6 Tips for Hosting a Webinar
Everyone is working online, hosting webinars and podcasts, running virtual meetings. Looking for tips and tricks to hosting your first webinar? Create and host a webinar by following these 6 tips.
host a webinar
Hosting or presenting a webinar? I've participated in 100s of webinars over the years and frequently presented so I thought I'd share 6 tips for producing a successful webinar.
1. Use a good set of headphones, not ear buds or computer speakers because they pick up too much background sound and create an echo. Ear buds can be ok, just attach the mic to your shirt so it doesn't move too much. If you're a professional speaker running a regular webinar series then invest in a good microphone for webinars and camera.
2. Reduce load on the bandwidth. Turn off email, Dropbox sync and any other file upload/downloads because it can destroy your audio/video for those watching. For example, with Google Hangouts, don't watch the live stream while in the Hangout because it can consume too much bandwidth.
3. If you're the host, keep your mic off when not talking because your mic can pick up things like car horns or unintentional sounds. In the case of Zoom and Google Hangouts the unintentional sounds can also flip the video back to you as the “speaker”.
4. Use a web cam and check the lighting. Do a test run so you can adjust lights and window shades as needed.
5. Plug into ethernet vs wireless if possible to avoid interference. Wireless typically has less bandwidth than ethernet.
6. If you're the host, be brief, be brilliant, be gone. Make the intro short and then get into the webinar. Same tip for the presenter. Estimate 30 seconds for each so you don't leave participants waiting. You want to set the tone and get off to the races.
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