The One Element You Need in Your Webinar
by: ChristopherBlanchet | Total views: 8 | Word Count: 583 | View PDF | Print View
Picture this. A conference room. No refreshments. The a/c has been jacked way up. The presenter stands on a stage, a laptop open on the podium with a projection screen directly behind him. Page after page of bullet points with sad clip-art for show. But it gets worse. All the presenter does is read directly from a powerpoint that does absolutely nothing but lead you to ask more questions, but one question in particular stands out: why did I get out of bed for this? Yes, it's a seminar nightmare. And, to top it off, you're sitting in the front row!
A poorly planned webinar will have the same effect on your audience, but with a nice little bonus for your attendee -- they have completely neglected paperwork they can complete while you ramble on blandly.
Hosting a webinar involves keeping your audience engaged. Interested. There are several ways you can accomplish this, but in the interest of simplicity we will address the most important element here (if are a keener and want to learn about other tactics, sign up for Quote Stork's newsletter via the link below).
The most important ingredient to a successful webinar is curiosity. That's right, curiosity will keep your audience interested and engaged. By maintaining their curiosity from slide to slide, their minds will seek out solutions to the presented problems (instead of solutions to get out of the meeting). And the best part is that your audience will find themselves begging for the next slide, anxious to see what comes next.
Numerous examples exist for how you can raise your audience's curiosity level. Since webinars are a visual media, all you have to do is look to your favorite films for ways to accomplish this important goal. Look at Star Wars -- viewers not only kept watching, but they returned time and again to see the series again, even after they learned that Darth Vader was Skywalker's father. Saw -- how do these people free themselves? Pulp Fiction -- how do these characters fit together? Okay, you get it. The point is, these films succeeded in very different ways in keeping their audience tuned in to the story.
To accomplish curiosity, present a problem instead of all five hundred answers. After all, the best managers are those that empower employees to offer the "means" toward the corporate "end." Of course, the manager usually has a rough roadmap in mind when soliciting advice from employees and the webinar provides a great medium to visually present such a broad roadmap.
In today's difficult economic climate, the typical financial advisor makes for a great case study. While the advisor understand that bearish markets present the greatest opportunities for long-term growth, she would be wise to NOT give a million reasons for why clients should invest more and invest now. Instead, she might provide questions. Like asking the audience what they do when gasoline prices are high (partially fill the tank) versus when they reach lower lows (fill everything from the car, the boat, even the lawn mower!). Questions like what Donald Trump does (buys dumpy properties, pretties them up, and sells them for way more than they are worth). Hmm... the audience will come to their own conclusion that now is the time to invest.
Today's webinar market leader is Citrix Online's GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting. Through QuoteStork Solutions, you can enjoy a free trial and $10 off your first month. This solution offers unlimited webinars, allowing you to host as many as you need.
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