-home messages to three to five points, according to Bergstein.

“I always like to highlight three to five key takeaways that our audience will walk away with so that they know exactly what they’re in for. Then, I always map the different ‘sections’ of content directly back to those three to five takeaways. At the end, I’ll reiterate the takeaways on a slide (in slightly different wording than the earlier slide) to really drive home the main points.”

“Always map the different sections of content directly back to three to five takeaways.” Julie Bergstein, content and programming lead at Vimeo

Don’t be afraid of repetition — throughout your presentation, loop back to the main points from your outline and continually drive your webinar takeaways.

5. Trim your script to fit the presentation’s duration

Before you consider your webinar script done, give it one last round of edits.  

Take care of two things in this final step:

• Read your script out loud. You want to know how it sounds to the ear. Rewrite or get rid of sentences that are overly complex, don’t add value, and aren’t easy to understand in one go.
• Time your script. Read your script with the timer running in the background. Don’t stop even as the time exceeds your presentation’s duration. This will help you figure out how much speaking time you need to cut so you can shorten the script.

Six tips for presenting webinars

There’s only one thing that you need to practice now: your delivery.

It’s easy to think about “winging it,” but there are areas in which preparation can save you from wasting time (i.e., rambling, not knowing what to say next, etc.).

So here are six simple tips for presenting webinars like a professional:

1. Practice each slide

Without practice, you’re likely to ramble instead of making a concise argument. Plus, you’ll likely shower your audience with a ton of “umms” and other filler.

Delivering such a presentation does little to hold your audience’s attention. The solution? Practice. Lots of practice. If you can, get someone on the team to help you or use a teleprompter to help you get comfortable talking directly on screen.. Or record yourself and listen to where you’re stammering or going off-track.

If the webinar has more than one speaker, it’s a good idea to chart the webinar’s flow, including time slots for each presenter. From there on, do a run-through to see how each presenter is doing and to fine-tune the flow (and transition between speakers).

2. Rehearse your pacing and tone

You don’t need to change the way you speak. But your pacing will need work. As will making sure each word you say is delivered clearly. Miro’s webinar host talks about this, too.

“Pacing is critical; the audience shouldn’t feel like we’re blazing through features [or pointers/ideas] or spending forever on one feature [idea]. It should take advantage of attention while moving freely enough to capture wandering minds.”

“[A webinar should] take advantage of attention while moving freely enough to capture wandering minds.” Webinar host at Miro

Practice will help you strike the right balance for pacing. Here are a couple of tips for nailing your speech and tone.

• Speak clearly with micro pauses. Consciously take steps to clearly say each word to make sure your audience is able to digest your message.
• Work toward an energetic tone. A slow, lazy tone indicates the webinar is going to be a slow kill. An interested, dynamic tone, on the other hand, is welcoming — and will help you retain your audience.

3. Check your internet connection

Poor internet speed can cause your presentation to stutter or freeze. Since your aim is to provide an amazing attendee experience, make it a rule to check your internet speed a week before the event.

You’ll need a minimum of 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) upload speed for hosting a webinar, but an exact estimate depends on audience size and the video hosting platform .

4. Host from a noise-free webinar environment

This ensures your voice can be heard as clearly as possible. It also removes distractions for you, making it easy to keep up with your train of thought.

To this end, make sure you:

• Close all background tabs. You don’t want a song playing in the background only to find out it’s coming from one of your zillion tabs. 😬
• Host from a room with soft surfaces. Carpet and curtains absorb sound and reduce echo. If you’re working from home, make sure the room is inaccessible to children and pets.
• Wear headphones. It reduces background noise and echo.
• Get a professional microphone. Research proves audio quality ranks higher than visual quality. This means your laptop’s built-in microphone simply won’t cut it. Consider investing in a lavalier or clip-on mic that can save your audience from straining to keep up with you.

Have some extra budget to spare? Get a boom arm for your mic so it’s positioned close to your mouth to minimize background noise.

5. Recruit a team to help you pull it all off smoothly

For large events, you may need a few more teammates to help pull everything off smoothly. A moderator, for example, helps manage comments pouring through your live chat or Q&A or moderates the most upvoted questions to the speaker(s).

A spotter, on the other hand, is an extra pair of eyes that regulates all the technical stuff during a webinar.

6. Curate questions for the Q&A session in case engagement is low

Ask for questions ahead of time. This will help you fire off a Q&A session immediately without having to fill the awkward silence until attendees share their questions. Gather questions using the webinar sign-up form or ask your social media or newsletter community to share their questions.

How to conduct post-webinar feedback surveys

A successful webinar doesn’t end once you reach the last slide. Post-webinar feedback helps you understand how your hard work translates into value for the attendees. As you wrap your presentation, be sure to tell participants you’ll be sharing a survey form in a follow-up email.

Some presenter feedback survey questions you can ask are:

• What’s your biggest takeaway from the presentation?
• How can we make the webinar better for you?
• What would you like to learn next?

You can also ask participants to rate your presentation with a few questions, such as:

• How likely are you to recommend the session to a colleague?
• Would you like to learn more on this topic?
• What percentage of the content shared with you was new?
• How would you rate the host’s presentation skills, presentation pace, and knowledge of the topic?

Webinar presentation best practices FAQs

Discover the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about presenting webinars.

How do you structure a good webinar?

A webinar’s success is typically dependent on the preparation that goes into it. In order to structure a good webinar, follow the steps in our guide to:

• Set up a webinar
• Design a webinar
• Write a webinar
• Present a webinar

What makes an effective webinar?

Arguably, the most important part of a webinar is what the speakers say. Visuals are important, but a webinar script can make or break a presentation. If you want your webinar to be effective, you need to first create an effective script. Effective webinar scripts include a variety of relevant data and statistics, examples, anecdotes, and casual communication. And don’t underestimate the power of purposeful pauses.

What are the 13 components of webinar presentations?

Thirteen is an arbitrary number created by a European webinar provider, but since you asked…

The 13 components of webinar presentations include the following:

• Communicate audience expectations.
• Create a clear structure.
• Keep slide information brief.
• Build a dynamic presentation.
• Involve participants actively (engage your audience).
• Encourage attendees to take action (include a CTA!).
• Practice! Practice! Practice!
• Present slowly and thoughtfully (watch out for a pace that’s too fast!).
• Alternate your eye contact between the screen and the audience.
•  Explain your actions (e.g., “Now I’m starting a pre-recorded video…”) to increase clarity.
•  Explain who has asked any questions you address.
•  Don’t forget a post-event summary !
•  Keep your closing statement concise.

Wrap up: W ebinar presentation 101

Hopefully, you have a stronger idea of how to create a webinar presentation that will wow your audience. With these expert insights and presentation ideas, you’ll be able to host an awesome webinar that keeps your audience glued to their screen till the end.

Take a deep breath. Success is in identifying your presentation’s goal, packaging information in three to five takeaways, and practicing your script beforehand. Don’t forget to create breathable, clutter-free slide decks and engage your audience with polls and Q&As. And just remember: your ultimate goal is to connect with the person on the other side of the screen.

Go live with your next webinar

Get your audience talking.

Host pro webinars more often, more easily

Masooma Memon

Masooma Memon is a freelance writer for SaaS and lover of to-do lists. When she's not writing, she usually has her head buried in a business book or fantasy novel. Connect with her on Twitter .

Masooma is a contributing writer. Vimeo commissions pieces from a variety of experts to provide a range of insights to our readers, and the views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author. All content and any external links are provided for informational purposes only.

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Grow Your Business

Webinars 101: how to create a webinar, share this article.

Welcome to the dynamic world of webinars, where 73% of B2B marketers and sales leaders have found their goldmine for generating high-quality leads. If you’re aiming to connect, educate, or inspire from any corner of the globe, you’ve hit the jackpot. In this guide, we cut through the complexities of webinar creation, offering you top-notch insights to craft your successful online event.

From pinpointing the ideal topic that sparks curiosity to leveraging the powerhouse of tools like Thinkific for your webinar courses, we’ve got your back. Dive into the nitty-gritty of engaging content , nail your technical setup, and discover the art of keeping your audience hooked. And when the curtain falls, we’ll show you how to keep the applause going with savvy post-webinar strategies.

Are you ready to boost your digital presence and create the best webinar for your audience? Let’s turn that virtual stage into your playground!

Skip ahead:

What is a webinar?

Planning your webinar, preparing your webinar content, selecting the right tools and software, promoting your webinar, hosting and delivering your webinar, post-webinar activities.

A webinar is an online event that connects individuals with viewers across the globe. Imagine an online stage where the world is your audience. That’s a webinar for you — a digital bridge connecting you with viewers globally — a virtual event that promotes connectivity and collaboration without borders. 

Picture real-time chats, presentations zipping through the internet, and interactive discussions. Webinars are your go-to for everything from snappy workshops and enlightening lectures to dazzling product demos, catering to an array of fields like education, marketing, and business training.

Benefits of hosting webinars

Let’s explore why hosting your first webinar can be your best bet for lead generation, expanding your reach, and much more:

• Expert positioning: A webinar positions you as an expert in your field, enhancing credibility and trust with your audience. It’s a platform to showcase your in-depth knowledge and address pain points directly, making your brand synonymous with solutions and expertise.
• Lead generation powerhouse: Webinars are fantastic for lead generation. By offering high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, you attract potential clients who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.
• Global reach: The digital nature of webinars breaks down geographical barriers, allowing you to reach a global audience. By considering different time zones, you can schedule your live event to maximize attendance from around the world.
• Building personal connections: Live webinars provide an opportunity for real-time interaction, helping you build personal connections with your audience. This interaction fosters a sense of community and loyalty towards your brand.
• Flexibility and convenience: Webinars offer the host and the attendees flexibility. They can be accessed from anywhere, making it convenient for a broader audience to join in without the need for travel.
• Content repurposing: The content from your webinar can be repurposed in various formats like blogs, social media posts, and email campaigns, extending its value beyond the live event.
• Immediate feedback and insights: Hosting a live event gives you the advantage of immediate feedback. You can gauge audience reactions, gather insights, and understand the effectiveness of your content on the spot.
• Cost-effective marketing: Compared to in-person events, webinars are a more cost-effective way to reach out and engage with your target audience, reducing expenses on venues, logistics, and more.

Incorporating webinars into your marketing strategy can significantly boost your brand’s visibility, authority, and lead-generation efforts. They are an effective tool for addressing your audience’s pain points while positioning your first webinar as the best solution they’ve encountered.

Types of webinars

There are several types of webinars, each serving different purposes:

• Zoom webinars: The crowd-pleasers, known for user-friendliness and peppy interaction. They’re perfect for live chit-chats, engaging polls, and breakout brainstorming sessions.
• Webinar presentations: The structured, often pre-recorded type, delivering your content with crystal clarity. Ideal for educational nuggets, sleek product demos, and in-depth lectures.
• Webinar courses: Like a series of educational episodes, these webinars unfold over multiple sessions, diving deep into topics, complete with bonus materials like readings and assignments.

Ready to jump onto the webinar bandwagon? Let’s unwrap the planning essentials. Picture your webinar as a masterpiece, blending your know-how with your audience’s curiosity.

Choosing a topic

When picking a topic for your webinar, it’s essential to balance what you’re passionate about and what sparks interest in your audience. Here’s how to nail it:

• Trendy and relevant: Pick a specific topic that’s buzzing right now. A webinar on emerging technologies like AI could draw a crowd if you’re in tech.
• Passion meets demand: Choose a subject you love that also has a strong audience interest. If you’re into fitness, a webinar like “5 Home Workouts to Transform Your Fitness Routine” could be a hit.
• Unique perspective: Offer something different. If you’re a cooking expert, instead of a generic cooking class, how about “Cooking Gourmet Meals in 30 Minutes”?

Target audience

Knowing your audience is key to a successful webinar. Here’s what to consider:

• Who are they?: Figure out their age, job, and interests. If your webinar is about advanced photography techniques, you’ll likely target professional photographers or serious hobbyists.
• Customize your content: Tailor your webinar topic to fit your audience’s expertise level. Beginners in digital marketing? A “Basics of SEO: Getting Started” webinar would be ideal.

Setting goals and objectives

Clear goals are crucial for a successful webinar. Keep them specific, measurable, and aligned with what you’re all about:

• What’s your aim?: Clearly define whether you want to educate, generate leads , or sell something. If lead generation is your goal, aim to capture a certain number of email addresses.
• Reflect your brand: Make sure your webinar embodies what your brand stands for. If your brand is about simplicity, your webinar should, too.
• Measurable outcomes: Set goals you can track. Want to educate? A quick quiz at the end can measure how much your audience learned.
• Efficient planning: Save time with a solid plan. Cover everything from prep to how you’ll promote the webinar , conducting the webinar, and the follow-up process. For on-demand webinars, consider the timing of their release for the best impact.

With a well-chosen topic, a clear understanding of your audience, and defined goals, you’re all set to create a webinar that engages and drives your brand’s message home.

Crafting the content for your webinar is where you get to blend creativity with strategy, ensuring every element aligns perfectly to deliver an effective webinar. Let’s dive into how to make your content engaging, structured, and visually appealing.

Creating engaging content

Your content is what will inspire, educate, and empower your webinar attendees to come back for more. Here’s what to keep in mind when creating your content :

• Dynamic interaction: Transform your webinar from a standard presentation to an interactive experience. Incorporate live polls to engage your audience, spark discussions with Q&A sessions, and include interactive exercises encouraging active participation.
• Clarity and relevance: Ensure every piece of content is clear, concise, and relevant to your subject matter. Your audience’s time is precious, so make every minute informative and engaging.
• Storytelling and examples: Use storytelling techniques to make your content relatable and memorable. Bring in real-world examples to illustrate your points, making complex ideas easier to grasp and more tangible.
• Guest speakers: Inviting guest speakers can add a fresh perspective to your webinar. Choose experts who can contribute valuable insights and experiences related to your topic, enriching the overall content.
• Step-by-step guidance: If your webinar is instructional, provide step-by-step explanations. This approach is particularly effective in digital marketing webinars where practical, actionable advice is crucial.

Structuring your presentation

Your presentation structure is the skeleton that holds your webinar together. Be sure it includes the following:

• Personal introduction: Start with a warm, personal introduction that establishes a connection with your audience. This sets the tone for the rest of the webinar.
• Logical flow: Organize your content in a logical sequence. Break it down into digestible segments, each focusing on a specific aspect of your webinar’s subject matter.
• Interactive segments: Intersperse your presentation with interactive elements. This can include live Q&A sessions, polls, or short discussion breaks, keeping the audience engaged throughout.
• Powerful conclusion: End your presentation with a strong conclusion. Summarize key takeaways and leave your audience with a call to action (CTA), motivating them to apply what they’ve learned.

Visuals and media

In the visual arena, it’s all about complementing, not overwhelming. Here’s what to keep in mind:

• Relevant visuals: Select visuals that are directly related to your content. Each visual element should add value and enhance the understanding of your topic.
• High-quality media: Use high-resolution images and videos to maintain a professional standard. This reflects on the quality of your webinar.
• Balanced design: Avoid cluttering your slides with too many visuals. Aim for a clean, aesthetically pleasing design that captures attention without overwhelming your audience.
• Format consistency: Maintain consistency in your visual presentation. This includes using a cohesive color scheme, font style, and layout that aligns with your webinar format and brand image.

The tools and software you pick can be game-changers for your webinar. They’re the unseen heroes working behind the scenes to make your webinar a hit.

Zoom webinar setup

Zoom has become a go-to platform for webinars, offering a range of features to facilitate interactive and engaging sessions. Follow these steps:

• Sign Up/Login: Start with a Zoom account, and opt for a plan that suits your needs.
• Schedule your webinar: In the Zoom portal, select ‘Webinars’ and then ‘Schedule a Webinar.’ Fill in the details like date, time, and description.
• Customize settings: Choose options for registration, audio, video, and interactive features.
• Invitations: After setting up, use the provided link to invite attendees.
• Rehearse: Test your setup before the event to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Presentation tools

When it comes to crafting engaging presentations for your webinars, the tools you use can significantly influence the impact and clarity of your message. Here are some top tools to consider:

• PowerPoint: A pillar in the presentation world, PowerPoint offers a familiar, user-friendly interface with a vast array of templates and design options. It’s ideal for creating slide-based presentations that are both professional and visually appealing. With PowerPoint, you have the flexibility to incorporate various multimedia elements, create custom animations, and leverage its widespread compatibility.
• Prezi: For those seeking a more dynamic and visually engaging approach, Prezi is a standout choice. Unlike the traditional slide-based format, Prezi allows you to create non-linear presentations with a zoomable canvas, making it perfect for storytelling and keeping your audience engaged. Its unique presentation style emphasizes relationships between concepts and offers a memorable visual journey.
• Canva: Canva has gained popularity for its simplicity and stylish design capabilities. It’s a go-to for users seeking to create presentations quickly without sacrificing aesthetic appeal. With a vast library of templates, easy-to-use design features, and the ability to collaborate in real time, Canva is an excellent tool for those who prioritize ease of use and visual impact.

Course platforms

When it comes to hosting webinar courses , the platform you choose can greatly impact the success and reach of your program. Here’s a closer look at some top platforms:

Thinkific is a top choice for those seeking a comprehensive solution for creating, marketing, and selling online courses. Here’s what makes it stand out:

• Intuitive course builder: This feature is designed for ease of use, allowing anyone to create professional courses without needing technical skills. It’s a straightforward, user-friendly way to bring your course to life.
• Advanced customization: You have the freedom to customize the look and feel of your courses and landing pages , ensuring they align perfectly with your brand’s identity. This customization extends to course structure, design, and user experience.
• Diverse content types: Thinkific supports a variety of content types, including videos, quizzes, surveys, and downloadable resources. This flexibility allows you to cater to different learning styles and keep your content engaging.
• Marketing and sales tools: The platform comes equipped with an array of marketing tools, such as the ability to offer coupons, run email marketing campaigns, and set up affiliate programs. These features help in attracting and retaining students.
• Student engagement tools: You can create an interactive learning environment with forums and discussions. Certificates of completion add an extra incentive for students to complete the course.
• Detailed analytics: Monitor your course’s performance and student engagement with Thinkific’s analytics. These insights can help you fine-tune your content and teaching approach.
• Community and support: Join a thriving community of course creators where you can share experiences, ideas, and get inspiration.
• Secure hosting and data ownership: Your content is hosted securely and remains under your control, ensuring your data and intellectual property are protected.

Teachable is renowned for its user-friendly approach, making it ideal for those new to online course creation. Key features include:

• Easy content upload: The platform offers a drag-and-drop functionality, simplifying the process of building your course. It’s a great way to quickly get your content online without any hassle.
• Customizable landing pages: Create landing pages that attract and captivate students, with easy customization to fit your branding.
• Integrated payment options: Teachable simplifies the monetization process, allowing you to focus more on content creation and less on the technicalities of payment processing.

Kajabi provides a comprehensive all-in-one solution for course creators. Its standout features are:

• Robust course creation tools: Build and structure your course with a range of powerful tools. Kajabi gives you the flexibility to design your course exactly how you envision it.
• Marketing capabilities: With built-in tools for email marketing, landing pages, and sales funnels, Kajabi is not just a course platform but also a marketing powerhouse.
• Membership site creation: This feature allows for ongoing engagement and revenue, providing a space for your community to grow and interact beyond the course.

While Teachable and Kajabi offer excellent functionalities, Thinkific stands out with its blend of user-friendly course creation, extensive customization options, powerful marketing tools, and a supportive community. This makes Thinkific an ideal platform for creators looking to launch, market, and scale their webinar courses effectively.

Laying out the red carpet for your webinar registration means more than just spreading the word — it’s about creating a buzz that resonates with your potential audience. Here’s how to ensure your webinar is the talk of the town:

Marketing strategies

To maximize attendance, use these promotional strategies:

• Email marketing: Whether you’re preparing to launch a webinar for the first time or emailing attendees that have attended previous events, your webinar email flow should be enticing, empowering, and inspire readers to register. Craft compelling emails that entice readers with the promise of valuable insights. The subject line should grab attention, and the body of the email should succinctly convey the benefits of attending your webinar. Don’t stop at one — keep the momentum going with a series of reminder emails, stirring up anticipation as the webinar day approaches.
• Social media savvy: Harness the power of social media platforms to amplify your reach. LinkedIn is perfect for targeting professionals, X for snappy, attention-grabbing announcements, and Facebook for broader audience engagement. Customize your content for each platform, using graphics or video teasers to pique interest. Remember, your social media posts are not just notifications — they’re invitations to a can’t-miss event.
• Collaborative charm: Partnering with influencers or brands can catapult your webinar’s visibility. These collaborations open doors to new audiences and add a layer of credibility to your event. Choose partners whose audience aligns with your webinar’s theme and message, creating a synergy that benefits all parties involved.
• SEO-optimized landing page: Create a landing page that looks good and ranks well on search engines. Utilize SEO best practices to ensure your registration page appears in relevant searches. The content on this page should clearly articulate the value of your webinar, encouraging visitors to take the next step and register.

Registration process

For a smooth registration process:

• Keep it simple: Your registration form is the gateway to your webinar. Design it to be straightforward and user-friendly. Request only the essential information to minimize barriers to entry, making the sign-up process quick and effortless.
• Confirmation and reminders: Automation is key here. Set up an automated system to send out a confirmation email as soon as someone registers. Leading up to the webinar, schedule reminder emails. These can include a sneak peek of the slide deck, special messages from your guest speakers, or any last-minute information about the live stream, keeping your webinar fresh in the minds of your registrants.
• Crystal clear instructions: Clarity is crucial. Ensure your emails provide explicit instructions on how to access the webinar. If your webinar platform might be new to some attendees, consider including a simple ‘how-to-join’ guide or a link to a tutorial. This approach helps reduce any anxiety or confusion about attending the live event, especially for first-time webinar attendees.

By implementing these strategies, you set the stage for a successful webinar, filled with engaged attendees ready to absorb what you have to offer. Whether it’s your first webinar or one of many, these approaches ensure a smooth experience for your participants and a rewarding outcome for your efforts.

