{"id":440,"date":"2015-09-12T14:08:54","date_gmt":"2015-09-12T14:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webkasts.com\/?p=440"},"modified":"2019-09-27T20:31:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-28T00:31:55","slug":"pre-show-best-practices-for-successful-webcasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/?p=440","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Show Best Practices for Successful Webcasts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Event Scheduling &amp; Promotion<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Best Workdays To Schedule Your Event?<\/em><\/strong> Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Best Workdays To E-Mail Invites?<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0to Thursday<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Best<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Start Time: <\/em><\/strong>12 noon &#8211; 2 pm (remember other time zones, too)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Rinse &amp; Repeat:<\/em><\/strong> Send 2-3 event invites over at least three weeks \u2014 50% will sign-up in the last week<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Confirm It: <\/em><\/strong>Send confirmation e-mails with URL, time, instructions and calendaring link<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Remind Them<\/em><\/strong>: Remind confirmed attendees of date and time 1 day before<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Get Social: <\/em><\/strong>Use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. to build up pre-event excitement<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Recruit Others: <\/em><\/strong>Cross-promote through partners, alliances or speaker lists<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Easy Does It:<\/em><\/strong> Make registration simple \u2014 name, organization, title and e-mail address. Avoid detailed surveys or sales qualification questions, but ask for speaker questions during registration process &#8212; allowing speakers to shape webinar content<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Venue Setup<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Room Choice:<\/em><\/strong> Not too big, not too small for number of speakers and attendees (if any), plus technical equipment setup<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Presenter Placement: <\/em><\/strong>Podium? Opposing lecterns (debate-style)? Roaming speaker? Seated panel? Decide early on since each has technical implications<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>What<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>\u2019<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>s Behind Speakers?<\/em><\/strong> Avoid plants or lamps growing from heads, room clutter, bright windows, distracting pictures and ugly backgrounds, but consider adding subtle branding<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Be Tech Savvy:<\/em><\/strong> Confirm availability of room&#8217;s high-speed Internet connection, access to power, good ambient lighting and isolation from external noises<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Listen-in Option:<\/em><\/strong> Make a telephone line available for attendees having technical issues or in case of an emergency affecting the broadcast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Program Content<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Draw In Your Audience:<\/em><\/strong> Choose a short, engaging and benefit-orientated title (How to&#8230;, 10 Steps to&#8230;, Quick Guide to&#8230;, etc.)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Identify Outcomes:<\/em><\/strong> Highlight anticipated learnings or benefits in promotional copy (You will learn&#8230;)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Runtime:<\/em><\/strong> Educational webinars run 30, 60 or (rarely) 90 minutes at most (average is 60 minutes or less)<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Interactivity Level: <\/em><\/strong>Consider options for audience input &#8212; Q&amp;A input box, free form or moderated chat, polls, telephone call-in, Skype callers, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Downloadable Content:<\/em><\/strong> Consider making PDF handouts available at show time, such as background info, speaker bios, case studies or slide presentation<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>CPD\/CLE:<\/em><\/strong> Allow time to apply for education credits to attract additional viewers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Presenter Prep<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Run-Through:<\/em><\/strong> Consider asking speakers to rehearse before event day, select a chair or moderator, work out speaking order and time the duration of their comments<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Edit Ruthlessly:<\/em><\/strong> Follow all the rules for good writing and presentation slide design, such as editing out clutter, keeping text on slides to a minimum, using tasteful and clear graphics, and choosing easy-to-read large sans serif fonts<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Simple Slides:<\/em><\/strong> Elaborate slide animations and transitions are sometimes distractions for speakers if they misfire<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Event Scheduling &amp; Promotion\u00a0 Best Workdays To Schedule Your Event? Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday Best Workdays To E-Mail Invites?\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0to Thursday Best Start Time: 12 noon &#8211; 2 pm (remember other time zones, too) Rinse &amp; Repeat: Send 2-3 event invites over at least three weeks \u2014 50% will sign-up in the last week Confirm It: &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/?p=440\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Pre-Show Best Practices for Successful Webcasts&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy","category-video","category-webcasting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":711,"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions\/711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webkasts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}