After hosting over 120 webinars and online meetings, we at the SIGnetwork have learned through trial and error how to best execute elegant, engaging online presentations. Below are ten guidelines we recommend you follow so that you can host a first-rate webinar. [Download Print Version]

1. Develop a Process Agenda/Script

Prior to hosting a webinar, it’s essential to pencil out a script or process agenda, which details the roles and responsibilities of all presenter(s), facilitator(s), and moderator(s).  Things to include in the script are outlining: who will introduce each presenter, who will facilitate the chat and/or audio Q&A, how and when the Q&A will occur, who will record the session, and who will advance slides for a PowerPoint.  Also, add a timeline in minutes so moderators can verbally queue presenters when they are approaching the end of their allotted time.

2. Takes 1-2-3: Practice, Practice, Practice

If you are new to hosting a webinar, the best way to get comfortable in the virtual environment is to find a couple of buddies to practice using the features. Schedule a mock session with your practice partners, sending them a personal invitation and designating one as a presenter and one as a participant. Then test out the features you may use, like:
•    giving the floor to one another
•    posting  public and private chat messages
•    sharing desktop applications
•    launching a feedback poll
•    advancing slides in a PowerPoint
•    recording the session

You may need to practice several times before you know what settings are appropriate, such as how you’ll set up the audio muting and the alert sounds, as well as, what controls participants will have in manipulating their desktop.

Once you’re familiar with arranging the meeting room space, the next step is to schedule a Trial Run with the facilitators and presenter(s) about one week prior to going live. The purpose of the trial session is to give presenters an opportunity to practice using the features and address questions regarding their content, and to ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities outlined in the process agenda.

3. Upload Presenter Photos

Participants like to see who’s talking.  Encourage your presenters to upload their photos to be displayed during the live presentation. If presenters don’t have a professional photo readily available, ask them to get a colleague to take their snapshot using a cell phone photo that they can email to the moderator to upload to the room.

Alternatively, you can use the webcam feature to display real-time video feeds of presenters, facilitators, and moderators.  Be aware that video is a bandwidth drain and can result in delays in visual feeds. To prevent lag time, it’s best to turn the video feature off once the main presentation begins.

4. Arrive Early

Ask presenters and facilitators to join the session at least 10 minutes early to make sure everyone can log in, to check that the audio and recording features are functioning, and to run through a checklist of role and responsibility reminders. This includes ensuring everyone has backup printouts or displays of the presentation materials, that they have fluid to combat dry mouth, and all noise distractions are eliminated.

5. The Role of the Moderator

The moderator plays a key role in the success of a webinar. A moderator acts as the host by welcoming everyone, introducing individuals, instructing the audience in using the online features, and closing the session. A moderator must also provide technical assistance to the presenter(s) and to the audience before and during a live session.

It’s essential for a moderator to exude an upbeat confident attitude at all times, especially when technical issues arise, in order to calm the nerves of presenters and participants alike. Moderators must be comfortable in prompting folks either by chat or audio to put their phones on mute when there are distracting noises. Please note that when new participants join the Webinar, they will not be able to see any chat messages posted before their arrival; therefore, you may need to enter the directions to mute multiple times.  Moderators should be ready to advance slides or display presentation materials in the event a presenter’s computer or network is failing.  Additionally, they must be able to make quick decisions when tech issues arise with no workable solutions. For example, let’s say the power goes out and everyone is booted out of the online meeting room. A good moderator will quickly shift gears and provide instructions to presenters and participants on how folks will engage in an audio-only mode of communication.

6. Make Presentation Documents Available Prior to Going Live

Unexpected things happen when using webinar technologies. Sometimes presenters are unable to log in to the meeting space and/or participants may be dialing in from cell phones only. To ensure participants who are only connected via the audio teleconference can fully engage in the session, it’s important to send presentation materials ahead of time so these attendees can follow along.  This includes inserting page numbers on presentation slides and requesting that presenters indicate periodically what slide number they are on throughout their presentation.

7. Establish Webinar Ground Rules

To set the tone of the meeting it’s important to provide guidelines for how people are to interact with one another. Instruct the audience in how they are to mute their phones and when to do so, and provide the contact information of the person they need to contact in case of technical difficulties.  You can display the ground rules on a slide presentation. Alternatively, you can use looping slides to communicate small pieces of key information.

8. Instruct Participants

After establishing the ground rules, share screen shots of the online meeting features and instruct the audience on how they are to use the chat and polling options, and how they can enlarge their screen view. Below is a screenshot of the Ilinc Chat Pod feature and brief descriptions of its components.

