Category: Zooming to Webinar Success!

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E17: Managing your “Visual” recording space

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Episode 17- This is Grant: The Webinar Guy.

For the last two episodes, we’ve covered two essential things:

Recording Equipment- specifically web cams or cameras and mics.

This episode I promised to cover lighting.

But I’m going to side-step that for a moment. Today, we’re going to discuss your “brand”. Think of any newscast you’ve watched. The late night shows. Talk shows, and sports talk discussions. They all have a “look” and purposefully designed set.

I bring this up because I want you to take a moment to think about the perception that your recording space will pass along about you and your brand- and its direct correlation to your product or service. I’ve a friend that does his video podcast from his recording booth. He’s a fellow voice artist, so that makes perfect sense.

A client serving the elder care market records from a nice- “just this side of plush” office. Classy, but not overly done. It looks like he is “successful“ but the office doesn’t look “ornate or costly”. In other words, successful here means that prospective clients would think he’s very capable, can be trusted with advising them on retirement plans and won’t be soaking them for dollars.

Perception is EVERYTHING here. Think hard about the surroundings you’re presenting while “on camera”.

A while back I was hired to evaluate an organizational specialist doing a webinar. She was suffering horrible results and wondered why.

Let’s start with the bookshelf behind her that looked like anything BUT being organized. Books were leaning every which way. Photos were badly displayed. And a couple weird things were on the shelf that the audience I’m sure spent more time wondering what “that” was, than on what she was saying. Even her hair was a bit tousled and messy. Remember we can listen to a LOT of words and if our minds are distracted visually, we’re not really listening. In fact you MUST understand we’re constantly forming opinions.

And in this case, almost nothing in the frame fit her “organized” brand. She was creating a disconnect and it’s my opinion that anytime the brain experiences disconnect, it does just that.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention she started late? Yeah. That.

All that said, think set up. Do you need to have others IN your recording space to record interviews? There is a great energy of having people “in your space” when interviewing, but not necessary! Frankly, this is a whole ‘nuther thing and well beyond this episode.

So let’s get back to “just you” and what you’re doing. My experience says that the less tech you can deal with, the better.

Try to eliminate using a green screen unless there’s a great reason to do so. Eliminate using the platform-provided backgrounds, you know the famous zoom palm tree island? Yeah, try NOT to use ANY.

“Natural environments” (you in your office, etc) are best in many ways. But be sure to eliminate the distractions. Heck, hire a real estate stager to help design your space if you lack design skills. But the important thing is to NOT step back and admire your set from across the room! Pull it up on camera and see how it looks there. What sticks out? What can be eliminated?

What do YOU look like? Take who you are to your best advantage.

Here’s a change I made. Last year, I started recording videos about getting started in the voice over business. Some of my early missives are quite humorous. I did them mostly in a black t-shirt. Okay, fair enough. A voice artist gets hired for his voice, not his camera presence.

But starting these podcast videos about successfully holding webinars (Zooming to webinar success), I knew my audience was different. First, if I flub a line in VO, I just re-record it. In some ways I get unlimited tries.

But being a live emcee or moderator doesn’t carry that same flexibility. I needed to pass along confidence in my delivery, my production values, and yes, put on a jacket.

I’m the same guy that did the videos in a t-shirt. No warp forward in skill, but I didn’t want ANY disconnect that I could eliminate. Suit coats are still the part and parcel of professionals. It makes a difference.

Take a piece of paper and describe your brand. Maybe you want to do webinars about Motorcycle insurance. Maybe wearing a biker vest and doing your webinar from your law office works.

After describing your brand, now think of your set design. Use the “record” feature on zoom or google meets, or whatever and record a few different looks and get feedback. And as always, The Webinar Team is well-versed in helping our customers design space and can help you evaluate yours!

Maybe next episode we’ll talk lighting.

Until then…

This series is for smaller organizations and solopreneurs that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.

Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”

As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Thank you for watching!

