Imagine the terror. You're in a hotel conference room. All you have is water and a tray of mints on your table. The air conditioning sends a frosty wind across your face (it's November). The conference host monotonously stands on stage, half-turned to the projector screen behind him and, boring page after boring page, he reads each of the bullet points. Sometimes, he even makes a bland joke about the clipart. Oh, the worst is yet to come. There are fifty more slides with fifty bullet points on each. Each point tells you nothing; the only question you have is why did you bother waking up this morning. Oh yes, it's a nightmare alright.
Webinars that lack proper planning and essential creative elements will leave our audience with the same feeling of living through a recurring webinar nightmare. Except with webinars, they have a small benefit -- the office work they have been neglecting for weeks. Oh, they can complete this chore or that chore while you drone on without interest.
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.
There are plenty of ways you can motivate curiosity in your webinars. The easiest way to find tips is to study some of the most popular visual media; the film industry. Successful filmmakers know the importance of keeping the audience's curiosity level high. Darth Vader comes to mind -- Lucas kept us coming back time and again, even after we knew he was Luke's father. What Happens in Vegas kept us watching because we wanted to see how this one-night-stand would work itself through. Miami Vice -- how will Crockett and Tubbs get out of this one? You get the point; a curious audience keeps watching until the end, and you reap the rewards.
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.
The market leader in the webinar market is Citrix Online with their GoToWebinar solution. Through Quote Stork Solutions, you can try GoToWebinar for Free and enjoy an additional $10 if you decide to stick with the program. The GoToWebinar solution allows you to host unlimited webinars and reach an unlimited amount of employees and clients. Great way to practice raising the audience's curiosity level!
Webinars that lack proper planning and essential creative elements will leave our audience with the same feeling of living through a recurring webinar nightmare. Except with webinars, they have a small benefit -- the office work they have been neglecting for weeks. Oh, they can complete this chore or that chore while you drone on without interest.
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.
There are plenty of ways you can motivate curiosity in your webinars. The easiest way to find tips is to study some of the most popular visual media; the film industry. Successful filmmakers know the importance of keeping the audience's curiosity level high. Darth Vader comes to mind -- Lucas kept us coming back time and again, even after we knew he was Luke's father. What Happens in Vegas kept us watching because we wanted to see how this one-night-stand would work itself through. Miami Vice -- how will Crockett and Tubbs get out of this one? You get the point; a curious audience keeps watching until the end, and you reap the rewards.
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.
The market leader in the webinar market is Citrix Online with their GoToWebinar solution. Through Quote Stork Solutions, you can try GoToWebinar for Free and enjoy an additional $10 if you decide to stick with the program. The GoToWebinar solution allows you to host unlimited webinars and reach an unlimited amount of employees and clients. Great way to practice raising the audience's curiosity level!
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