Tips To Pulling Off A Successful Webinar

• Set your goals

Define what you hope to accomplish  by hosting a webinar.

• Plan ahead

Plan all webinar topics up to six  months out, regardless of whether the Webinar is later expected to have a  sponsor. Then, begin listing the webinar topics in blurbs on your Web site for  promotion. Internal experts should begin working on content about six weeks  before the presentation, and if a sponsor comes aboard, then work with the  sponsor to incorporate or edit content accordingly.

• Identify the team and costs

Indentify the people within your organization  that you would like to head the group that will produce the webinar. In  addition, use a webinar provider or service, but be prepared to pay. GoToWebinar  and WebEx are the most commonly used webinar providers. GoToWebinar is the  least expensive, but it doesn't have the VoIP capabilities of WebEx. GoToWebinar  just uses a URL, with no call-in feature.

• Train the  presenters

You have to get your presenter  familiar with the technology beforehand, and that usually takes three or so  practice runs. A presenter could easily exit a webinar inadvertently or move a  mouse across the screen more quickly than it can load, confusing the audience  if the mouse and presenter's walk-through don't match. It’s key to connect with  the audience and provide a professional user experience.

• Get sponsors  or partners

Sponsors and partners not only  assist with marketing webinars to their own e-lists and customers, but they can  provide valuable content. Just make sure to sign with sponsors and partners who  will provide content that jibes with the audience’s interests.

• Teach  something worth learning

The key to success is the subject  matter. Look at your market segments and competitors to see what really  resonate

• Get the  presentation right

Build in enough time to edit and  review slides as well as speaker points before going live. Allow one to two  weeks for presenters to develop their slides from a template, and then a full  week for editing and review. Slides should not be text heavy, and fonts should  be larger than 20 point. Limit animation and fancy graphics because they take a  long time to load and will slow the presentation online. Webinars should be no  longer than 45 minutes; allow 15 minutes for questions at the end. If one  presenter spends five minutes on a slide, then his number of slides should be  cut accordingly. A typical webinar will include 30 to 40 slides.

• Sound check

A big challenge is making sure the  sound quality is excellent. Test, test and test, again, before beginning the  webinar. This is the area where companies are most likely to trip.

• Market to  the right audience

Market the webinar through  e-newsletters, industry-specific mailings or e-mail news alerts to users who  are interested in that topic. But be careful not to exhaust your own lists.  Promote the webinar in newsletters you already send out, then do one e-mail about  a week beforehand, then another e-mail a few days before. Banner advertising  can bear some fruit as well.

• Follow up

Follow up, but don't “burn” your  list. Send out an automated e-mail to participants as a follow-up and to advertise  future offerings. Building a list of return attendees could help cut marketing  expenses, the most expensive part of a webinar. Marketing could cost $2,000 to  $3,000.

Sources: Chris Frank, director of marketing and communications for Salt  Lake City-based Infopia Inc.; Jon Lawrence, the chief executive of Clearwater,  Fla.-based Data Balance; and Carol Dekkers, president of Tampa, Fla.-based  Quality Plus Technologies Inc.