Podcast audio

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

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E16: Sound (*mic) and Recording Environment

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Episode 16- This is Grant: The Webinar Guy.

Last episode, 15, I had two main points:

Equipment and sound!

In that episode, I covered some web cam considerations. I did not go way into depth, however. There are plenty of reviews online that are exhaustive.

So what’s next? Another basic consideration is sound. As you may or may not know, I’m also a voice actor. I’m recording this in my home studio. I mention this as so often people want to go spend big bucks on recording equipment and miss one huge lesson.

The room you’re recording in, or in this case hosting your webinar, virtual summit, online training, etc- — The ROOM can be more critical than the mic you buy.

You may not need to buy anything! Let’s go over a few things here and I’m also going to post a link to a video I did specifically on sound a while back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8lIGlhjGu4 (Episodes 1, 2 & 3)

I have several regular clients that do their zoom, Webex, Webinar Jam and other sessions from a room in their house, use the natural background, (“Natural” in this case meaning no greenscreen or cute platform backgrounds) and use a good earbud/mic combo where the mic is on the wired connection. Note that word “wired”.

I highly recommend to NOT use blue tooth connection earbuds. Dropped signals, dead batteries and bad mics are significant issues. It’s not a big deal when your buds lose power listening to music in the garden, but in your webinar with 100 people, that’s not a good time to have equipment fail.

Above, I referenced three videos I did on my Grant’s Voice YouTube channel. I highly recommend you watch them. But here’s the short hand:

First is that the environment, the room, the space you are in is a HUGE part of the sounding good equation! My living room is a long box with hardwood floors. The echo in that room is substantial! Walk into this studio and that issue disappears.

Look for a room to work from with lots of soft things (sofa’s, pillows, etc) (or watch the videos!!).

Second is the actual mic. Go into any voice over forum and ask what the best mic to buy is. I dare ya. It’ll be like asking four guys down at the lake what the best bait is. Those four guys will give you 8 answers.

You can spend less than $100 on a really decent USB mic! You can also spend THOUSANDs on professional level mics.

Here’s the problem: A better mic will pick up more ambient sound. The recommendation here is to work with a company (if you’re in the US) like sweetwater and let their salespeople help you choose for your voice, your environment, or your budget.

Or another solution is buying from that “return friendly” site online where you can return the mic if you don’t like it.

The biggest lesson here is to not overspend on equipment when you’re starting out. If this is your first online meeting or webinar, people will most likely be kind and understanding. Use that grace period to try different environments and see what works best for you!

Next episode we’ll talk lighting.

Until then…

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.

Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”

As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Thank you for watching!

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

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E15: Your setup for being “on Camera”

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Episode 15- This is Grant: The Webinar Guy.

Last episode, 14, I had two main points:

When given the chance to be drive through or fine dining, be fine dining, and by extension- Be a chef!

I think the points there, are obvious. Prepare as well as you can, but at some point you need to stop aiming and fire.

So what’s next? When planning your webinar there is very little in preparation that HAS to be done in any certain order.

You have to START! But whether you start your slide deck first or start social media planning first pretty much doesn’t matter. You need to be on both! On ALL the things that matter!

That said, let’s talk more about planning. I’ve found it really helpful to have a check list to work off. Over time we’ve developed a multi-sheet/multi-tab Excel spreadsheet that has more than 75 line items and growing every week as new things come up! This sheet has pull downs for tracking responsibility and such. We use every day!

 When planning, some of these items you may only ever need to visit or touch once- For instance, you purchase a mic, camera, lighting, etc. and get it set up.

That’s on our list. Yet chances are, once set up, you’ll not have to worry about those things again. But here’s something that can catch you- What I just said IS true. BUT- What about guest presenters, or panelists?

While it may seem duplicitous, it IS worth checking- EVERYTHING- for what you don’t check will eventually bite you. And as needed, check the items on your checklist with anyone involved!

Some days we’re managing five webinars and without that check list things would get forgotten, I’m sure.

