What is a webinar?
A webinar is a real-time event over the internet, usually attended by a large number of people on their computers or phones. In principle, viewers are engaged through a variety of interactive tools. Webinars can be used for training sessions, sales and marketing needs and other business objectives.
Webinars usually include one to three cameras/viewing angles, presentations, videos, chat, Q&A or question-and-answer sessions, polls, remote speakers, etc. It is particularly important to pay attention to a stable internet connection and clear speech reproduction.
How to organise a webinar and the business benefits
The webinar is a powerful tool. It allows the size of the target audience to be scaled up to virtually unlimited levels. By reaching a larger number of your target audience, you can engage viewers with a range of interactive tools. The overall cost of organising a webinar is inherently significantly lower than a physical event, as there are no costs such as travel, meals, venue rent and accommodation. By choosing a professional partner for the technical and technological implementation of your webinar, you can concentrate on the content and use your energy to produce it efficiently.
A quality webinar reinforces brand image
Webinar services open up a new opportunity to provide quality customer service. For example, you can answer your target audience’s most frequently asked questions or present services and products, building a personal connection with your viewers. Hosting a webinar is a powerful tool to strengthen your brand image and provides an opportunity to stand out in the market by showcasing your organisation’s professionalism and quality. Of course, webinar productions are also directly linked to increased sales. Viewers can be targeted with offers and advertisements, and can be encouraged to make a purchasing decision through a webinar.
Regular webinar production is effective communication
Webinars can also be harnessed to drive growth on social media platforms by providing interesting and engaging content. Webinars are true content creation machines, easily generating a huge amount of micro-content for social media platforms. A good webinar partner will not only deliver the technical implementation, but also the marketing support video material from your webinars that you want. The most effective way is to produce webinars that are useful to your target audience at regular intervals. A predictable frequency of webinars sends a professional message to your target audience: “We know what we are doing and we want to provide excellent customer service.”
How to organise a webinar?
Define your objectives, target audience and content
The very first step should be to define the objectives of the webinar and the target audience. Why are you holding a webinar in the first place? This is something that the technical organiser of the webinar should also be interested in and aware of, as the main objectives should also guide the technical, technological and stylistic choices. Based on the objectives, the content of the webinar will be designed: what will be discussed?
Choose the production method and the webinar platform
Once the objective, target audience and content structure of the webinar are clear, a suitable platform should be chosen, as well as a potential technical partner. Sometimes it’s worth organising the webinar yourself with a webcam from your laptop, but if you want a basic package that’s secure, worry-free and stylish, or if you’re aiming for a high-quality, branded TV broadcast-style solution (and don’t want to become a media company yourself), it’s definitely worth looking for a competent partner. A capable technical webinar partner will be able to suggest the most appropriate platform to use based on your objectives and target audience. With a partner, a webinar studio can be built on the company’s own premises or the company can broadcast from the partner’s studio.
Webinar marketing
Marketing the webinar and spreading awareness is extremely important. Often the invitation link to the webinar is only sent to those who have specifically registered in order to collect data on the participants. Mediocre webinar implementations are a dime a dozen, and in addition to effective marketing, a high quality technical implementation and a clear content approach are needed to stand out. It is therefore important to choose a webinar partner who understands not only the technical and technological aspects, but also the marketing and business aspects, and who is able to stand out from the crowd in terms of quality. A good partner will also offer a consistent production quality, which is very important in the world of social media.
Involving webinar participants in the interaction
Webinar participants should be fully aware of how to communicate with the webinar hosts. It is important that, where appropriate, participants are provided with instructions on how to use the interactive tools and that the webinar is generally easy to follow. During the webinar, participants should be encouraged to interact, as this is significantly more engaging than simply watching the broadcast.
Test webinar technology early
In practice, the webinar technology provider will prepare and test the equipment and connections in advance – the day before the broadcast if necessary. Technical implementation includes cameras, broadcasting equipment, lights, microphones, presentation equipment, screens, cabling and so on. Most critical of all is that the internet connection is stable and fast enough. The next most important thing is that the audio is pleasant to listen to. I’m sure each of us has attended a remote event where the audio was terrible. Right.
For the viewer’s brand image of the organising organisation to be anything but enhanced after the webinar, vision is required, as well as technical expertise and the right equipment. Things worth noting include:
- the decoration of the studio space with props and lighting: for example, it should not be too dark
- the composition of the subjects in the room: for example, the speakers must not be placed too close to the back wall, so that they do not disappear into the background and to create a sense of depth in the two-dimensional image
- selection of interesting angles and real-time cropping
- camera colour definitions
- a sufficiently powerful broadcast engine and the right broadcast software
- a possible backup transmission system
- selection of appropriate video formats, resolution, frame rate, bit rate, etc.
- displaying the names and titles of speakers in the broadcast and ensuring that other graphic material is functional
- arrangements for presentation materials, remote access, audio, etc.: for example, how to ensure that speakers can see their own presentations, how to hear the remote speaker’s voice and how to ensure that the sound does not travel
- sufficiently detailed pre-arranged exchanges, e.g. for mics, speakers and slideshows – in practice, this means an introductory meeting to go through the programme point by point
There are a number of technical risks associated with live webinars, which should be taken into account and eliminated as far as possible in advance, so as not to damage the image of the organisation organising the webinar. A competent technical partner will have considered a number of scenarios so that the webinar organiser can focus on the content with confidence.
Remember to make use of participant data
The participant data collected after the webinar and the feedback collected at the end of the webinar will be analysed. After the webcast, it is important to quickly capitalise on the momentum generated, for example by providing additional material to participants. It is recommended to use the marketing video content from the webinar produced by the partner on social media platforms.
A summary of the webinar
The webinar is a powerful tool. To fully exploit its potential, the content, marketing, technical, technological and aesthetic aspects must be taken into account. The webinar must be a coherent whole.
It often makes sense to focus one’s energy on content and marketing only, with a good webinar partner providing an aesthetically pleasing technical and technological backbone with micro-content on a turnkey basis. It is highly recommended to provide the target audience with webinar content at regular intervals to realise the full potential of the tool.
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Webinar organiser’s checklist
- Define your objective and target audience.
- The content must be useful to the target audience, so take the time to refine it.
- Pay attention to the technology first: a stable internet connection and pleasant audio.
- The technical, technological and aesthetic implementation requires a surprising amount of time and other resources. Provide presentation materials in time for the technology provider and avoid last-minute changes. Be aware that adding one seemingly minor element to a production can have a chain reaction effect on many technical details.
- Invest in marketing and make use of your webinar recording for various marketing content.
- Try to make the webinar experience as clear as possible and challenge the audience to interact.
- Consider whether you could provide your target audience with ongoing webinar content at regular intervals to reinforce your brand image.
We have also written a comprehensive information pack on the topic of event organisation.