Ever had this happen to you? You show up for a mandatory conference and find that the refreshments stink unless you love those chewy hotel candies and prefer water over caffeine-laden drinks. And they seem to crank the air conditioning to high even though it's November with the threat of flurries. But the best is yet to come; your presenter is the company's accountant, a bland man who put together fifty slides with fifty bullets on each of them. But wait, is that clipart? Oh, yes, you would rather hear nails scratching a blackboard by this point. And isn't that kind of Mr. Accountant for reading each and every word on his powerpoint... You pinch yourself to see if you are asleep, but you don't wake up.
Failing to plan properly for a webinar will leave your audience bored to tears. But unlike physical seminar attendees, your webinar attendees can completely tune you out by clipping their toe nails or, worse, spending the time working on their most mundane, neglected administrative chores.
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.
Examples of how to arouse curiosity in your webinars are abundant. Since you are dealing with a visual media, look at some of the greatest films and how their filmmakers kept their audience attentive (and awake). Darth Vader in Star Wars kept audiences coming back over and over, even after it became public knowledge that Darth was Luke's father! The Prestige - What is the ultimate magic trick? The Usual Suspects - who is Kaiser Soze? You get the point; make your audience curious.
Webinar presenters can achieve high levels of curiosity from the audience by providing the problems instead of the answers. This allows the audience to get involved creatively. And isn't this what great managers do with their employees? By providing questions, great managers empower the employees to come up with the "means" toward the company's "end." Whether you host a webinar for employees or clients, allowing the audience to come up with their own solutions will result in strong loyalty and commitment in the long-term.
As an example, a financial adviser might understand that bearish periods where market valuations are low, the best thing to do is invest. Now, this is an answer and even the most mediocre financial advisor can come up with at least a hundred bullet-point reasons to invest. But instead of providing answers, provide questions. What do you do when gas prices are high? (You only fill partially, or you drive on empty). What do you do when gas prices are low? (You fill up everything, including the lawn mower!). What has Carl Icahn done time and time again? (Taken advantage of cheap companies and flipped them at a gross profit). You get the point -- all of these questions point to one answer. Buy low (ahem, today) and sell high (well, about 2 years ago!).
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! - 15478
Failing to plan properly for a webinar will leave your audience bored to tears. But unlike physical seminar attendees, your webinar attendees can completely tune you out by clipping their toe nails or, worse, spending the time working on their most mundane, neglected administrative chores.
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.
Examples of how to arouse curiosity in your webinars are abundant. Since you are dealing with a visual media, look at some of the greatest films and how their filmmakers kept their audience attentive (and awake). Darth Vader in Star Wars kept audiences coming back over and over, even after it became public knowledge that Darth was Luke's father! The Prestige - What is the ultimate magic trick? The Usual Suspects - who is Kaiser Soze? You get the point; make your audience curious.
Webinar presenters can achieve high levels of curiosity from the audience by providing the problems instead of the answers. This allows the audience to get involved creatively. And isn't this what great managers do with their employees? By providing questions, great managers empower the employees to come up with the "means" toward the company's "end." Whether you host a webinar for employees or clients, allowing the audience to come up with their own solutions will result in strong loyalty and commitment in the long-term.
As an example, a financial adviser might understand that bearish periods where market valuations are low, the best thing to do is invest. Now, this is an answer and even the most mediocre financial advisor can come up with at least a hundred bullet-point reasons to invest. But instead of providing answers, provide questions. What do you do when gas prices are high? (You only fill partially, or you drive on empty). What do you do when gas prices are low? (You fill up everything, including the lawn mower!). What has Carl Icahn done time and time again? (Taken advantage of cheap companies and flipped them at a gross profit). You get the point -- all of these questions point to one answer. Buy low (ahem, today) and sell high (well, about 2 years ago!).
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! - 15478
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