When it’s time to host your webinar, think of it as your moment to shine and connect. It’s about bringing all your preparation to life and creating a memorable experience for your audience. Here’s how to ensure your webinar is an event that resonates:

• Test your tech: Before the big day, do a trial run to ensure all your technical equipment is in tip-top shape. Check your internet connection, audio and video clarity, and familiarize yourself with the webinar software’s features. This will help avoid any technical hiccups during the live event. You can also use a moderator on the day of to ensure your tech is working, the conversation is flowing, and everyone is enjoying your webinar. 
• Create a welcoming environment: As you start your webinar, set a warm and engaging tone. A friendly introduction can put your audience at ease and build a connection right from the start.
• Engage and interact: Throughout the webinar, encourage participation. Use interactive features like polls, Q&A sessions, and chat functionalities. This keeps the audience involved and provides valuable feedback and insights.
• Deliver high-quality content: Ensure your content is well-researched, relevant, and presented in an engaging manner. Use your slide deck effectively to highlight key points and maintain audience interest.
• Manage time effectively: Be respectful of your attendees’ time. Start and end the webinar as scheduled, and keep each segment of your presentation concise yet informative.
• Provide value: Your attendees are there for a reason. Make sure they leave with new knowledge, insights, or skills. The content should address their needs and offer real solutions.
• Follow up post-webinar: After the webinar, send out a follow up email , share a recording of the session, or provide additional resources. This follow-up is an excellent opportunity to keep the conversation going and nurture your relationship with the attendees.

Hosting a successful webinar is about blending seamless technical execution with engaging content delivery. By focusing on these aspects, you can ensure your webinar not only imparts knowledge but also leaves a lasting positive impression on your attendees.

The work doesn’t stop when your webinar ends. Post-webinar activities are crucial for maximizing the impact of your session and setting the stage for future success.

• Collecting feedback: Gather those immediate reactions with post-webinar surveys and direct chats. It’s like having a backstage pass to your audience’s thoughts.
• Repurposing content: Turn your webinar into a content treasure chest. Share recordings, spin off blog posts, pepper your social media with highlights, and enrich your emails with webinar wisdom.
• Analyzing success: Measure your success by attendance rates, engagement levels, and feedback quality. It’s like taking a telescope to your webinar stars, helping you navigate better for the next one.
• Engage your attendees: Touch base with past attendees and offer value with content that will resonate. You can even use your webinars to promote your online courses and other helpful content. 

You now have a roadmap to creating and delivering a successful webinar. From planning and preparation to post-webinar activities, each step is crucial in crafting an engaging and impactful experience. 

Remember, the key to a great webinar lies in understanding your audience, delivering valuable content, and continuously improving. So, start creating your webinar today and unlock new opportunities for growth and engagement!

What equipment do I need to host a webinar?

To host a webinar effectively, you’ll need a few essential pieces of equipment:

• Computer: A reliable computer with sufficient processing power is crucial. It should be able to handle your webinar software smoothly.
• Microphone: Good audio quality is essential. Invest in a quality microphone that can clearly capture your voice without picking up too much background noise.
• Webcam: A good webcam is necessary for visual engagement. Ensure it provides clear, high-definition video.
• Stable internet connection: A consistent and high-speed internet connection is key to prevent buffering or connection issues.
• Headphones: To avoid audio feedback and enhance sound clarity, consider using headphones, especially if your webinar involves interactive components.

Are there any free webinar hosting options?

Yes, there are several free or low-cost options for hosting webinars:

• Zoom: Offers a free basic plan with a 40-minute time limit for group meetings.
• Google Meet: Free for users with a Google account and supports up to 100 participants.
• Skype: Suitable for smaller, more informal webinars.
• Cisco Webex: Has a free version with limited features.
• Jitsi Meet: An open-source platform that is completely free and doesn’t require an account.

How long should a webinar typically be?

The ideal length of a webinar varies based on its type and purpose:

• Educational webinars: Typically last between 45-60 minutes, with additional time for Q&A.
• Product demonstrations: Usually shorter, around 20-30 minutes.
• In-depth workshops or training: Can extend up to 90 minutes or longer, with breaks.

The key is to ensure that the duration aligns with the content’s depth and the audience’s attention span.

Can I charge for my webinar course?

Yes, you can charge for your webinar courses. When monetizing, consider the following:

• Value proposition: Ensure your course provides significant value and unique content that justifies the price.
• Market research: Understand what similar courses are charging and position your pricing competitively.
• Platform capabilities: Use platforms like Thinkific or Teachable that facilitate course monetization.
• Payment options: Provide multiple, secure payment options for accessibility.

How do I handle technical issues during a live webinar?

To manage technical issues during a live webinar:

• Pre-webinar testing: Conduct a thorough test of your equipment and software before going live.
• Backup plans: Have alternative options ready, like a backup microphone or a secondary internet connection.
• Quick fixes knowledge: Be familiar with common issues and know how to quickly solve them, such as restarting the software or checking audio settings.
• On-call support: If possible, have a technical support person available during the webinar.

What are the best practices for promoting a webinar on social media?

Effective strategies for promoting webinars on social media include:

• Teasers and countdowns: Generate excitement with teaser posts and countdowns leading up to the event.
• Engaging visuals: Use eye-catching graphics and videos to grab attention.
• Hashtags: Create a unique hashtag for your webinar for easy tracking and visibility.
• Influencer partnerships: Collaborate with influencers to expand your reach.
• Live snippets: Share live snippets or behind-the-scenes looks to engage your audience.

How can I improve audience engagement during my webinar?

To enhance audience engagement:

• Interactive polls and surveys: Use these tools to encourage participation and gather instant feedback.
• Q&A sessions: Allocate time for questions and encourage audience interaction.
• Engaging visuals: Use slides and visual aids to make your presentation more dynamic.
• Real-time chat: Utilize chat functionalities for instant engagement and feedback.
• Breakout rooms: If your platform allows, use breakout rooms for small group discussions.
• Storytelling: Incorporate stories and anecdotes to make your content more relatable and engaging.

Stephanie is a content marketing expert with a passion for connecting the dots of strategy and content. She has worked with industry leaders including HubSpot, Oracle, Travel + Leisure, and Forbes.

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Best Webinar Practices

Tips on creating a good webinar presentation.

Have you ever imagined that you can captivate an audience even when they are miles away? Yes, you can with the power of webinars. However, you should admit that hosting a successful virtual event is more than technical know-how. You need to have a deep understanding of delivering an engaging presentation that resonates well with your audience and urges them to take action.

Luckily, we have done the hard work for you and created this comprehensive guide on how to create a webinar presentation. Here, we will discuss all the things from crafting an attention-grabbing introduction to leveraging interactive techniques. In short, you will know all the secrets of creating and managing webinar presentations that are memorable and force your attendees to talk about the event even when it is over.

So, consider these best webinar presentation tips to transform virtual events into best-in-class experiences!

9 Webinar Presentation Best Practices 

Here are some essential tips that you should consider for presenting webinars. 

1. Understanding the Audience and Goals

The first and most important webinar presentation tip is to know your target audience. Why? Knowing your audience inside out allows you to cater to their needs and deliver a successful webinar presentation. 

To determine your audience, define your rough topic for the webinar and then find a relevant audience. You can identify the audience by considering the demographics of the audience, like age, occupation, location, education, and more. You can even search for your audience on social media groups, professional networks, etc. You can then create an outline of the webinar and present it according to their needs.

The next important thing is to define the goals of the webinar, its direction, and its purpose. The purpose denotes whether you want to inform the audience or solve a critical problem. The goal indicates what target you want to achieve with the help of the webinar. 

Now, it’s time to customize the content & deliver it to the audience. You should focus on understanding needs and offer practical tips, solutions, and insights. It would be best if you also considered using language & tone that they know. Lastly, it would be best if you leveraged attractive visuals to keep the session interactive.

2. Choosing a Compelling Topic for a Webinar

There are a lot of public speakers who try to present so much valuable information that they end up leading a dense, unnecessarily complex webinar. Cramming too much information into your webinar also forces you to rush through your points to finish in the allotted time. Hence, it would be best if you chose a relevant webinar topic that satisfies the need of the audience. 

“Slow down, and keep your message simple,” recommend the experts at Mindvalley . “It is better to deliver less information that people can actually follow and understand than to try to put as much content as possible into a shorter time frame.” It is one of the best webinar presentation tips that you should consider.

Another thing you need to focus on is researching the latest industry trends. Knowing what cooking is in your industry helps you to determine relevant and timely subjects for your webinar. Also, studying the interests of the audience is necessary. 

But the question is, how to know audience interests? Simply conduct surveys or engage with the target audience on social media channels. 

Based on the research, you can list out all the topic ideas. Look at the ideas from different perspectives and angles. Then, shortlist a few options that set well with your goals and provide value to the audience.

3. Planning & Organizing the Content

After deciding on the webinar topic, one of the best webinar presentation tips is to research, plan, and finalize the content. You need to go deeper and obtain information, examples, and other details about the presentation. You can even obtain information via industry reports, case studies, and expert opinions for the content. 

Now, it’s time to structure the webinar’s content in a way that is easy to digest. You can divide the long content into small manageable chunks. Every section should justify the header and relates well with the sequence in which it is presented. Utilize subheadings that convey the meaning of the presentation to the audience efficiently. And how can you achieve this?

The best way to present a webinar is to create and organize an outline that helps you while you are presenting. It should consist of main headings along with the key points. You also need to ensure that every section delivers an excellent message to the audience. 

Planning and organizing content will give you a highly interactive and engaging podcast.

4. Designing Captivating Webinar Slides

When you have finalized the content of the webinar and organized how you want to present it, you need to choose the slides. 

Initially, you need to decide on the template or the theme that aligns well with the topic you are presenting. In other words, the design should match the content you want to deliver, like educative, creative, etc. Hence, you need to choose color, typography, and other aesthetics effectively. You need to ensure that the title slide of the webinar is intriguing as it leaves the first impression.

The second thing you need to focus on is keeping the text in the slides clear and easy to read. To achieve the same, you need to leverage proper fonts & typefaces, integrate bullet points and make smaller sentences & phrases. 

Thirdly, people now don’t like to read the text a lot; they love images, videos & other media content. Hence, you should consider integrating high-quality charts, graphs, images, etc., into the webinar. 

Besides this, most people get bored with the text and look for examples to understand any topic. Therefore, you should include real-world examples to explain content effectively. 

Lastly, focus on keeping the branding the same throughout the entire webinar slides to pass your message effectively to the audience. It creates a compelling brand identity.

5. Deciding Engaging and Interactive Elements

Nobody likes a webinar that has a monotonous tone, as it leaves the audience to sleep. Then, how to ensure that the audience doesn’t get bored with the webinar?

To make the webinar interactive and engaging, you should include different elements like polls, surveys, and quizzes. All of these things help you obtain feedback, test the knowledge base of the audience, and spark better conversions in the webinar. 

You can also integrate various video or audio clips in the webinar to make it more interactive. Here, the best strategy is to explain complex topics through examples & case studies. 

In addition, people love to get live demonstrations of new things they are learning. Hence, explaining concepts with action helps users understand things better. This event allows the audience to become familiar with the complex idea by experiencing them.

Another thing you should include during a webinar is Q&A. It allows users to ask questions, share feedback, and get instant clarification. By this, you not only improve engagement but also offer a more personalized experience.

See Also : 13 Effective Post Webinar Survey Questions

6. Scripting and Rehearsing the Presentation

It is crucial to prepare your webinar script in advance before presenting it to the audience. It helps you to deliver webinars and create a positive impact. But the question is, what things to consider for scripting webinars?

First of all, create a script that goes well with your slides. For the same, you can outline the key points, use language that is easy to understand, and ensure each slide supports the script. To make it more engaging & interactive, you can even leverage storytelling, anecdotes, etc.

Engage, Educate, and Empower: Webinar Script Template

Craft compelling webinars with our free, comprehensive script template download.

The second thing you need to focus on is practicing the webinar a lot until you become fluent in it. But why? Speaking in front of a group is quite different than thinking about the topic in your head. If you try to “wing it” off just a few notes, there’s a good chance you’ll forget important points, blow through complex topics, and fail to connect the pieces (because, in your head, they’re already connected). How to resolve this?

Practice the webinar loud and make sure there is a proper flow of information from one slide to the next. Decide a time frame in which you want to complete the entire webinar, for example, 60 minutes. The best way to judge yourself is to ask a friend or a colleague for feedback.

One more thing you should focus on is practicing the webinar presentation along with a timer. It helps you determine how much time you are taking for the webinar. Also, keep a buffer time to handle any kind of interruptions like poor internet connection, technical glitches in software, etc.      

Lastly, record the rehearsal to review and improve the content delivery in your webinar. By doing this, you can analyze all the good things and make improvements related to the tone, body language, and flow of the webinar. You can even modify the script of the webinar and make any kind of corrections if needed.

7. Preparing for a Successful Webinar

There are several critical webinar best practices that you should consider to prepare a successful webinar. What are these?

Firstly, you need to focus on testing the webinar platform and the audiovisual equipment you will be using. You should leverage the best platform for webinars. Get a proper understanding of how the platform works. For instance, if you use WebinarPress , you should explore all the functions of the platform. You should ensure that audiovisual equipment is connected and functions well. See if your mic is working properly and delivering the perfect and clear speech. In addition to that, check the internet connection and bandwidth.

See Also : Best Microphones for Webinars  

One more factor you should consider to make your webinar successful is setting a destruction-free environment. For this, you need a quiet place with proper lighting.

In the end, you should have a proper backup plan in case of any difficulties related to technology, like audiovisual equipment malfunction or software error. 

8. Delivering a Compelling Webinar Presentation

Ensuring to deliver an engaging and informative webinar is one of the best tips for public speaking for presenters . And how do you achieve this?

Introduce yourself and your expertise on the topic. It lets you build credibility with your audience and provide them with a clear understanding of what they can expect from you.

You can grab the audience’s attention with an intriguing question or statistic or start a webinar with a story. 

Besides this, try to gauge the audience’s attention throughout the presentation by including relevant trivia, polls, chat, etc. 

In addition to this, providing actionable takeaways at the end of the webinar helps users understand things better. 

Lastly, including a strong call-to-action like a newsletter subscription or course link forces users to remain connected with your business for a long time if they like the webinar.

9. Post-Webinar Follow-up and Evaluation

One of the most well-known webinar presentation tips is to have a proper follow-up after the webinar. 

First thing first! Send them a post webinar thank you email . It’s a quick way to show gratitude to whoever attended the webinar. Also, for those who did not show up at the event, provide a recorded webinar session to all the participants. It allows participants who have missed the webinar to become familiar with the topic. In addition, it will enable all participants to revise everything they have learned and share the webinar with others.

The second crucial thing that you should focus on is analyzing the feedback of the participants through different mediums like Q&A, polls & quizzes, surveys, etc.       

The next crucial thing you should emphasize is responding to the questions & answers of the users. You can even create a frequently asked questions page that answers all the questions that users might have during the webinar.

Lastly, you can gather all the valuable insights about the webinar and make improvements accordingly for future presentations.  

By following the tips & strategies we have shared in this guide, you can design highly engaging webinar presentations. However, it would help if you allocated sufficient time & effort. 

Eventually, you can connect with your audience and build great relationships through webinars. Always remember to keep learning new things and integrating them into the webinar. 

In the end, whether you are a seasoned webinar presenter or just starting your journey, taking frequent webinars and incorporating new things will help you deliver impactful webinars, engage with your audience, and remain connected with them for a long time. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i evaluate the success of my webinar presentation.

To assess whether or not your webinar presentation is successful, you need to consider essential metrics like attendee engagement (via polls, surveys, and comments), viewing time, lead generation, ROI, social media shares & feedback, and post-webinar survey responses. 

How do I effectively incorporate multimedia elements into my webinar presentation?

To integrate multimedia elements into your webinar presentation, you require high-quality & relevant videos, images, etc. Further, you need to find possible areas of integration, optimize multimedia elements for quality, and then add them to the website. 

How do I promote and market my webinar presentation to attract participants?

To promote & market your webinar presentation, you can start with your existing network. You can reach out to existing contacts via email, social media, and newsletters and urge them to share webinar details with their networks. You can even create attractive webinars and promote them on social media platforms. 

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• Published: June 19, 2023

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12 tips to create and host a successful webinar

Nail your next webinar with advice from the host of Calendly's best attended live event.

Jacob Dent Jan 10, 2023

12 min read

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Have you ever had the meeting room crash during your big presentation? Maybe go through a product demo only to get the dreaded “you’re muted” ping? Or, worst of all, you forget to change your webinar slides? Been there. Done that. Had those same chills you’re getting right now. As the host of our weekly Getting Started with Calendly live event, I’ve had to navigate each of those pain points, plus countless more.

Here’s the thing no one tells you (well, besides me): Webinars are worth it. The format has only grown in popularity, with research showing one occurs every two seconds . Much more than video calls or conferences, webinars provide a packaged, value-driven source of information, and they’re well-crafted to make every minute of attention count. So how can you make sure yours are worth attending? Here are a few of my secrets to running a successful webinar.

1. Make sure webinars are the right tool for you

The best webinars have the power to bring in new faces and boost engagement from previously unresponsive clients. However, these groups will respond poorly if your “webinar” ends up being a typical sales pitch. Make your intentions clear before anyone clicks “join.”

There are plenty of communication channels for quick updates, like product emails or social media posts. Webinar topics tackle broader subjects with more detailed information, and are a bigger time investment for you and your audience. Make sure you have enough content to make your viewer feel it was time well spent. 

A webinar is only one of many methods of communication to customers or leads. However, webinars’ utility for sales and marketing can’t be ignored. In the case of B2B live webinars, an average 73% of the total attendees turn into lead generation . If you’re able to schedule them at the researched ideal times (like Thursdays after lunch) you have the potential for huge results. I can speak from experience here: We average more than 200 attendees per week with a prime start time of 12 p.m. EST Thursdays. 

2. Narrow your scope to a single compelling topic

One of the most striking pieces of feedback I’ve received in my career of public speaking was that my presentation was “all over the place.” It can be hard to reel yourself in, especially during a virtual presentation. Your target audience wants something substantial, but you as the host have a responsibility to keep your conversation organized.

Start a list of concepts you want to cover in a webinar. There’ll be some you as the host want to talk about, but keep in mind what the audience wants to hear, as well. We nailed down the “6 steps to success” for my webinar by going through our support teams’ FAQs. You could also use social media polls, or speak to your customer success managers.  

Once you get your list, start narrowing down the webinar topics. Don’t get rid of them altogether, though. More specific topics can lead to more content down the line. Some of the content on my cutting room floor became help center articles and smaller, tutorial-style videos. Gold is always valuable, whether large or small.

Now that you’re left with the most relevant topics, you can begin outlining your webinar in earnest. 

3. Find some experts, and work with them

It’s possible, if you have the background and technical prowess, to run a webinar yourself. But in many cases, you'll benefit from simply moderating and having one or more guest speakers do the teaching. 

It’s easier to find panelists who are still gaining a following and who will benefit from the exposure. They may be excited to collaborate with you and learn more about your company. On the other hand, it may be worth the cost to hire a well-known guest speaker who will draw a variety of new client prospects. For industry leaders, hosting webinars is a way to broaden their audiences, even if they have established followings.

Once you’ve chosen who to include, set expectations with them around participation and content. You, the panelists, and the audience will have a better experience if expectations are clear from the outset.

4. Outline a value-filled agenda for a great webinar

Once you confirm your panel of speakers, you’ll need to create an agenda (either by yourself or collaboratively, schedules permitting). 

A typical agenda includes:

Pre-webinar interaction with attendees (typically via chat or polling) to allow for late arrivals

Introduction going over the agenda, speaker, and company introductions, and other housekeeping

Presentation

Optional time for a question and answer session

While this boilerplate template might work for you, your agenda should reflect your company objectives and the level of engagement you wish to achieve.

Remember to allocate enough time to each element of the webinar. You don’t want to irritate a  busy prospect or customer, making them log out early and miss key information because your webinar ran too long. Staying organized and moving the webinar along are key ways to show you respect the viewers’ time and to make sure they walk away with a good impression of your company.

5. Design visual aids to supplement your speakers' voices

Today’s webinar viewers expect visual aids. If you’re in charge of creating an engaging webinar slide deck, keep these tips in mind:

Less is more when it comes to text. Don’t write something on a slide that you’ll just end up repeating verbally.

Use color and photographs sensibly in order to maintain a professional look (Please no WordArt and stick figures).

Consult with your company’s branding team: They may have templates you’re required to use, or they can make sure your work aligns with brand guidelines.

Consider how you can engage your viewers during the session. For example, include questions in the slide deck as segues into new topics.

Your speakers may choose to create the slide deck for your webinar, but ask to see it at least a few days in advance so you can make sure the content and branding meet your company’s standards. 

6. Choose feature-rich, reliable webinar software

Your company may already be loyal to a particular video conferencing platform , like Zoom or GoTo Meeting, but make sure it has the capabilities and high quality you need to make your virtual event a success. This is especially important if this is your first webinar. Ask others in your field what webinar platform they recommend, and use sites like G2 and Gartner to compare webinar software features that boost reliability and engagement.

Watch out for attendee limits in webinar platforms. I’ve been on both sides of a scenario where too many people are trying to join a webinar and get blocked from attending. Not only is it embarrassing for your brand, it costs you prospects and annoys customers. Not everyone will give you a second chance.

As a host, I also need the functionality to engage with attendees during the webinar in real-time. Depending on your particular needs, it can be quite valuable to have a chat feature or the ability to have a Q&A session.

7. Work within existing marketing efforts to promote your webinar

As you prepare for your webinar, don't forget about securing a viewership — bring in your marketing colleagues as soon as you have a topic and tentative launch date.

Most marketing and advertising teams welcome fresh content to promote via blogs, social media, and emails, especially when it adds to your company's reputation for thought leadership. Their help will significantly boost webinar registration, if you have a clear call-to-action and give yourself enough lead time to gain traction online. 

Once people find out about your webinar, you’ll want to gather email addresses and possibly other information in advance (more on that later). Make it easy to sign up for the webinar ahead of time through routing forms on your landing pages.

8. Get your webinar on your customers' calendar

A certain percentage of people who sign up for your webinar will bail. Some will be too busy that day. Others will forget they signed up for your webinar at all. To keep participation numbers as high as possible, use an automated scheduling tool to make sure your webinar remains top of mind.

