How To Get Started With Webinars

1 How To Get Started With Webinars 3 What’s a webinar? 3 Why webinars 3 How to prepare webinars 4 How to promote your webinars 6 Giving a great presentation (7 days after) 7 How and when to host webinars 10 How to activate after the webinars 11 How to measure your performance 11 How to find the right tool 12

2 Another characteristic is that, while the How To Get presenters are speaking they can share their screen, their webcam or even Started With documents to the audience. Webinars Why webinars Let me show you how to do webinars to maximize your ROI. What’s a webinar? Not every company, small or big, are doing The term webinar is short for web-based webinars. And that’s a shame. Here at seminar. Livestorm, we believe that live streaming events (webcasts, webinars, etc.) can have A webinar can be a presentation, lecture, a huge impact on a company’s revenue, workshop or seminar. There are several marketing and visibility. ways to call it but, at the end of the day, it consists in transmitting a video conference Yet, it is true that hosting webinars can be over the Web. tough:

A key feature of a Webinar is its interactive It’s time consuming, you have to engage a elements: the ability to give, receive and lot of effort to find a topic, a guest, etc. discuss information in real-time from a Finding great content, something worth small group of presenters (often one or talking about, can lead to serious two) to a large audience (up to thousands). headaches. Without mentioning that you have to create that content afterward (slides, emails, etc).

Webinar promotion may not be efficient enough. Which can impact your registration volume and your conversion rate.

Hosting a presentation is not something everyone is confortable with. Being confortable talking in front of a webcam is hard.

But those aspects can be balanced by other positive effects. Webinars are a great mean to get more leads and/or visibility.

Consider the following:

3 People actually agree to signup (that is • Activating your audience afterwards leaving some of their information). They Measuring your performance want to watch you talk about your • expertise or your product. It means that • Finding the right webinar tool you already engaged them on a conversion path. If you would like some feedback on your webinar process, send me an email about You have a tribune and people paying it, and I’ll share our thoughts! attention to whatever you have to say. You can speak about whatever topic you find How to prepare webinars relevant for you. First, get your business objectives right. By reaching out to several people at once you may get a serious gain in time and Define your goals. What do you expect productivity. You can make more your from this webinar? This will help you sales at once. You can avoid doing long define what kind of presentation you want painful one-on-one interviews. to give. It will drive the whole content creation process and even the tool you Webinars are super easy to scale for small want to use. companies. It does not matter if you have a one-person sales team, you’ll still be able Webinars are great for many purposes and to reach out to 100, 500, 1000 people at not only lead generation. I think you could once. narrow it down to 3 main use cases:

They are a great way to gather more data • Sales webinar and qualify your leads. Indeed polls, • Content webinar on your expertise questions, behavioural data are great for getting to know your audience. • Customer training

Webinars are great for engaging prospects, Each case has specific requirements for generating leads, driving sales and doing great webinars. delivering content. All at the same time. Which is a huge gain in productivity. 1. Spend time on your headline. This will be the first attribution factor of Good news is that I will walk you through conversion in registration process. Great every item mentioned above. That way you headlines make people want to hear what will get more done in less time. Webinars you have to say and maybe even join the should not be a pain. conversation. In this guide we will dive into the Specificity: Is it specific enough to be essentials: addressed in 30 minutes? • Organising webinars Clarity: Is it clear enough for everyone? • Giving great presentations People come to learn something. Often

4 their initial state is basic knowledge on the The promoter will be doing all the topic. promotion heavy-lifting (images, emails, social media, etc.). Value: According to this headline, will I get any value from this webinar? (my time The host will be in charge of organizing is precious, don’t waste it). and presenting the webinar.

2. Define success metrics. The moderator will be in charge of moderating your audience while you How are you going to measure that your speak. webinar was successful or not? You could do the first two or even the three Unfortunately, registrants/attendees is not of them without spending some extra-time. enough. If you’re lucky enough to have a good Be specific. You want something from this tool ;) event, otherwise you would not spend so much time on this. Find actionable 5. Have guests metrics. Here are a few examples: In every use case it is always great to have guests for many reasons: • Signups Shows legitimacy (if the guest is a happy Shares / Visibility / Referrals • customer)

• Upgrades Shows expertise (if the guest is a well- • Promocode activation known expert on the topic)

• Registrations to an event Everything becomes more dynamic, it pushes toward focus and interactions with • Free trial extension your audience.

