Ain't No Cure for the Webinar Blues
Well it's gonna be a bummer And I'm gonna feel quite crazy They'll be texting while I am talking And thinking “Why bother?” Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do Because there ain't no cure for the webinar blues*Table of Contents
Webinars Blow
My hatred of webinars knows no bounds. The only good thing about them is that I don't have to haul my cookies across the country and get stranded in Chicago – O'Hare for hours on end.
Death by Webinar
I just feel like a crazy person. Sitting in my office talking and gesturing like a maniac. With no clue if the people on the other end are understanding, listening or sleeping. I miss the connection with the audience. I miss them asking questions at will. I miss the inspiration the provide me as a speaker. I just miss my peeps!
Webinars are stupid but necessary in the business world and super necessary if you are digital entrepreneur. How do we get them not to suck so bad?
Tech Check
Do a tech check a few hours before the webinar. I have born witness to too many webinars failing before they even get started. It seems no matter who is hosting the webinar for you there are bugs. Check the sound. Check the visuals. Check the chat. Check everything you can before the scheduled start time. It saves you from the “my tech is all screwed up” pre-webinar stress.
Get a Room
One where you won't be distracted (what did you think I meant?). My office is directly across from the kitchen. Foot traffic. People chatting outside. Microwave beeping. Who nuked fish again? Seriously, this makes my office “webinar impossible”. Find a quiet space where no one will bother you. Put up a large sign that says “Webinar in Progress”. Apparently, I have been embedded with a tracking device that allows some people to always find me.
Present Like They're Present
Present the webinar like the audience is there. Get a headset so you can move around and gesture. Visualize the audience in your mind. You are in your secret location. It's not like anyone is going to see you presenting to yourself. You have to be enthusiastic if you are going to keep your audience engaged. If you're half asleep, you'll put them to sleep.
Is There Anyone Out There?
Let your audience know that you will be checking in with them periodically through out. Invite them to keep a list of their questions and participate. Plan in advance where you are going to stop to see if there are questions. Check the chat box at prescribed time for questions. Don't talk for 40 minutes straight without seeing how your webinar friends are doing.
Finish that Bad Boy on Time
If it is a 60 minute webinar, you need to stop at 60 minutes. If you don't cover all the material, why was your PowerPoint deck so long to begin with? It's always better to finish EARLY than go over time. It's especially true in a webinar where they can just leave and you really will be talking to yourself!
What are your webinar survival tips or horror stories? Please do share. I need something to do during that webinar!
*With sincere apologies to The Who Eddie Cochran
[…] http://www.drmichellemazur.com – Today, 4:56 AM Rescoop […]
A lack of direction seems to plague most of the webinars I’ve seen. Many of the speakers aren’t incredibly experienced so they frequently get off topic. The other problem is many of them lack a central audience. If you’re trying to help someone with social media, one person might be looking to improve blog article traffic while another is looking to start. It’s difficult to find balance. Nice post!
Quick sidenote: While the Who’s electric rendition of the “Summertime Blues” is my personal favorite, the original was written and performed by Eddie Cochran!
I’ve seen that too! For some reason, they do forget that there is an audience on the other side of the Interwebs. Rambling then ensues. I also think your comments goes back to knowing the audience – just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean you can’t ask them what they are hoping to get out of the webinar. It could happen before the webinar takes places or even a brief discussion at the beginning!
I made a little correction in regard to your side note! 🙂
Hi Michelle – I am not a fan of the webinar either. My “day job” is with a big corporation and we have them all the time. Studies have shown that most people are on email, on the phone etc. during webinars (me included) – what a waste of time. I was giving a training session on presentation design recently and an audience member asked me if you could teach presenting via a webinar… my opinion is no. I believe it would be like learning to drive a car via webinar. Something counter intuitive in teaching a “live” skill in such a “non live” way. I blogged on this topic too, I called it “Watering down the wine”
http://tinyurl.com/78umaum
Thanks for the post…I will send your tips on to my colleagues.
Joe P
I think your tips can certainly help.
Hi Joe! Just read your article. It looks like we are on the same page about webinars. They are a necessary evil (I suppose), but not something I will ever enjoy. I just got scheduled to do a 2 hour webinar for my day job. Yeah I am thinking that won’t be the most productive 2 hours.
I totally agree with you teaching presenting via webinar would be like “dancing about architecture” as the famous quote says – you just shouldn’t do it!
I can relate completely, Michelle! I just did a couple of webinars for i>clicker on Flipped Classrooms, and wish I had seen this ahead of time–although instinctively I did everything you suggested here! So I guess I’m giving a big amen. I don’t like doing them, for the same reasons you stated, but it’s a cinch that they will be around regardless. Our choices as speakers are to refuse to do them (and be left behind) or, as you’re doing, figure out how best to do them.
I would add this: we had some tech issues on the first webinar where participants were not able to chat with each other in a back channel–it would only let them chat to me or the support folks. We got that fixed for the second one, and even though they didn’t chat all that much (compared to the number of people who were in the webinar), the fact that they could do so if they wanted made a huge difference! So make sure to enable a backchannel and encourage them to use it.