Once you’re ready to promote your webinar, make sure your sign up page includes a Calendly link. 

Calendly makes scheduling much easier in a variety of contexts, including webinars. Your viewers will get the time scheduled onto their various calendars, adjusted for their time zones. You can set up automated email reminders for them. And you can even automate a follow-up email to thank them, offer a link to the recorded webinar on-demand, and ask for their feedback. 

9. Capture contact information from sign-ups

Speaking of sign-ups, make sure you log everyone who signs up using your CRM — whether your webinar is publicly available or focused solely on existing clients, you still might see a surprising sign-up or two. Most webinar platforms offer integrations with major CRMs and email list management software.

Capturing this information also allows you to follow up with attendees later, perhaps by using a Calendly workflow to send reminder emails. These lists are great sources of future conversations that move prospects through your marketing and sales pipeline, or provide a natural talking point for customer engagement. The webinar has given you a reason to reach out and start or re-start a conversation.

10. Double-check your webinar tech

This is true of all online events, but especially with high-attendance webinars: It’s important all platforms and devices involved work well. I always recommend doing a practice run of all your webinar components. 

Check to make sure multiple kinds of computers and phones can access the webinar using the links you've provided. You can have coworkers help with these things.  

Test your webcam. Practice screen sharing the slide deck and receiving questions through a chat feature. Test your follow-up messages to make sure they’ll be sent correctly after the live webinar ends.

Before launching Getting Started with Calendly Live, I did an internal webinar presentation for the company on Zoom. That way, I could get a large volume of people in the meeting, and stress test our capabilities. Try to test everything a few days before launch to make it easy on yourself. 

11. Do a practice demo to check timing and flow

If your webinar involves high-ranking experts, you might not be able to practice with them due to time constraints. However, if you are both the organizer and the presenter , consider running step-by-step through your entire talk track and slide deck in real time.

You'll gain insight on minor issues, like whether an anecdote feels forced or useful, and more critical issues, like whether you can really fit all your content into the time allotted. Sometimes, hearing yourself say something is the best way of knowing if it sounds awkward. That’s certainly not something you want to find out the day of. I’ve removed some terrible jokes because of my practice habits (and intentionally kept a few groaners just to break things up).

Since you're taking this time to practice, make a screen recording of your entire presentation. Then if something goes wrong during the live event, you can still share the content quickly with your viewers. It's one way to feel more at ease about the technological what-ifs.

12. Be on hand and ask for help

Give yourself 30-60 minutes before the webinar to get everything set up: Make your space quiet, check your internet connection, test microphones, and admit people into the webinar. 

This setup period can be a good time for some small talk in the comments section, which can increase viewer engagement. Ask about where people are from, and find some common ground to riff on before you get down to business. 

If you can spare the "meeting room" participants, you can also bring along help. My recommended setup is to have three teammates helping with the webinar, each with a different responsibility:

Moderate the chat and filter out spam

Read questions during the Q&A

Compile and send resources in real-time, based on what is being presented

If possible, have an IT specialist on standby to deal with any technical issues. This frees you from technical troubleshooting so you can focus on the  webinar’s content.

Bonus: Have fun!

This part goes without saying, but have fun with it! Just because you’ve planned and prepped everything in advance doesn’t mean it can’t be entertaining. At the end of the day, you want your audience to pay attention, and leave with a positive opinion about your brand.

I always end my sessions with "I hope this was the most entertaining business webinar you’ve ever attended!” And I get feedback on Linkedin all the time about how great it was.

Relax, have fun, and bring energy! The moderator sets the tone in terms of energy: If you're relaxed and enjoying yourself, they're more likely to, as well.

Successful webinars connect your brand to subject-matter expertise

Understanding how to host a webinar is an important tool in anyone’s customer success, marketing, or sales toolbelt. Webinars offer clear added value for those who are shopping for new tech solutions. Webinars also offer opportunities to gather data that leads to further contact, boosting engagement . The Calendly onboarding webinar that I developed has led to faster feature adoption and an increase in ARR.

If you get permission to record all involved parties, you also can turn your webinar recording into a valuable download or private video link that you can share with potential leads, prospects, or customers who opt in for extra support.

Your organization can repurpose the webinar information to create other forms of content. Share the Q&A questions with marketing, customer success, and sales. Those questions are fruitful insights for help center articles, marketing outreach, social media, sales playbooks, and of course, future webinars. 

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Webinar: Getting started with Calendly

Jacob Dent thinks learning should be fun and Crocs should be business-casual. He is our Knowledge Management specialist and host of our most popular webinar, Getting Started With Calendly.

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Creating a Webinar Presentation: Tips for Successful Webinars

A guide to creating webinars: how to be a success.

Webinars are the latest trend. They are convenient for both audience and presenters and can be used for countless different topics and scenarios. Whether it’s online marketing, lead generation, building a brand or conveying content, a webinar is a flexible tool that reflects the current zeitgeist.

But the webinar is still a fairly new medium and planning and conducting one can be a pain in the neck for many. Here you’ll find useful information about the unique nature of a webinar and what you need to consider when creating one.

What exactly is a webinar and what’s unique about it? A webinar is a presentation conducted over the Internet. Unlike a video uploaded somewhere else, the webinar takes place in real time and with participant involvement. Participants are integrated into the webinar through various interactive tools – short surveys, quizzes or Q&A periods.

A webinar can serve various purposes; most often it’s used to communicate content, but it sometimes has another purpose, such as part of a marketing campaign.

How does a webinar work? Webinars require an online platform. Zoom, Skype or Microsoft Teams are all popular choices. PowerPoint is also a good choice for webinars.

Media content, such as documents or videos, can also be shared with the audience using compatible programs. Recommended, but not a must, is the use of a camera so that the audience can see the presenter.

The webinar presentation: just a typical presentation? So, a webinar presentation is basically not much different from an ordinary presentation, right? Yes and no. In fact, many elements are similar, but the virtual space offers many unique features. These features are what you need to understand to ensure your webinar is a success. So here are the crucial differences between presenting in real and virtual space.

• Communicating is different This is something no one should underestimate. When presenting in person, communication goes far beyond what is being said. Audience and presenter are in the same room and can actually see each other. Facial expressions, gestures and eye contact are important communication tools. Even though there is a lot one can do with video technology, it can’ t replace direct, in-person interaction. This means that the content and how it is presented is all the more important. At the same time, the voice becomes more important. Avoid a monotonous delivery by paying attention to inflection.
• Informal environment: There is always a degree of formality during an in-person presentation and there’s usually little opportunity to be distracted. At home or in the office, things are a bit different. If a webinar is dry and slow, the temptation to quickly take a look at the documents or to send an e-mail on the side is strong. This is why it is all the more important to communicate the value of the webinar and structure it accordingly.

Presenting in webinars: different, but not more challenging Keep in mind that these differences are often double-edged swords – they can both advantages and disadvantages. An example: If you’re not aware that your webinar audience is slipping away from you, you won’t be able to draw them back in, but you also won’t be thrown off track, either.

A webinar shouldn’t make you more nervous than any other presenting situation. Having a bit of webinar know-how can help you avoid issues and feel more confident. Here are some useful tips.

Creating a Webinar Presentation: Key Factors and Tips

Factor 1: Careful preparation and planning Tools to share content in a webinar are limited. This means it can be hard to make spontaneous changes during a webinar presentation. If you add something to your spoken content, you may not have the visual material to support it. 

The option to write or sketch something down on a flip char or board – something we take for granted during in-person presentations – is possible with the right equipment, but not always easy.

Choose and promote your topic wisely Your challenge is to engage an audience and keep their attention. You need to plan very carefully what you want to communicate and how. This starts with the topic. Think about what appeals to your audience and how they can benefit from it.

Also remember to advertise your webinar early (four weeks in advance is a good rule of thumb). E-vites are a great way to do this. Afterwards, don’t forget to send out more than one reminder.

Time management is key A webinar presentation usually has a set time and length (usually 60-90 minutes). Running too long can annoy your audience – coming up short can give the impression you didn’t prepare well enough. The best thing to do is to create a kind of script in which you determine how many minutes you dedicate to each stage of the presentation.

Incidentally, there is no such thing as a perfect time of day for a webinar. Your target group and goal are the decisive factors here. Employees are generally available in the evening, whereas self-employed people are often available in the morning.

Factor 2: Choose and present content intelligently There’s actually not too much to say here, because it’s your webinar and you most definitely know your topic. Your webinar will normally have some kind of goal or purpose. Now you need to generate an audience.

Supply and demand The basic rule is: Identify your audience and try to put yourself in their position. Who do you want to address? What is interesting for these people? What added value can your webinar offer them? No one will sign up for a webinar to hear that a circle is round. But the topic shouldn’t be too specific and complicated either. Align your webinar with the interests of your target group.

Find the intersection between what you have to say and what people want to know!

Factor 3: Know your software and equipment In a webinar, success hinges far more on the technology than in other presentations. Technical difficulties, or even failures, are difficult or impossible to make up for. On the other hand, you can score major points in a webinar if you are a pro at using the software and multimedia.

This is reason enough to dedicate enough time and attention to your equipment and how it works.

The right software There are so many software solutions that can be used for webinars or have been specially developed for them. Choose one that fits your requirements and is easy to use. The PowerPoint presentation webinar is popular with many users – it can be used on many devices and most people have used the program for in-person presentations. Using PowerPoint for a webinar is an obvious choice.

The visuals If you decide to use a camera, make sure it’s properly aligned and positioned. The camera should at eye level, and your face should be lit from the front. When using a laptop camera, a laptop stand can create a better angle. FYI: artificial light usually works better in video than natural light. Light sources in the background (e.g., windows or mirrors) can be distracting.

Setting the scene When using a camera, also consider your surroundings. Depending on the purpose of the webinar, you can choose a neutral or complementary background (e.g., bookshelves). Think about small things that should be left off camera, like that framed photo of you in full Klingon gear at last year’s Star Trek convention. If you want to go pro right away, you could purchase a green screen.

During the presentation, make sure you actually look into the camera and are aware of your posture.

The audio There are also a few points to consider when it comes to sound. Make sure that the audio settings are adjusted to your surroundings and try to minimize background noise. Close windows and switch off devices (phone, smartphone, PC notifications, etc.) or mute them. If necessary, ask people in the next room or house to be quiet.

Something that is often overlooked: Feedback and distortion can occur if an internal microphone and speakers are used simultaneously. An external microphone, headphones or a headset may be a good idea. If you’re using a lot of equipment, a checklist can help you keep track of all the necessary steps and settings.

The golden rule for every piece of equipment: Familiarize yourself with it before using it!

Factor 4: Clear, concise structure!

The preshow Webinars are often started with a “warm up”. This could be a short introduction (about five minutes), during which the participants can join the webinar. Or, you can join in directly and chat a little with the first participants, just like an in-person presentation.

Have a few small-talk topics ready to go; this relaxes the atmosphere and can help with any nervousness.

The introduction Check the technical features and welcome your audience. If necessary, give them a few technical notes and instructions on how to proceed. Then start with a short, concise overview of your content. If you want, you can use a slide to communicate this.

The very beginning is also the best opportunity to capture the audience’s attention by summarizing the purpose of your webinar and what added value it will offer your audience.

The main event The main presentation should be clearly structured and easy to understand. Your audience should always be aware of a central theme – a leitmotif. More tips on this can be found in the following sections.

The conclusion Summarize your content and key messages again and/or include your call to action. If you’re giving a sales and distribution webinar, this is the right time to introduce any offers, promotions and/or campaigns.

Remember to ask your participants for feedback. A final, short survey is a good way to do this.

Factor 5: Clear and diversified slide structure The ideal number of slides and how they should be designed always depends on the presentation itself and its content. This is when you have to rely a little more on your own expertise. However, the following tips are worth considering:

Less is more Avoid using too many slides. Although it’s hard to set a concrete amount, as a rule of thumb we recommend about 10-15 slides for content and another 5-7 slides for instructions, interactive elements, etc.

Never overload the slides. They should only contain the essential information and have a clear structure. Limit yourself to one point per slide. A few meaningful words will be remembered better and more concisely than a lot of complicated text. The content of the slides should offer variety. Supplement text with tables, pictures, diagrams and other media to attract the attention of the audience.

The right layout The layout should be the same for all slides and, if applicable, align with the corporate design. Master slides can be extremely helpful. Make sure that the font is large enough. Not all participants will be using a large screen.

Keep the slides simple and use colors and effects sparingly. Otherwise, they’ll distract from the content and can also lead to display issues and problems with some programs. Highlighting important content should be your focus.

Factor 6: Practice, check, back up

A test run is a must Even if you prepare everything perfectly, always assume that mistakes and problems will creep in somewhere. A test run is a sure-fire way to detect any weak points. It will also help your delivery and confidence. Run through your webinar a couple of days in advance, perhaps with a friend or colleague as your test audience. This will provide you with useful feedback.

Constructive self-criticism If you’d rather rehearse alone or can’t find a test audience, you can record yourself. These kinds of recordings can be a bit awkward if you’re not used to it – hearing your own voice for the first time can be a shock! Nevertheless, they’re a great tool for practicing and improving as a presenter. Just remember to not be too hard on yourself. We are always our own worst critics!

Check processes and equipment If you’ re not the only one organizing the webinar, coordinate the processes and content with the other participants well in advance of the event. Make sure that your equipment is ready and working on the day of the webinar (laptop, software, camera, sound, Internet connection, etc.).

When it starts: Double check your equipment so you can begin the webinar on time. Always expect that something may not work at the last minute. If possible, have back-up devices and options on hand.

More tips and hints:

• Try to incorporate lots of different tools (chat, survey, quiz, etc.) to make the webinar even more interactive and varied. Those who feel involved are always more engaged than a purely passive listener!
• Think about how you would like the interaction with the participants to happen. For example, how and when can they ask questions (chat box, requests to speak, …)? Explain these rules to the audience right at the beginning (and again in between if necessary).
• It’s always a good idea to prepare a script or at least notes. Even if you are a bona-fide expert on the topic, you may your train of thought. A script can also help you manage your time more effectively.
• The webinar situation might be unfamiliar to many participants. You can help them feel more comfortable by letting them know how the webinar will proceed and by addressing any technical questions they may have. Also try to create a relaxed atmosphere by behaving like you would in a normal meeting or presentation.
• A small detail that many forget: Have a glass of water ready. For longer presentations, it can be a lifesaver.
• A person’s average attention span is about seven minutes. This means you’ll probably have to “wake up” your audience throughout your webinar. A dry tropic can make this even more challenging. Add a bit for entertainment by throwing in some short anecdotes or funny stories. This generates attention, shows your personality and keeps the atmosphere relaxed.
• A good webinar is one that helps participants remember you and your content. You can encourage this with a recap. Create a summary or recording of the webinar and send the material to the participants after the webinar. Added bonuses like this are typically well received.
• Many webinars take place at a desk and there’s nothing wrong with this. But you may want to think about standing up during your delivery. Your posture and voice will automatically improve.
• If you use PowerPoint for your webinar, don’t be tempted to simply recycle a presentation you’ve already given in person. As mentioned earlier, a webinar is completely different from a “live” presentation and needs a different approach.
• Certain organizational issues arise in almost every webinar. People usually want to know if the webinar will be recorded and if such a recording or other material will be available to them. It’s best to clarify these issues right at the beginning. If you plan to hold webinars frequently, you can create a slide outlining this information and use it over and over again.
• A well-designed webinar can be used over and over again. Why do all that work for a one-off event?

No amount of tips and advice can guarantee that nothing will go wrong. In webinars – as in everything else – there are no guarantees. But we hope these tips provide a solid starting point to help you design successful webinars.

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Top 10 Tips for Presenting Webinars

Presenting a webinar is no walk in the park. Our digital events team helps to deliver thousands of webinars each year and we can assure you that just because someone is a subject matter expert, does not make them a great presenter.

What Exactly is a Webinar?

It's a great question. A webinar is an online event that can be live, simulive or on-demand. A webinar will incorporate presenters talking and sharing information on a subject matter that can include media mixing such as slide presentations, video clips, interactive polls and presenters appearing on camera. Typically, a registration page will be promoted for potential attendees to sign up for the event, and then they access the webinar from their desktop or mobile devices.

48% of attendees have said that webinars were least enjoyable when there was a poor presenter , which is why it’s a good idea if you follow our webinar presentation best practices.

We have compiled a list of the top 10 tips every webinar presenter should know so that you can make sure your webinar presenters are equipped with the know-how to deliver an engaging and memorable presentation every time.

1. Be Passionate & Energetic During Your Webinar

32% of attendees said they felt the most engaged when the webinar host was passionate and energetic , so encourage your webinar presenters to showcase their personality while presenting.

How do you do this? Well, you could start by acting natural and speaking in a more conversational way. Remember, webinar scripts were written to be spoken aloud, so ensure that they sound natural. You can do this by writing your webinar script in short, punchy bullet points and reading it aloud, so it doesn’t feel like you’ve put another person’s words in your mouth.

Bringing some energy to your webinar presentation will also help to increase audience engagement and prevent drop-offs. Webinar attendees would much rather spend an hour listening to an industry expert who is passionate about what they are saying, rather than some monotonous robot who is reading straight from a script.

2. Share Personal Experiences

Webinar presenters are selected for their real-world experience in the chosen topic , so if you’re presenting a webinar you should try and share some of your own personal experiences with the audience.

You can enhance the dynamic flow of your webinar by fostering engaging group discussions and regularly gathering opinions from multiple presenters. This approach ensures a seamless event where content naturally unfolds, creating a more interactive and captivating experience for your webinar audience.  

In addition to a collaborative atmosphere, webinar presenters can significantly elevate the audience's engagement by weaving personal experiences into their presentations. Sharing real-life anecdotes not only adds authenticity but also establishes a deeper connection with the webinar audience. Attendees often find value and relatability in personal stories, making the content more memorable and impactful. By incorporating personal experiences, presenters can impart practical insights, making the webinar not just informative but also enriching on a personal level.

For example, you may want to share how you applied the theory you’re discussing to the workplace and the results this drove. This is information attendees can’t just learn in a textbook or blog post, which will lead to increased interaction, as it will likely prompt questions from the audience. Just ensure that your stories don’t veer too much off course, or if they do, try and rein it back in as soon as you can.

3. Encourage Audience Engagement Throughout Your Webinar

Audiences make judgments about you and your message in the first minute , so it’s important that you grab your webinar audience’s attention in the first 60 seconds of the webinar and encourage engagement to ensure they stick around.

If you’re running a webinar for 30 minutes or longer, you need to make the most of every second to keep your audience engaged throughout. You can do this by utilizing various interactive features , such as live polls, live chat, and a live Q&A at the end, so your audience can interact with you in real-time. This two-way interaction will help to break down the barriers between the webinar audience and presenter, increase viewing time and improve attendee satisfaction.

Using rich media, such as images, GIFs and videos will also help to improve engagement - as 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual . The old saying goes: “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but when it comes to video, a 1-minute video is equal to 1.8 million words to your audience .

Learn how to create engaging webinar content in our free eBook >

4. Meet Your Webinar Audience Expectations

Meeting the expectations of your audience, or serving user intent, is integral to the success of your webinar . You want your audience to leave your webinar feeling as though they have invested 30-60 minutes of their life wisely - taking away some newfound knowledge, solutions, or inspiration.

You want to ensure that you deliver on your promises e.g. if in your webinar promotion , you guaranteed registrants you would teach them how to create a step-by-step email workflow , then make sure you deliver.

Gathering feedback is a great way to ensure that you have delivered a satisfactory webinar and met your attendees’ expectations. This can be done by simply sending a follow-up email asking: "How did we do?” .

5. Present your Webinar to a Global Audience

“Good afternoon” may be an appropriate greeting where you are in the world, but it may not be for your global audience. Speak the language of your target audience and tailor your opening and closing statements to reflect the difference in time zones when presenting i.e. keep your intro open.

An example of an open introduction would include greetings, such as “welcome” or “hi everyone, thanks for attending”. That way you don’t alienate your audience by only greeting a small percentage of attendees and everyone is happy.

6. Keep Cool, Calm, and Collected

Plan for the worst and hope for the best. If you lose your internet connection or your phone gets cut off what are you going to do?

Making a plan A, B, and C ahead of the webinar presentation will make any potential issues seem immediately less stressful. Always have a printed or local version of your slides with you, so you can continue to present if you experience any problems with your internet connection.

Remember, your moderator or fellow presenters can transition your slides for you while you log back in and if you lose your phone connection your moderator can come back online and keep the audience informed. Above all, stay calm.

7. Webinar Presenters - Look At The Camera, Not The Screen

Can they see you in a webinar? It's a great question. There is much more of an expectation for webinar presenters to appear on webcam during a webinar, compared to 10 years ago where telephone dial in was the standard. Depending on the webinar platform you use, you may just be seen on the webinar whilst you are speaking, but many webinars now incorporate more interactive webcam layouts so many presenters can be seen throughout the webinar, even when not speaking.

Webinar presenters should look at their camera and not the screen because it can help to create a more personal and attentive experience for the audience.

When you look at your camera, it can help to create the illusion that you are looking directly at the attendees, which can help to create a sense of connection and can help to make your presentation more engaging.

Looking at your camera can help to reduce the temptation to read directly from your slides too, which can make your presentation more dynamic and interactive.

8. Be Punctual - Don't Keep the Webinar Attendees Waiting

We all like to be fashionably late, but this is not a party, this is a webinar. Make sure you show up on time, so you can start right at the scheduled time, without making your audience wait.

Always log in to your webinar platform at least 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time to ensure everything is working correctly, such as your mic, internet connection, and webcam. This is particularly important if you have international attendees who are tuning in from a different time zone and only have a small window of time to attend your live webinar.

Also, ensure that you remain within your allocated time. If you advertised that your live webinar would run for 60 minutes , try to stay within that time, rather than running over. However, if you are inevitably going to run overtime, just make sure you give your audience a heads-up, in case they need to leave and want to ask a quick question before they go.

9. Think Outside the Box

Grab your audience’s attention in an engaging way when presenting and think outside the box. Whether it’s by showing a video of you presenting at a conference or a news article as a way of introducing yourself to attendees, there are no rules when it comes to presenting.