How do you get a copy of our “The Webinar Guy” planning sheet? Visit our website and fill out the popup form on the home page! And if that is being blocked by your browser, Hit our contact form and specifically ask for it. The free version is a PDF you can print as often as you need. We update that free PDF form every month or so, but not on a regular basis.

The excel form that we are constantly updating and upgrading and adding things to is available for purchase. Drop us a line about that also and we’ll connect and get you a copy. And when we update, we’ll send you the update for free!

Enough with the commercial. Let’s dig into the things we spoke of earlier, the audio and the visual.

Solid audio and video require a good microphone and a good webcam- that you probably had figured out. Well, what is good and how deep do you go into your pocket? How much do you spend? More and more, really good USB mics can do a really nice job! And you may spend less than $100, maybe only $30.

What is your “look” going to be? Is it okay to wear ear pods or headphones? On that note, avoid headphone mics like are used for gaming unless you check the quality.

Are you going for a green screen studio? BTW that is a whole unique box of rocks. I wish I had back all the time spent on eliminating glare on my glasses and the “wrong lights”. But I digress.

I have several clients that do their webinars on their ear pods, and use the mic that is on the wire and they sound awesome! Best to buy something recommended and test it. I’m a staunch supporter of Sweetwater audio, but there are many places to buy equipment. Do some homework, ask friends. In the case of mics and cameras, you can somewhat literally spend as much as you’d like, but don’t need to.

Again, think of your end goals.

Cameras: laptop cameras can be fine, but consider: More often than not, the angle that makes it easy to see the screen, when your laptop in on your desk is rarely the angle that is good for the camera. Put your laptop up on a box or other raised surface, so you’re looking more directly at it.

If you buy a separate camera, look for a glass lens that will give you a great picture. Look at the software. While not critical the ability to Pan and zoom your camera-using software, is a nice feature and I use both often. Sometimes you just need a tiny nudge to get the look right.

If you ever think you might try a dual camera setup; 1st a Main that you look directly into, and you add a 2nd “Side” camera shooting at you from an angle, that you switch to and back, it’s a great idea to buy that second camera when you buy the first, if possible. Regardless, buy two of the exact same brand/model, etc. I did that by chance, but was glad I had. Later I also bought a different- what could be called “Better” camera later and it was impossible to balance the light between the two! It was horrible! So back to the first two I bought that you see here.

In the 2 camera setup I use now, there’s only 20” or so between the cameras, but occasional switching really makes the video a bit more interesting. And with using a OBS software trick you can add a zoom and make it look like three!

I’ve really not beaten up the camera thing, but there are so many options and there’s a thousand videos, reviews, “how to’s” etc on line that for the purposes of this series, no need to go any further on cameras. Again-do your research and buy something that you’re happy with.

Next episode we’ll talk SOUND. You may know that I also work as a Voice Artist, so the sound thing will be interesting to you I’m sure!

Until then…

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.

Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”

As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com

Thank you for watching!

Podcast audio

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

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E14: Webinar & Virtual Meeting Planning! It is Critical!

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Episode 14- This is Grant: The Webinar Guy.

For several episodes now, I’ve been talking about marketing and promotion. Why so much concentration on that?

It’s the juice that gets the seats filled!

Over my marketing and brand development career, I’ve held to one constant example;

Would you start a business in a blind alley, not put up any signs and then not tell anyone you’re open?

Well, of course not! So ALL of your marketing is quite frankly a decision on what you can afford (in dollars AND time) as you promote that Webinar, Virtual Summit or expo.

The biggest challenge I see in this market is a lack of preparation.

One great thing about the webinar and virtual conference space is that people are forgiving when the technology is a bit rough (who hasn’t lost a connection or had a shaky one?), They forgive glitches and less-than-perfect hand-offs.

But to me, its sort of like the fast-food market. When you hit the drive-through, you KNOW full well the food is NOT going to be high quality. You KNOW you’ll have to wait too long. You KNOW the food has a 97% chance of being cold when they hand it to you. But in a crunch for time, what do we do? We go through the drive through knowing that the experience will be disappointing!