• … Even if it’s a team member, let’s say a technical profile, it will add value to the 4. Build up a webinar team conversation. I believe there’s a correlation between the size of that team and the webinar tool Two guests max. I found that having you’re using. The better the tool the less more than 2 guests will have negative people you’ll need. effects such as:

Either way, you could narrow down your • Lack of clarity team to those people: • Potential digressions

• The promoter • The audience becomes inactive, passive • The host which impact the focus rate.

• The moderator Pick a tool that allows many presenters.

5 As for the process, it depends on the tool, Here are a few more ideas outside your this is how it goes for Livestorm: own network:

Go to “Create webinar" fill the basic • Linkedin groups (but don’t be too information (title, description, date, “salesy”, try to bring value to the speakers etc.) community)

If you want you can customize the • Slack channels registration page, emails reminders but Forums or FB groups depending on your note that we can cover that part ;) • industry Voilà ! Your landing page is ready and your emails are ready. • Growthhackers.com Inbound.org (but don’t be too “salesy”, try to bring value to the community) How to promote your webinars You can also apply those principles to your Before the webinar guest audience (if you have a guest). One simple way to promote your webinar is to use your attendees network. Use Also try to bring something exclusive to increase conversion (promocode, access to social shares during registration or during a feature…). your webinar. You can also suggest email forwards. Pro tip: emails are the best way to drive traffic to your registration page. In your network: You can go with hand designed HTML • Related blog post with a “learn more emails consistent with your registration during our webinar” conclusion page. Also, you could do plain text emails. But then, personalize your Blog widget/link/image in a sidebar/ • emails (template logics to parse your bottom of posts customer data). • Promote it on your homepage (section, During the webinar top bar, popup…) This one is simple. Just give a great • Related Linkedin post with a “learn more presentation and interact as much as you during our webinar” conclusion can with your guest and audience. Here • Build a twitter list you find relevant your best promotion lever is your own beforehand and then reach out to them webinar.

• Twitter cards with one click signup (no If you’re using a webinar hashtag on friction, more conversion) Twitter, ask your team to repost your answers or polls on Twitter. • Own email database Try to engage on Twitter at the same time Outside your network to extend your visibility and bring more people in.

6 After the webinar Giving a great presentation (7 Try to deliver a special attention to days after) those people at the end of the webinar. There’s no recipe for doing successful Send the video, the slides, a transcript of webinars every single time. Yet, there are the questions, maybe even some data. This best practices: way, you ensure more visibility and a • Keep your slide deck clean, simple, and better conversion next time. easy to read And pick a tool that handle post-webinar • Avoid jargon, be didactic emailing for non-attendees ;) • Keep text ratio low, use lots of (beautiful, Pro tips: high-res) images Also, consider republishing your • One slide, one idea, restrain the use of webinar to the replay page or your bullet points. Youtube footage. • Test your equipment. Make sure your Don’t hesitate to republish your content have a good microphone and that your on Slideshare, blog posts or even video quality is not limited by your tweetstorms. webcam. Often, integrated devices on Another cool trick is to repost your Macbooks are a good standard. answers to your question on Twitter. • Turn off every potential distracting And use your webinar hashtag. noise. When should I start the promotion? • Lock yourself in a quiet room with a You should promote your webinar at the neutral background and natural light. beginning of the week. • Test everything 30 minutes before Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday • Look as much as you can to the camera had more pre-registrations. • Smile! Your speech will be less You’re likely to get the best success when monotonous. You’ll bring more energy you have 3–4 weeks to promote your and people will be more likely to engage webinar. But you can go up to 2.5 weeks with you. for promotions if need be.

Also, 95.4% of pre-registrations happens How to create a webinar setup: before the day of your live event. Never overlook your environment

Pro tip: focus your effort ons the “starting a. Pick a quiet spot now” email. Usually those emails get a 35– The environment is the number one factor 40% CTR! that people usually overlook. Pick a quiet

7 meeting room to settle with your team (e.g if they have moderation roles).

Make sure you are comfortable and that you will not be disturbed by external noises, people entering the room, etc. b. Make sure you have enough light

In video as in photography, light is everything.