Sharing on-demand video clips throughout your webinar is a great way to break up the content of a traditional slides only presentation. It can also allow your presenters to have a sip of water, or check through any questions being asked from the audience. Make sure your webinar platform allows you to have the ability to play multiple videos at different points of your webinar, it's a great way to lead from one subject to another.

Depending on your webinar platform , you could mix things up by using screen share and webcam during your presentation, as another creative way to boost engagement. Having the ability to switch between presenter and screen share layouts, can allow you to switch to more panel discussion webinar formats, for question and answer sections for example. However, just be mindful that you lock the door if you decide to turn on your webcam. We’ve all seen that BBC interview where the professor’s children hilariously gate crashed his live TV interview.

10. Check Your Lighting and Webcam Virtual Backgrounds

We cannot say this enough. Check your lighting and background! It can help to create a professional and visually appealing environment for your webinar.

If the lighting is too bright or too dim, it can be difficult for attendees to see you, and you could end up either looking like a ghost or an anonymised presenter.

Additionally, if your background is cluttered or distracting, it can be difficult for attendees to focus on the content. Spend some time before your webinar to find the best lighting for you (or invest in a ring light) and a space where your background is free from distractions. Virtual backgrounds for webinar presenters are another great way to add a clean image incorporating a brand logo. Minimal effort for maximum impact.

Find out more about WorkCast's Range of Engaging Webinar Solutions

Discover the power of the WorkCast Webinar Platform , empowering you to effortlessly create engaging and fully branded webinars in just under 2 minutes. Elevate your presentations with our intuitive webinar studio tools, enabling seamless sharing of multimedia content to a global audience. The integration capabilities of our platform ensure that essential webinar reports can be easily streamlined and synchronized with your preferred applications. Explore our range of versatile solutions including live, simulive, and on-demand webinars , designed to cater to your diverse needs. Amplify your reach, engage your audience, and harness the potential of webinars to drive impactful connections and conversions.

Get Answers to All Your Webinar Questions!

In our blog ' What is a Webinar? ' we look at a range key questions you want answers for, including everything from how to join a webinar, easy webinar creation, to understanding the basics on how webinar software works. We also cover how presenters and attendees can make the most of the range of WorkCast's webinar engagement tools.

Learn everything you need to know about webinars with our free Ultimate Webinar Handbook .

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > 7 tips for creating and presenting a webinar

7 tips for creating and presenting a webinar

Creating a webinar presentation requires a blend of technical and content creation skills. A well-crafted webinar should educate your audience and keep them engaged throughout your presentation’s runtime.

If you’re nervous about an upcoming webinar presentation or just looking to hone your craft, use these seven tips to create a webinar that captivates and communicates effectively.

1. Plan your content meticulously

The foundation of a good webinar presentation lies in its planning. Start by defining the purpose of your webinar and thinking about your target audience . What key message do you want your audience to take away from your presentation? Once you have a clear objective, outline your content to build a coherent narrative. Ensure that each slide progresses logically to help your audience understand and retain the information. Here’s how to get started on the content planning phase:

• Identify your main message.
• Outline the structure.
• Create engaging and relevant content.

Tell your story with captivating presentations

Powerpoint empowers you to develop well-designed content across all your devices

2. Design for clarity and engagement

Visuals play an important role in webinar presentations. Use high-quality graphics, readable fonts, and a cohesive color scheme to make your slides aesthetically pleasing and easy to digest. Interactive elements like polls, quizzes, and question-and-answer sessions can also enhance engagement and make your webinar more interactive. Design an engaging webinar with these tips:

• Use clear, concise visuals.
• Incorporate multimedia elements.
• Engage with interactive tools.

3. Master the technical aspects

Technical glitches can disrupt even the best webinar presentation. Before you present the real deal, rehearse your webinar to get comfortable with the tools and platform you’ll be using beforehand. Have a backup plan for technical failures to maintain professionalism should anything go wrong. Follow these tips to master the technical aspects of your webinar:

• Test your equipment.
• Rehearse using the webinar platform.
• Prepare for technical issues.

4. Deliver with confidence and clarity

Learning how to give a webinar involves finding the correct speaking voice and cadence for your presentation. Nail your webinar delivery with these tips:

• Practice your speech.
• Use pauses effectively.
• Pay attention to your inflection and tone.

5. Engage your audience throughout

To keep your audience interested, interact with them throughout the webinar. Ask questions, encourage participants to chat, and address comments or questions as they arise. This interaction not only makes the session livelier but also helps gauge audience understanding and interest. Promote audience participation during your webinar with these tips:

• Encourage questions.
• Use live polls.
• Address audience feedback directly.

6. Follow up after the webinar

The end of your webinar shouldn’t be the end of your engagement. Follow up with attendees via email with a thank you note, additional resources, or a survey to collect feedback. Here are some different ways you can follow up with your audience:

• Send thank you emails.
• Provide additional materials.
• Collect feedback through surveys.

7. Continuously improve

Use the feedback you received and your own observations to improve the way you deliver future webinars. Use these tips to refine your webinars going forward:

• Review feedback.
• Adjust content and delivery.
• Practice continuously.

By following these guidelines, you can create a webinar presentation that not only delivers your message effectively but also keeps your audience engaged and responsive. Think of each webinar as an opportunity to improve your skills and c onnect with your audience over a shared interest and you’ll make a lasting impression.

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Webinar Presentation Full Guide | Step-by-Step & Top Tips

Do you want to create a webinar presentation that engages your audience and bolsters the strength of your brand? An engaging presentation can be key to hosting a successful webinar!

Research shows that a whopping 57% of marketers run up to 50 webinars every year, with communication webinars proving to deliver a whopping 67.05% conversion rate. Learning how to produce a good webinar presentation can help boost your webinars and make them more successful.

But where should you begin when it comes to creating effective online presentations? 

Riverside has the answers you're searching for! This is our easy step-by-step guide, along with our top webinar tips.

What is a webinar presentation?

A webinar is an online event or seminar that allows a remote audience to meet in a shared virtual environment. Typically, webinars serve an educational purpose, giving participants a chance to learn more about a specific subject matter or skill. This is where presentations on webinars are useful.

Webinar presentations bring a visual element that helps you communicate complex ideas. Presentations are usually in the form of slides, but you can also use video and other visual media. They add value to your webinar and enhance audience engagement . 

For example, you can check out Riverside’s webinar on AI for podcasting, which cover key points effectively yet succinctly. 

Why should you use presentations in your webinars?

Not all webinars include presentations, but they should. Here’s why: 

• Add more value to your webinar: Incorporating presentation materials can help you add value and clarity to your webinar content, making it more impactful and memorable for your audience.
• Cater to your audience better: Using a slide deck can help you sum up key information and cater well to all kinds of learners. 
• Emphasize main points: It can also help you draw extra focus to pain points and solutions, as well as including interactive features and a clear call to action.
• Puts the focus on what’s important: If you're prone to stage fright, a presentation can help you take yourself out of the spotlight and stay on track with what you want to communicate. You'll be able to prepare documents ahead of time that ensure your audience learns from your event. You can even share slides later on!

All of these elements allow you to take control of your virtual event and more comprehensively cover your webinar topic in a way that instills trust and purpose. This will make people more likely to tune into more webinars from you in the future!

How to create and deliver an effective webinar presentation

If you want to master the webinar format and deliver excellent results, you need to know where to start. Follow these steps to get started with your first webinar presentation.

Step 1: Prepare and plan your webinar

Before you begin, it's a good idea to plan your webinar well. This can help you ensure an engaging event that focuses on valuable, relevant content.

Think carefully about what you want to communicate and what lessons you want your audience to take away from your event. Look for clear, simple ways to highlight important details, and consider how you will engage your target audience.

Step 2: Create your presentation and outline

Next, it's time to create your presentation and outline! At this stage, using an existing webinar presentation template can help you get started while learning from what's tried and tested.

Go over the details you need to communicate, and aim to structure your event logically. Use your presentation template to guide the flow of information and the extra elements you include. Create visually appealing slides that help you communicate clearly. Remember to allow reasonable time for each webinar section, and don't forget a title slide or call to action slide!

Step 3: Encourage people to join the event

When you know what your webinar will include, you need to start spreading the word! If you're hosting a live event, you'll need to provide your target audience with the opportunity to sign up ahead of time.

Create a user-friendly sign-up form that directs attendees to the links they'll need to access your webinar. Share the news of your webinar wherever you can! Often, webinars gain traction through advertising on social media platforms and via email marketing.

Step 4: Set up hosting and technology

Prior to your webinar presentation, you'll need to make sure that all hosting and technology is working correctly. This includes choosing a webinar software solution that you trust.

Try a high-quality system like Riverside, which offers presentation recording along with live call-ins, local recording technology and separate video and audio tracks for up to 8 participants. (You can learn more at riverside.fm .)

Check that your internet connection is stable enough to host virtual events. You might even consider recording a test project so that you can learn your tools, including chat, recording, and screen-share functionalities.

Step 5: Host your webinar event

Finally, you're ready to create a webinar presentation! Log into your chosen platform at the predetermined event time, and wait for people to start joining.

While hosting your webinar, refer back to your presentation template and outline. Use your materials to guide you through, and remember to encourage engagement from your audience. Ask questions that allow your live audience to get involved.

Step 6: Share your webinar presentation

The impact of your webinar doesn't have to stop once the event is over. If you record your presentation, you can share the on-demand recording for ongoing impact and lead generation.

Position yourself as an industry expert, and take your webinar to a post-production audience by sharing it on social media. You can also use this as an opportunity to reconnect with live attendees and invite people to your next event.

Step 7: Follow up with webinar attendees

Last. but not least, it's important to follow up with your audience. This can help you build relationships and make the most of conversion benefits.

In the days that follow your webinar, send a brief follow-up email to attendees, and ask if they still have any questions or future event requests. You can also use this as a place for gathering feedback while you generate leads and direct to your CTA.

The secret to a successful webinar presentation: 4 factors to consider

When hosting a webinar, there are a few factors you should be aware of to ensure the best possible outcome for you and your audience alike. Keep these webinar practices things in mind!

Highlight key information clearly

During a live webinar, you'll be delivering a lot of information! This is great, but it could be overwhelming for some audience members. That's why it's important to prioritize clarity.

As much as possible, work to highlight key details clearly and succinctly, using bullet points or another streamlined communication format. If you're working with a lot of complex material, you might even email attendees with a summary of key points after your event.

Use visual cues to support content

Next, it's a good idea to think cleverly about the visual cues you rely on during your webinar. From images and graphs to listed text, visual data can help people retain information.

When creating visual presentation materials, don't be afraid to rely on a presentation template that helps you format information effectively. Just remember to bring in your brand colors and logo for consistency and recognition.

Showcase your expertise

If you're hosting a webinar, you need to position yourself as the expert. Create a presentation that highlights your skills and experience, including what you bring to the topic at hand.

In some instances, you might even preface your presentation with a brief editor's note demonstrating your educational or professional background. If these details are relevant, they can help you emphasize your value and boost your credibility as a presenter.

Make it a two-way interaction

A live webinar doesn't have to be a lecture ! You can turn your event into a conversation, inviting and responding to audience questions to help maintain a high level of engagement.

Encourage people to share their ideas and participate proactively in your event. This can make your webinar more fun for the people who attend, all while providing you with further insights into what might be missing from your standard webinar presentation template.

5 tips to master your webinar presentations

Still need more tips to help you master the art of a good webinar? Here are 4 quick and easy tips!

Attend other webinars

Sometimes, the best way to learn is by watching other people. While you shouldn't copy another host, you can attend other webinars to get a sense of what works well and what needs improvement. Check out webinars in your industry or niche, and find out what people want to see more of. Then you can deliver these things in your own content!

Note what works

Similarly, it's important to take note of what works well in the world of webinars. Document effective strategies that you notice in other people's events and in your own. Aim to incorporate more of what you know helps a webinar thrive. Always keep looking for new ways to further enhance your hosting approach.

Invest in tools

Investing in the right tools can make a big difference to the overall quality of your webinar and, subsequently, your audience's experience. Choose a webinar platform with great built-in features. Invest in webinar software that aligns with your goals and needs, including presentation tools and audience size limitations. We recommend Riverside, which prioritizes quality and ease of use to help you achieve the best digital communication results.

Listen to attendees

Importantly, listen to your audience. Your attendees will help to guide you in the right direction for future webinar content. Give people a chance to offer feedback, voice opinions, and ask questions about your delivery style. This could help you hone your presentation skills or even discover new high-impact topics to cover.

Present with passion

Did you know that 67% of webinar attendees say a passionate presenter keeps them watching? Make it clear that you care about what you're saying, and show audiences why they should care too. When you are enthusiastic about your content, you'll find it easier to drive engagement and get people interested in what you have to say.

FAQs on webinar presentations

Still have webinar questions? You asked, and we answered!

Where can I find webinar presentation templates?

There are many webinar presentation templates that you can access online to help guide your event. We recommend trying Canva's free and customizable templates as a beginner-friendly starting point.

How do you plan a webinar presentation?

Planning a webinar presentation doesn't have to be a challenge! Simply think about what you want to communicate and what you want your audience to learn. Then consider the simplest way to articulate this information. If you're feeling stuck, you can use a webinar presentation template to help you establish a strong content structure.

What is the difference between a webinar and a seminar?

A webinar is a seminar that takes place online, instead of occurring in an in-person environment. Live webinars can often have more marketing benefits than real-life events, as they allow users to join in from anywhere in the world. You can also give people access to a recording if they are unable to attend your event live!

How long should a webinar presentation be?

The right length for your webinar presentation will vary depending on your industry, the audience you serve, and the topic you're covering. However, popular research shows that 60 minutes is a good length in many instances. This allows you to introduce yourself, present for 40 to 45 minutes, and host a 10- or 15-minute end-of-session Q&A, which 92% of attendees find beneficial.

Final thoughts

If you're ready to create real impact for your audience, a webinar is the perfect solution! Watch some of Riverside's webinars to help you develop your understanding of the medium. When you're ready, log into your Riverside account, and get started on a studio-quality virtual event!

Kendall Breitman

leads Riverside's community. She has over ten years of experience in television and video production for places like NBC and Bloomberg News. You’ll find Kendall on our webinar, where she shares her expert insights on content production, branding, and more.

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13 Tips for Webinar Presenters: A Guide to Engaging Webinars

• Engagement & Interactivity
• Published: September 21, 2023

The Power of Webinar Presentations

In the world of virtual communication, webinars have emerged as a game-changer.

Webinars connect businesses, organizations, and individuals to connect with their audience in an engaging virtual environment. 

As a webinar presenter, you hold the key to unlocking a treasure trove of knowledge. Inspire your attendees to take action. 

Mastering webinar etiquette and best practices helps you conduct seamless and successful webinars.

Our comprehensive guide covers tips and strategies for presenters on all aspects of webinar presentations from planning to follow-up.

Use these tips to become a better webinar host, whether you’re new to it or have experience.

Learn how to successfully engage your audience and make your webinars unforgettable.

Embracing Your Role as a Webinar Presenter

As the face behind the screen during a webinar session, you play multiple roles:

• Subject Matter Expert (SME): You need to be familiar with the topic at hand to answer questions confidently while providing valuable insights.
• Master Facilitator: Your role is much more than information sharing. Keep the content flowing smoothly and encourage participation from attendees. Guide participants through the material with skill, manage your time wisely and quickly address any technical issues.
• Engaging Dynamo: Actively engage with your audience by asking thought-provoking questions, encouraging participation, and promptly responding to comments.

4 Essential Skills for a Successful Webinar Presenter

As an expert webinar presenter, you possess a unique set of skills essential for delivering a captivating and impactful presentation. Let’s dive into these skills in detail:

• The Power of Effective Communication : Communication lies at the heart of every successful webinar presentation. Practice strong verbal and non-verbal communication skills to connect with your audience on a deeper level.
• Technical Know-How of Webinar Tools : Have a solid understanding of the technical aspects involved in hosting webinars. Be familiar with various webinar platforms, troubleshooting common issues seamlessly. Use screen sharing or interactive polls for interactive engagement .
• Presentation Techniques for Audience Engagement : Keep your audience engaged throughout the entire duration of the invested in your webinar by adding storytelling techniques and unique examples or case studies. Create visually appealing slides to support your message.
• Time Management Expertise and Strategic Planning: Master time management during your presentations by planning ahead . Always outline or script your content. Ensure you cover all necessary points within the allocated timeframe while leaving room for questions or discussions.

Delivering an Engaging Webinar Presentation

A well-structured presentation keeps your audience engaged from start to finish.

1. Craft an Organized, Engaging Presentation

How can you connect with your audience?

• Create a logical flow.  Organize your presentation in a way that tells a coherent story and moves smoothly from one point to the next. Use transitions between key sections.
• Hook the audience early on . Start strong to grab attention right away. Consider an intriguing question, statistic, or anecdote on your topic.
• Focus on key takeaways.  Don’t try to cover too much. Highlight the 3-5 most important points you want viewers to remember. Reinforce these.
• Use striking visuals.  Webinars are a visual medium. Slides with compelling images, charts, and graphics will boost engagement. Avoid text-heavy slides.
• Add interactive elements.  Get the audience involved with polls, Q&As, and live demos. These activities keep participants attentive and provide valuable feedback.
• Practice your delivery.  Rehearse your webinar with slides to polish your pacing, tone, and smooth transitions between concepts. Time yourself.
• Check timing.  Leave room for questions and interactive portions. A 45-60 minute webinar works best for most topics.

2. Introduce Yourself Professionally

Your introduction sets the tone for the webinar and builds your credibility. What does a strong intro include?

• Welcome. Thank attendees for joining and express enthusiasm for the topic and having them attend.
• Agenda overview. Give a quick rundown of the webinar sections and topics you’ll cover.
• Speaker bio. In 1-2 sentences, highlight your expertise and background related to the subject. Keep it concise and relevant.
• Company information (if relevant). Briefly share your role and key facts about the host organization. Keep branding subtle.
• Housekeeping. Cover any key webinar features to highlight such as how to ask questions.
• Transition to content. End your intro smoothly and transition into the meat of your presentation.

3. Speak Slowly, Clearly and With Expression

Your voice is a crucial means of keeping viewers engaged during a webinar. Follow these vocal best practices:

• Pace yourself. Speak slowly and clearly to be easily understood. Pauses give participants time to digest information.
• Enunciate and project. Articulate words fully and avoid mumbling. Project your voice to be heard through speakers.
• Vary tone for emphasis. Use inflection and volume strategically to stress key points. A dynamic tone keeps interest piqued.
• Show enthusiasm. Bring energy to your voice. Passion for the topic is contagious for the audience.
• Avoid filler words. Reducing “um” and “ah” improves professionalism. Pauses work better for transitions.
• Check audio quality. Make sure audio is clear without echoes or background noise on your end.

4. Use Body Language That Aligns With Your Message

Presenters on video should match their body language to their message for maximum impact:

• Make frequent eye contact. Look into your webcam often to feel connected with participants. Don’t just read slides.
• Limit distracting movements. Adjust your position infrequently. Shifting around is visually disruptive.
• Use purposeful gestures. Reinforce key points with relevant hand movements and facial expressions. 
• Sit up straight. Good posture projects confidence and engagement. Avoid slouching.
• Lean into the camera for emphasis. Subtle forward movement during key moments helps reinforce your point.
• Stay within the frame. Keep your full face visible within the webcam shot. Avoid cropping at the forehead or chin.
• Have a consistent background. Pick a plain backdrop and keep it the same in every webinar. A professional background adds credibility.

5. Engage Attendees With Questions

Questions give participants an active role and provide feedback for you as the presenter:

• Ask early questions to warm up the audience. Start with easier questions to get responses flowing. Offer quick polls or icebreakers.
• Spread questions throughout the webinar. Insert 2-3 questions per 10-15 minutes. Leave room for wrapping up with Q&A.
• Offer a mix of open and closed questions. Yes/no and multiple choice polls are good for quick feedback. Open questions provide more detailed responses.
• Repeat or rephrase questions as needed. If participants seem confused or don’t respond, clarify the question.
• Allow enough time for participants to respond. 10-20 seconds is usually sufficient for polls. Leave 30-60 seconds for open questions.
• Acknowledge all responses neutrally. Thank everyone for participating without judgment of quality.

6. Manage Live Q&A Smoothly and Efficiently

The live Q&A allows participants to get direct answers. Manage it effectively with these tips:

• Set Q&A guidelines upfront. Explain if questions should be held until the end or can be asked anytime in chat or unmute.
• Repeat each question out loud before answering. This ensures all attendees hear the question.
• Keep answers focused. Provide direct, concise responses tailored to the question asked. Don’t go off topic.
• Modify unclear questions. It’s OK to rephrase convoluted questions for clarity before answering.
• Defer questions if needed. If faced with a question you don’t know the answer to, let the asker know you’ll follow up with them after the webinar.
• Don’t get dragged into arguments. Stay professional and neutral if questions feel hostile or combative. Move on swiftly if necessary.
• Wrap up when time is up. If the webinar time is ending, let attendees know you need to wrap up even if hands are still raised.

7. Appear Relaxed and Confident On Camera

Appearing relaxed, comfortable, and confident on video keeps participants engaged and builds credibility:

• Smile and make eye contact. A friendly expression and direct eye contact makes you seem approachable.
• Avoid stiff or nervous body language. Keep movements fluid and natural. Shake out tension before going on camera.
• Sit up straight. Good posture projects confidence without seeming tense.
• Have a drink available. Take small sips of water if your mouth gets dry. Avoid noisy gulping sounds.
• Breathe deeply. Slow steady breaths reduce stress and racing thoughts. Inhale before speaking if needed.
• Channel your excitement. Think of your enthusiasm for the topic rather than any nerves about presenting. Passion is contagious.
• Imagine you’re speaking to a friend. Envision a supportive, familiar face rather than an anonymous audience.

8. Troubleshoot Minor Technical Issues Smoothly

Despite thorough preparation, small tech issues may still pop up. Handle them with poise:

• Have tech support’s contact handy. Keep the email/phone of your webinar tech assistance within reach. Don’t hesitate to contact them.
• Take a deep breath. Acknowledge the issue calmly and remind attendees that technical glitches happen. Stay cool under pressure.
• Narrate your actions to fix the problem. Let participants know step-by-step what you are doing to address the issue.
• Apologize briefly. Offer a simple “sorry about that” and move on once resolved. Don’t dwell or get flustered.
• Have backup slides/activities ready. Be prepared to go to a backup agenda if needed due to technical difficulties.
• Take it offline. Ask the attendee with the problem to connect with you offline for complex individual issues.
• Remain visibly unflappable. Keep your composure even if you are feeling anxious. Participants will follow your cue.

