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How do you re-engage your audience when a webinar starts to fall flat?
Due to the constraints of a webinar, i.e., speakers cannot see their audience, it is difficult to determine if, and at what point, attendees lose interest, so what can speakers do - and at what point during a webinar - to add pizazz to the presentation?
Best Answer
- Recommended by:
- Jessica Groopman
I suggest trying to re-engage your audience with polling and/or by addressing questions that have been submitted by the audience as it may be a question that many people in the audience have (this immediately increases relevancy).
I also recommend having a few case studies/examples with compelling visuals to keep people engaged throughout, you want to help people relate to the content being presented e.g. demonstrate the practical application.
From my own standpoint, I leave under 1 of two conditions. 1) It's all rehashes of material I already know. 2) When it turns to sales, because I don't have money to buy right now.
Very rarely has it been reason 1; However, it seems to me that rehashes, or too much emphasis on selling are reasons why people bail.
My solution is to make sure it isn't a rehash of previous material, unless you sold it as a basic material webinar. Second, keep the selling to a minimum. We know you want to sell us something, keep it to no more than 10 out of 60 minutes.
If the webinar has a polling feature, conduct a poll.
I've also given out an email address where those who prefer to remain silent can ask questions.
However, I have become used to quiet sessions. It's not always that they audience has disengaged. It could be that they're taking in new information and are very attentively listening or taking notes.
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Related Activity
Debbie's question includes a great point, which is that with webinars, you just don't know how engaged your audience is. You may have a hint based on the amount of questions coming in from viewers, but often, speakers need to keep their attention fixed on their presentations. You miss the visual cues that you get during in-person presentations.
Some tips:
1) Keep it short.
Webinars do not need to be 60 minutes in duration. In the time-shifted world we live in today, you're lucky enough to get viewers to attend your live webinar. So stick to a 30 minute sitcom, rather than a 60 minute drama. 15 minutes of presentation, 15 minutes of Q&A. No more than 10 slides.
2) Stop often to take questions.
You don't need to wait till the very end to do Q&A. Instead, arrange for set intervals where you pause your presentation and take questions. As a webinar viewer, I often prefer to hear presenters answer questions vs. hearing their presentation ;-) So my belief is that the more you address viewers' questions, the more engaged the audience.
3) Make it interactive for the audience.
Some webinar platforms allow you to push out a web page to the viewer, allowing the viewer to interact with that page, right in the slide area. This is a great way to stir viewers awake from their nap ;-) Ask them to play a short interactive game and find out who got the high score (among your viewers).