Web conferences are great for small businesses.
Web conferences are great for small businesses. They cut down on travel costs, increase communication between clients and employees and can even increase sales. To reap these benefits, though, you have to follow these tips to create the best web conference possible.
Start with a Great Invitation
Build interest and excitement about your web conference by crafting an attention-grabbing invitation. E-mail it to all participants so they have a copy of the invitation (it will also serve later as a reminder). Request RSVPs so you know who is participating; share your agenda; and list a group of people that participants can contact if they experience technical issues.
Practice Makes Perfect
Schedule a mock conference before you go live so you are comfortable with your presentation, which will eliminate any potential problems. You’ll become extra familiar with your materials and ultimately will be more confident when you are presenting live in front of your web conference participants.
Know Your Stuff
Before your web conference, get to know the presentation application as much as possible. Learn how to share and show files, mute participants’ lines, record your conference and run your meeting as smoothly as you can.
Include a Good Introduction
Make time in your web conference to introduce not just yourself, but the application you are using as well. Let participants know what you expect of them and how they can participate and ask questions during the conference.
Engage Your Audience
This next point is important during any presentation, but it is especially important during web conferences: if you engage your audience, it will stop them from straying from the conference to games of solitaire or celebrity gossip websites! Keep them on task by encouraging participation every ten minutes or so. Keep their attention by using polls or hosting question-and-answer sessions throughout your meeting.
Create Eye-Catching Visuals
If you are using Power Point or another slide software program during your web conference, keep it simple but eye-catching to keep participants’ attention without distracting them. You can do that by simplifying content, using a simple, bold and large font, limiting text to about six to eight lines per slide, using plain backgrounds and avoiding complex, unnecessary animations.
Keep participants’ attention by using your slides only to highlight important points or give an overview. They will be less likely to lose interest if what you are saying is more important than what is on the slide. If you include all the pertinent information on slides, why are you hosting a web conference? You could save time and effort by just emailing the slides. Give your conference more value by only including the highlights.