9. Monitor Chat Questions and Participation

Actively monitoring the chat and participation metrics ensures you respond at the right times:

• Position chat where you can see it easily. Place the chat box near your webcam to make reading questions natural.
• Scan for questions often. Check for new questions or comments every 2-3 minutes. Respond promptly.
• Designate helpers to monitor the chat. Make co-hosts or assistants responsible for chat questions.
• Review participation metrics after polls. Note the percentage of attendees responding. Follow up if it seems low.
• Save time for written Q&A. Allow 5 dedicated minutes for chat questions at the end. Scroll up to address unanswered questions.
• Acknowledge chat responses when possible. Give quick verbal or non-verbal recognition when participants write answers.
• Keep responses concise. Provide short, focused answers in chat. For longer replies, address verbally or follow up later.

10. Wrap Up with Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Close out your webinar by summarizing key points covered and next steps for the audience:

• Repeat the main takeaways. Remind viewers of your webinar content’s 3-5 most important points.
• Provide resources for learning more. Share links, downloads, or other tools if attendees want to delve deeper.
• Clarify the next steps. Explicitly tell participants your recommendation for what actions they should take after the webinar.
• Promote future events or offers briefly.  Mention upcoming webinars  or offers tied to the topic without an overly salesy pitch.
• Thank attendees again. Express gratitude for those who attended and their interest in the subject.
• End punctually. Finish within the promised webinar time. Avoid cutting into the next hour unexpectedly.
• Keep the webinar open briefly. Give participants 1-2 minutes after your presentation to view resources and connect.

11. Follow Up After the Webinar

The work doesn’t end when the webinar does. Follow up for maximum impact:

• Send a thank you and follow-up email. Reiterate your appreciation and key takeaways in  a prompt email to registrants . Include any promised resources.
• Share the recording and slides if appropriate. Give access as promised to attendees who missed the live event.
• Analyze webinar metrics and feedback. Review analytics and survey data to improve future webinars.
• Respond to outstanding questions. Address any questions you couldn’t answer during the live event via email.
• Reach out to high-value attendees. If desired, start a conversation with attendees who could be qualified leads.
• Adjust future webinars based on feedback. Use attendee reactions and suggestions to enhance your ongoing webinar program.
• Highlight webinar performance in reports. Quantify the webinar’s reach and engagement for stakeholders.

12. Optimize the Presentation Experience

Beyond your presentation skills, optimize the experience with these tips:

• Start with an engaging webinar title and description. Use keywords attendees are searching for. Provide details on what the webinar will cover.
• Build buzz with promotions. Get the word out by promoting through social media, email lists, and colleague networks.
• Send reminder emails. Gently remind registered attendees 1-2 days prior and again the day of the event. Include a calendar invite and login instructions.
• Open the webinar 15 minutes early. Allow participants to get settled with audio, video, and materials beforehand. Greet early arrivals.
• Use an organized webinar dashboard. Enable clear controls for muting, chat, screen sharing, whiteboarding, and other features you plan to use.
• Create well-designed visual slides. Craft slides with large text, relevant graphics and ample white space. Use slide themes consistently.
• Test connectivity beforehand. Do a full webinar run-through on the platform to spot connection issues before going live.
• Start right on time. Don’t make attendees who show up promptly wait. But don’t panic if some straggle in late. Carry on professionally.

13. Select the Best Webinar Platform

Choosing the right webinar software can make or break the presentation experience:

• Evaluate essential features. Assess which platforms offer must-haves like screen sharing, recording, chat, Q&A, and polling.
• Compare audience capacity. Make sure the platform can handle your expected number of live attendees. There’s often tiered pricing.
• Check mobile functionality. Test attending from a mobile device if you expect viewers to use phones or tablets. Optimize for mobile if needed.
• Review platform reputation. Search for reviews and use free trials to assess the platform’s reliability and ease of use.
• Assess visual appeal. Compare how customizable, professional, and visually engaging each software’s webinar environment appears.
• Confirm tech support options. Look for 24/7 tech troubleshooting via chat, email, and phone. You never know when you’ll need help.
• Evaluate price and value. Weigh pricing tiers based on features offered and expected frequency of use. Don’t overpay for unnecessary bells and whistles.

Presenting successful webinars takes practice and preparation. 

Are you ready to take your webinar hosting skills to the next level? Master the art of the webinar. 

By following these key tips, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a dynamic and engaging presenter who delivers real value to your audience.

With the right mix of organization, visuals, engagement, and technical execution, you will create a webinar experience that your audience will crave. 

Establish your authority, and generate more leads and results. 

Remember, stay focused on your audience, refine your methods, and aim to turn each attendee into an active participant. 

So, what are you waiting for? 

Stop settling for lackluster webinar results. 

Transform your virtual events into riveting experiences that inspire action with We & Goliath. 

For over 20 years, we’ve helped clients captivate audiences, achieving up to 7X higher attendance. 

Our passionate team of experts will craft a customized webinar strategy to engage participants, spark meaningful connections, and drive conversions. 

Unleash the full potential of your webinars. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with our specialists and discover proven techniques to deliver your message powerfully. 

Claim your free consultation now to learn how we can work together to create show-stopping webinars that exceed expectations and generate real impact for your business.

Organizing a full-scale virtual or hybrid conference is overwhelming easy with the right team . Leave the stress to us, so you can focus on what you do best.

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• Content Creation

41 Tips & Best Practices To Create Great Webinars

Want to improve your webinars? Check out this guide with 41 best practices to target your audience, generate leads, and maximize conversions.

Webinars can be an invaluable tool for marketers. When done right, they can:

• Act as great content for your brand.
• Build your brand as an authority in your industry
• Generate leads based on your ideal audience.
• Be repurposed as evergreen content for your brand.

But where do you start?

Marketers are flooded with webinars daily, some better than others.

How do you stand out above the rest and ensure you’re not presenting to only a few dozen audience members?

It’s a fact of life that many webinars fall flat, with low attendance and high drop-off rates.

That’s where we want to help.

In this guide, you’ll learn 41 tips for turning your webinar from middling returns to reaching your ideal audience and hitting your key performance indicators (KPIs) .

If you need a refresher first, let’s look at what a webinar actually is.

What Is a Webinar?

As you may have guessed (or already know), a webinar is an online seminar.

It has all the necessary elements of a seminar: a moderator, a presenter who is an expert on their topic, a slide deck or other visual media, and an audience.

The main difference between webinars and online videos is that webinars offer live interaction between the presenter and the audience through live chats, interactive Q&As, and even video chats with attendees.

Why You Should Use Webinars

So, you’ve never run a webinar before – why should you start now?

Here are five reasons.

• Your ideal audience can be found anywhere in the world. No plane tickets, no booking a room. You can engage with new and existing audiences no matter their location.
• You can interface with your audience directly and in a more interactive way. You don’t have to wait to catch up with interested audience members after the presentation. You can respond to their questions and see what their focus is live on air, thanks to a moderated chat and Q&A.
• You establish yourself as a thought leader in your space. By hosting a free webinar that’s powerful and enticing, your audience will believe your paid content must be even better. (Conversions!)
• You gain tons of qualified leads. Registering for a webinar requires email addresses, and since they’re expressing interest in your webinar, you can count on qualified leads .
• You gain a huge source of evergreen content . The live webinar is only the beginning. With some extra work after, you can repurpose it into blogs , video content, infographics, and more.

What Do You Need For a Webinar?

To present a webinar, you’ll need a few elements working together:

• An online webinar application, like BigMarker or GoToWebinar, to have a place for your audience to watch the hosted webinar.
• A compelling slideshow presentation or other visual media designed to educate and entice.
• An expert or thought leader in your field to present the information and field questions from the audience.
• A good headset or microphone, with a high-quality camera for the presenter.

You also should build a promotional schedule in advance to ensure your audience is aware of your webinar with plenty of lead time before the presentation. This should include:

• A landing page detailing what the webinar will present, along with a form for registering.
• Social media posts hyping up the upcoming webinar.
• An email campaign to your list.
• A blog post or other similar content pointing to the landing page and elaborating on what the audience can expect.

We’ll go into more detail on these elements below.

Ready to create a webinar that stands out above the rest? Use these 41 tips when crafting your next webinar.

41 Tips Only The Greatest Webinar Hosts Know

Worried about being ignored or abandoned by your audience? Follow these tips to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Webinar Strategy

1. know your attendees.

Ask yourself:

• Who will be attending?
• What challenges/problems are they facing?
• What are their goals?

Answering these questions will help you plan a webinar that’s laser-focused on improving your attendees’ lives.

For instance, Teachable does a great job with its webinars because it knows that its audience:

• Is composed of people dreaming of creating their own profitable online courses…
• …but don’t know where to start.

2. Think About Visual Branding

Be consistent and try to align everything with your brand’s visual tone.

For example, be sure to insert your logo where it makes sense, such as the opening animation or the main slides.

You also need to use fonts, colors, and other visual elements that match your brand’s overall style. These small details are essential to creating a cohesive experience for your webinar attendees.

Also, they’ll make your brand more recognizable, especially if you utilize the same visual style in your other content.

For example, check out how Search Engine Journal links its promotional image to its branding style.

3. Keep Mobile In Mind

Not everyone who views your webinar will do so on a desktop computer.

25% of webinar viewers prefer mobile over desktop, so it’s important to ensure they’re taken care of during the webinar.

To give them a flawless experience , increase the size of your text and visuals.

Choose a webinar platform that supports mobile. A great example is ClickMeeting. (You can download its app if you want to run the webinar on your phone.)

4. Offer Your Products Or Services As An Add-On

Offering your product in the middle of a webinar won’t turn the whole thing into an ad.

As long as your webinar delivers everything it promises, your audience should be more receptive to whatever you pitch.

There are only two things you need to remember:

• The rest of the advice presented in the webinar should still be useful with or without your product.
• Make sure to present the product when it makes sense.

5. Consider A Paid Webinar Series

Webinar marketing can be costly. A paid webinar series could pay for itself.

Asking attendees to pay for a webinar raises their expectations that the quality will be top-shelf. Make sure you deliver on that promise.

Once you’re confident in the value and quality you can provide, consider producing a paid webinar series for extra income.

Just remember to wait until you’re absolutely sure your target audience is willing to pay for your webinar content.

Test different price points until you find one that’s right for your audience.

While a paid model might keep your numbers down, you will likely get a more engaged audience.

Webinar Planning & Preparation

6. get help.

Hosting a webinar by yourself is possible, but it can drive you crazy.

To avoid this, consider getting someone (or a team) to work with you to make sure things go smoothly – from the planning and the promotion to the webinar itself and everything that follows.

They don’t necessarily have to be knowledgeable about the webinar topic, but they should be able to troubleshoot issues and moderate interactions with attendees. (An assistant who knows about webinar equipment and software is great.)

7. Pick Your Topic

Always focus on content first.

You must maintain high editorial standards.

People attend webinars to learn.

So, you need to make sure you are offering topics they find interesting.

One of your goals is to demonstrate your authority as an information source. You must show that you know your stuff and that you’re in tune with what’s going on in your space.

For a powerful webinar, you need to narrow it down to a specific topic that will be informative to your target audience.

For example, a webinar about content marketing would be a broad and vague topic to discuss in a webinar.

Instead, try to pick one area of content marketing, such as visual content. This will help you plan the webinar more efficiently and stay focused on a topic.

Here are five ways you can find a webinar topic your audience will be interested in:

• FAQs: Mind your frequently asked questions page for topics your customers frequently search .
• Search Google Analytics for top traffic pages: You can pick a topic by seeing what content is being discussed and shared the most on your site.
• Ask sales or your social team: Ask your team members what topics they discuss with customers daily. These may be areas where more information may be needed.
• Poll your audience : You can also ask your audience directly for topics they would find useful.
• Competition: Look at your competitors to see if there are any topics or ideas you can adapt and make your own.

8. Write An Attention-Grabbing Title

Your webinar’s title is your first interaction with your audience.

When they see it, they’ll decide whether to sign up.

This means the first step toward crafting a magnetizing title is to know your audience and their pain points.

For instance, you learn that your audience struggles to find share-worthy topics to write about in their blog.

To excite their interest, give your webinar a title like this.

• Don’t be too fancy. Simply identify your audience’s problem and craft a title that promises to solve it.
• Use power-punching words. “ Fill” and “ease” spark up your audience’s imagination. Think about how much less engagement you’d get with a title like “Know What to Write About.”
• Never be misleading. Your title shouldn’t make promises your webinar content can’t keep.

9. Find A Great Speaker

You can either use speakers from within your company or industry experts or influencers.

Regardless of your route, the key is making sure the speaker has the proper knowledge and experience to talk about the topic of your webinar.

Your speakers should be credible and demonstrate authority.

If your webinar is sponsored, and the sponsor will choose or provide the speaker, make sure to maintain editorial control.

Insist on an executive or subject matter expert who knows the topic well and is a polished presenter.

Work together to define a topic that balances the sponsor’s messaging with the needs of your audience.

10. Pick A Date/Time

Keep these scheduling secrets in mind:

• Wednesday and Thursday emerge as the strong days for holding webinars; the optimal day ultimately depends on your goals and audience.
• 10 a.m. GMT is the best time for webinars.

Remember to keep time zones in mind. If you’re based on the West Coast, then starting a webinar at 6 p.m. PT is probably too late for attendees living on the East Coast.

11. Decide On Your Webinar Format

Once you know what topic you want to cover, break it down into more specific topics and plan the webinar formats you will use.

Here are some of the most popular formats you should consider:

• Single expert presenter: One expert shares their insights or tips.
• Dual presenters: Instead of just one presenter, you have two presenters. This helps engage and educate the audience and may allow you to share more information.
• Panel: Like a live panel, you could host a group of experts discussing a specific topic.
• Q&A webinar: A Q&A webinar is a great opportunity to maximize the engagement of attendees. An expert (or a panel) simply answers the questions asked by your audience via chat or social media.
• Interview webinar: Having a popular influencer as a guest speaker is a great way to boost attendance and build your authority. You just need to be up for the extra work of influencer outreach , which can be time-consuming and tedious.
• Product demonstration: If the goal of your webinar is to promote a product, then you can choose the product demonstration or tutorial format.

Test different formats until you find the one that works best for your audience – then stick to it.

You can also do a mix of formats. For example, you could have a mix of a single expert presenter and Q&A.

12. Do A Dry Run

Before the day of the presentation, get everyone together to do a dry run of the webinar, acting as if it were the real thing.

Ensure all the equipment is working properly, the slides are all in order, and the speakers know what they’re doing.

Remember, things will go wrong on a dry run.

(I’m saying this from experience.)

To avoid glitches and embarrassing gaffes during the webinar, conduct a complete “dress rehearsal” a few days before going live.

13. Document Your Webinar Process

You may need to craft dozens or even hundreds of webinars to reap the full benefits of this amazing marketing tool.

That’s why you need to document your entire process.

Doing so will streamline your webinar production in the future.

Create an editorial calendar where topics, speakers, and dates are tracked and planned weeks in advance.

Also, list every task and to-do item for every stage of your webinar so nothing gets forgotten.

You can use a project management tool to ensure everyone stays on time.

Make sure to keep separate records for different webinar formats.

Over time, you’ll be able to identify what works, what doesn’t, and what you can do to fine-tune your process.

Technical Requirements

14. choose the right webinar platform.

Worried that technical problems will lead to poor feedback and ratings?

You don’t have to be – once you pick the right webinar platform.

Here are four questions to ask when selecting one:

• Does it fit your budget?
• Does it include the features you need, such as the ability to offer surveys?
• How many attendees does it allow?
• Can you record?

Search Engine Journal uses BigMarker as the webinar platform for its SEJ Webinar series. Its easy interface allows for a seamless user experience.

It is also easy to schedule and configure the settings of each webinar.

BigMarker also provides automated polls, the ability to load supplemental handouts, and follow-up emails to promote attendee engagement.

It also has chat capabilities that allow for more engagement and a live Q&A function that allows the audience to upvote their favorite questions.

The webinar reports generated by BigMarker are segregated by what metrics you wish to see – whether it’s about attendance, registration, performance, a poll, Q&A questions, or just the overall webinar analytics.

It gives a good measure of what you did well and what else you can improve on.

Other webinar platform options include:

• EasyWebinar.
• WebinarNinja.
• Webinar Jam.
• GoToWebinar.

15. Invest In A Great Headset Or Microphone

You don’t want your audience to be straining just to catch every word you say.

You want them to sit back comfortably as they listen to your crystal-clear voice.

To achieve this, stop using your laptop’s built-in mic for webinars.

Upgrade to a high-quality headset or microphone. You’ll notice the difference in no time.

This doesn’t mean you need to shell out $500. You can get excellent microphones for under a hundred dollars if you know where to look.

Check out our recommendations here .

16. Make Sure Your Internet Connection Is Stable

Have you ever gotten kicked out of a webinar?

Now imagine this: getting kicked out of your own webinar!

Yup, this can happen if you have an unstable internet connection.

To avoid the embarrassment of this webinar gaffe, test your internet connection first.

Remember, this is true for both the host and the presenter.

17. Test Your Gear

Be careful not to overlook the basic stuff.

Make sure you are equipped to deliver a high-quality webinar that people will remember.

The best way is to set up a test webinar including every feature you wish to use, starting with your audio and video recording equipment.

You don’t need to have an elaborate plan. Just record a test clip and ask for someone’s opinion regarding your sound, video quality, or any other elements your audience will notice.

If you use a particular webinar platform, familiarize yourself with all its useful features (e.g., interactive features like polls that can help you improve engagement).

On the day of the webinar, be ready 10 to 15 minutes early to ensure you’re prepared and that all of your gear is working.

Bonus tip: Never use new equipment on the day of the webinar. Use the equipment you’re familiar with so that if there is a problem, you can troubleshoot.

18. Eliminate Any Potential Sources Of Noise

Here’s a short checklist of the things you should do right before the webinar to prevent any distracting noises:

• Mute every other device that isn’t necessary for the webinar.
• Inspect your room for anything that produces noise.
• Make sure your webinar area is inaccessible to pets and children.
• Close applications running in the background of your computer.

Marketing Your Webinar

19. create a webinar landing page.

Don’t forget to create a landing page for your webinar.

Use this page to drive registrations and provide important information, including:

• Speaker information.
• Date and time.
• What attendees will learn.

Remember, you don’t need to get super fancy.

A simple page like this will work.

20. Write A Blog Post About Your Webinar

Write a blog post to help promote the webinar in advance.

Even if you don’t have a huge blog following, you can share this on social and email.

21. Promote Your Webinar On Social Media

Promoting your webinar on social media is one of the best ways to boost attendance.

Naturally, you need to promote your webinar through your existing social media channels, but you should also leverage the power of hashtags.

A branded hashtag can also work well as an interaction tool during your webinar.

For example, you can have a contest requiring viewers to tweet using a specific hashtag. The winner can then be chosen live by performing a quick hashtag search.

A more straightforward strategy, however, is simply encouraging attendees to use your hashtag when asking questions or discussing the webinar.

Not only will this strategy heighten the audience’s sense of involvement, but it will also further extend your brand’s social reach – introducing more people to your brand as a result.

22. Promote Your Webinar Via Email

If you already have an email database , make sure to promote your webinar to your subscribers.

Keep it concise, and make it easy for people to register.

Also, make sure you send out email reminders to people who have already registered for your webinar.

For example, you can email participants one day before the webinar or perhaps one hour before it starts.

Test what works best for you.

Bonus tip: Keep promoting after the webinar is over through all these channels as well, especially any content you publish based on it. You want to squeeze the most value out of your webinar.

23. Promote Your Webinar Via A Pop-Up

Do you say “ewww” whenever you think of pop-ups?

Those don’t work, right?

The top-performing pop-ups have a conversion rate of 9.3% . (Compare that to the average click-through rate of paid display ads – a meager .35% !)

So, no, pop-ups aren’t dead.

It may be that you’re simply doing them wrong.

To turn things around for your webinar invitation pop-ups:

• Be clear about what you’re offering (and ensure your audience desires it).
• Don’t show your pop-up immediately (show it when your visitor has been on your page for at least 15 seconds).
• Be unique and let your brand’s personality shine through.

Here are examples of pop-ups we’ve used in the past.

Tips For Webinar Hosts

24. start on time.

Your attendees are busy. Don’t waste their time.

If your webinar is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., then make sure that everyone is all ready to go at 1 p.m.

There’s nothing more frustrating than being kept waiting on a hold screen.

You’ll lose attendees – and potential customers, clients, or subscribers.

25. Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

First impressions matter.

When the webinar starts, you set the tone – so you will need to keep everyone engaged by welcoming them.

Know the bios of your speakers so you can introduce them without shuffling through papers or stumbling.

26. Hook Them Quick

You need to capture your audience’s attention immediately.

Remember, it only takes a couple of clicks to leave a webinar.

To keep your audience around:

• Avoid banter. People have better things to do, and if you bore them with your childhood story or your favorite ice cream brand (or any unnecessary, irrelevant details), they won’t stick around.
• Get straight to the point as soon as you can.
• Outline your audience’s pain points…
• …and make it clear you’ll solve them by the end of the webinar.
• List everything your audience is going to learn.
• Show them your enthusiasm and excitement.

27. Have Questions Ready For Q&A

Although attendees will likely ask plenty of questions, it is always a smart idea to have a list of prepared questions ready, just in case the audience isn’t as engaged as you expected.

28. Accept That Things Might Go Wrong

No matter how prepared you are, always remember that some things are out of your hands.

You could lose electricity.

Your WiFi could go down.

Or, your laptop could choose today to die.

Usually, the problems won’t be that dramatic. They’ll be more like hiccups.

But things can – and will – go wrong.

Tips For Webinar Presenters

29. write a great script.

Just like any other type of live event, whether it’s a talk show or podcast, a script can do wonders for your webinar.

Your script is essentially your road map.

These notes will keep you on course.

Do you have to pre-plan every word you’re going to say?

