Are you searching for something you can use to record professional automated webinars?
Well, If you’re ready to start using automated webinars to generate income 24/7, you’ll need to know how to record a live webinar to capture your high-quality presentation. The easiest way to make a copy of your presentation is to record a webinar using your computer screen while talking over slides or live demonstrations. Most webinar software offers built-in recording and editing capabilities.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- How to record webinar presentations
- The seven best webinar presentation recording platforms
- The unique features of each free webinar editing software
Prerequisites
To begin screen recording and creating professional automated webinars, you’ll need to decide upon a few things.
1. First, do you want to show your face when you record a webinar using a built-in Mac cam video, or would you prefer screen sharing instead?
Some webinar recording software options below will allow you to display and record your screen along with a superimposed webcam video of yourself. However, you may need to test several of the various options below to determine what looks best if you want your viewers to assume the webinar video is being presented live.
2. Second, if you’re doing a screen recording or screen sharing, do you want to show a live demonstration, or do you want to show slides? If you’re going for slides, you’ll need presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint, Keynote, or similar tools.
If you don’t have access to presentation software when you record an automated webinar on a Mac, an alternative would be to create presentation images. You can use tools like Canva or Google Slides. Mac users can download and display the images like a slideshow using the Preview app.
Check out our post “How to Create Great Slides for Your Webinar” to learn about our favorite tools available for creating slideshows.
3. Third, if you are recording yourself and your webinar screen for your webinar, you’ll need to test your recording environment to make sure you have the best lighting and background for your video.
4. Finally, you’ll need a good microphone. You can get great microphones, like the Yeti Silver, for under $200. You can also use simple headsets or microphones that come with noise-canceling headphones. Note that the latter option can put the microphone in an area where it can brush your hair or clothing, causing sound interference.
Once you’ve decided on the things mentioned above, you’ll be ready to choose the best software to record webinars on Mac and create your videos for your automated presentations.
The 7 Best Webinar Recording Software
Now, let’s dive into our top picks when you want to record HD video conferencing or webinars on Mac. Many offer free trials so you can find the perfect fit.
1. Screenflow
Screenflow is a top choice amongst Mac users to record an online webinar, and though it’s currently priced starting at $129, it won’t break the bank.
This is a popular option to use as a screen recording software or the best webinar software because it allows you to capture screens (including those with retina resolution), record webcam video, and even your mobile device screen.
Steps:
- If you want to record a webinar in Screenflow, you’ll have to record the whole screen. Unlike some programs, you don’t have screen recording options to select a specific area or window to record.
- You’ll want to make sure that audio input via the microphone is checked. Otherwise, you’ll only record your computer audio and not your computer screen.
- Once you’re finished recording a webinar on a Mac, you can crop the recorded video to show only one area or window of your screen, so make sure that you keep what you want to be included in the video in one place.
- After you’re finished with the recording process, you can save your project and start editing. You can trim your recorded sessions to the correct start and endpoints and crop the video to show only the screen area you want in your recording.
You can add zoom and pan motions, transitions, annotations, text, audio & video filters, chroma-key, callouts, and more. These will further enhance the experience your webinar viewers will have while watching your recorded webinar.
*Note that if you’re going for the feel of a live webinar, you might want to refrain from adding any special effects and interactive elements when you record a webinar.
2. Camtasia
Camtasia is another top pick for both Windows and Mac users for screen recording software and as a video editing tool. For both operating systems, pricing begins at $249 per license if you want to record webinars.
If you work with a Windows desktop at work and a Mac laptop at home (or vice versa), this screen recording software allows you to carry your projects between both setups easily. It’s also handy if various people in your business work on Windows and Mac or both to record webinars.
Camtasia allows you to record a webinar on your entire desktop screen, in specific areas, or on Windows. You can also use their mobile app to get photos and videos from your iOS, Android mobile devices, or Windows and record the webinar.
Once you’ve recorded your video and then stopped the recording, you can save your project and start editing the video clips. In addition to standard video effects, you can also do things like implementing a green screen to edit yourself into the video recording files.
Again, it should be noted that if you’re going for the feel of live webinars, make sure you don’t add any special effects when you record a webinar.
3. CamStudio
Not ready to fork out $299 for a screen recording tool for Windows? CamStudio is a free online screen recorder and an easy-to-use screen recording software alternative. This is a fantastic tool for a screen recording option because, though it may not have as many advanced features as other screen recorders do, you can’t beat the price tag.
Unlike many other open-source software solutions, CamStudio offers guidance in the form of written and video tutorials so you can learn the best practices for using the platform to record webinars and screens quickly.
CamStudio allows you to record a webinar on your entire screen, in specific areas, or on Windows. Once you’ve recorded your video, you can go in and add simple effects, such as screen annotation bubbles.
4. Screencast-o-Matic
If you don’t mind a nearly $20 per year membership, you can use Screencast-o-Matic for screen recording on Windows or Mac. This paid tool runs through your browser after you download a small application.
Once you’ve installed the application and set up your account, you can go to their website, make sure to log in, and begin recording a webinar on your screen.
