“It’s like I’m back in college again, but this time I understand!”

At first, this comment from my webinar in 2023 felt good — at least they understood what I said.

But then I realized…I didn’t want my webinars to feel like college lectures. 

So I set about revamping my approach. At a webinar a few months ago, a participant said, “It was so fun, and I learned so much!” To be honest, I’m a lot happier with this comment! 

Here’s how I got there…

Beforehand

Plan With Your Ultimate Goals in Mind

Most people start by thinking about the topic of the webinar. If you’re trying to explain how to write a compelling memoir, you start thinking about all the components a good example of the genre would need.

But I recommend starting a little farther back than that…

Why are you giving this webinar?

Do you want more clients, boosted professional credentials, a reputation as an expert, or more speaking opportunities?

My next article will talk more about how to create a webinar that achieves your professional goals.

Then, consider what your audience wants. Are they looking for somebody to write a memoir for them? Are they trying to evaluate whether their own memoir is successful? Do they want to write memoirs themselves? Do they need convincing about how they could benefit from writing one in the first place? 

Now find the overlap between what you want and what your audience wants.

If you want clients for your memoir-writing business, don’t give your audience members everything they need in the webinar and send them on their way without you! Early in my career, I gave a webinar for a professional I knew could send me many clients. She loved it, but no clients materialized. I later found out it was the most-watched webinar in her entire library, but, while people loved the content, I had not planted the seeds of working with me for even greater benefit!

The way you promote, plan, and deliver the webinar should all contribute to your goals as well as the desires of your audience. 

 

Get People to Come 

Tell everyone you are doing this cool thing! 

Don’t give into discouraging thoughts like “I don’t want to bother people” or “I don’t want to clutter up people’s inboxes” or “It feels weird to post on social media.” You are providing valuable material! People deserve to benefit from it. If you’re not excited to tell people what you’ll be talking about, improve your material until you can be more enthused about it. (Email me if you need help.)

• Post on social media, like, five times more than you think you need to. 
• Tell friends and family – even if they’re not in your field, maybe they know somebody who really needs to hear your information. 
• Find people who can help you promote. Whom would you be doing a favor if you gave them a chance to tell their followers about your event? Think carefully about whose audience aligns with your material. It’s worth contacting other people to help you get the word out.
• Email your list! These people have volunteered to hear more from you. If they unsubscribe because you’re telling them where to find you, they’re not your best audience, anyway. With a free account on MailChimp or Kit, you can write your email sequence weeks in advance and schedule it to arrive in people’s inboxes one email each week leading up to the event.

Here’s an easy email structure to use (1 per week, starting a month before the event):

1. Save the Date – Announce the event, date, time, topic, and how people can attend 
2. Build Excitement – explain why you’re discussing this topic and how you think it will be helpful. Focus on what types of people might enjoy it or what problems it might solve. 
3. Honest Admission – Talk about a challenge or confess an insecurity related to this material. 
4. Final Encouragement – Tell a story about someone who was helped by this information (could be you!) Sincerely say you’d love to see people there.
5. Optional Last Reminder – the morning of (or night before if it starts early) send a short email reminding people what’s happening and how they can attend. Done! 

Planning Your Presentation

 

Keep the Audience Engaged

Don’t just lecture or read your slides. 

Do change it up: explain a five-step process, then tell a story, then do a quick quiz or create a poll, then undermine a false belief (e.g. you might think [fill in the blank], but actually…), then be vulnerable and describe a mistake you used to make, then give an example, etc. 

I once was giving a webinar on a very technical subject. About halfway through, I suddenly said, “Who wants to hear me spill the tea about my husband?” Everybody leaned forward because it was such a dramatic shift from the technical details I’d been explaining.

Don’t just look at your slides on a big-screen device (tablet, laptop, desktop) when you’re designing them. 

Do view your slides in phone-screen size (for some audiences, this is the most common way people watch). Make the text bigger than you think it needs to be.

Don’t make every slide black text on a white background.

Do be gentle on the eyes by using dark text on pastel backgrounds (natural colors like light yellow, green, or blue are soothing). Consider switching it up with a few slides with light text on a darker background.

Don’t use the same structure for every slide, like a picture on the left with text on the right. 

Do vary the slide structure: a full-width picture, then just text with no picture at all, then a list with a banner photo, then a headline with animated bullet points, then a photo as a background, etc. Include photos of people, animals, and nature, not just indoor scenes or inanimate objects.

Take People On an Emotional Journey

Don’t lean only on intellectual explanation, detailed description, or educational content. 

Do, please do, build your webinar around the emotional experience of your listener. 

They’re probably starting from doubt, uncertainty, lack of knowledge, or misguided actions (after all, there’s a reason this material needs to be presented…) So what they need is:

Support their initial feelings – challenged, overwhelmed, uncertain, discouraged.

