Your First 3 Minutes Giving a Webinar

Presenting a webinar is one of the most powerful sales / communication tools online. It has benefits far beyond our typical online communication because it is multi-sensory. You have a visual element and an auditory element which makes for a powerful combination. It also makes for some challenges. Following this article will make your webinars more successful and your attendees more appreciative. Don’t Turn that Dial! The key to the most successful beginning is to understand that people are waiting for you to give them a reason to leave. We have shorter attention spans than ever and if you don’t immediately grab them, they are gone. When I work with people to improve their webinars, one of the first things we do is consider the opening. Luckily, there is a lot of research that we can draw from over the years to grab em’ so they are not gone. Here are 5 ways to instantly grab your webinar attendees and have a more successful webinar. 1) Broadcast Your Face Yes, broadcast YOUR face. We are biologically hard wired to look at people who look at us. How often have you heard, “look me in the eyes?” Starting out your webinar by broadcasting your face (as opposed to just showing a picture) will draw your audience in and grab their attention. Don’t ever do another webinar without starting like this. Yes, after a few minutes you may transition over to a PowerPoint or Keynote, but always start out with your face on the screen. 2) Relate, Don’t Present No one likes to be presented too. Have you ever been in a conversation where you realized that it did not matter who was in front of the person that was speaking, they would be saying the same thing, in the same way? We need to be aware that yes, even though we are delivering content to a group, we don’t want to be presenting. We need to be relating to people. We do that by connecting with your audience, by establishing an association to our webinar content. Bad Example in typical Presentation/ Lecture Mode: “Today I will show you how to get .01 clicks on PPC. By doing so this will allow you to drive more traffic and increase your profits.” Good Example in Relate Mode: “Have you ever purchased any PayPerClick? Have you ever been surprised by the costs? Did the amount you ended up spending ever shock you? Did you ever look at the bill and then yell, “Holy batfish! I have. Today I’m going to show you a thing I figured out that is getting me a .01 clicks. It is really cool. My spouse likes it as well, and she no longer complains about my PPC costs.” Notice the difference? The first I’m “presenting” and with the second I’m drawing them into our experience and (in all likelihood) also matching their experience. We are on common ground. We are relating. Cool, huh? 3) Admit Fault One of the things some of my students struggle with is this one. It does not feel natural to everyone to immediately point out a flaw about themselves, but I can assure you it is best. Ideally this flaw should be something the webinar attendees can verify for themselves. When we point out a flaw in ourselves, it makes us (appear) more humble, more believable and more honest. Bad Example: “I have had the worst day today, I’m being so lazy.” Good Example: “My hair is a mess.” “I have a terrible haircut don’t I?” “I’m getting up there in weight again, guess I better start working out again!” Admit faults your attendees can verify. It’s magic. 4) Invite Interaction We all love to be invited to participate. Many of us also love to participate. Now, is it true that our participation maybe minimal or one sided? Yes, but that does not stop the interaction from being real on the participants end. Think about all the participation that goes on with television these days. Singing competition shows “interact” with twitter (maybe 1 out of a million but that does not change the thrill for the audience of interacting). Sporting events have online judging, there are Facebook apps, etc. You must do the same. Invite your attendees to interact with you on your webinar. Invite them to either use your Q and A box or your chat box online. Even if it is just as simple as saying occasionally: “We will be answering some questions later on so make sure you send in your comments. Whatever is on your mind is fine with me.” 5) Imprison Your Attendees You have kicked off your webinar, they have looked into the window of your soul (your eyes), you are relating with them. You are mutually connected by association to the webinar content. You have admitted fault. You are inviting their interaction. They feel good about you and about what they will learn. Now we want to reward them by providing a gift for their their attendance. Let your attendees know that they will receive the gift at the end of the webinar as your way of saying thanks. 3 Minutes to Success By kickstarting your webinar with the above in the first 3 minutes, you will be well on your way to record returns on your webinar. Have fun and happy ROI. It’s been great for my clients and me.