But no matter how knowledgeable or passionate you are about a specified topic, trying to present or conduct an interview for an hour can be extremely challenging if it isn’t (at least slightly) scripted.

30. But Don’t Be Afraid To Go Off Script

Preparing a well-written script may be an essential step in webinar planning, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow it to the letter.

Sometimes, you need to go off script and elaborate to keep your audience engaged and entertained.

Always remember that your goal isn’t to go through everything as fast as possible – rather, it should be to convey your message as comprehensively as possible.

31. Practice Your Presentation

There is no such thing as too much rehearsal.

Some people can just “wing it.”

But these typically result in “OK” presentations, not fantastic or memorable webinars.

Whether you’re reading your script word for word, or following cue cards, you need to rehearse in order to inject proper tonality and personality in your words.

If not for that, at least make sure your sounds and slides are working well.

Sounding like a robot is bad. Sounding like someone confident and personable is good.

Your goal is to be remembered.

People typically only remember great speakers.

The rest is quickly forgotten.

32. Develop Visual Slides

What’s the point of using slides in your webinar if they’re only going to contain bulleted lists or lengthy paragraphs?

This is lazy and a mistake.

Some presenters even make it worse by reading what the viewers can clearly see for themselves.

If that’s been your plan all along, then you might as well forget about it – your webinar is probably going to be boring and fail.

When developing your slides, think of more visuals and fewer words.

Use data visualizations rather than creating lists to iterate statistics.

Getting more visual isn’t too hard to do, as there are plenty of free and affordable design tools available.

33. Use Different Media Formats

Instead of just relying on slides and video of the presenter speaking, use different forms of media.

For example, you could add a video or animation to illustrate your points further.

If you’re demonstrating how a product works, walk the attendees through the process in real time instead of just showing previously taken images.

It breaks up the monotony of the standard webinar and can keep your audience interested.

34. Plan For Interaction

You may think that holding a webinar, which uses video, text, and audio content, is a surefire way to maintain engagement.

But after listening to someone talk for 20 minutes or longer, your audience may get bored or distracted.

To ensure they pay attention up to the end of your webinar, you need to encourage them to participate.

Ask poll questions, provide challenges, and just try to be conversational as you divulge the contents of your webinar.

Fortunately, most webinar platforms provide a handful of interactive tools – the most common of which is a chat area where attendees can communicate freely.

You should have no problem finding a platform with everything you need to carry out your ideas.

35. Are You Inexperienced?

If this is your first webinar – or your first attempt at public speaking – you can expect to be nervous.

It’s perfectly fine. Just about everyone does.

Cracking a joke and acknowledging your nervousness is acceptable, but just don’t let your nerves affect the flow of the webinar.

If you’re ever in doubt, steer the conversation toward the host or another guest speaker to take the lead.

Also, mind your use of pauses to control the pace and learn to prevent fillers like “ummm,” “err,” and so on.

Ultimately, your speaking abilities can only improve with practice.

36. Teach & Sell

You should teach and sell at the same time.

Most people make the mistake of teaching and then selling.

This mistake leads to a very awkward transition when it’s time to make the offer.

Throughout the webinar, you need to teach your audience what to want.

When you get to the offer, your product or service will be exactly what they want!

After The Webinar

37. offer a call to action.

Make sure the audience knows what next step you want them to take.

For example, if you want them to download a whitepaper or sign up for a free trial, let them know and provide links in the webinar and the follow-up email.

If you offer something to attendees, make sure it is:

• Clear and easy to understand.
• Easy to use and saves them either time or money.
• A great deal that they can’t get anywhere else. The price should be a no-brainer.
• Solves problems.
• Only available during the webinar promotion. If they wait, they’ll miss out completely.
• Easy to buy.

38. Ask Attendees To Decide On The Next Webinar Topic

How can you keep attendees coming back for more?

Simple – let them decide what the next webinar will be about.

You can run a poll, ask them on social media, or tell them during the webinar to comment on what they want to see next.

This also makes it easier for you to come up with engaging topics.

Giving your attendees a voice and letting them influence the direction of your webinar strategy also builds brand loyalty.

39. Survey Your Attendees

Want to know whether your attendees loved or hated your webinar?

Ask attendees to take a brief survey so they can provide feedback that will help you improve moving forward.

40. Send People More Content

After the event, follow up with participants by sending them additional content. This includes:

• People who registered but didn’t show up.
• Attendees who left the webinar early.
• People who converted.

For example, you could email the participants a full recap blog post, a SlideShare of the webinar, or a link to the video recording.

Remember: Your audience likes to consume content in many different formats , so repurposing content isn’t about being lazy or rehashing the same old thing. It is about creating strong, standalone pieces of content that your audience will find useful.

41. Track Your Results

Some webinar metrics you can track include:

• How many people registered?
• What were the top sources of registrations?
• How many people actually attended?
• How much time did they spend watching the webinar?

As you can see, webinars are a highly effective way to reach your ideal audience with educational content that lasts.

The first step is deciding what your goals are and then choosing a platform and format that meets those needs.

Creating a webinar takes a lot of planning, coordination, and follow-through – from settling on a specified topic and finding an awesome speaker to preparing for the live event.

The topics, content, and speakers should provide true value to your target audience.

For an effective webinar, you should always:

• Listen to your audience.
• Play to your current strengths.
• Practice for a polished presentation.
• Repurpose your content.

More Resources:

• The Three Pillars Of Content Marketing Strategy
• 20 Best Content Marketing Tools
• B2B Lead Generation: Create Content That Converts

Featured Image: GaudiLab/Shutterstock

Loren Baker is the Founder of SEJ, an Advisor at Alpha Brand Media and runs Foundation Digital, a digital marketing ...

20+ of the Best Webinar Slide Deck Templates for This Year

You’ve probably seen a lot of webinars lately, and it’s because they've proven to be effective sales and marketing tools for all kinds of businesses. If you’re ready to take on your own webinars, here you’ll find incredible webinar slide deck templates for topics around digital marketing, technology, and health and wellness.

What is a Webinar?

A webinar is an online seminar where attendees can ask the presenter questions in real-time. Normally, the speaker is a specialist in a particular field and generates interactive learning opportunities with webinar features such as surveys, whiteboards, and chat rooms. Plus, since there are no geographical barriers, the audience could be anywhere in the world!

You can use webinars for:

• Building authority in the market
• Educating customers on your products
• Generating new leads
• Training remote employees, and more.

Let’s take a look at some tips on how to make a webinar slide deck your audience will love.

Webinar Presentation Tips: How to Create a Great Webinar Slide Deck?

When it comes to webinars, your presentation is key to get your point across. You’re not just doing a live video stream, you’re sharing valuable information with the world. And in most cases, you can’t rely on the subtle cues of body language. You need to get the best out of your available resources. So, here are some great tips to keep in mind when using webinar PowerPoint templates:

1.- Stick to one idea per slide

Nobody likes lengthy-text presentations. Let alone in a webinar! To make sure you’re not overflowing your audience with too much information, follow the rule “One idea per slide”.

Just keep each slide sweet and short with one central message. And if you feel the need to say something else, add another slide. This rule makes your key points easier to follow which means your audience will be so into your presentation that they won’t even notice how many slides you used. Everyone wins!

2.- Don’t forget about the importance of icons

Icons might look small but they definitely make a difference in your webinar presentation. But what is the best way to use them?

Here are some ideas: Instead of boring bullet points, choose icons to organize your text on lists. You can place them next to important ideas to attract your audience’s eyes. Or use little icons as visual aids in your graphics and charts. What’s more, you can find icons for any topic! The ones you see above are part of our free business icons collection .

3.- Always put your information at the center

In the world of webinars, you never know what type of device your audience will be on. So, to make sure your presentation will be easy to read on any screen, avoid corners and put your content nicely at the center of your slides. You don’t want people squeezing their eyes trying to catch that graph in the corner, or even worse, that they don’t notice it at all! Remember: Make it simple for them.

4.- Make sure you’ve got the right visuals

Webinars usually consist of a live video transmission alongside a slideshow presentation. And here’s where many presenters fall short. The presentation design needs for a virtual event are different from a face-to-face seminar. You go from a projector that shows your slides on a large scale to someone’s laptop (or even mobile!) screen. For that reason, your webinar presentation should have attractive visual elements that helo you elevate your online delivery.

Believe it or not, your presentation design has an impact on how your audience receives the information and enhances your skills to keep everyone engaged. Just check out these examples designed by the 24Slides team:

Luckily, you’re in the right place to find the best slide deck templates for your next webinar!

5 Free Digital Marketing Webinar Templates to Reach New Prospects

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest… all of them are popular social media channels that companies use to build their brand presence online. So, why don’t you create a digital marketing webinar? They are always in high demand, which assures you a big audience.

Playful Facebook Report Template

Facebook has reported more than a billion daily active users and shared that 74% of its users are high-income earners . So, webinars about how to boost engagement on Facebook pages or around paid advertising on Facebook sound promising.

This Blue PowerPoint Template resembles the style of the popular social media platform in all its slides. Alongside reaction emojis, “like” icons and data charts, you’ll also find graphics of Facebook posts and comment boxes that evoke a real-time social media interaction. Your viewers will love it!

Twitter Campaign Slide Deck Template

Twitter is still a hard nut to crack for some business owners, and this can be a great opportunity for you to share powerful marketing tips.

Use the Twitter Campaign Slide Deck Template to showcase Twitter success stories from top companies in your industry. You can adapt the content for your niche market and create a webinar around how to use hashtags to attract leads. All these Twitter-themed slides make the perfect webinar presentation: eye-catching illustrations, icons, and amazing backgrounds that immerse everyone into the Twitterverse.

Instagram PowerPoint Template

You’ve seen our webinar slide deck templates for Facebook and Twitter, now it’s Instagram’s turn! This social media app releases new features all the time and marketing professionals need to be up to date on this to craft the best campaigns.

Use the Instagram PowerPoint template to create a webinar that covers all the options available for big and small brands. And you don’t even need to worry about making eye-catching slides, this template already comes with amazing illustrations and backgrounds.

Playful Social Media Template

A stylish PowerPoint Template for your digital marketing webinar! If you plan on giving a quick brush-up on the biggest social media platforms at your webinar, this template is exactly what you need.

The Playful Social Media Template is perfect to talk about Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and make comparisons between these three social networking sites. The clean layout and pastel colors of this webinar slide deck template make your content stand out on any screen. It includes a comparative table, visually appealing bar charts, and illustrations.

Social Media Analysis PowerPoint Template

For an audience that already manages the digital marketing basics, a webinar that goes into topics like competitor analysis, social media growth, and content planning could be a great option.

The best thing about the Social Media Analysis PowerPoint Template is that it comes with different charts and graphics to compare four datasets on each slide. Plan a webinar around digital marketing campaigns and this template can be an example of how to make a great social media report.

6 Free Health and Wellness Webinar Templates to Build Brand Authority

If you work in the health and wellness industry, then your brand and these webinar slide deck templates are a match.

Health Care PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template will help pharmaceutical companies, medical institutions, and healthcare professionals create a complete webinar presentation on human health. Here you can fit complex data into simple visual elements to make the information accessible to all types of audiences. It also includes a world map graphic, a human anatomy diagram, a nutrition pyramid, and medical icons.

Nutrition PowerPoint Template

Good nutrition is one of the key factors to lead a healthy lifestyle. And even though we eat every day, sometimes our food choices are not the best for our health.

What kind of food should we include in our diet? How to keep a positive relationship with food? Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day? As a nutritionist or health professional, you can answer all these questions in a well-rounded webinar. Use the Nutrition PowerPoint template to share with your audience the health benefits of fruits and vegetables, nutrition facts, how a good diet looks, and more.

Science Pharma PowerPoint Template

When talking about human health, don’t settle for boring templates. Here’s a great PowerPoint template that links health science and pharmacy in eye-catching slides. The clean layout of this webinar template will help you make any type of information easy to read for both medical experts and non-technical audiences.

There is no room for walls of text in the Science Pharma PowerPoint Template , instead, it offers you incredible diagrams, creative bar charts, and pharmaceutical icons for data visualization.

Heart Disease Prevention PowerPoint Template

As they say, prevention is better than cure, and we couldn’t agree more. For that reason, the health and wellness webinar templates include an impressive red and purple slide deck that has everything you need to deliver a webinar on heart disease prevention . Address risk factors for each stage of life, heart attack symptoms, give advice on how to keep a healthy heart, and more.

Hand Hygiene PowerPoint Template

Medical or scientific experts from your team can conduct a specialized webinar on hand hygiene. This topic has become really important because of COVID-19, and your company can provide a professional perspective on the matter. With the Hand Hygiene PowerPoint template your webinar can cover from hand washing techniques to germ hot spots, and everything in between.

Playful Yoga PowerPoint Template

If we talk about highly visual presentations, the Playful Yoga PowerPoint Template is unbeatable. You can position your brand in the fitness and wellness niche by doing webinars on how to restore energy after a busy day, easy yoga poses for beginners or meditation for anxiety.

With a harmonic color palette, this webinar slide deck is ideal to address the physical, emotional, and mental benefits of yoga. There are also vector illustrations of male and female characters in yoga poses to guide viewers step-by-step.

5 Tech Webinar Slide Deck Templates to Impress Your Clients

The templates in this section were definitely not made for the fans of text-filled slides. For some, it could be a challenge to give a presentation with more visual elements than text but keep in mind that webinars demand highly visual content and we offer you incredible options.

Cloud Computing PowerPoint Template

Tech presentations call for the latest trends on design, no generic images. That’s why our team created this Cloud Computing PowerPoint template that will leave an everlasting impression on your audience, no doubt.

You can do cloud computing 101 webinars for the general public or one for cloud experts with this same blue and red template. Better yet, if you offer cloud services, help your clients know more about this fascinating technology with customized webinars that respond to their specific needs and questions.

Interactive Product Presentation Template

This template will do wonders in a webinar for professionals who look to further their knowledge in the user experience field. It offers visual roadmaps and charts but what stands out the most are the illustrations in a playful style that grace every slide. Use the Interactive Product presentation template to cover all UX-related topics from running a usability test to reporting the project results.

Android Mobile Presentation Template Pack

For those in the mobile app industry, these slides are right for you! Here you’ll find smartphone mockups to showcase a mobile game, a new social media app, or to talk about mobile advertising and m-commerce. The Android Mobile Presentation Template Pack has three beautifully designed slides that convey information in a straightforward manner and work perfectly as visual aids for your webinar.

Chatbot Presentation Template

People associate artificial intelligence (AI) with robots and advanced machines. But, as a tech expert, you know we already interact with AI on a daily basis through our devices. Therefore, you can create a webinar to explain to your clients what this is all about. You can start with chatbots, a popular tool that companies request and that professionals want to manage. That’s a successful webinar right there!

IT Network PowerPoint Template

Nowadays, there is a huge demand for training and educational content on information technology. And for a company that provides IT services, a webinar about cybersecurity and computer networks sounds just right.

The IT Network PowerPoint Template is highly visual and keeps the text at a minimum to guide your audience’s attention to the right points. This purple slide deck template comes with area charts in a playful style, a network map, modern-looking progress bars, technology icons, and much more.

5 Additional Slides for Your Webinar Slide Deck

Playful mega pack slide powerpoint template.

30 impactful slides that give a creative twist to the classic PowerPoint charts and diagrams. This playful template has roadmaps, comparative bar graphs, a SWOT diagram, circle charts, agenda slides, timelines. Simply put, whenever you are looking for original graphics to complement your webinar presentation, just search them all up here.

Playful Venn Diagram PowerPoint Template

Do you need to display relationships between two or more sets? Venn diagrams are the answer. Our designers used circles, polygons, and irregular shapes to create the most imaginative Venn diagrams in flat and 3D styles. Give your webinar presentation the touch of color it needs with our playful Venn diagrams .

Survey Results PowerPoint Template

Charts and graphs are always a good idea when you need to prove a point. Use the Survey Results PowerPoint template to deliver your webinar conclusions or to show key trends that back up your main points. You’ll find a world map, pie charts, timelines, bars graphs, and more!

Corporate Title Slides | PowerPoint Template Pack

Breaking your content into well-defined sections lets your audience know when you are moving on to the next point and helps you navigate through your presentation in an organized manner. These Corporate Title Slides hold visual interest and make it super easy for you to build a powerful webinar presentation with key messages on each slide.

Creative Quiz PowerPoint Template

No more raising your voice for people in the back or moving around to keep your audience’s attention. Use the Creative Quiz PowerPoint Template to open your presentation with fun questions to break the ice. Or appeal to your viewers’ analytical side and insert some thought-provoking questions. It’s up to you and the tone you want to set for your webinar.

Got a Webinar Coming Soon? Get Your Own Customized Webinar Presentation!

You can find all these free webinar slide templates (alongside many other PowerPoint resources) in Templates by 24Slides . However, if you don’t have the time to edit PowerPoints or need a webinar slide deck aligned to your brand, custom presentation design is what you’re looking for.

At 24Slides , our expert presentation designers have the skills to transform any slide into something you can’t take your eyes off. You’ve already seen what our team can do in all the examples above. Now, imagine where we can take your webinar slide deck with full branding and custom designs made just for you !

And there’s more: You have the option to receive your first draft in 24 hours. That means you get a full rest before your big day while we take care of what we do best: Your webinar slides .

You might also like these articles:

• How to Create Your Perfect Webinar Presentation (+Examples)
• +20 Creative Webinar Flyer Templates to Drive Registration
• How To Use PowerPoint For Your Webinar

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Marketing Pros on How to Create Engaging Webinars That Boost Your Brand Authority

Published: June 24, 2024

In a sea of short-form content, webinars are a breath of fresh air to content marketers like me who want the opportunity to create stronger relationships with prospects and existing customers.  In fact, learning how to create a webinar and take advantage of long-form and engaging content formats has become a crucial part of my marketing strategy.

While webinars may have had their breakthrough moment during the pandemic, I believe they still have much to offer. When done well, they’re an effective way to keep your brand top-of-mind and sift through your funnel to find the most engaged and interested leads.

Let’s dive into why and how you can use webinars to your advantage.

Table of Contents

Are webinars dead?

Why create and host webinars, how to create a webinar, how to host a webinar, webinar examples, tips to improve your webinar strategy, webinar statistics, webinar faqs.

Free Webinar Planning Kit

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• Guide on Building a Webinar
• Marketing & Sales Alignment Strategies
• Webinar Planning & Strategy Template
• Interactive Webinar Planning Checklist

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In short, no . With 76% of employees working from home at least some of the time, webinars remain a crucial element of many marketing and sales strategies. However, I would say that webinars don’t exactly look the way they did before.

When I think of traditional webinars, I envision a single-speaker presentation about some technology product. While those are definitely still around, I’ve seen a growth in webinar usage especially in the finance and education sectors as well as more B2C events pop up.

Rather than slowly disappearing now that we’re a few years out from the pandemic, webinars have proven they’re here to stay. And, as audiences have become more familiar with virtual events, marketers can get more creative about integrating webinars into their marketing-to-sales pipeline.

In my experience, webinars are an excellent way to build relationships with existing and potential customers while improving brand awareness and reputation.

Because webinars are long-form content, they’re optimal for establishing authority on topics related to your products and interacting with your audience in real time.

That’s why webinars are still thriving, and the data backs it up. When we asked marketers about their primary goal for using webinars in their content strategy, the top reasons they provided were:

• Brand awareness (46%).
• Lead generation (42%).
• Educational content delivery (32%).
• Product demonstrations (29%).

As you can see, webinars are a valuable tool at all stages of the sales pipeline and customer journey. It’s all a matter of figuring out what information matters most in each step and using your webinar to create value for viewers — let’s explore how to do that below.

• Brainstorm webinar ideas.
• Choose a webinar format.
• Pick a webinar tool.
• Assign roles to your team members.
• Produce the content.
• Choose your webinar’s date and time.
• Create a contingency plan.
• Practice your webinar before the event.
• Promote your webinar.
• Follow up with your audience.

1. Brainstorm webinar ideas.

The first thing I do when creating a webinar is brainstorm ideas so I can decide on a topic. My goal is to select a topic that’s specific to my audience and answer questions they have about the industry or our product.

For example, if you're hosting a webinar on email marketing, I may look at specific areas within that subject, like personalization or automation.

While brainstorming, I recommend thinking about your company and its unique value proposition. Ask yourself, “What topics do we have expertise on, and where can we provide value for our audience?”

Pat Mullin , marketing team supervisor at Kicksite, recommends focusing less on your product and more on what your audience cares about, explaining that:

“People aren't attending a webinar for a sales pitch — if they wanted that, they’d schedule a demo. Your webinar topic should be something that provides value or education to your attendees, with an underlying connection to the product you offer.”

I also like to get input from my sales team, as a successful webinar results from sales and marketing alignment. If I want to successfully drive high-quality leads to sales reps, it’s crucial that the content I’m producing helps their conversations.

In my experience, I’ve gotten several great webinar ideas just by asking sales reps what they’d want the focus to be.

When you have this conversation with your sales team, you want to have their buy-in on the webinar topic before you plan it because it goes a long way in creating a seamless follow-up opportunity after the webinar ends.

2. Choose a webinar format.

While there are many webinar formats to choose from, I find myself using and recommending these four the most: single-speaker, interviews, panel discussions, and Q&A.

Single-Speaker Presentations

The single-speaker presentation is the most traditional and is still frequently used today. This type of webinar involves one presenter hosting and handling the Q&A.

I find these work best when you have an internal product expert or topics that have smaller audiences. They can also be easier to put together because you don’t have to find and schedule experts to interview.

I also recommend this format to B2C brands that want to explore webinars as a thought leadership or lead generation strategy. Since the buyer in these cases is an individual, it’s easier for them to relate and find value from a solo speaker.

Interviews are also a great choice for webinars because you can bring in a variety of valuable guests, such as an industry expert, someone in your company, or even a current customer.

Although interviewing someone with a large following may encourage people to sign up for your webinar and help you reach a new audience, I recommend focusing on guests who deliver the best experience for your target viewer.

On that note, Amy Kauffman , chief marketing officer at CMO Room, recommends that you “Choose knowledgeable speakers who can bring the content to life, and provide ample prep time to coach them on virtual presentation best practices” when doing interview-style webinars.

You can also prepare a list of questions you want to ask and share them with the person you’re interviewing ahead of time so they have time to think things through and provide the best responses.

