These days, with the new norm of live presentations being sidelined for online options, it makes a dull, clunky webinar that much more intolerable. And when potential clients mentally tune out during your spiel, they’re not going to discover all the reasons you would be a great advisor for them. Not losing your audience to boredom can be especially tricky when the content you’re presenting isn’t what most people would call “fun.”
Fear not, perplexed presenter!
Here are some handy tips to keep your webinar lively and your audience awake:
No one likes being talked at, and one of the pitfalls of your typical webinar is that it can come off feeling like watching a one-sided instructional video. But this isn’t some bygone workplace safety film from the early ‘90s. This is 2021. We have the technology to actually speak with your audience, not just to them.
Start off by welcoming them before the webinar begins. Check in with how many people have already joined and fill in the gaps of silence with friendly comments or discussion. This will let your audience know, out the gate, this isn’t going to be a “sit down and shut up” affair. This will be an engaging webinar that encourages interaction.
To boost the engagement even more, it’s a great idea to periodically check in with the audience and ask them questions (or even some form of interactive survey). This works for three reasons:
With so many things to draw our focus these days, attention spans are in short supply. So, when an audience has to watch one host, especially one who doesn’t do public speaking as their profession, read through slides for an hour that focus can become frayed.
Mix it up! Bring in a co-presenter to share the workload. Having two people on the screen now gives the audience a variety of voices to pay attention two. Banter and interaction between the two hosts, even if written ahead of time, gives the webinar a freshness and spontaneity that will boost your audience’s engagement.
But why stop there? Instead of two hosts, why not moderate a whole panel, with multiple experts whose diverse points of view complement each other? This would give the presentation less of a lecture feel and more of a “spirited discourse between experts” vibe that will have attendees clinging on to every word.
The world of video games can seem foreign and confusing, especially when a 10-year-old tries to explain what the heck a “Fortnite” is, but it’s not without its merits. The hot new trend in the education sphere is gamification, which is taking fun elements common to video games and applying them to non-game situations, creating an interactive exercise that incentivizes learning.
Conducting quizzes throughout the presentation where attendees can earn points is an example of gamification. Reward the highest-scoring participant with a prize at the end, and you will have your audience playing to win, and to learn. There are several ways to gamify your next webinar that will be sure to ramp up the engagement and break through the monotony of a boring old presentation.
They say laughter is the best medicine and, contrary to the opinion of several medical doctors, it’s true. Connecting with your audience through humor is the perfect shot in the arm your webinar needs to get up and running. Humor can lighten the mood and create an inviting atmosphere, a necessity when your audience is separated by an internet connection. Humorous anecdotes, visual gags in your slides, or even using memes to segue between topics can work wonders in bringing the fun. Bring a co-presenter along and your witty banter can carry your webinar to new, hilarious heights.
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