It will impact how you look, the quality of the video, and how your company looks. The better the light, the more professional it will look.

Also, you don’t have to invest in fancy equipment. Just pick a room with enough natural light coming in. Make sure that the source of the light is not behind you to avoid backlighting. Ask you IT just in case ;) c. Have a branded setting (optional) b. Is your Internet speed fast / stable enough for a webinar session? If you have a wall behind you with your brand on it (e.g stickers) then it’s even Everybody hates a bad Internet connexion. better. Your setting is your ally, it will help Especially when you’re live streaming! you promote your brand. To prevent any issue: Actually, any piece of advertising behind • Make sure you have at least 5Mbps in you can be a plus. download and upload. How to create a webinar setup: • Stop any application on your computer always check the technical that requires too much bandwidth requirements (torrents, Google Drive app, scripts…). a. Is your network « webinar compliant »? c. Are you using a modern browser?

This is the most tricky part of the webinar There are two scenarios to consider: setup. You should check this parameter early on. You are the host or a co-host:

Sometimes, in some companies, even Then you are probably going to stream startups, the network is so secure that it either you webcam or your screen (or won’t let pass specific protocols for live streaming videos.

8 both!). Then you need a browser that How to create a webinar setup: supports screen-sharing and is WebRTC Screen setup & Keynote compliant. Here’s the list: a. Quick notice • Google Chrome (safest) Unfortunately, not all browser and apps • Opera (safe) behave the same way. Here are a few tips before we start: • Firefox (safe, but requires some configuration) You cannot switch between screen-shares, you have to shut your screen sharing off • Safari does not support screen-sharing before changing to the next. and many video flux. IE, even Edge, does not support anything. You cannot screen-share a keynote app in full screen. Keynote just don’t work like You are an attendee: that. But we found a trick… Export it to This is the safest place to be, at least on PDF. Livestorm. b. Do you have a PDF AND a demo? All browsers will work. Even on mobile. This is a tricky configuration. It forces you But, again, the safest list is: to stream your entire screen. As soon as • Google Chrome (safest) you switch between apps (e.g Keynote, and Chrome), everybody will see your other • Opera (safe) apps while your transition between apps.

• Firefox (safe, does not need This setup requires two computer screens configuration here). (e.g laptop + external).

• Safari and IE(10+) will work but the Let’s pretend I have a demo and a PDF video resolution will be downgraded. presentation. Here’s what you need: d. « 1–2, 1–2, Mic test » • One computer screen with your Check your mic and camera. You would presentation in full screen not believe how annoying it is to have a • One Chrome window open on your beard scratching your EarPods mic! laptop with your demo ready Just do a quick test using some free video • And of course, another Chrome window chat tools like Appear.in. open with Livestorm (or any webinar Double check if you are using external mic app) or camera… • (Optional) A third external screen If you change your microphone / webcam (#nerdAlert) with your notes or your settings in Chrome, don’t forget to refresh team chat the page!

9 The rest is pretty straightforward: • Webinar housekeeping (your webinar rules, hashtag, where/when to ask Start streaming your presentation app. questions, etc.) Once you’re done and you want to move to • Topic reminder (what are you going to the demo, switch your screen-sharing off. talk about?) It will fallback to your webcam. Make your • Company description (what do you do?) demo announcement. • Speakers (bio + pic) Turn it on again, and share your Chrome window with the demo. • Table of content

That’s it. No weird transition. Perfect • What you’ll learn (few bullet-points, keep webinar :) it concise)

Avoid awkward moments • Poll (always cool to start with a small poll to create engagement) Last small checks and you’re good to go. Those checks can avoid awkward • Your content (do your thing here!) moments: • Wrapping up (recap what you just said) • Turn off your notifications • Key takeaways (focus on key points to • Clean that browsing history. You remember) NEVER know. When you do a demo don’t let that come in your way. • Put in action (optional, but give some actionable items here) • Clean your desktop. You don’t want to look messy. • Q&A • Thank you (bios, where to find the slides, How and when to host promo code…) webinars This structure should not exceed 60min Creating the webinar usually it goes like this:

First you need a structure. A path to follow • 1 to 12 in 20–30 minutes to make sur everyone understand what you’re all about. • 13–14 in 15–30 minutes

Here’s the structure I use. I almost never Pro tip: Use a Twitter hashtag. People change it or maybe just a little bit will be able to post on Twitter your depending on the content or the guest: content and you will promote and engage outside you webinar. • Title By the way, we created a free clean webinar template for Keynote (AND Powerpoint!). You can view the webinar template here.

