Guest Post by Andrew Winig, President of Improv Andy a company that helps business professionals develop effective elevator pitches
Webinars are changing the way we communicate. It’s no longer necessary to, travel to a location, sit in uncomfortable chairs, pay for hotel rooms, waste time on bad programs. Here are 7 tips that will help you get the most out of the webinars you attend.
1. Sign In 10 Minutes Early
Treat the webinar like a regular presentation. Sit down, log in, and make sure you have a good connection, both on the computer and over the phone. Then, having reserved your seat, you can go get your coffee or scan email while you wait for the webinar to start.
2. Participate
The best quality webinars will offer opportunities to participate. Interactive webinars are more fun both for the presenter and the attendees. Share your thoughts and opinions through the polls, hand-raising, and question sessions. Remember that a webinar presenter cannot read your body language, see you smile, or hear you laugh, so feel free to share your reactions through the chat box. Presenters really appreciate your real-time feedback.
3. Vote With Your Mouse
Just like there are good speakers and bad speakers, there are good webinars and bad webinars. The great news is that you are not trapped in a room on the other side of town. If the webinar is no good, you can always log off and use your time more productively. Hold your presenter accountable for your valuable time! Professional organizations offer a money-back guarantee on their webinar content.
4. Use Podcasts
It’s great to be on a live, interactive webinar. It is also valuable to listen to recordings. Download the webinar to your mp3 player so you can listen and learn while you drive or exercise.
5. Multitask
Since the best webinars will keep you engaged and interested, you may not have time to multitask. The best approach, especially for lunch-time webinars, is to have your lunch at your desk while you participate in the webinar. Encourage your staff to only interrupt for emergencies. The good news is that if there is an emergency you can deal with it, and then go to the webinar recordings to catch up on what you missed.
6. Tweet
Just attended a great webinar? Let everyone know. It’s easier if someone else recommends a great program, and people appreciate it when you pre-screen opportunities for them. If you tweet during a webinar, it also helps you remember what you’ve learned, shares good content with your Twitter followers, and increases visibility for the webinar host.
7. Give Feedback
Since the webinar presenter cannot see or hear you, it is especially important to share feedback through the chat box and surveys. Type in a short phrase about the best thing you got out of the webinar, or something you expected and didn’t get. This is the best way to ensure that webinar presenters get better, and webinars become a more and more valuable use of your time.
As our world becomes more connected, webinars offer a unique opportunity to get better content more conveniently and cheaply. What are you doing to advance your career? What other tips do you have for people when they are watching webinars?
