How To Host A Webinar

1. Tips for Ensuring a Strong Internet Connection
2. Importance of Sound and Video Check at the Beginning
3. Benefits of Using Two Screens During Webinars
4. Guidance on Minimizing Distractions for Audience Engagement
5. Establishing Question Policy and Engagement Guidelines
6. FAQ

Tips for Ensuring a Strong Internet Connection

So, hosting an online webinar isn't very complicated. I'm going to break it down very simply here. I host a lot of webinars for my business. One side of my business is I actually train people on my own business model, which is called affiliate marketing. Basically selling other people's products on a commission-only basis. If you want to learn more about that, just subscribe to my channel. You get a free course. Now, I've broken it down into 4 different steps, CCDQ, and the first thing you want to do to host a good webinar is make sure you have a very strong internet connection. You can go to speedtest.net to check your internet connection. And you want to make sure you have a good up-and-down speed. So, up and down means, you know, a lot of people have fast download speeds but you want to make sure you have an up speed of at least a couple megabytes per second, at least 5 megabytes per second.

Importance of Sound and Video Check at the Beginning

The other thing I would recommend you do, so again, be on a sound internet connection. You don't know how many people I've seen that have tried to perform a webinar, only to get cut off midway through or something like that. What I would recommend you do is you use GoToWebinar, out of the most common webinar program. And call in from the landline, okay? Now, if you call in on your phone, if you're somewhat worried about your internet connection, GoToWebinar gives you an option to literally just dial in a number. So, the audio is on a telephone connection, whereas your video is on your internet connection. This gives you kind of a backup, in case your internet connection is a little bit spotty, people will still be able to hear you on your phone, you'll still be able to hear them.

Benefits of Using Two Screens During Webinars

Here's an extra thing I just remembered, this is I would actually recommend you use 2 screens. Webinars. What I do, I don't always do this. But I always try to do this is have a second screen up. You know, have the screen you're using to present on. And then have a second screen where you can put the chat. You know, for GoToWebinar, you can put whatever questions people are asking. And you can also put a list of the attendees out. So, what I do is I'll set my second screen up with my attendees and the questions people are asking on my other screen. Just so, I can keep tabs on what the audience is saying as I'm going through my presentation.

Guidance on Minimizing Distractions for Audience Engagement

Next thing I would say to do is when you begin your webinar, ask the audience to minimize their distraction. I always tell people a few things. I say, 'Hey, if you could turn off the ringer on your phone and flip it down so that you don't see those blinky lights.' Phones are designed to really just suck our attention away from us. And you know, even if somebody's phone is on silent, you have these blinky lights on the top now that just blink if you get a message or a notification or whatever. So, I always tell people. 'Flip your phone down, so it's facing the desk, put it on silent.' On GoToWebinar, you can't be in any other tabs. But I do ask people. I say please, you know, close any other tabs that you're using that are up. And also, I ask people to turn off their TV or close the door to the room they're in or whatever they need to do so they could focus on the material that I'm about to deliver.

Establishing Question Policy and Engagement Guidelines

Now, the last thing is I would say before you begin your presentation, also let people know what your question policy is. You know, if you say, 'Look, I encourage interaction but I won't be answering questions until the end of the presentation.' Let them know that. Or if you want people to ask questions all throughout the presentation, you'll call on people and answer their questions. Say, 'Ask questions anytime.' Also what I would do in the beginning is let people know if you're actually going to call on them and unmute them, okay? Or if you're just going to answer their question but not actually have them on the line, on the webinar with you.

FAQ

Q: What is the first step to ensure a good webinar according to the provided text?
A: Ensure you have a very strong internet connection.
Q: What is recommended in terms of sound and video check at the beginning of a webinar?
A: Use a sound internet connection and consider using GoToWebinar, which allows you to dial in for audio if needed.
Q: What extra recommendation is provided regarding the use of screens during webinars?
A: It is recommended to use 2 screens, one for presenting and the other for chat, attendee list, and questions.
Q: How can distractions be minimized for better audience engagement during a webinar?
A: Ask the audience to minimize distractions like turning off phone ringers, closing other tabs, and turning off TVs.
Q: What is suggested in terms of establishing question policy and engagement guidelines before starting a presentation?
A: Let participants know the question policy, whether questions will be answered throughout or at the end, and whether participants will be unmuted.