When it comes to creating live events, such as webinars, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. From not properly preparing to fail to engage your audience, these common errors cited by StealthSeminar.com can ruin your live or automated webinar.
By avoiding them, you’ll be able to put on a successful webinar that engages and informs your audience.
Common Webinar Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Presentation
Webinars are a fantastic way to engage with your audience and build trust. They’re a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes, but they can also be tricky to get right.
Avoid these top 10 webinar mistakes to ensure your live event is successful.
1. Poor webinar planning
Often, people think that they can just wing it and everything will be fine. However, this is not the case.
A live webinar is a very different beast from a pre-recorded one. There are a lot of moving parts, and if you’re not prepared, things can quickly go off the rails.
2. Failure to engage
Viewers who feel they’re not getting anything out of the webinar will likely tune out or leave entirely. Once the webinar starts, it’s essential to keep your webinar interactive by providing valuable content.
3. Not knowing your webinar audience
It’s better to know your audience and cater your content to them. Consider what they want to learn and what their pain points are.
4. Being too salesy
Yes, you want to sell your product or service during your live webinar. But, if that’s all you do, people will click away fast. Provide value first, then make your offer.
5. Using too many slides
Less is often good when it comes to presentations. Using too many slides in your presentation can ruin its impact and leave your audience bored, confused, or both.
6. Scheduling mistakes
One of the most common mistakes is not taking into consideration time zones. It’s best to start your next webinar early and choose a convenient time for everyone.
7. Technical difficulties
Another mistake that’s often made is not testing the audio and visual setup before the webinar begins. Also, choose the best webinar platform. Otherwise, you risk losing viewers due to technical difficulties.
8. Not promoting the event
It’s also important to promote your interactive webinar ahead of time. Otherwise, you’ll likely have very few people attending, even though you have a compelling presentation.
9. Going over time
One of the most confusing things for an audience is when a presenter goes over their allotted time slot. If you’re live streaming, people may have other commitments to get back to, so it’s good to stick to the schedule.
10. Failing to follow up
This final webinar mistake can cost you dearly. Not only will you miss out on the best feedback, but you also risk alienating potential customers and partners.
How to Avoid Common Live Webinar Mistakes
Mistakes are bound to happen whether you’re hosting a webinar for the first time or the hundredth. The key is to always learn and avoid making the same mistakes again.
To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the biggest webinar mistakes and how to avoid them.
- Don’t try to do too much. Keep your entire webinar focused on one key topic. Trying to cover more ground will only confuse your webinar attendees.
- Make sure to have a strong internet connection. A live webinar requires a lot of bandwidth, so if you’re relying on a public Wi-Fi network, there’s a good chance you’ll experience buffering or other issues.
- Make sure your audio and video are of good quality. If your audio or video quality is poor, it will reflect badly on your live webinar and could discourage people from attending future events.
- Don’t rely on technology. Despite our best efforts, technology can sometimes fail us. If possible, have a backup plan in case your audio or video starts acting up.
- Be engaging. Live webinars are all about engagement. Keep your audience involved by asking questions and using oral and visual content.
- Don’t oversell. Promoting your product or service during a live webinar is important, but don’t go overboard.
- Be aware of your body language. When you’re on camera, it’s easy to come across as stiff or artificial. Remember always to smile, make eye contact, and use natural gestures.
- Try to keep your nerves in check. It’s perfectly normal to feel nervous before going live, but try not to let it show. Take deep breaths and remind yourself that you know what you’re talking about.
- Follow up with your attendees after the live webinar. Send them a copy of the webinar recording, slides, transcript, and call-to-action (CTA).
- Keep rehearsing. Even if you’re an experienced presenter, it’s always a good idea to do a test run of your live webinar before the event.
Following some tips can avoid common live webinar mistakes and deliver an engaging and informative presentation.
Conclusion
Feeling a little nervous is normal if you’re new to creating a webinar presentation. After all, there are some things that can go wrong.
But don’t worry. With preparation, you can avoid mistakes and achieve webinar success.