Hello From The Other Side!
LIKE half of this country, I’m going to Adele’s concert this week and my guess is she’ll kick off with her hit ‘Hello’, the lyrics of which were on my mind last week as I sat alone in my office facing my computer delivering a webinar to several hundred people. “Hello from the other side” I thought to myself as I presented to a faceless, voiceless audience somewhere out there on the other side of my virtual conference.
As a conference speaker, for me it’s all about engaging with my audience. A conference presentation provides a great opportunity to have a conversation with them, to ask them questions, to connect with them and deliver key messages through body language, voice and eye contact.
Because of this “live” opportunity to connect and converse with my audience simultaneously (in the same room), I tend to shy away from webinars. However, sometimes they are necessary due to remoteness of some audiences or simple issues of time and money.
But I confess I find webinars super-tough. Not being able to see or hear my audience makes me ill at ease, out of my comfort zone. Also I’ve been a webinar audience member enough times to know how common it is to mute your computer and multitask – eat your lunch, check your emails, have a scroll through Facebook….come on, you’ve all done it, admit it.
So what can be done to make it more likely that your webinar audience will be engaged? For me, it’s all about the Question tab and the Audience Polling functions, constantly encouraging questions and asking questions which require a reply. And then answering their questions immediately rather than leaving Q& A till the end. Its tricky talking whilst keeping an eye on the side bar for the questions, but it’s worth persisting. I also always ask my webinar audience to include their name in the question so I can be continually referring to them by name, thereby making it as personalised as possible and minimising the likelihood of them multitasking or switching off. I also stand at the computer while talking, I find it gives my voice (my main webinar engagement tool) more energy. And of course – utilising engaging photos and videos on my slides as opposed to text heavy, yawn inducing, Facebook diverting slides.
Keen to hear any webinar tips and tricks feedback from Someone Like You (gratuitous and appalling Adele reference there). andrew@lunch.com.au
If you are looking for an MC for your next conference or a speaker/trainer on presentation skills or pitching skills, email andrew@lunch.com.au or visit his website at www.andrewklein.com.au.