Tips for Engaging Webinars

Wouldn’t it be nice if people weren’t multi-tasking while you’re conducting a webinar? The difference between success and failure really boils down to a few simple tips and tricks. I’m going to start by telling you five ways to engge your audience.

Five Meta Messages Your Audience Wants to Hear

Based on field testing and expert advice, here are five messages you need to convey to attendees to keep them engaged in your webinar:

1. I Will Not Waste Your Time

Within the first few seconds of the webinar, you need to remind attendees how long you will be speaking and what’s so interesting about the topic. Don’t make any promises you can’t keep. Here’s an example:

Wow – I have so much to tell you and so little time. In the next 30 minutes, you’re going to learn everything you need to know about hiring recent college grads – from what kinds of benefits and recognition they expect to how to integrate them into your existing workforce.

I would add, don’t open with a quote. It sends an immediate signal that you don’t have anything original to say.

2. I Know what you Know and I Know More than that.

Let them know that you know how much expertise they have on the topic and you plan to provide more. This is one place where industry jargon is not only acceptable – it’s preferable; it lets audience members know that you’re at least on their level. Here’s an example:

If your company is like most, HR is working overtime to keep these new hires knee deep in incentives – and by “incentives” I mean not just gift cards, but the soft rewards they really want like more remote work opportunities and days offs. How do I know this? My consulting firm has been doing nothing but coaching companies like yours on hiring recent college grads for the past 11 years. In fact, we were interviewed last month by 60 Minutes for a segment on that topic.

3. This is My Main Point

You really want the audience to pay attention while you drive home your most important point. So, it’s a good idea to give some indication as to what it is ahead of time. As you begin your webinar, say something like this:

Hiring and retaining recent college grads is easy, if you remember that they need to feel special.

Then, later on in your webinar – everyone will really listen when you say:

As I mentioned earlier, the bottom line is this: these employees need to feel special and here’s how to do it.

4. This will be Easy to Follow

Offering some kind of mental outline to attendees at the outset keeps them on their toes. Think of adding phrases such as this:

There are four things you thought you knew about hiring recent college grads that are just plain wrong.

5. Listen Up - I’m Just About Finished

Research shows that people really listen when they think the webinar is just about over. So, it pays to let attendees know when you’re close to the end and then wrap it up in five minutes or less. The worst thing to do is indicate that you’re almost finished and then drone on for another 20 minutes. Say something like this:

Thank you so much for attending. Now that you know how to hire and retain recent college grads, I’m going to give you one last bit of advice.

It’s all pretty simple. For a no cost discussion of your situation and how we can leverage metrics-based marketing to grow your business call 630-363-8081 or email jeanna@smartprcommunications.com.