Most Common Webinar Experience Fails

I love to sign up for webinars. If I’m lucky, I’ll get a bunch of great nuggets of information. At the same time, all this webinar watching has revealed how and when most webinars throw up barriers to engagement.

The Late Start

Most webinars start 1-3 minutes late. Let’s say a webinar with 200 attendees starts 3 minutes late; that’s 600 minutes (or 10 hours!!!) of wasted time, and attendees don’t like it either. Many, like me, dive back into email, and when the webinar starts, they may not be tuned in. 

The Long Start

The host discusses their product, and then a sponsor may receive some promotional time. Usually, there will be administrative details, such as “Yes, there will be a recording.” Sometimes, a committee leader is introduced before the speaker. There might be even more setup, and then the speaker is introduced (usually by re-reading the bio that was included in the event description). All this setup often takes 5-15 minutes, and that is before a single drip of content is shared. Just like the late starts, long starts give attendees another opportunity to tune out.

The Monologue

Okay, so the speaker finally gets rolling…and they don’t stop. Perhaps because they are short on time, or maybe because they are accustomed to the sage on the stage format, they don’t prompt any participant interaction.

Any one of these common webinar missteps can ruin attendee engagement. Many webinars succeed in all three, but you can make your webinar better than most. 

Start Early

Or at least 100% on-time. When I have the opportunity, I’ll insert an unofficial start (I got this idea from Mark Collard at Playmeo). Start the webinar 3-5 minutes ahead of the official start (when there are seven or more people in the waiting room) and conduct a brief activity or pose a question to set the tone and engage everyone right away.

Start Fast

As a frequent speaker, I provide clients with a brief day-of introduction, which is different from my event description bio. This introduction only takes my host 20-30 seconds to read. After that introduction, I don’t re-introduce myself - I dive right in. 

Create for Collaboration

Develop content that allows participants to interact with it. When I create webinars, I include a mix of prompting questions alongside my content. Some participants get more value from the experience when they engage in banter with other attendees in the chat.

If you are a webinar host and have a monologuing speaker, appoint yourself as the Chat Ambassador. As the official Chat Ambassador, pose questions that support the content. Celebrate chat posts. Your super-friendly tone can help bring the chat to life. People learn better when they are actively engaging with the content rather than passively listening to it.

Before your next webinar, consider how to incorporate these three strategies to transform a ho-hum webinar into an engaging and impactful experience.