Since March 2020, many business and educational activities have been converted to an online mode. Suddenly, face-to-face meetings with customers and clients were replaced by virtual meetings, and many training events were converted to eLearning. In order for your online presentation to have the same impact as live events, you need to pay close attention to a few important aspects.
Online events with online presentations like webinars, are a convenient and cost-effective way to hold events and meetings. Compared to the effort involved in organizing a live event, for example in a convention center, an online event requires significantly less effort. Nevertheless, there are some important things to keep in mind when conducting online presentations or training.
Use the following tips to prepare your online presentation or training webinar.
BEFORE YOUR ONLINE PRESENTATION
1. DEFINE YOUR GOALS
First, determine why you want to conduct an online event. Do you want to fill skills gaps among your employees ? Or do you want to pass on important information to a target group that is important to you?
Specify the goals as precisely as possible. For example, employee training in area XY, information transfer in area Z, retention of skills and knowledge, etc.
2. CHOOSE SPEAKERS AND GUEST SPEAKERS
Perhaps your online event is very complex and needs to be broken down into individual subtopics. You may need speakers for special topics who are particularly knowledgeable in this area. If you need additional partners for your online event, you should make a list of people who are obligated to participate in your event.
3. CHOOSE THE RIGHT WEBINAR PLATFORM
There are a lot of webinar hosting tools available now, such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, GoToWebinar, etc. You should take a close look at the pros and cons of each provider and make your choice at your leisure.
4. MAKE SURE YOU USE A SECURE REGISTRATION PROCESS
5. START A TEST RUN
6. SEND REMINDER E-MAIL
DURING THE ONLINE PRESENTATION
7. AVOID DISTRACTIONS
You want your attendees to focus on the content of your slides and nothing else. Therefore, keep background that your camera captures free of clutter. Avoid background noise such as dogs barking, signals for incoming emails, etc. Make sure you are neither too bright nor too dimly lit.
8. ENSURE THE UNDIVIDED ATTENTION OF YOUR PARTICIPANTS
9. PROVIDE A RECORDING OF THE ONLINE PRESENTATION
AFTER THE ONLINE PRESENTATION
10. GET FEEDBACK FROM THE PARTICIPANTS
It is useful to evaluate the quality of your online presentation in order to improve possible weak points. Possible questions:
- How did you like the event?
- Did you have any technical difficulties during the event?
- Were you able to maintain your concentration during the online presentation?
- What important lessons do you take away?