But when you really want to enjoy a great meal, what do you do? You go to your favorite sit-down restaurant. What made it a favorite? On nearly every visit the staff did everything they could to provide great food, great service and a great overall experience.

I want you to consider the ENTIRE package of your virtual session, training, or hybrid event: The question to you OVERALL is this: Do you want to be drive-through or fine dining?

Answer that and you’ll have the answer on how to approach ALL the planning you do from day one. This is not to say that you need to Aim, aim, aim and never fire. There is the well known quote: “Perfection is the enemy of greatness”. But decide today, right now; drive-through or fine dining?

This is a pretty serious thought process! And now I’m going to toss one more at you. We already have discussed the want to “Aim, aim, aim and never fire”, but most people have no appreciation for the amount of planning, work, and experience it takes to provide “fine-dining”.

Remember this; there is a reason fine-dining is more expensive than take-out. We can hire a 16 year old and with 3 hours of training they are a “cook”.

Or the chef at your favorite restaurant that has a degree from a culinary school that knows how to build fantastic recipes from scratch.

Be the chef.

The more you can do ahead of time to conceive ALL that you are going to is crucial!

I’ve done many a first-time session for a client, that had planned to do “X” more sessions, then realize that their normal schedule doesn’t allow for the exact thing they wanted to do!

Another example, back in the day, I did a lot of marketing for clients that wanted to produce a regular newsletter. They’d get the first one done. Then the second one was harder, if not late on the cadence they’d hoped to achieve. After a while I found them missing the next episode all together. Then dropping it altogether.

In case my 17 examples haven’t worked, here’s the advice, and I know you’ll be surprised to find out it includes “The Webinar Guy” and “The Webinar Team”; At the very least, engage with us (Or someone you know that knows the webinar, zoom meeting, virtual event space) for at least an initial strategic planning session.

It’s surprisingly affordable and can make a huge difference!!

One more story and I’ll stop. Probably. I’m an avid motorcycle driver- I ride ALL THE TIME. Often 5K miles a year and more. I’ve worked as an instructor.

Years ago a buddy of mine, thinking he wanted to ride took a riders training course (not one I taught and very smart, BTW). After the course he took, he never wanted to ride again. That simple investment made him change his mind on riding.

Many take that same course and now know they are better prepared to move forward as a rider, maybe long-term like me.

Let’s get together and strategically plan your Virtual meeting. We can get you started, and it’s surprisingly affordable!!

Remember: Do you want to be drive-through or fine dining?

Next episode I’ll tackle more off our Webinar Planning form available on TheWebinarGuy.com

Until then…

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.

Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”

As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com

Thank you for watching!

Podcast audio

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

No comments

E13: The LAST word about sales funnels for promotion (honest!)

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Episode 13- This is Grant: The Webinar Guy.
We’re staying with marketing and promotion: For several episodes now, I’ve been talking about Sales Funnels. So we’re gonna close this up and move on today.

Let’s be frank, there’s ton of work to create effective sales funnels. We’ve been working on ours at The WebinarGuy.com for several weeks now, in between other things.


How best to create yours? As with everything, there’s a million choices. But to concentrate on one or two sources, take a look at Don Miller’s “Marketing Made Simple”. The lessons are simple and easy to follow. It will help you move through understanding the psychology of the process and what it’s designed to do. He’s also got some good video on YouTube.
The other reference to this material is Jason Fladlien who I’ve mentioned before. In addition to YouTube, look for his book “one to many”. Good stuff.
I mentioned in episode 11 the epiphany I had was this:
1) I realized that if someone was on my website, or a given web page, and they were there for more than 10-15 seconds, they were probably interested in my offering. Web stats across the world say you get less than that for a visitor to decide to stay or bolt.
2) Then the question hit me: if they appear that interested, why not ask to start a relationship?
Since then I’ve talked to many clients and potential clients about sales funnels. The most consistent answer?

