Is your webinar delivering delight or disappointment? It’s hard to find an online business that is not trying to leverage its reach by offering webinars, teleclasses or other online “classes.” But presenters often miss the mark when developing their virtual training programs, focusing too much on content and too little on training best practices. Is this you?
Oh, and don’t think that if you only offer free webinars, this does not apply to you. You should be putting just as much preparation and planning into your “freebies” as your paid content, because “freebies” are indicators of what your paid content will be like. Whether you’re offering webinars, teleclasses or recorded videos, make sure you’re not committing any of the below virtual presenting “no no’s.”
Mistake 1: Not Considering Yourself a Trainer
If you’re just sharing static information with an audience, then you are a presenter. However, if you’re teaching your audience tips, techniques or steps that they are expected to learn and then utilize successfully, then you are a trainer.
Train (v) b : to teach so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient.
It’s not enough to be a master of your subject area; to effectively train others, you need to invest time into learning and understanding training methodologies, best practices and adult learning. Otherwise, you could be making mistakes that will cost you returning customers.
Mistake 2: Not Building in Interactivity
Interactivity is a must in an online environment (including teleclasses), as the trainer does not have the advantage of seeing and reading the audience. Interactivity serves two very important purposes:
- It helps keep the audience engaged
- It helps the audience retain the information that is being delivered
If you deliver teleclasses, keep in mind that most adults are NOT auditory learners. Interactivity should be woven throughout your entire training (not just at the beginning or the end) and, no, Q&A does not count as interactivity.
Mistake 3: Not Doing a Technical Sound Check…
…and having a backup plan. If you’re using technology, you can rest assured that something will go wrong at some point. One of the best things you can do is to become an expert with the tool you are using. Familiarize yourself with the common technical issues that occur, as well as what type of support the provider offers. The key is planning in advance for mishaps and creating a backup plan and, communicating to your audience what to do when something goes wrong. “Technical Housekeeping” should be one of the first things you cover in any online presentation.
Mistake 4: Not Fine-Tuning Your Public Speaking Skills
Practice! Practice! Practice! Webinars are still a form of public speaking which requires attention be paid to how your voice and virtual body language comes across. In an online environment, the former is especially true because you don’t have the advantage of seeing your audience. If your audience has to watch you fumble for too long, get distracted because something isn’t working, or listen as “Um,” or “Uh,” is every other word coming out of your mouth; don’t be surprised if attendance drops.
Mistake 5: Not Gauging Knowledge Transfer & Satisfaction
How do you know your webinar delivered on its promise? How do you know your audience actually learned from you? How do you know your audience feels they got what they expected or paid for and are satisfied? If you can’t answer those three questions, then you’re not regularly gauging knowledge transfer or customer satisfaction properly.
I’m amazed at how many “killer” courses don’t conduct pre, during or post assessments, quizzes or tests. Some provide links to recordings perhaps figuring you’ll watch it until you get it. Some simply send follow-up email messages asking someone to “give feedback” which is not a substitute for an actual survey with data that you can analyze. Professional trainers conduct surveys immediately following their courses. If I attend a webinar, teleclass or online course that does not deliver what it promises, the trainer does a poor job delivering the information or, if I come away feeling disappointed, I’ll never take another course from that trainer; no matter how cute, clever or captivating the hype about their newest program is.
So back to the three questions: How do you know your webinar delivered on its promise? How do you know your audience actually learned from you? How do you know your audience feels they got what they expected or paid for and are satisfied? If you don’t have the data to answer these questions, how can you make claims of effectiveness and success?
Now, I have to ask again: Is your webinar, teleclass or online course delivering delight or disappointment?
Want to learn more? Register today for my online course: Virtual Training Blueprint: Strategies for Successful Webinars, Teleclasses and more!
Dori Young is a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and Certified Master Microsoft Office Specialist (MMOS). She have been recognized by Microsoft as having advanced skills and working knowledge of the features and functions of their Office programs (Word, Excel, Outlook & PowerPoint). She is the owner of Your Office Guru which offers live, online, instructor-led Microsoft Office Training solutions.
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