Step By Step To Conducting A Webinar

Editor's Notes

1. This webinar will be most useful for organizations who are interested in starting a program and want a better sense of the process
2. What is the goal? Staff training, web conferencing, training, outreach, promo campaign, advocacy Track expenses and staff time What tool will you use? Tell about webinar with Laura Quinn and article Some tools allow participants to interact, separate chat rooms Participants can write/draw on the slides Ability to use a whiteboard feature (brainstorming session) Video of the presenter ASK QUESTION: what tools are you currently using Who will organize and produce? It roughly take us 20-25 hours to organize each webinar Capacity: outreach, how many people we want to serve. Organizing, producer, person to answer chat questions What will it cost? Some tools are free, but have limitations. You get what you pay for. Planning a budget for how much you can spend to meet your target
3. Topic/Purpose Determine what the webinar is about What are you trying to accomplish? EXAMPLES: software training: ESRI, GrantStation share information: Most TST webinars training on topic or idea: 2 hour webinar on planning an open house communicate with board/staff Speaker If you won’t be the main presenter, you will need to find one Make sure the presenter is comfortable with public speaking They can be located anywhere in the world, as long as they have broadband access Don’t try and use too many speakers in a short time Content/format Determine how you’d like it to be formatted Example: one person talking, interview style, panel Try not to cover too much information
4. Description What it’s about Who it’s best suited for When: make sure to include time zones! Use a catchy title Create registration page SHAWN Promotion SHAWN: campaign urls Blogs, newsletter, email, send to partners who send to their people, post on your website, twitter, post on Facebook, other people’s newsletters, TechSoup has an RSS feed, listservs, Reminder SHAWN: Ideally send the PPT PowerPoint presentation No animation Display desktop: clean up! Software demonstration Outline/talking points It helps to have what your’e going to day ready to guide you. Time goes by fast, break down who talks and when Run through Make sure all presenters know how to use the tool/what to expect Presenter’s computer compatible Timing/agenda Go over order, slides, content
5. Equipment needed Computer Headset Quiet room Phone/skype Broadband Log on early 30 minutes Make sure you have time to troubleshoot if there’s a problem Make sure presenters log in 15 minutes before Do a sound check with presenters Use a producer They can field questions and ensure presenter can focus Not necessary, but very helpful Troubleshoot problems during webinar Chat out messages Follow outline/talking points Especially helpful incase there’s an issue and you get flustered Taking questions Raise hand, unmute lines, ask questions Chat questions, save in Google doc for end Have someone watching questions and answering them during the webinar Figure out how to deal with questions that aren’t answered, follow up Be prepared for technical issues Have a plan b Tech support number ready If participants have the PPT you could have them look at that while you speak if the conferencing tool doesn’t work Login information handy Remember to record Add a slide in your presentation if necessary
6. Questions Figure out how to deal with questions that aren’t answered, follow up Community forums Post event survey SHAWN Find a way to capture what participant thought Use to make future webinars better Have tough skin Suggestions for future webinars Post event thank you, links, recording SHAWN ReadyTalk allows you to send a message out to anyone who registers, message includes link to recording and up to 5 files Archiving: providing link to recording Continue to promote recording: blog, twitter, link in newsletter, similar webinars Evaluation/ROI Use the data you’ve compiled from the survey to help you understand Look at how much staff time it took
7. Relay service Telephone Online Transcriptions Volunteers Closed captions on recordings dotSUB
8. Relay service Telephone Online Transcriptions Volutneers Closed captions on recordings dotSUB