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com
7 best
practices
when running
a webinar
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Whether you are running webinars for a small group
or hundreds of attendees, there are a few things you
must consider when preparing for your virtual event.
Below are 7 best practices for running a top-notch webinar, put together by Citrix UK
webinar host, Gemma Falconer.
1. Rehearse with the speakers dont just wing it
During your rehearsal, decide who is going to be in control of the presentation.
Perhaps your speaker is going to show their screen. Or perhaps youre going to host
the presentation and give your speaker keyboard and mouse control so they can
move the slides along themselves. Youll also need to decide who will be launching
any polls you intend to use and who will be introducing specic sections of the
webinar, as well as make sure that all speakers are comfortable with the webinar
platform they are using.
2. Use two screens
If you are hosting the presentation on your machine, then you will want to give control
to your speaker so they can advance their own slides. By having two screens set up
(whether thats two laptops, or two screens connected to your computer), you can
have the presentation on one screen and all of your webinar platform panes such as
the Q&A box and Polls on another. That way you wont take control away from your
speaker should you need to handle other tasks like responding to questions that
have come in the Question box from the audience.
3. The slides
Text-heavy slides and a lack of quality images will disengage your audience. Work
with your speaker to ensure that the slides are stimulating for the attendees. Its very
hard to read text on a screen and listen to what someone is saying at the same time.
Create visual slides instead to help keep your audiences attention.
4. Introduce interaction
A one-way conversation can be dull, and your audience doesnt want to be talked
at. Get them involved in the webinar by asking them a question and getting them
to respond via the chat pane or by using the hand raising tool in GoToWebinar
for example. Ask them to complete a poll so they can see how their peers are
voting. And encourage them to ask questions as well in a recent survey, 92% of
respondents found Q&A useful. So make sure you include it in your webinar.
5. The exit survey
Feedback is essential if you want to know what your audience really thought of your
virtual event and ideas for how to improve it for next time. Make sure you set up
your exit survey prior to your webinar with the key questions you want answered.
And make sure that the survey will pop up when people leave the webinar as well.
Sending a survey out a few hours after the webinar, or even the next day will result in
fewer responses as people arent in the webinar zone anymore.
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6. Audio
Its more than likely that your speaker will want to have their hands free during
the webinar rather than holding a telephone. However try not to put the phone on
speakerphone as the audio quality tends to be a little distant and fuzzy. Instead, opt
for a high-quality USB headset so you can connect via VoIP or a headset that will
plug directly into the phone.
7. Last but not least be prepared!
Its always best to be prepared in case something does go wrong even if you think
the possibilities are extremely slim.
Make sure you have the presentation stored on two machines so that if one
computer dies, you have a back-up.
Have the webinar phone number printed out in case your phone line goes down
you can then quickly dial back in on a mobile phone.
Make sure that you and the speaker have a copy of the slides printed out if
the speaker loses their Internet connection, they can still continue with the
presentation even though they cant see the slides on the screen. They can
indicate to you when to change the slides and you can advance them along.
Make sure you cover contingency plans with your speaker before you go live
then everyone knows what to do should a disruption occur.
There are a lot of things to think about when running a webinar. But, as they say,
practice makes perfect. Make sure you familiarise yourself with GoToWebinar or the
webinar platform you are using before the live eventset up dummy webinars and
ask a colleague to attend. Test out the tools that are available to you and make sure
you are comfortable with how everything works.
Good luck with your webinars. Be brave, be bold and enjoy!
About the Author
Gemma Falconer is responsible for hosting the UK webinars at Citrix. She has been
part of the team for almost four years and lives and breathes these virtual events
every single day! Youll often nd her moderating and providing behind-the-scenes
support to our attendees and various speakers.
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About GoToWebinar
Citrix GoToWebinar is the easiest-to-use do-it-yourself event tool that projects your
message to up to 1,000 online attendees. With GoToWebinar, you can reduce travel
costs, generate more qualied leads at a lower cost and enhance communication
with customers, prospects and employees. Host unlimited webinars for one low
at fee and give attendees the option to join from a Mac, PC or mobile device.
GoToWebinar Premier Event is also available to provide custom built solutions for
thousands of attendees and available with video streaming.
To learn more, visit www.gotowebinar.co.uk.
Resources for achieving business agility
For more white papers, case studies and on-demand webinars, visit
news.citrixonline.com/resources.
For best practices, company announcements and research about modern work
styles, please visit the GoTo Blog at blog.citrixonline.com.
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About Citrix
Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS) is the cloud company that enables mobile workstylesempowering people to work and collaborate from anywhere,
easily and securely. With market-leading solutions for mobility, desktop virtualization, cloud networking, cloud platforms, collaboration and data
sharing, Citrix helps organizations achieve the speed and agility necessary to succeed in a mobile and dynamic world. Citrix products are in use
at more than 260,000 organizations and by over 100 million users globally. Learn more at www.citrix.com.


2013 Citrix Online, LLC. All rights reserved. Citrix, GoToAssist, GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, GoToTraining, GoToWebinar, Podio and ShareFile
are trademarks of Citrix or a subsidiary thereof, and are or may be registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Ofce and other countries. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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