7 principles to help improve your webinar game

Webinars have experienced an upswing in deployment and engagement over the last couple of years. These principles might help you deliver better webinars and be a better communicator generally.

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Webinars came into their own in a new way during lockdown and with it, a lot of thinking, time and investment has since gone into the industry.

It’s likely that you have attended a webinar recently, or even hosted and delivered a webinar. Stronger Network has offered quite a few webinars over the last couple of years. Stronger 2021 was essentially a programme of more than 100 webinars lasting a whole month, so it’s fair to say that we’ve been doing a bit of experimenting.

Webinars are here to stay and so I’m always on the lookout for things that people are learning and saying about webinars. For example, I came across a company called TwentyThree who hosted an event the other week called WebinarDays and they brought together a number of different speakers and people who have been doing a lot of thinking or have a lot of experience when it comes to the principles of creating and hosting and engaging webinars.

At this particular event, they invited Guy Kawasaki to bring his insights about webinars and if you missed it, I thought it might be useful to share some of the things he said and a few of my own reflections too.

At this event, Kawasaki offered these principles:

1.Empathise

When delivering webinars, in fact anything online, we need to be aware of the devices that people are on. He reminded us that people are not all on desktops and they don't all have fast internet speeds and so he encouraged listeners to tailor their content accordingly.

I like this. This is about keeping your audience in mind when you’re building your webinar. Seek to serve them. Make it easy for them to connect with your content.

2.Be an F/A 18 not a 747

Kawasaki directed our attention to the introduction of a webinar. He said that a 747 Jumbo jet needs two miles of runway in contrast to a F/A 18 fighter jet that only needs a short runway. His point was to get to the point and the content quickly.

Again, I like this. This is so helpful and a good reminder that we can serve our audience by offering value to them quickly. People have come to your webinar not to hear about your holidays or your journey into the office that day, they have come for the content so get to the content quickly.

3.Obey the 10-20-90 rule

This is about the number of slide, the length of the webinar and the size of font on the slides. So Kawasaki recommended ten slides as a maximum. Twenty minutes for the length of the webinar and a size 90 font on your slides.

There are different schools of thought on the number of slides and the length of the webinar. Knowing your audience is a great way of finding out the specifics for your community, but the point Kawasaki makes is a good one: keep an eye on the amount of information you offer, keen an eye on the clock, and a keep an eye on how readable your slides are.

4.Focus on How, not on What

Then Kawasaki encouraged his viewers to focus not so much on the specifications of a product (if you’re in business) but to focus on how the product solves a problem. He wanted businesses to show the product in action rather than talk about the specifics behind it. He said that a demo is worth a thousand slides.

This may not translate perfectly into your own context, but I think the principle is an important one. People want to know what difference something will make to them. Show them what difference it will make.

5.Prioritise Entertainment

Kawasaki said that ‘many people think that the purpose of a webinar is to educate, but actually it's about entertainment, and educating through entertainment’. I’m not sure how this translates for you, but it reminded me that webinars and presentations whether online or offline can be entertaining. We can bring an element of fun which could be a video, or a poll, or an meme that relates to the content. You appreciate the principle. We’re in an era when edutainment is a thing. Make the most of it.

6.Use stories, not facts

Using stories to provide texture and depth to your presentation always helps to connect and engage with people. Kawasaki is a proponent of using stories more than facts. I would say that it doesn’t need to be one or the other. Over the course of twenty minutes you might want to bring in a story and some facts. I find the acronym ‘FOAM’ very helpful: Facts, opinions, anecdotes, and metaphors. Next time you create a webinar or presentation why not think about where some FOAM can help bring some texture.

7.Practise, practice, practice

Kawasaki of course worked with Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and he said that Steve would rehearse for three to four weeks before a product launch. Kawasaki’s line was, ‘If Steve Jobs needs to rehearse, then so do we’. In my experience with webinars, sermons, presentations, talks, the thing that often be squeezed is time to practise. Why not next time build in some time  for practise and I am confident that you will notice a difference both in terms of your delivery, but also in terms of your audience engagement and feedback.

I thought these principles from Guy Kawasaki were very helpful and applicable to more than just webinars and so wanted to share with you. I’m always on the look out for helpful tools and resources and tips that might help me get better at presenting and connecting with people so if you have anything that you want to share or if anything from this article has resonated with you, feel free to comment below and let me know.