9. Be Aware of Lag Time

When conducting real-time desktop sharing, you must be aware of visual feed displays. If there are over 50 participants in a session, the Internet connection may slow, which can lead to visual images lagging behind the audio. It’s helpful to determine the delay time.  This can be done with the help of the moderator or the participants. The presenter can ask if participants are experiencing visual delays, and if they are to post a chat message with the number of seconds the images are delayed. When there is a defined lag time, such as three seconds, the next time the presenter goes to another page, (s)he can simply pause three seconds before speaking about the new page of information.

10. Engage Your Audience Frequently

Pull your participants out of the passive mode by inviting them to think, participate, and mentally apply the ideas being shared.  Presenters should plan to ask the audience questions every 6-10 minutes. One effective way to do this is to develop multiple-choice, yes/no, or true/false questions that are integrated within a slide presentation.  Below is an example of participant engagement multi-choice question that was used on a recent Signetwork Evaluators’ Webinar focused on using Goal Attainment Scales. Participants used the Ilinc polling features to submit their responses.

In Parting…

A friend recently told me that preparing for a webinar is much like producing a TV show. I would have to agree. There are a lot of behind the scenes things to take into consideration. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare and practice, remember to keep a positive attitude, and as they say in the theatre biz ‘break a leg’!

Other Sources on Webinar Hosting:

Tips for Delivering a Successful Online Experience. By Richard Watson, Technical Trainer and Instructional Designer. Elearn Magazine

15 Tips for Webinars: How to Add Impact When You Present Online. By Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE. Elearn Magazine

Tips for Effective Webinars. By Maria H. Andersen. January 21, 2010
Elearn Magazine

In Fall 2009, we hosted our first webcast at the Portland SPDG Regional Meeting. We offered an online option to offsite participants who were unable to travel to the face-to-face meeting due to budget restrictions. We used the internet to broadcast live audio and visual transmission face-to-face to the virtual group.  Our goal in hosting the webcast was to make sure the online participants for this hybrid meeting (face-to-face-webcast) were actively engaged in the sessions.

Necessary technology equipment and staff for hosting a webcast

Over the course of a few weeks, our webcast planning team (David Merves, Daphne Worsham, Jennifer Coffey and I) brainstormed and developed a plan for executing the webcast.  The first question we asked ourselves is what equipment will we need? All of us had ample experience hosting online meetings from our offices, but none of us had facilitated a webcast in which the live feed was pushed out from a hotel conference room with presenters, facilitators and 32 face-to-face participants. We turned to our partners, the TACC, who had experience hosting these events, to help us come up with our equipment list. Here’s what we ended up using:

• A screen casting program or online meeting host. We used Ilinc, but there are many more programs available such as the free program, DimDim.
• Sound System with Integrated Teleconference Interface. Our meeting hotel was equipped with the Gentner Hybrid Telephone Interface. The AV technician also brought a sound system to manage the audio output for both online and offsite participants.
• Break-out Room Teleconference Speaker Phone. For small break-out discussion groups we used a dedicated teleconference speaker phone in our alternate meeting room space. Because we did not rent the phone equipment from the hotel and brought our own speaker phone, we had to verify the hotel teleconference jack was compatible with our unit (i.e., digital or analog).
• 5 laptops: one for the presenter visual feed, one to record the webcast, one for note-taking, one for moderating online participant activity, and one for backup – in case a laptop crashes (which happened to us!)
• 2-3 wireless microphones: one for the presenter and two to pass around to participants for discussion and questions.
• A Mobile phone. This phone is used by the virtual moderator for trouble-shooting login issues.
• An Overhead projector for on-site participant viewing.
• Internet Speed – T1 Line. A T-1 line is a MUST to limit the delays to the audio and visual feeds. If necessary, pay extra to have a T1 connection installed for your meeting. We were fortunate that our meeting hotel had recently installed this connection speed.

We knew from the onset what we were attempting to do would require a cast of characters to pull off a successful session for both online and onsite participants. Below are the five team roles necessary to facilitate our 1.5 day conference:

• Face-to-face facilitator: the individual who moderates the needs of the face-to-face participants.
• Virtual proxy or advocate/moderator: the person who moderates the needs of the online participants via the chat room. S/he will act as proxy and ask questions, provide responses to the onsite group.
• Sound technician: an individual skilled in using the sound system. In our case, we contracted with the hotel’s AV vendor, Think AV. We paid for 12 hours of the sound technician’s (Brian’s) time.
• Webcast/online recorder: the individual to record the meeting in segments.
• Tech support for presenters to moderate the presenter visual feed.