Panel Discussions

For panel discussions, you can invite industry experts to discuss a niche or current topic within your industry.

I love using panel discussions for webinars that cover industry trends and new technology, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, because your audience benefits from seeing different perspectives.

This expands your attendees’ understanding of the topic in ways that wouldn’t be possible with one speaker’s input.

In addition to finding the right guest speakers, I find that it’s important to choose the best moderator for your topic.

Your moderator is responsible for establishing the rules of the discussion, keeping track of time, and keeping the panel on topic. I also recommend setting a high-level agenda for the discussion that the moderator can refer back to if the conversation veers off-topic.

I like to use Q&A webinars to connect with current users and bottom-of-the-funnel leads. In this format, you only need your team’s product experts to answer your customers’ questions.

This format lends itself well to being more heavily focused on your product while generating user engagement and giving you the opportunity to learn about your target audience’s challenges.

That said, live Q&As are the most unpredictable format on this list because you’re not the one preparing the questions. As such, I always like to brainstorm some ideas for questions my team or I may receive from the audience and have responses prepared.

It’s also helpful to have someone on your team playing a support role in the chatroom. This person isn’t on screen, but they’re listening in and providing links to the resources your product team mentions in their responses.

Your support person can also keep track of questions that didn’t get answered during the live session. You can use these answers later in the webinar follow-up communications to continue to provide value.

3. Pick a webinar tool.

There are many platforms available for hosting webinars, and I’ve used a wide variety of them, including both free and paid options.

I’ve found that when choosing a tool, it’s best to start by considering your objectives and desired functionality.

It’s also important to consider how many people you think will attend, as most free options have a maximum number of audience members.

Once you have your list of requirements, you can check out these free and paid webinar software providers to see which one has the features you need and is the best fit for your budget.

Free Webinar Tools

• YouTube Live
• Google Hangouts

Paid Webinar Tools

• GoTo Webinar

4. Assign roles to your team members.

The next step I take is assigning roles in my team. Typically, I need to fill the following four roles when I’m creating a webinar:

• The organizer.  This person handles all the planning, from ideation to content creation, and is often the primary contact on the webinar platform.
• The presenter.  The subject matter expert who is responsible for presenting on the chosen topic. The presenter can be someone inside or outside of your organization.
• The moderator.  The moderator guides the discussion when you have an interview or panel discussion. They’re not always needed for single-speaker formats, but if your presenter is not from your company, it can be helpful to have someone on your team in this role to greet people and introduce the speaker in a single-speaker webinar.
• Assistants.  Team members you have on hand to support the presenter and help in case of emergencies or technical difficulties. Typically, they remain off-camera, but they can also help with responding to audience members in the chat.

5. Produce the content.

At this point, I’ve assembled my team, and it’s time to create the content for the webinar. For educational webinars and the single-speaker format, I like to use slideshows to give the audience an agenda, highlight key points, and provide visuals for difficult concepts.

All of that should be prepared beforehand, and keep in mind that slides are there to keep your audience engaged — not serve as a script for speakers.

For interviews and panel discussions, you may not need a full slideshow, but you want to have an agenda and questions prepared. You can also have polls and questions prepared for the chat to keep the audience involved.

When putting on a Q&A webinar, it can be helpful to gather customer support resources, such as tutorial clips or case studies, that might come in handy during the discussion. I also like to give people a chance to ask a question when they sign up for a Q&A session.

This way, I have some questions for a moderator to ask if the audience engagement drops.

6. Choose your webinar’s date and time.

Once I have my topic and content ready to go, I choose a date and time for the webinar. I start this by considering where my audience lives, using tools like Google Analytics.

ON24 suggests scheduling your webinar in the middle of the week for the highest engagement, while data from Contrast found that webinars starting at 12 PM and 2 PM in the attendee’s time zone saw the highest engagement.

If you can’t schedule at those times, I find that mornings tend to be better for attendance and engagement than afternoons.

Note that if you’re hosting a global event, there might not be a time that’s perfect for everyone. In those cases, I recommend focusing on the time zone where most of your audience lives and recording those webinars so you and attendees can share them with people who might not be able to attend the live version.

7. Create a contingency plan.

In a perfect world, everything would proceed smoothly and go just as you planned. However, in my experience, mistakes and issues can come up during webinars. As such, I always recommend having a contingency plan.

Here are some of the steps I always take so I always have a solid backup plan:

• Set up a backup internet connection. Make sure you have access to a wired internet connection or wireless hotspot you can use in case your primary internet connection goes out before or during the webinar.
• Create pre-recorded content. Pre-recorded content is an excellent way to keep attendees in the virtual room and engaged if you have to troubleshoot issues such as a speaker’s sound or internet connection.
• Print a hard copy of slides and notes. If your computer screen freezes or you lose video connection, having a hard copy of the presentation will allow you to continue without the digital assets. I’ve also emailed attendees a printout of slides or other resources before the webinar to help them stay engaged if technical issues arise on their end.
• Have troubleshooting resources at the ready. Sometimes, technical issues can come from the attendee’s side. Have an assistant ready in the chat with responses to common troubleshooting issues that may affect individual attendees.
• Create a pre-show checklist. If you need to troubleshoot in the moment, it can be easy to forget to hit record or publish a poll. Create a checklist that you can run through at the top of the show to make sure that you have everything ready when you go live.

8. Practice your webinar before the event.

In my experience, practice is a must for a successful webinar. While you can choose to focus solely on practicing the content of your presentation, I highly recommend creating and running through a test event on your webinar platform.

Once you have the event created, walk through a registrant’s journey and make sure people can sign up. Then, you can deliver your presentation on your webinar platform and have someone on your team serve as the audience to make sure everything works, and you’re familiar with all the functionality you need.

I also find that doing a practice run is an excellent way to ensure all of your presenters are comfortable with the agenda and the technology before they’re live.

9. Promote your webinar.

With the backend work done and a contingency plan in place, I move on to promoting the webinar to my target audience. My first step is creating a webinar landing page where people can sign up, and then I use other channels like social and email to distribute the link.

If you want to reach a broader audience, I recommend running ads through social media and search engines. Beyond that, I find email to be an excellent way to announce webinars.

Moreover, I’ve found reminder emails to be a helpful way to increase registrations. I like to send “Don't Miss Out” or “Seats Are Filling Up” emails as the day gets closer to generate more urgency.

I also make sure that I have campaigns in place to remind people about the event after they’ve signed up. Specifically, I like to send them a link to the event about one hour before it starts. This keeps it top of mind and makes it so they don’t have to search through their inbox for the initial registration confirmation email.

10. Follow up with your audience.

If you’re like me, you might breathe a sigh of relief once your live webinar closes. That said, you haven’t reached the finish line just yet. Webinars are excellent sales opportunities, and it’s crucial to capitalize on them through follow-up.

I’ve found that attendees (and registrants who couldn’t make it) generally like to have a recording, so at the very least, I’ll send a follow-up email that thanks them for registering and provides them with a link to view the video. That said, the more value you create in your follow-up, the better.

Gini Roberts , senior director of media and sponsorships at the digital marketing consultancy Convince & Convert, also believes in the importance of post-event follow-up and recommends:

“Having some ‘bonus content’ to send after the event works well to share out additional thought leadership from your company. It also helps make the webinar experience more valuable to registrants who are providing their contact information to attend.”

She goes on to provide examples of bonus content by saying, “At Convince & Convert, we aim to have an ebook, worksheet, infographic, or research report related to the webinar topic for use in the post-event follow-up.”

Now that you know all the steps involved in how to create a webinar, let’s dive deeper into what’s involved in hosting the event.

• Arrive early and greet your audience.
• Explain the webinar’s features.
• Introduce the topic and speakers.
• Moderate the talk.

1. Arrive early and greet your audience.

I always invite registrants to show up 5-10 minutes before the webinar is scheduled to start. This gives people time to get settled and provides a buffer period for the host or assistants to work through individual troubleshooting before the main content begins.

That said, as a host, you want to be present when people show up to the event. During this time, you can set the tone for the webinar by arriving enthusiastically and engaging people as they filter into the room.

Even if your guests don’t have their cameras on, you can ask people to share their names and the city they’re located in via chat and welcome people individually this way.

2. Explain the webinar’s features.

After you’ve spent time greeting people, you can give them the lay of the land for your webinar platform. I like to explain any features I plan to use for audience engagement, such as the chat, polls, or Q&A.

Depending on how your webinar hosting software works, you may also need to instruct people to keep their microphones turned off.

At this time, if you’re recording the presentation and plan to send a link to the video later, it’s good to let your audience know. This lets attendees focus on the speakers in real time and worry less about taking copious notes.

3. Introduce the topic and speakers.

Once the software-related housekeeping is done, it’s time to introduce your speakers and the topic of the webinar. If you’re a single-speaker host, that means introducing yourself.

When I’m doing a self-introduction, I like to include my current job title and two to three highlights of my professional experience to build credibility with my audience, whether that’s previous roles or results I’ve produced. I also tend to throw in a fun personal fact.

If you have guests for an interview or a panel, you can introduce them by name and title and then invite them to give a brief overview of their experience.

After your viewers have met the presenters, you can reiterate the title of the webinar and go over a high-level agenda. I like to tease valuable content or any free offers that will be available at the end of the presentation to incentivize people to stay until the very end.

4. Moderate the talk.

For the remainder of the presentation, it’s the host’s job to moderate the discussion. In a single-speaker presentation, this means going through your talking points while keeping an eye on any questions that appear in the chat.

You can then answer them right away or let people know if you’ll cover the answer later. Either way, addressing questions as they appear in the chat shows that you’re paying attention and encourages more viewers to ask theirs.

If you’re moderating a panel or guest interview, you want to focus on adding value and keeping speakers on topic. To add value, ask follow-up questions that will lead to more information for your audience.

You can also use additional questions to redirect speaker responses to the main topics if you sense they’re going on a tangent.

1. The SEO Update by Yoast

Image Source

The SEO Update by Yoast is a good example of an ongoing panel discussion webinar that covers the latest news and trends in search engine optimization (SEO) each month. It features insights from two SEO experts, Alex Moss and Carolyn Shelby, in a discussion moderated by Taco Verdonschot.

Together, the three speakers address new developments in the world of SEO and then break down this information into what it means for their audience of marketers and website developers.

At the end, they host a Q&A session where the expert speakers can address the audience’s specific concerns and provide actionable advice.

2. M&A in the Ever-Changing Fintech Landscape by Morgan Lewis

M&A in the Ever-Changing Fintech Landscape is an expert panel presentation webinar aimed specifically at the fintech sector. During this event, experts from Morgan Lewis took turns presenting their findings and takeaways on a given subtopic.

The discussion covered issues such as the relationships between banks and Fintech companies, SEC and cryptocurrency, and global finance regulatory updates.

By using this format, Morgan Lewis provides valuable educational information to a specific segment of its target audience. The company also demonstrates the wide breadth and depth of its expertise by highlighting several internal experts.

3. Managing Clients with Invoices, Contracts, and Proposals by Squarespace

This Ask a Squarespace Product Manager webinar is a Q&A style event focused on the brand’s new invoicing and client documents features. It’s aimed at a specific segment of its audience: people who use Squarespace to market their services to potential clients on a project basis.

It’s also a good way to host a product-focused webinar that engages attendees rather than one that feels primarily like a sales pitch. Squarespace has also prepared a forum post where registrants can ask specific questions beforehand.

Using the forum post to gather audience requests ahead of time allows the Squarespace team to show up more prepared and even create tools to share, such as short tutorial clips related to audience questions.

If you’re feeling comfortable with the basics of creating and hosting a webinar, here are some strategies I like to use to create a more engaging webinar experience.

Go for a discussion-style webinar.

I’ve found that using unscripted and discussion-style webinars keeps audiences engaged throughout. In fact, many of the live events I plan now forgo the slideshow completely and instead bring in two speakers to answer questions from a host.

Encouraging audience dialogue and responses on X (formerly Twitter) using an event hashtag helps keep the content informative and conversational. Sometimes, I’ll have assistants flag interesting posts from attendees and provide them to the host to bring up in the live talk.

Use breakout sessions.

If you want to give participants a chance to speak and interact with others, breakout sessions are an excellent tool.

I like to use these when I’m teaching a new concept and want to give the audience a chance to try it out. For example, I might split viewers up into smaller groups and let them work through a step of a process.

When using these, I find it helpful to have a couple of assistants on hand who can jump in and out of rooms and help moderate or answer questions. When people come back to the main meeting, I ask them about their experience and see if any questions come up.

Add interactive features to the webinar registration page.

When I work with other brands, I’ve noticed that the webinar sign-up page can be an underutilized resource. Most people know to collect names and email addresses for follow-ups, but they miss the opportunity to start engaging with their audience before the event even happens.

Some of the ways I like to boost engagement are by adding voting features for people to upvote their top questions. This encourages more interaction early and helps you prioritize the material to cater to the topics your audience is most interested in learning about.

In my experience, webinars are one of the best ways to build relationships with potential customers and bring in highly qualified leads. Here are some webinar statistics to help you learn more about this content marketing strategy.

Webinar Attendance and Engagement Statistics

ON24 found that the average number of webinar attendees is 202 , and people who attend typically stay engaged for 53 minutes .

In a world where brands are competing to capture their audience’s attention for a few seconds on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, webinars provide a unique opportunity for more in-depth interactions.

That said, according to our survey, 46% of marketers list audience engagement as the main challenge for running webinars. If you want to increase audience participation, I suggest experimenting with breakout rooms.

Webinar Lead Generation Statistics

Our survey found that 42% of marketers use webinars specifically for lead generation.

In my experience, webinars are excellent ways to generate high-quality and sales-ready leads because they help you learn more about prospects and demonstrate your products' relevance and how they add value in very specific use cases.

Webinar Personalization Statistics

When I use personalization in webinars, I find that my results are significantly better than without, and other brands see this too. ON24 reports that marketers who tailor webinar content to unique audience segments see an average of 68% more CTA engagement and 4X more demo requests from attendees.

Webinar Conversion Statistics

According to ON24, the average registrant-to-attendee rate for webinars is 56% , which is up 3% from the previous year. Although many webinars are recorded and made available on demand, we’re seeing more than half of registrants show up for the live sessions.

If you want to improve conversions, make sure your landing page incentivizes showing up in person by advertising live Q&A sessions or free offerings for those who attend.

How do I create a free webinar?

You can use platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet to host free webinars. Once you select a free webinar platform, invite attendees, prepare your materials, and rehearse your webinar before hosting it live.

How do I conduct a successful webinar?

To conduct an effective webinar, start by finding a topic relevant to your target audience and speakers who are experts on it. Prepare your webinar materials ahead of time and choose a reputable platform to host it on. After the webinar, make sure to follow up with attendees to keep them engaged.

What equipment do I need to host a professional webinar?

To host a professional webinar, you will need a webinar platform and a computer or laptop with a webcam for the host and presenters. If you want higher-quality audio or video, you can invest in an external web camera or microphone.

What are the steps for creating and hosting a webinar?

The steps for creating and hosting a webinar are:

Improve Brand Awareness and Bring in More Convertible Leads with Webinars

Far from being a content format of the past, webinars remain a valuable tool for content marketers who want to build brand awareness, engage with prospects, and generate highly qualified sales leads.

Learning how to create a webinar that engages attendees can help you strengthen your relationships with potential and existing customers and stay up to date on the most urgent issues and questions your target audience has.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in May 2022 and was updated in June 2024 for comprehensiveness.

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The big fish blog, 13 tips to deliver memorable presentation webinars.

Below is an excerpt on webinars from the Big Fish Presentations book The Big Fish Experience . Order and get more sample chapters here .

1) Market Your Presentation:

Share your event with your contact list, blog subscribers, and social media friends/followers. For your audience’s convenience, create a message template for them to share with their friends. Here’s a brief example:

“Hey (their name)! Here’s a cool webinar that’s coming up on (date, time, location) by (your name) of (your company). He’s really good at (subject) and I believe it will help you grow (their company’s need) for (the need you service).”

Don’t market it too far in advance. We recommend 2-3 weeks prior to keep it fresh in your attendees’ minds. If you want to go the extra mile, send attendees a handwritten letter or marketing collateral to remind them of the event.

2) Send reminders:

Treat your webinar like an event. Send a friendly calendar reminder at least 2-3 weeks prior to showtime, so your attendees can sort out their schedules. Provide a date, time, and easy ways to share the webinar on their networks, along with instructions on how best to tune in. If they have to download any software or extensions prior, tell them. It is also good practice to reach out and remind your attendees an hour before the event, to confirm that the event is still on.

3) Keep the webinar short and sweet:

Fifteen minutes may be too short, but over an hour is too long. You’re asking the audience to give you their undivided attention and promising them value. The sweet spot is between 30-45 minutes, with 10-15 minutes reserved for Q&A. You are competing with many other distractions on the web for your viewer’s attention.

4) Give your webinar a catchy title:

When marketing your presentation, a good, relevant headline is vital to compel the audience to sign up and listen. Just make sure the topic is of interest or to your intended audience.

5) Present unique or original content:

Webinars must have a focused subject with material that cannot easily be found online. If you can pull the same information from a Google search, share that instead of presenting for an hour. Never waste your audience’s time.

6) Provide actionable advice:

Like any presentation, webinars should have actionable advice that attendees can use. It’s good practice to share materials online right after your webinar, so attendees can learn more or reach out to you.

7) Encourage audience interaction:

During the webinar, encourage the audience to e-mail you, send you questions, or tweet you with a unique hash tag (this can build more social traction for you, too). Make sure you have someone feeding you the questions and helping you respond if it’s a larger audience. It can be tough to handle and maintain attention spans online and communicate through social platforms.

8) Consider a panel of multiple speakers:

Having only one speaker can be monotonous. Consider featuring multiple speakers to change the pace of the webinar and keep the audience interested. Just make sure each panelist speaks to a different aspect of your subject to prevent redundancy. Also, have your additional speakers market the event to their networks.

9) Slow down with the slides:

Going through your slides too fast can be distracting for a viewer. Slow down. Your main focus should be to engage the audience with your content. If you have a large number of slides, give your audience a way to access the deck after your presentation. Post it online, and share it socially.

10) Avoid background noise:

If you have a formal, scripted pitch, mute your attendees and ask them to send you questions through the social network you’re using for the webinar. Having too many people talking at once—or having background noise—can be very distracting.

11) Create a calendar:

Create a schedule that outlines what you need to accomplish before show time: creating content, completing slides, doing a full rehearsal, promoting the webinar, testing the AV equipment, engaging with attendees, and so on. Webinars sometimes can be more time-consuming than an onstage presentation.

12) Check the AV equipment:

Make sure you have a stable WiFi connection, a good microphone or headset, and reliable web conferencing programs (such as Go-to-Webinar or Webex) before you even begin marketing your webinar. Test these constantly to make sure you’re ready for show time.

13) Reuse your content :

Record the webinar and upload it on websites such as your blog, YouTube, and SlideShare. Share it as quickly as possible, so it’s still fresh in your audience’s minds.

Webinars can be great for marketing purposes, internal conference calls, or workshops. Remember, just because you’re not there physically doesn’t mean that you get a free pass. It’s still up to you to manage your audience’s attention.

Give them a reason to listen and you will succeed.

Have any questions, comments, or suggestions on what you believe are the best inauguration speeches? Let us know at  hq@localhost . And don’t forget to check out our book  The Big Fish Experience  for more presentation tips – or subscribe to our  blog  to stay updated on the latest presentation, design, video, and creative trends.

PSST! For tips on web, video, digital strategy, and company culture, check out the newly launched blog of our parent company ThreeSixtyEight   here .

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One Comment

Great tips here. I love your suggestion of using social channels for true interaction, rather than tired old polls!

Also like your tip about using multiple speakers. I suggest the same thing (in this post ), plus even using very occasional sound effects to draw attention (e.g. just before each of your talk’s 3 key points).

Would love to hear your thoughts on the various tips there…

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The ultimate guide on how to create & host your webinar

When it comes to marketing your online business there really is no “secret sauce,” however, learning how to create a webinar has proven effective time and time again. Create your product, market it to an interested audience, profit. The thing is, a lot of people get caught up with the second step. There are a million different online marketing techniques to consider, each with their own set of pros and cons. Deciding on which will best serve you and your business goals can leave you in a bind. Thankfully, learning how to create a webinar isn’t as hard as it sounds. We’ll walk you through it.

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How do webinars work?

Webinars are free online events that people can tune into live, like a radio show, or watch later as a recording. Webinars are usually hosted by an authority in a given niche or industry and it’s still one of the most effective ways for brands and content creators to share valuable content with their audiences.

There are three common webinar styles:

• Solo webinar: most common format, when the webinar is hosted by a solo expert, who gives a presentation with an accompanying slide deck.
• Interview panel: a webinar where a host interviews an expert guest on a certain topic, very similar to a podcast.
• Group discussion: panel discussions during webinars are less common, but they can be powerful and allow you to harness the expertise of several guests at once.

Most webinars are around 30-60 minutes long, and the majority of them are free. The reason for it is that most often webinars are used for lead generation. On average, for B2C (business-to-consumers), 20-40% of webinar attendees turn into leads, and for B2B (business-to-business) the conversion rate is 70%.

The key to a successful webinar that converts people into leads is to provide value to the audience tuned in. The subject matter for the webinar can be anything from a demonstration to an informal interview covering a specific topic, as long as it’s valuable to the audience.

Sales webinars (which we’re focusing on here) also include a pitch, usually during the second half of the allotted time. Most live webinars include a few minutes for Q&A for engaging with your audience, moderated via live chat.

If you’re in the online entrepreneurial space, you may have heard of Mariah Coz. She’s the name behind the business Fearless CEO , her brand, and the online school currently hosted on Teachable.

In 2015, Mariah hosted her first webinar. She gave herself a 24-hour deadline to prep for it, notify her audience, and figure out the tech side of things. During the one-hour webinar, she made $4,000. Since that moment, she’s hosted hundreds more webinars and grown her email list by tens of thousands of people.

We’re going to take a look at exactly what works so well about Mariah’s webinars. But first, let’s take a step back and talk about what a webinar entails.

How to create a webinar step by step

Step 1: define your webinar.

First you must define the product that you’re going to sell. In this instance, it will be your course.