You can select a specific area (but not the entire screen), record from your webcam, or have your webcam shown on top of your screen share. You can even zoom in and draw while recording webinars.
Note that you may not turn off specific animations or edit out certain elements, such as the mouse cursor, throughout the video. After you record a webinar, you can do some basic editing, including resizing, inserting more images, adding transitions, and all the key features.
5. Movavi Screen Capture Studio
Movavi Screen Capture Studio is a premium screen recording tool for Windows and macOS users that starts at less than $40 for one license. You can usually catch them offering a deal or less or just close out of the shopping cart before purchasing to get a coupon code.
You can download the free version of this screen recorder first and then upgrade to the paid version if and when you are confident it’s the right choice for you to record the webinar.
You can record your own webinar through a portion of your screen or full screen with the Movavi screen recorder. Once you’re finished and have stopped the recording, you can edit your video and add any special effects you choose.
On a side note, Movavi is also an excellent video converter software. It’s another handy screen capture software that is great if you need to convert your video file format to a different one, such as CamStudio’s AVI-only output to MP4.
You can also use it to pull the audio from your video into MP3 format if you want to give your replay viewers another way to consume your content.
6. Tiny Take
Tiny Take is a free Windows screen recording tool that is incredibly easy to use. Some might consider it too basic, while others might love it for its simplicity in a world of over-achieving screen recording tools.
To start recording, make sure you simply download the screen recorder software. Record a webinar through a portion of your screen and edit it with annotations, zooming, panning, or other simple effects. It’s that simple to have a recorded webinar.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we can’t stress enough that if you’re going for the feel of a live event, you shouldn’t add any special effects.
7. Zoom Meetings
The last screen webinar recorder tool we suggest using as a great webinar recording software is Google Hangouts. It used to be great because it was free webinar recording software. Sadly, it’s no longer available since Google gave it the ax. RIP!
Luckily, we found another free screen recorder option you can use for your pre-recorded webinars. Well, it has a user-friendly interface and is free if you use it as we suggested. Zoom Meetings offers a free plan that allows you to record your full screen. Here’s the freeway to record your own webinar so you can later add it to your automated webinar software.
Steps:
- If you want to record a webinar directly on macOS, make sure to create a free Zoom account.
- Then, once you’ve confirmed your email address, downloaded the application, and have your login, open the screen recording application and click on “Start Without Video” or “Start with Video.”
- When prompted, you’ll then click on the button “Join Audio Conference by Computer.” This allows Zoom to have access to your PC’s microphone and start recording webinar audio. The free version will allow you to record your screen in a meeting for up to 40 minutes with up to 100 attendees, but for other purposes, you can record a longer presentation if you are the only participant.
- Don’t add any participants, and click on the “Share Screen” button. Once you click on it, you’ll be given windows/applications options to share on-screen. A green border will surround the chosen application or window so you can verify it’s the one being shared.
- After choosing what to share, you can start a new local recording. Click the record button, and you can talk into your microphone as you move through your presentation. Once you’re done, click “Stop Recording” and then “End Meeting.”
- At this point, the webinar platform will compress your webinar recordings and prompt you to save them to your video library. Then, you’ll have an mp3 and an mp4 file you can edit. The mp3 file is audio-only, but the mp4 can be edited in your favorite video editing software if needed.
Bonus: Make Your Webinar Feel “Live”
While you love the idea of an automated webinar, you might also like the feeling of a live webinar. There’s a simple way to ensure that your pre-recorded webinar feels like live, and that is by adding in some commentary that makes it seem like you’re presenting live.
Think about the live webinars you’ve attended or engaging webinars you’ve watched on replay. They don’t just have a basic introduction, followed by the main content, and end it with the sales pitch. They include a few live touches from the webinar hosts.
These touches include the following:
- Ask the audience a question periodically throughout the webinar session.
- Say hello to people on the webinar. Aim for a few familiar names and a few uncommon names. (Of course, you’ll want to use caution with this tip if there is a live chat, as you could be called out for saying names that don’t appear in chat)
- Encourage your attendees to ask questions throughout the entire webinar.
- Answer the most frequently asked questions at the end. Especially for managing webinars ending with a sales pitch, you may want to craft some attendee questions that also help overcome objections to the sale.
It’s a way to give your audience the feel of a live event. And adding these live elements will also help you relax when you record a webinar. It will help you feel more like you are hosting live webinars instead of just using recorded videos. Also, consider what you are recording.
An important note to keep in mind before you start a new webinar recording: if you want people to think the webinar is live, you can’t show anything that will date your webinar. This includes social media newsfeeds or other dated elements. If you show something that can be easily dated, you should go with the replay a live webinar option instead of the “it’s live” option.
In Conclusion
As you can see, you can choose from many excellent screen recorder tools to host webinars and record audio or video. Be sure to give each of them a try before committing to one to ensure that it is easy for you to use in creating automated webinars.
The fewer barriers you have with technology, the easier it will be to create your automated webinars. Have you used any of the webinar platforms we mentioned above to record webinar content? We’d love to hear about your experiences with them. Tag us on Twitter or Facebook and share your thoughts!
**This article was originally published in June 2015 and was updated in August 2024.
