Last Thursday, I had the thrill of speaking on my first live webinar about topics that are quite dear to me: E-mail and Social Media Marketing Strategies.
The session is part of the webinar series hosted by @officialremaxph, the largest real estate brokerage network in Philippines, now with total of 33 offices.
The opportunity to speak didn’t come without merit because I actually assume a role in one of the franchise offices, RE/MAX Spire.
Although technically not a new franchise, the brand RE/MAX Spire itself started around the second half of 2019 but has already garnered a reputation for pushing the boundaries when it comes to marketing.
I’m sure the HQ team thought it’s not a big deal for me to babble for an hour about something within my comfort zone.
Well, they’re wrong.
First Webinar Performance
After #remaxph HQ approached me to speak, I didn’t exclaim with “Oh wow of course this is gonna be peanuts”. On the contrary, I was nervous.
I had to do a lot of pep talk to myself. Eventually, I managed to take precedence from brilliant actors who still get nervous when they are put on the spot. This idea kept me a little sane which I needed so I can sleep better at night.
But not until when the day of the actual presentation came. I was so agitated it felt almost as if I’m about to step into a stage of pageantry. In fact, during the first 10 minutes of my presentation, the tension in my voice was palpable.
Even though I had already practiced, I was stuttering on my words and my thoughts just weren’t flowing. My inner grammar nazi was cursing me for sounding stupid and awkward.
“C’moon Alyssa, you’re better than this.” My nerves were a mess.
To my surprise though, the webinar hit past the 1-hour mark which extended to 15 minutes more of Q & A.
What shifted?
Before I tell you, let me run through the key elements I did to prepare for the webinar.
3 THINGS TO DO BEFORE AS A WEBINAR SPEAKER
1. Research the topic.
Although I’m knowledgeable with email and social media marketing, when you’re a marketer, you simply can never have enough. In as much as I have ready content from my blog I can use, I still needed more.
Researching the most up-to-date trends is vital. Besides, credible sources are necessary to back up statistical data and claims during a webinar presentation. For this, combing through Google is the best move since we want to take information from the most relevant source.
2. Create a beautiful presentation.
When it comes to webinars, visuals are not aid. THEY. ARE. KEY.
However, it’s not enough that you create something and not consider if it’s comprehensible or attractive to look at. To devise engaging presentations, you must have the right balance of images and text. Why? Because humans are hardwired to remember pictures. Whenever you hear a new piece of information, you are likely to remember 10% of it. But when you add illustration? You’ll remember as much as a whopping 65% of the info within the next couple of days.
So to pull off a good set of visuals, maximize your creativity and resourcefulness. You can try ready-made templates or use free graphics and images to wow your audience during your presentation.
3. Rehearse the flow of the webinar.
Depending on the requirement, webinars usually last for about 45 minutes to a little over an hour. Within this time you would have hopefully made your introduction, presentation, sales pitch, and Q & A.
Therefore, it’s important to go through your presentation only with relevant key points. And only by practicing would you know if you need to omit, highlight, or add certain topics during your webinar. At some point, you’d also learn if it’s a good idea to interject interactivity before, during, or after the actual webinar.
BONUS HACKS:
- Eat before the big ‘show’.
- Make sure your WI-FI is stable.
- Charge your laptop.
- Find good lighting and position at a good angle.
- Have drinking water within easy reach.
- Complete any bathroom business before the start.
I made sure I did those 3 things days before my scheduled webinar. Meanwhile, the bonus hacks I did mostly out of common sense. Being unusually nervous, to say I was over-prepared was an understatement. I honestly didn’t want to forget anything not to mention I was doing it all on my own. There was no assistant to help me set-up or a mentor with tips on how to do a smashing webinar.
To set the record straight, I didn’t have a perfect presentation. Based on the feedback though, it appears I had an engaging one. So looking back, here are the things I’ve learned I did right while some, I can only WISH I did in the first place.
5 THINGS TO DO DURING AS A WEBINAR SPEAKER
1. Record your streaming.
If you plan to use the recording later to share with your team or repost for your blog, you better MAKE SURE TO RECORD IT.
Don’t repeat the same mistake I did.
WHAT?!
Yes, I was shookt to the bones. After a solid preparation, it’s almost unforgiving to have accidentally slipped on my main goal.
I assumed I knew my way around Zoom being a frequent attendee on conference calls. Turns out it’s different when you’re the one speaking. Even if you’re a co-host in Zoom, it doesn’t automatically record when it’s your turn on the limelight.
It’s a good thing RE/MAX, as host of the webinar series, always records it to share to agents who weren’t present. Otherwise, it would have been a real shame to not have any recording of my first ever webinar.
2. You need a small introduction.
Webinars are usually attended by people who have no idea who you are. Therefore, it’s important to make a little introduction that goes a little like this:
- Who You Are
- Why Should They Listen to You (Objectives)
- What Can They Expect From the Webinar
- What Can They NOT Expect from the Webinar
It makes for great Q & A because you already set up the expectations on which topics can they only ask you about. For example, I mentioned that the statistics they will see during my presentation are from credible sources. This already puts the audience’s mind at ease to not question my data. It instead allows them to focus on questions regarding the actual execution of the strategies I was about to discuss.