After you’ve defined the course you want to sell, you need to craft a compelling webinar theme that will naturally flow into the sale of your course. Depending on your audience sophistication and interest, you’ll want to position this in a way that the largest number of people sign up.

In the case of Scott’s webinar, he decided not to disclose anything about Udemy on the registration page. He did this for a few reasons:

He surveyed his email list, and it turned out people were most interested in “ creating passive income ” and creating enough of it to replace their full-time paycheck versus creating a Udemy course specifically.

Some people have no idea what Udemy is.

Some people do know what Udemy is and might immediately thin-slice this presentation as something they’re not interested in based on a very limited experience with the site.

Sometimes you need to sell people what they want and give them what they need.

Here is a link to the exact survey Scott used to define my positioning.

Step 2: Create the webinar content

Once you’ve determined your webinar title and positioning, it’s time to create the actual content. From there, you’ll also want to do a dry run.

There are a variety of ways to do this, but here is how Scott did it:

Create an outline

First create a brief outline of how the presentation will flow. For Scott’s webinars, he always does the following:

• Introduction and background
• A personal story as it relates to this topic, during which you can establish relatability and empathy—“I’ve been where you might be right now.”
• Establish three or four major teachings. This is your “content.”
• Present your course offering or advanced training.
• Question and Answers

Write a script

From here, use your outline to write a script for the webinar.

This helps you think through everything you want to touch on. The balance should be 80 percent free content and value and 20 percent selling only after you’ve given a lot of free value.

Design slides

After you have your script, use that to create a well-designed slide presentation that accompanies your script. You should aim for the whole presentation to be 60 to 90 minutes. To give you an idea, Scott’s script was 40 pages long in Google Docs and the presentation was 90 minutes long.

Create your offer

The offer is basically how you’re going to sell your course. It can be as simple as selling your course as is, or you can offer bonuses if people buy the course before a certain time period.

For Scott’s webinar, he sold the “Udemy Fast Track” course, but also bundled in six of his other courses and a friend’s course called “Double Your Udemy Sales.”

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The idea here is to sweeten the deal so much that buying is a no brainer. In this instance, for $297 people were getting $1430 value (1133+297) for $297.

Again, you’ll want to make this offer time sensitive so that people feel a sense of urgency to buy. You can even go as far as giving people who purchase within one hour of the webinar an additional bonus to incentivize people to not only attend, but also strike while they’re excited about your offering.

Step 3: Set a webinar date

You know your audience and the times that will be easiest for them to attend the webinar best, but as a general rule of thumb, we recommend hosting live events on Wednesday evenings EST.

This allows you to do your promotional activity early in the week and close the offer out on the weekend. We’ll go into the ideal schedule in a bit more depth shortly.

Step 4: Create a registration page for your webinar

You can see the registration page for my webinar above. We highly recommend using Leadpages for this part of the process. They have a ton of great out of the box templates as well as plug and play integrations with most email providers and webinar software.

The most important function of the registration page is that you have a way to capture registrants information to remind and direct everyone who signs up to your webinar. You don’t have to use leadpages, but make sure whatever you use can accomplish this. Again, a Google form would be the most basic tool for this.

Best webinar platforms & software:

My software stack which we highly recommend is the following:

• Webinar Registration Page: Leadpages
• Webinar Hosting: GoToWebinar
• Mailing List: Aweber
• Course Hosting: Teachable

Because Leadpages allows me to integrate directly with both GoToWebinar and Aweber, as soon as someone registers, they’re immediately confirmed with GoToWebinar as well as added to a special mailing list for the event.

GoToWebinar sends reminders leading up to the event and Aweber allows me to communicate with this audience on a more personalized level leading up to the event as well as after.

Step 5: Create your webinar emails

Before driving signups, we recommend creating a series of emails for each part of the webinar funnel which includes sign ups, registrant reminders, and post event follow-up.

Registration

If you already have an email list or are partnering with someone else who has an email list, we think it’s appropriate to create two emails with a call to action for people to register. The first will be sent to everyone on that list. The second can be a follow-up with a title change to people who did not open the first email. You should appeal to a slightly different hot button in the subject line of your second email.

Email Title 1: Passive Income

Email Title 2 Sent to Unopens: One Way To Fund Your [X]

Here is the first email for Scott’s webinar:

Reminder emails

Once someone signs up for the webinar, you still need to make sure people show up.

To do this you should be reminding all registrants leading up to the webinar the details like date and time as well as all the awesome things they are going to learn. Depending upon lead time, we recommend sending reminders at minimum 24 hours and one hour in advance of the actual event.

Follow-up emails

Many people who signed up for your webinar will not have actually attended the event. In addition, many attendees that attended will still be on the fence about whether or not they should purchase your product. This is why you need to send follow-up emails to people after the webinar to push them to ideally take both actions.

Depending on whether you want to try and segment people who attended the webinar versus non-attendees (which you can do in GoToWebinar), you should focus the first one to two messages on watching the replay and the last one to two follow-ups on purchasing the product you’re selling.

We like having all of these emails written in advance , so that we don’t feel like we have to scramble to get all the pieces together in order to maximize the results from the event the week of.

Step 6: Drive traffic to your registration page

Once you have all your emails and webinar content queued up, it’s time to promote your webinar and push people to sign up for the webinar.

For Scott’s webinar, he sent two email blasts out to his email list and some light social media. The first day he sent it to everyone on my email list. And as mentioned earlier the following morning he sent an email to the segment of people who didn’t open that email.

If you don’t have an email list, you could drive traffic to this page by:

• Social media
• Facebook ads
• Guest blog posts
• Partnering with someone with a list to do a joint webinar

Because you’ve done a lot of the preparation work beforehand, this is really the last new step in the process. After this, it’s all just about executing everything you’ve already created from emails to attendees to the presentation and follow-up process.

Example webinar execution schedule

By sending out the mailer on Monday, you give people a few days to register for the event as well as time to remind attendees. Give prospects time to register for a time in the near future, otherwise, they’ll sign up and forget about it. It’s always best to strike while the iron is hot.

We’d recommend Wednesday and Thursday to host the actual webinar because generally, people are less busy than say perhaps a Friday night.

Lastly, we like to always make the offer and replay expire around 48 hours after the live presentation, which in this instance was on Friday. If you leave the replay and offer it up forever, there won’t be a strong enough sense of urgency to watch and subsequently buy the product, which is why time-boxing it is so effective.

If someone isn’t able to watch it prior to the expiration and emails you, you can always just send them a link to the video off the record.

Scott’s ideal one-week webinar promotion schedule

There are a ton of components to this process and timing is very important. Below is what we believe to be the ideal execution schedule for a webinar and the exact one we used for the webinar outlined in this post.

Step 7: Host the webinar

Now, you’ve learned how to create a webinar and done most of the heavy lifting at this point, but you need to make sure to bring your A game during the actual webinar.

Best webinar tools and tips:

• Always host the Q&A session at the end to make sure people know that is when you will be answering most questions.
• Stand during the webinar if your desk set up accommodates it.
• Use a microphone if you have one.
• Have someone manage the chat for you, if you can, during the presentation.
• Introduce some quick exercises or even questions that make it more interactive than just a monologue.

Know also that every time you do this, you will get better and more comfortable. So don’t worry if you don’t come out of the gates perfectly.

Step 8: Put up your replay

Immediately after the webinar, you’re going to want to export the webinar recording (often known as a replay), which can be done automatically with GoToWebinar or even hangouts on air. This will be sent out to everyone who registered.

You should host this on a new page that includes a place for attendees to buy the product and ask questions.

If you really want to get fancy, here are a few other best practices:

• Remove the ability for people to be able to fast forward the content so that you can control the experience very similar to a live presentation
• Have the purchase button be a dynamic element that displays only after people have watched a certain amount. Again, you don’t want someone making a snap judgement on whether or not they should buy your product until you’ve given a chance to sell it
• Display a timer on the top that displays how long viewers have before it gets taken down

Note that only after someone has watched the webinar for 60 minutes, a yellow button will appear that allows watchers to purchase.

Again, the reason it’s better to time release is so that you have a chance to sell someone before exposing your offer.

Step 9: Drive registrants to the replay

After you’ve put your replay page up, it’s now time to send out those emails you constructed!

These emails will all look pretty similar and the goal is the same: do everything you can to get anyone who signed up for the webinar to watch the presentation, if they haven’t already, with the goal of them ultimately purchasing.

If you’re not sure when to schedule these, check out the ideal schedule image above again.

Step 10: Analytics review

After you’ve executed this whole process, it’s always a best practice to review the analytics of your entire funnel .

This will help understand where you can improve, and provide potential affiliates who might be interested in doing a joint webinar to their audience where you perform the same presentation and go 50/50 on the profits.

Here are the results of Scott’s funnel:

“If I had to give myself constructive feedback, I could have absolutely looked to improve upon the number of registrants as well as attendees. The conversion on attendees and total registrants is pretty on par for a $297 product from what I’ve seen,” said Scott.

If you want more from Scott you can check him out at Life-Long Learner .

How to host a webinar

If you want to host a webinar to attract new leads and engage your audience, you’ll need to learn how to build a webinar. Creating a webinar that’s engaging and valuable is fairly simple and straightforward, but it does require some preparation beforehand.

The most important tool you’ll need for a webinar presentation is a webinar hosting platform. We recommend using GoToWebinar as it’s a platform designed to help creators and businesses host webinars with ease.

If you choose to use GoToWebinar, let’s go over a quick step-by-step guide on setting up a webinar:

• Log in to your GoToWebinar dashboard or Sign Up for an account if you don’t have one yet.
• In your dashboard, click on Schedule a Webinar .
• Input details of your webinar: title, short description, date, time, and time zone.
• When you’re ready click Schedule .
• Set up reminder emails in the Reminder Emails section in your dashboard.

Congratulations, you are ready to host a webinar! As you can see, technical webinar setup is super easy and can be done in less than a few hours. The only thing to keep in mind is your internet connection.

You want to do your best to avoid losing your internet connection or having a poor internet connection during your webinar as it can greatly disturb the experience for the audience. So, make sure you’re in a place with a stable internet connection, and avoid places like libraries, and coffee shops.

Webinar examples

Let’s look at a few successful webinar presentation examples to give you a better understanding of how to create a webinar, no matter your niche or industry.

Vanessa Van Edwards

Author and founder of Science of People, Vanessa Van Edwards uses webinars in many different ways to generate leads and sales for her business.

In her 2022 Goal Setting Webinar she teaches the audience how to set goals effectively, and then at the end of the webinar she pitches her program that would help the audience to not only set their goals but also achieve them.

But that’s not the only way Edwards utilizes the power of webinars. On her website, she offers free training (webinar) that you can gain access to if you sign up for her email list. It’s a very effective strategy to grow an email list.

Mariah has come a long way since her first webinar in 2015 and has been using webinars to generate leads and sales successfully since then. She has a selection of free webinars that people can access if they sign up for her email list:

Jenna Kutcher

Marketing educator and influencer Jenna Kutcher sells many courses on social media and marketing. For each of her courses that she has, she has hosted a webinar that briefly explains the topic of her course and how people can use it.

And then, at the end of each webinar, she invites people to sign up for her courses so they could further implement the strategies she covered in the webinar.

Kristine Fernandez

Lastly, let’s look at an example of a webinar that’s not free, but just as effective in driving sales and generating leads. Kristine Fernandez is a fashion influencer and stylist, and she sells a webinar on how to build the perfect wardrobe.

The webinar is packed with value, and it’s only $7. Plus, to make the offer even more appealing, Kristine invites people who are signing up to grab another of her offers, a style workshop, for a heavily discounted price. For certain niches, this type of webinar presentation model can be very effective.

Why webinars are great

“Webinars are the best way to share your expertise. The conversion rates are insane. Starting to do webinars to sell my courses has changed my business. I went from making six figures a year to making six figures a month,” says Mariah.

A webinar is a powerful tool for making money online. But why is that? Here are a few reasons webinars can make such a difference to your bottom line:

Webinars help you grow your email list

Whenever you host a webinar, anyone signing up for the event is also adding their email to your subscriber list. Your email list gives you direct access to your audience and to your customers, and it’s a group of people who opted in and asked you to engage with them.

Webinars convert like crazy

According to Mariah, the standard conversion rate on an email, from opening the email to purchasing, is around two to three percent. Mariah’s webinars consistently convert at a rate of 30 to 40 percent! A number like this is incredibly powerful.

Webinars help you build industry relationships

When you team up with someone to conduct a webinar, you’re both tapping into each other’s network and making money from the event. Hosting webinars as a joint venture or an affiliate is also a great way to build your industry relationships, which will expand your audience and further establish you as an authority.

You can find someone else in your niche who is an expert on a complementary topic and then combine your knowledge to create an informative webinar that benefits both audiences.

Webinars can make you the expert in your niche

There’s nothing like a live training for hundreds of people to spur testimonials and social proof about your product. People love connecting with an actual person, and being able to talk live with your audience and directly answer questions will strengthen the connection they feel with you (and create goodwill).

Webinars grow your brand

Your personal brand is basically what people think of when they think of you. By hosting these webinars, you’ll help your audience consider you an expert at whatever you’re teaching. “My brand skyrocketed after webinars because you have a name and brand recognition,” Mariah said in her webinar with us.

Webinars are reusable content

In the world of online business, recycling, and repurposing content is a big deal. Every time you sit down to write, you don’t need to recreate the wheel. You can build off of what you have.

Sometimes this means combining several blog posts. It might also mean turning a blog post into an online course, turning a webinar into a blog post…or a blog post into a webinar!

To get the most out of your content, always be sure to record your webinar.

You can use one webinar to:

• Sell the recording and earn passive income
• Build a permanent funnel using a webinar that recurs
• Hundreds of social media posts and campaigns
• Create a video lead magnet
• Generate leads via YouTube

Plus, webinars are scalable. There is a very small difference in your presentation if you’re speaking to 100 people or 400.

We recommend webinars as a number one tactic for growing your online business, and specifically your online course business, but how do you get started?

Scott Britton of Life-Long Learner created a detailed guide to hosting a successful webinar. (We originally published Scott’s guide over two years ago, but it’s so good that we’re sharing it again.)

Scott is a webinar expert and has hosted more webinars than we can count, and hosted a single webinar that made him $11,286 for his online course Udemy Fast Track.

What is a webinar?

Webinars are free online trainings that people can tune into live or watch later as a recording. To attend a webinar, registrants sign up with their email address and get access to a private link. Webinars are usually hosted by an authority in a given niche, or someone who is beginning to establish themselves as an authority and has seen some success.

What is the best time to host a webinar?

You know your audience and the times that will be easiest for them to attend the webinar best, but as a general rule of thumb, we recommend hosting live webinar events on Wednesday evenings EST. This allows you to do your promotional activity early in the week and close the offer out on the weekend.

What’s the difference between Zoom Webinar vs. Meeting?

Webinars are often hosted by one expert, who gives a prepared presentation with an accompanying slide deck. Interview formats are also common, in which a host interviews an expert guest. Panel discussions are less common but allow you to harness the expertise of several guests at once. While attendees can engage with the host via the chat, unlike a Zoom meeting, they cannot unmute themselves and be seen or heard.

More like this

Morgan Timm , Morgan Timm is a content marketer with a background in blogging and social media. She runs Mostly Morgan, a life and style blog that reaches an audience of 40,000 people monthly.

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9 Great Webinar Examples – Watch & Learn From The Best

• October 13, 2019

One of the best ways to learn is to get inspired by the true masters of any field.

When you see what’s possible you immediately start aiming higher and your own performance improves. Wait, I take that back: aiming higher would be a mistake in this example 😂. Well, you get the idea…

Trying to take this approach with webinars turned out to be harder than I thought. Webinars are mostly one-time events and not readily available on-demand . Too often they’re also a pretty dull affair you wouldn’t be able to put into a “best of”.

I spent a few weeks asking around for recommendations and scouring the web for great webinar examples.

The result is a list of nine webinars that each stand out for different reasons. 

Are you ready to get inspired? Read on…

PS: If you’re more interested in landing pages, you’ll find  a bunch of great examples here . I also have a post on what  good webinar email marketing  looks like.

A great webinar gets hands-on

The average attendee spends 52 minutes on a webinar. What that tells you is that webinar audiences are ready to go deep . They’re looking for highly actionable insights and a great webinar gives them exactly that.

The team at eLearningBrothers demonstrates they understand this in their excellent “Wait… You made that in PowerPoint??” webinar.

It’s an in-depth tutorial for pulling of crazy cool eLearning stunts with just PowerPoint. 

The highlights that make it a fantastic case study:

• The webinar hosts are on video the entire time , making it easy for the audience to relate to them.
• The presenters take live questions from the audience all throughout the webcast. From analyzing attendee behavior I know that interacting with the hosts leads to higher engagement and longer total time spent on the webinar. Doing Q&A all throughout is an excellent way to drive that interactivity.
• The entire webinar is extremely hands-on . The presenters demo all their tips in PowerPoint so the audience can follow along. Go to minute 12:20 in the recording for a great example . Leading up to it the team explain how to animate the ISS in PowerPoint. Then they show the result right in the tool.

The best webinars give up the goods

You don’t have to do a demo to go deep. This webinar Andy Crestodina hosted for AWeber is delivered in traditional presentation style but the content it delivers is exceptional.

When I put together my own webinars I try to aim for what I call “ high actionable insights per minute “. Examine every slide as to the value it delivers to your viewers.

Good webinars let the audience interact

52 minutes, the average time people stay on a webinar, is a long time to just listen to someone talk.

To keep the audience engaged, good webinars include opportunities for the audience to interact and experience different content styles.

Digital services provider Kainos uses polls as a simple tool to drive audience participation in their aptly titled webinar “ Little less conversation, little more ActIon, please. ” (minute 20:30). Kainos also makes good use of short, interesting video clips to vary the content and keep the audience engaged (minute 14:43).

Webinar examples that play with the format

Another good way to produce a webinar that stands out is to play with the format itself.

Some ideas to experiment with:

The team as SEMRush went all out on this one and decided to host a full-on multi-track virtual event called Global Marketing Day .

With more than 50 speakers, ~40,000 attendees, and talks live-streamed from four cities over a 24h period this is probably an extreme example. But you can replicate this on a smaller scale and still see success.

On the left, Wordbee brings the experts together from their home or office. If you opt for this version, ensure all presenters have access to good microphones and educate them on audio quality.

On the right, Fast Lane goes for a more polished look with all presenters in a studio environment. While that makes it easier to control for production quality it can feel a little less personal .

Need more ideas? I have a more in-depth post covering 14 fun & different webinar formats to try .

The best webinars have a consistent style

Giving your webinar program a consistent style is a great way to stand out from the crowd. Intercom does a really good job of this in the webinar library that is part of their resource center .

While each webinar differs in format the overall cover design follows a whimsical style that is related but distinct from Intercom’s brand identity.

Each webinar has its own distinct flavor but they’re all produced in a studio setting that makes the end result look both polished and personable. I have put together a post with my best webinar presentation tips so you can improve your own.

Be adventurous on your webinars

My last bit of advice on how to create a great webinar: be adventurous.

I did just that in a marathon webinar workshop I ran with co-host Erica Maki.

Almost two hours into the webinar at time stamp 1:49:18 we invited the audience to join us live on audio. The result: two neat tips straight from the audience.

So be brave, own your mistakes, and have some fun on your webinars! And if you need some handholding to take heart, that’s more than ok. I’d be very happy to be your webinar coach and consultant 🙂

Have another example to share?

This short post can never be a true reflection of the best webinars out there, but I believe each example above shows a unique aspect of what makes a great webinar.

I’d love to see some samples of what you consider to be the most amazing webinar you’ve ever participated in. Please share any examples you have in the comments below!

About the Author

Daniel Waas

Over the past few years, I've put on over 500 webinars and had a chance to analyze more than half a million sessions run on the big webinar platforms.

Now I run my own online event consultancy and am on a mad mission to end all dull webinars by sharing the best of what we've learned so you can skip the learning curve and turn your webinars into an instant hit.

Outside work, I’m a geek at heart who loves LEGO, sci-fi and the occasional video game. If talking B2B for hours is your thing please get in touch with me on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Let's talk.

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Perplexing Presentations and Fabricated and Induced Illness in children and adults

Event details, information for delegates.

Webinar | Thursday 5 September 2024 | 12:30 - 13:30 | 1 Hour

Join us for this webinar with Katie Phillips and Dr Sheila Fish .

When a child or young person is presented by their parents/caregivers with a condition which cannot be medically explained, it is deemed as a Perplexing Presentations (PP). PP is an alerting sign to possible Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII), where professionals suspect a parent is creating or exaggerating their child’s difficulties, with consequent physical, emotional, social or educational harm to the child. 

The prevalence of FII continues to be extremely rare, therefore care must be taken to balance desire to find true positive cases, against the risk of high numbers of false positive cases, and the damage that false FII accusations bring to families. This is especially so as published evidence on prevalence and management of FII is limited.    Katie Phillips will give a legal overview on the main features of Fabricated and Induced Illness; the RCPCH guidance on this and the practical aspects of the safeguarding response where Fabricated and Induced Illness is suspected.

Dr Sheila Fish will explore operational challenges with reference to the BASW practice guidance for social workers on FII and other perplexing presentations, as well as findings from a recent Safeguarding Adult Review she conducted.

Katie Phillips is a family law specialist barrister from 42BR chambers who practises across all areas of children and the full range of injunctive work. 

Dr Sheila Fish is an independent reviewer for statutory child safeguarding practice reviews and safeguarding adults reviews, including a recent SAR featuring FII concerns related to a young adult.

This webinar was originally scheduled for Thursday 4 July 2024 and has been rescheduled as shown.  

Please be aware that places for this seminar are limited and may get over subscribed.

Our clients will get priority, but we will endeavour to increase capacity where we can to allow all those who wish to attend a place.

Where we are heavily oversubscribed we will limit places per organisation.

Registration will close at the advertised start time.

• 0370 194 3046

Hannah Taylor

I am a partner in the Health & Care Regulatory

Thursday 05 September 2024

Related Tags

• Independent Health
• Local Government
• NHS Commissioning
• Health, Care & Regulatory Law
• Mental Capacity and the Court of Protection
• Mental Health
• Deprivation of Liberty

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