10 The download link is at the end of the Download it and once you have the raw deck. data start playing with it. Here’s what you should be looking for: Create polls (47% participation in avg.) reply to questions, share documents and • What user property is more relevant to links, etc. Engage your audience during my lead profile? your webinar. Give as much as you can so Among them, who has been paying that you can receive. • attention? Tuesday to Thursday are the best Among them, who seem interested? days to host. To optimise your • attendance conversion rates, host your Send the right message webinars on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. That way you can avoid the peak of Once you have a small niche of relevant presentations on Thursday. leads. Reuse that data to create personalized emails. You could do it by Pro tip: 8am PST is the most attended hand of course but passed a certain volume time for a webinar. you should automate it. Just make sure you have data on everyone and create a How to activate after the template email. webinars It could go something as simple as: I won’t spend too much time on the Hello {{firstName}}, My name is Gilles, emailing part for the absent or the people I’m the CEO of Livestorm. I hosted the that actually showed up. webinar “{{webinar_name}}”. I was You should pick a tool that can send emails drilling into our audience data, and I to the live attendees and registrants that saw that you answered did not show up. {{reponseToPollX}} to our poll. After looking up your profile, as a Adapt your message and send the replay {{jobPosition}}, I’d love to have your (or any document you find relevant) to feedback. Would you be up for call? both. Maybe next week?

What I meant is that you should get under Let me know, the hood, drill down into your audience data and make some sense out of it. Gilles

Make it relevant for your own business How to measure your objectives. performance Get to know your webinar This part is quite easy, if you have set your audience business objectives right beforehand. Then Usually, the classic webinar tools offers a you just have to convert those goals in basic CSV export of your audience. KPIs and do some research.

11 In general, my point of view is that the How many of them % of visitors who ratio registrants/attendees is not good started their clicked on the enough. It only tells you if you did a good registration email input job at making the webinar description appealing for your registrant. How many actually Number of registered registrations But that’s only a part of the big picture. You should aim for funnel analysis from How many showed Number of visits to deal closing (if that’s your goal). up attendees AND conversion rate You want to know:

• How many people saw your page How many were Number of hot prospects whatever-criteria- • How many of them started their among the fits-best-your- registration audience business

• How many actually registered How many of those Number of calls, prospects did you emails, etc. • How many showed up reach out to

• How many were still here at the end of How many of those Number of demos your webinar agreed for a demo, AND conversion call, whatever rate from previous • How many were hot prospects among the audience How many of Number of closed those closed a deals • How many of those prospects did you deal (thanks to the reach out to webinar).

• How many of those agreed for a demo, call, whatever How to find the right tool • How many of those closed a deal (thanks Here’s the answer I gave on Quora a while to the webinar). back.

You could say that this is the webinar The best webinar software is the one that pyramid scale of values. From the less will fix the webinar problem. important information to the most important. They are a great business driver. BUT the existing tools are not exploiting the If your translate those to KPIs it goes webinar to its full potential. something like: Here are the main problems: Question KPI • Poor UX (extra software to install, old How many people Unique visitors UI…) saw your page • You do not know your audience

12 • No communication between tools • CRM integrations (Segment, Salesforce, Hubspot…) You should look for a tool that will solve those problems. Of you course we will provide the basic webinar requirements. We can provide At Livestorm we are working on those 3 replay, chat, q&a section, polls, multi- main issues. presenter etc. We will provide features to address the We want to make webinars smarter, webinar problem. You can create a free simpler and more efficient. account here.

Here are our key features: That’s it. You’ve reached the end of this course, great job! Please share your • Some of our key features are: 100% in- feedbacks at [email protected]. the-browser HD webinars with webcam/ screen-sharing Keep doing great things.

• Automated logistic and custom Gilles, registration pages CEO @ Livestorm. • Deep analytics based on demographical and behavioural data

• Advanced audience segmentation

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