Training webinars are increasingly popular these days. They have been adopted for employee training by all kinds of organizations.
However, a lot of them are mediocre, boring or poorly made, which causes audience engagement to suffer. If you’d like to improve yours, here are 10 tips to host online training webinars for your workforce:
Tips to host online training webinars
1. Research employees’ expectations, needs, and preferences
Every employee brings unique knowledge and experience to the organization. You get a good mix of backgrounds, abilities, and work-related skills. However, it also makes it more challenging to host an online training webinar that caters to everyone. This is why it’s essential to research your employees and identify their needs and personal preferences. What performance gaps do they need to work on? What goals are they trying to achieve? You can answer these questions through surveys, interviews, and polls.
2. Create a script and an outline
A good webinar script should provide way-points for a presenter to successfully deliver a message, no matter how complex it is. It’s that simple. Besides, a script will make you feel more confident during the presentation because you will know what to say.
Creating an outline it’s also necessary because it helps you stay on track and cover the key takeaways. The outline will also show you if you have missed some important topics that need to be included.
3. Use visual elements to generate engagement
No online training webinar is truly complete without eye-catching visuals to improve comprehension. For example, charts and infographics that feature notable stats or trends. You can also include photos and other visual aids that foster an emotional connection.
On the other hand, you can also customize your own scene. Watchity allows you to customize your live video connecting cameras and smartphones, sharing your screen or webcam, adding lower-thirds, overlays, brand logos and pre-recorded videos. This way, you can create great-looking webinars with an amazing brand image that makes you have a more professional look and stand out from the rest.
4. Add Interactivity
A training webinar can be much more than a one-way lecture. Include interactive elements like questions directed to the audience or mini challenges. Having a live chat where attendees can ask and answer questions is vital. Moreover, you can ask the audience to complete an activity, or do something else that makes them feel like they are participating in the webinar.
5. Invite Guest Hosts
Guest hosts bring their own experiences and know-how to the table. Even if you’re an expert, it’s wise to offer different perspectives. You may even find suitable guest speakers within your organization, such as department heads who are well-versed on company policy or have mastered specific tasks. Create a hosting schedule so that everyone can research their topic and develop an outline or script. Then promote the speaker’s unique expertise and background in your webinar.
6. Use a One-on-One Conversational Tone
You will probably know how many people you are actually speaking to during your webinar. Whether you’re hosting 5 people or 500, always use a conversational tone. This will create trust between you and the trainees. Speak as though you are having a one-on-one conversation during the webinar. Don’t let the size of the audience intimidate you. Create an experience that makes each person listening feel as though you are speaking directly to them.
7. Be Concise & Watch Your Pace
It can be very difficult to step outside of yourself and see how you are performing. Remember to avoid dragging out concepts and to pace your dialogue so it’s concise but not too fast. Your audience needs to have time to digest what you’re explaining, but they should not become bored in the meantime. If you aren’t certain about your pacing, have someone listen to a practice session to provide feedback.
8. Apply Humor Where Appropriate
Humor can be a powerful tool, as long as you use it wisely. Never use off-color or questionable comedy with a professional audience. If you aren’t sure about a bit or comment, don’t use it. The humor should be short and sweet to keep the audience interested. It can also help maintain a positive atmosphere that will make your webinar more memorable.
9. Do a test run
A test run allows you to iron out any issues before you go live. Pretend you’re hosting a packed house and go through all the motions. Take notes as you go along, focusing on any glitches or areas for improvement. Check everything out: Does your script strike the right tone? Do your visuals appear in the right order during the online presentation? Are you taking advantage of the features your video conferencing platform has to offer? You may also invite a select group of employees to attend your test round to get their feedback.
10. Record the online training webinar for later viewing
Employees should be able to revisit certain portions of the event to refresh their memory of the topic or when they are stuck in the middle of a work task. It’s also important to have the training webinar on-demand for those employees who couldn’t make it to the live event.
If you want to know more about creating training webinars with Watchity, send us a message or request a demo.