Encourage them this isn’t an instant fix, but growth is possible. Tell stories about people whose skills improved (yourself or others).  

Have fun. Laugh at your own mistakes. Smile regularly. Tell a joke, even if it’s stupid. Create enjoyable community. 

Give them a sense of accomplishment – Periodically, do a quick quiz on what you’ve presented (use a “fill in the blank” format where you make a statement, leave a word out, and ask people to put the correct word into the chat). Celebrate what people have learned!  

The best movies or books take us on a journey from weakness to strength, ignorance to knowledge, doubt to confidence. Your webinar, in its own small way, should do the same. 

The more people enjoy spending time with you, the more likely they are to come to your next webinar and invite their friends or co-workers. 

The Day Of

Send your reminder email (or better yet, schedule it ahead of time to take it off your plate!)

Take time to refine your appearance (from the waist up) and look at your background on-screen. Try for simple, not too cluttered, professional. I put on a nice shirt, do my hair carefully, and wear earrings big enough to show up on a small screen. I’ve seen too many online presenters roll up wearing something just north of pajamas. Even if you’re at home, this is not no-effort hour!

During the Presentation

Explain how questions will be answered

At the beginning, show people you value their responses by stating the procedure for questions and answers.

• Should they be submitted in the chat or a Q&A box? 
• Will you call on people who raise their hands physically or electronically?
• Can people submit questions any time or should they hold until you indicate you’re ready?
• Will you pause for questions in the middle or answer them at the end?

Encourage participation 

At the beginning, ask a few small, easy questions to take the audience temperature and warm up participation.

Put a 1 in the chat if you’re a total beginner on this topic or a 2 if you have some experience.

Put a 1 in the chat if you are writing your own books or a 2 if you’re editing someone else’s.

Put an “O” in the chat if you’ve ever been overwhelmed by trying to figure this out.

When I first started, I used to ask much more complicated questions and just got crickets! I found that starting off with something small with a simple binary response makes people more likely to ask questions or give detailed comments later.

Later on, ask some reflection questions that help your audience benefit from your material, like “What’s one big takeaway you’ve gotten from this webinar?” or “What’s one thing you’d like to try doing differently this week?” This prevents your audience from getting stuck absorbing information and helps them move into taking action. 

Keep your audience interested

I’ve learned to amplify my emotional reactions a little: smile, use hand gestures, laugh, or sigh to get my point across. I want listening to me to be an engaging emotional experience, not an intellectual lecture. So I add just a little bit of performance. That might take practice in front of a mirror, but it can make a big difference.

Handle disruptive participation

First, you need a moderator who will kick out people who are truly disruptive or bombing your event. But it takes practice and technique to handle sincere participants who may still be a handful.

Here are some phrases that have worked for me:

“I will do my best to answer questions, but if any are too broad for our time today, I’ll let you know, and you can connect with me afterwards.”

“I see that some people in the chat are giving their own recommendations about what has worked for them. Although I have not used those personally, I encourage small-stakes experiments if you want to try different approaches.”

“I see that some people are disagreeing with what I am recommending here. I am speaking from my own best experience and expertise, but I fully support a diverse approach to this topic. At the end, I’ll provide my contact information, and we can continue to talk about this if you would like.”

The main goal is to be humble and reaffirm that you aren’t claiming to know everything, but you won’t get derailed into a tangent or sucked into fighting with somebody who disagrees with what you say. Stay on target!

After

Find a way to follow up with the people in your audience. Don’t lose this opportunity to connect with warm bodies!

• Invite people to sign up to your email list (the best way to make sure they see everything you send them).
• Ask them to follow you or DM you on social media.
• Offer them an incentive (e.g. a 1-page summary of your key webinar points, a short worksheet, a coupon for a free or a discounted consultation with you).
• Tell them where to find you next — a blog, You-Tube channel, or future speaking engagement.

Get them into your ecosystem. Honestly, that’s the best way to achieve almost all of your webinar goals, and they’ll continue to benefit from your expertise.

 

Giving a good webinar requires a set of skills. Keeping viewers’ interest, teaching the material, creating a positive emotional experience, and achieving your business or personal goals – it can all be learned.

Please email me at robin@poolmx.com if you have any questions or you’d like a free consultation on how to improve your own presentation energies. It took me a while to get good at this. I’d love to help you get there.

 

What’s next?

If you’re interested in webinars that further your goals, you might like my next article:

“Webinars that Get What You Want: Clients, Recognition, Reach, Authority”

It turns out it’s the stories you tell, not the material itself, that creates the results you want from your webinar.

We’ll also talk about how to make your material keep working for you. This was a game-changer for me!

If you’d like to know when this comes out, email me at robin@poolmx.com with the subject heading “Webinar Goals Article” and I’ll send you an email with a link when it publishes. 

For now, do you enjoy giving webinars? Put a “Y” or an “N” in the comments!