On the other hand, I also countered my statement. I suggested not to rely too much on the statistics that have a limited life span. The audience should not expect the same data to be applicable 6 months or a year down the line. I managed the audience’s expectations and by doing so, it sends one of the strong messages:
- I know what I’m doing.
- I’m always on top of trends and new learnings within the marketing game.
- Sign up for my next webinar because what I’m about to share today is only applicable for a short period.
I’ve always been a believer that the surest closings have great openings. So I was rather thrilled to have applied that during my first webinar.
3. Engage the audience.
Remember when I said in the beginning that I was so tensed during the first 10 minutes?
Well, it was only after I reached the body of my presentation did I become quite comfortable. It took me a while since Zoom doesn’t give me a glimpse of my next slide! It’s not the same as when Powerpoint is connected to HDMI.
But once I got to the main points, I pretty much knew what the upcoming slides were. It became easier for me to speak as if I was talking to a friend. And that’s the zone you want to be in as a webinar speaker, where everything feels natural. Talking alone on the camera tends to make you feel stuck up. So you need to keep up your high energy to avoid losing the audience, especially on the important bits.
QUICK TIPS FOR A HIGHLY-ENGAGING WEBINAR
- SMILE. Don’t be shy to smile even if no one is smiling back!
- EXAGGERATE YOUR TONE. You must sound passionate and energetic! Remember to do it for one full hour. Woohoo!
- TAKE YOUR TIME. Take time to deliver your key message but don’t ramble on! You have to keep track of the schedule.
- OBSERVE YOUR BODY LANGUAGE. Don’t slouch. Don’t cover your mouth. And now and then, use hand gestures to emphasize a topic.
- RESPECT YOUR AUDIENCE. Show your genuine intention for them to learn the topic. Check-in to see if something is unclear and encourage them to ask questions.
4. Track the time.
The reason you do a webinar rehearsal is it prepares you to make adjustments during the actual session. Sometimes you don’t get to start at the desired time out of necessity. Therefore, you must know how long you can stay on a certain topic so you don’t miss out on your closing pitch.
How long do webinars last? Well, here’s a good timeline of a one-hour webinar session:
- 5 minutes introduction
- 40 minutes presentation
- 15 minutes for Q & A
5. Leave a call-to-action.
Doing webinars can be for many reasons. You may either be doing a product demonstration, ask an expert Q&A session, or simply a form of education. Despite what type it is, it’s important in the end to prompt your audience to take action. You can invite them to try your new product. Or you may ask them to follow you on social media. And even if it’s among people you already know, you still need to lead them to go to the next step.
For the most part, you are talking about ‘ideas’ you’re passionate about so you must pave the way for its fruition.
Now, imagine my relief once the webinar was over! I felt a sense of accomplishment, naturally, since I poured my heart to it. With the number of questions I received at the end of the presentation, it seemed I did well.
However, it’s not enough to assume. Once the webinar is over, you still have a small job to do for yourself and of course for your audience.
3 THINGS TO DO AFTER AS A WEBINAR SPEAKER
1. Follow-up.
Depending on the structure of your webinar, you may either be left with a mailing list of people who attended. Or in my case, we had a group chat that I could pop over to leave a quick thank you note.
Since some of the people in the group were not able to attend the session, I made sure to include my CTA on the message. Again, I want to leave room for future collaboration. Or perhaps in the case of products, a possible transaction.
2. Analyze feedback.
Just because one attendee thought I did well, I could automatically assume the same for everyone. Who knows, it might be because that person understood the marketing language. Or possibly, he was just being polite. So instead of resting on my laurels, I proactively sought feedback.
By knowing the parts that worked and didn’t work for the audience, I could arrive at plenty of opportunities. I can tackle the problem on another webinar session, or I can even set a private consultation to help them with particular issues.
3. Repurpose your webinar.
I was able to deliver the message that e-mail and social media marketing is essential for real estate agents. In this situation, I was only really able to scratch the surface. I could tell by the questions they asked me, that here’s a group that needed more in-depth information. Consequently, I was already making a mental count of new topics I could write about.
In a one-hour webinar, you will come across pain points of your audience that deserves its spotlight. It will also set off multiple ways you can reuse and repurpose the webinar such as the following:
- Spin-off webinar
- E-mail snippets to a distribution list
- Upload in the website resource library
- Break down to highlight in different blog topics
- Share in social media
- Create cheat sheets or infographics
Now you can probably imagine how bummed I would have been if I didn’t have a recording! I mean, I could record a new one, sure. But I’m already too excited to create my repurposed content that recording reruns just seemed like a waste of time.
Final Thoughts
Speaking on your first webinar is as nerve-wracking as it is. When you get that feeling, just live on the fact that it’s probably because you care. You care enough about what you do that you want to give it your best. Also, you care enough for the people who will be in attendance to watch you. And evidently, the reason you care is that you know time is gold.
All things considered, so long as you come prepared, perform to the best of your ability, and you know how to follow-up, there’s no stopping you from nailing your first webinar. And when you do, you’ll realize that all those nerves you had to endure were absolutely worth it.