“Oh, I don’t want to be pushy”.
Fine. And how is being passive working for you right now?
I’m going to be really selfish for a minute here. If you’re a small business owner, you are my target client. I want you to be in business next year to keep buying from me! I love long-term relationships!!
To me, it’s like the dating scene. I’m going to (Fill in your favorite spot) and sit facing the wall and hope some potential partner stops to start a relationship with me. Yeah, sounds dumb, huh?
Why not stand up, face the crowd, and when that lady smiles at me, walk over and say hi! no need to be belligerent, just say Hi.
That’s what a sales funnel does. A potential client is on your site and still reading and interacting with “you” forty seconds later. Why not say Hi and ask to start a relationship?
Okay enough with the funnels, Grant! I GET IT!! Do you really? Promise me you’ll stop being passive about your business! If I have your word on this I need you to do two things, if you would.
1- I need you to go to TheWebinarGuy.com and drop me an email from the contact forms there. Tell me you’re changing your ways!
2- Will I answer? you bet! I WANT to start a relationship with you!! I want to help you have AWESOME webinars! I want to sell for you. Tell for you. I want your business to grow beyond your wildest dreams!!! And I want our team to be part of that!
3- Start now to find out how to build your own sales funnels on your website. You promised to stop being passive! IF you need help from the Webinar Team, let me know. But please, find the resources and start. now.

I promise no more about sales funnels. Probably. Maybe.
Okay, so let’s say we’re now fully funneled as it were. Great! What’s next?
Well, more planning for your webinar. Next episode I’ll tackle more off our Webinar Planning form available on TheWebinarGuy.com
Until then…

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com
Thank you for watching!
Podcast audio

Sales funnels. Think about it. More next week!

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

Can we help your webinar be awesome?

No comments

E12: Start Now! Projecting Confidence!

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Episode 12- We’re staying with marketing and promotion: looking more at Sales Funnels— and confidence.

First thing here is that this is the first “Official” Posting for “The Webinar Guy”. Last week was kind of a cross-over.

Another first is this will be shorter, and I plan for them all, when possible, to come in under 10 minutes. I’m also going to start posting the audio only as a podcast.
So if you have any suggestions for content, I’d love to hear your input!

Back at it!
In E11 I talked more about sales funnels and being more aggressive in my approach to sales.
Webinar marketer Jason Fladlien said, “You can let somebody that’s not that good handle that client, (abuse, waste their resources, etc) or YOU can take an active role and serve them.”

What’s the point? It always kinda ticks me off when I see someone else get work that I know I can do better. I’m competitive like that. Is that a bit of arrogance slipping in? Yeah. It is.
And that’s another thing I’m letting go of. I know that my personality can be kinda strong. I get that there are many people that don’t get my vibe. At this point in life, I’m okay with that.
And ya know, you get to a certain point where you realize that, there are a LOT of people that like me as I am.
There are may things in life that I’m really okay doing. Alright, I can do it, but I’m NOT really good at it. More and more, I’m learning to stop trying to do that stuff. Let go of it and hire someone that can nail it!
But there are many things that I think- Sorry, that I know I’m one of the best at. And a few of those things are:
· Figuring out technology,
· Being in front of a camera and
· Hosting events. I’ve done more than a thousand I’m sure!

So when I step up to the camera here and tell you that I’m among the best you can hire, there’s a confidence I bring that not only believes that, but my testimonials bare that out! And two things my clients tell me is that bare weight in this argument:
1) They hire that confidence as it gives them peace and helps them relax knowing “I got this”.
2) They know that confidence spills over to THEIR customers.

And that my friends is not arrogance, its facts. I’m inviting you to stand on your confidence!
I may have gotten off track of the sales funnel thing, but this really resonated with me.
Think about your gifts. The stuff that you are AWESOME at. Are you standing on that truth? I encourage you to!!
Now go and be your bad self and serve the world in the way that YOU do it best!

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com
Thank you for watching!
Podcast audio

Sales funnels. Think about it. More next week!

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

How can we help you produce an AWESOME webinar?