Understanding and Managing the Online Participant Experience

Online meetings are in real time. Two-way communication occurs via instant messaging applications and audio between a participant and the host or group (in this case the face-to-face group). Online participants are able to share content and visuals from their computers, watch and listen to other participant presentations, and ask questions and make comments.

All this being said, anyone who has attended at least one online meeting understands the virtual environment will never replicate the face-to-face experience. It can come close at times, but certainly, the online experience is less accessible. Sound quality can be poor due to background noise, and visuals can be delayed from 5 seconds to 5 + minutes due to slow Internet connections. These less then optimal visual and audio feeds can be frustrating to the participant and result in attendees losing interest.

Additionally, because online participants are not seen by the onsite participants, presenters, and facilitators, these virtual attendees can feel marginalized or lose interest if they are not engaged at regular intervals (i.e., asked questions directly, reviewing their instant messaging comments, etc.).

A Must – Appoint a Virtual Proxy/Moderator

To address the issues that occur for online viewers, we appointed one person to support them – the virtual proxy/moderator. This person was responsible for moderating the needs of the online participants via instant messaging (we used our online meeting room chat pod). If virtual attendees had trouble hearing, they could send a message to our online moderator (David), who in turn would inform the sound technician (Brian) to adjust the volume. Additionally, during presenter Q&A sessions, the virtual proxy would be the voice for the online group if they posed questions within the chat room.

Check-in with Online Participants at Regular Intervals

Sitting in front of a computer display for hours at a time to listen to off-site presenters is challenging. It’s easy to get distracted, to check email, and to multi-task. A strategy to keep folks engaged is to check-in with them periodically. This can easily be done during Q&A sessions. Ask the online group specifically if they have questions. And/or during discussion periods, address people by name if you know they have something to add.

Add Teleconference Lines for Break-out Discussion Groups

We scheduled several break-out discussion sessions for our participants. To make this happen we set up a dedicated conference line for these conversations. Online participants, who were attending a conversation that would occur in an alternate meeting room, were required to log off the ‘large group’ teleconference line and dial-in using an alternate line. It’s important that you appoint an individual in the face-to-face break-out room to dial-in to this second conference line and have a computer available to view the online meeting chat room.

Practicing with the Participants

After hosting over 50 online meetings and webinar sessions, I’ve learned some critical points in hosting web meetings.  First, online participants are more engaged when they understand how to use the online meeting room space. The best way to get comfortable with the environment is to play with it. For our purposes, we scheduled three sessions for online participants to practice using the features of Ilinc.

Developing a Script or Process Agenda

With any meeting it’s essential to plan the process agenda. When planning this webcast meeting, we created a script for all the facilitators. There is a lot to remember  such as, when to start and stop recording, when to activate a conference line, when to call on the online group, and who’s responsible for doing what and when.  After finalizing the script we emailed the document to online participants a few days prior to the session so they too would know the timing of events and would have all the relevant information at their finger tips — facilitator contact information, meeting login information, and break-out discussion room teleconference lines.  [Sample Process Agenda]

What We Learned

A lot of effort and good thinking went into hosting the event and overall we were pleased with the positive comments shared by our online viewers. We did learn some things that would improve their experience. First of all, we learned from post-event feedback that asking distant viewers to attend for more than four hours a day is too much. They found it difficult to stay focused. Next time, we will make adjustments with how we structure the sessions. Perhaps mixing up presentations with discussion group sessions at regular intervals would be a strategy to increase variety and interest.

A second issue for a few online participants was the inability to connect our ILINC meeting room space. For example, one participant’s state internal internet security system/firewalls blocked her connection and she needed some time to resolve the issue. Next time, we will recommend that all online attendees check their systems a day prior to the conference to ensure their systems can access the web-based room.

Something we didn’t do this year was practice with presenters ahead of time and provide instructions for addressing the needs of the online group. We were fortunate to have two skilled presenters, who did an excellent job adjusting for the needs of the online group, however, there were some issues that arose. The online group couldn’t see when the presenter pointed to something displayed on the projector screen nor could they hear well when the microphone was not positioned close to the presenter’s mouth. Making adjustments to ensure pointers are seen and audio is heard, will require the presenter to limit using arm gestures when speaking and to use the pointer function on the laptop versus the projector screen.

If you would like details on costs, contact author Audrey Desjarlais at adesjarl@uoregon.edu.