No comments

E11: More on sales funnels for promotion

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Episode 11- staying with marketing and promotion: looking more at Sales Funnels

In E10 I had the honor to interview my good friend Deborah Gardner. Deborah is a very accomplished professional and the interview is worth a watch in my unbiased opinion!
And I introduced TheWebinarGuy website, which as of this recording is about 72.3% complete. Take a look! For a while I’ll be posting these videos here and on TheWebinarGuy.com to help establish the brand. If your company or someone you know is planning a webinar or event, I’d appreciate the referral!! Thanks for your support!

Before that, in episode 9, we started talking about sales funnels. To recap, you know after a period of time on a website, or when you go to leave, an offer pops up. It’s one last attempt at a relationship.

In today’s episode- number 11-
I’m going to work more with the sales funnel concept.
For most of my “on the web” career and having built more than 100 websites over the years, they’ve ALWAYS been passive. And for sites where I do business? The same! Why?
I don’t want to offend anyone that visits with an “in your face” sales offer.
Then several things happened.
1) I realized I want to build a large business.
2) I realized that if someone was on my website, or a given web page, and they were there for more than 10-15 seconds, they were probably interested in my offering. Web stats across the world say you get less than that for a visitor to decide to stay or bolt.
3) Then the question hit me: if they appear that interested, why not ask to start a relationship?
4) And related to that, Was I really going to “offend” someone that “Mattered” to my business?
It seems our world is now full of “offended” people. I may even offend someone by saying that.
But I realized having a “pleasant” website, with a “nice” picture and a “polite” presentation wasn’t getting me the sales I want to have.
Did people buy? Well yeah, but I’m betting they were already intending to buy due to the nature of my previous contact with them.
To build a larger business, I needed to reach outside my comfort zone. I needed to start asking for the sale! I want visitors to KNOW that I’m ready to do business (NOT passively)!
But here’s where a funnel can work for us. While a funnel/pop up CAN be used to “sell”, when done right, you’re inviting a visitor to start a relationship with you. You’ll offer your new friend something of value to download, and by submitting the form, they’ve agreed to continue the conversation- connect again.
Back to what I said earlier, “Was I really going to “offend” someone that “Mattered” to my business?” I don’t think so. I want you to know your relationship with my company matters and that I want to do business with you. If that offends you, You might not be my customer. I’m willing to take that chance.

Sales funnels. Think about it. More next week!

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

Next episode: Part 2 of reaching/promoting.

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com
Thank you for watching!

How can we help your business succeed?

See other episodes at: GrantsVoice.com

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E10: Special Announcement! (with guest Deborah Gardner, cmp)

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Zooming to Webinar Success with guest Deborah Gardner, cmp and a special announcement! E10

Two great reasons to watch the WHOLE episode. First is my special guest, Deborah Gardner (https://www.deborahgardner.com/) AND my special announcement about my new offering for #webinar success!

In E9 I talked more about filling the seats.

But for today’s episode- number 10- I’ve got two amazing things!!
First is my guest, Deborah Gardner.
Second is an announcement you’ll have to hang around for!
I’m so pleased to have Deborah in this Super Special Episode!
I had to chop down her bio, or we might have had another episode!
Deborah Gardner is a swimming champion, author, consultant & competitive performance expert who is professionally trained to transform people that want less resistance and more momentum while working and living in the fast lane. Better known by many Fortune 500 companies as the Pit Bull in a Skirt, Deborah is a highly regarded and in-demand global keynote speaker that successfully brings an explosive high-energy, captivating, engaging and in your face sassy approach.
Deborah owns several entrepreneurial businesses as a high-impact leader worldwide. Her laundry list of honors includes CNN’s Top 75 Keynote Speaker Worldwide, Meetings Today Magazine Top 20 Meetings Trendsetters, Smart Meetings Magazine’s Top 50 Smart Women Leaders, Meetings Mean Business Ambassador, Fabulous Arizona Magazine’s Fabulous People to Watch, crowned as Mrs. Arizona 2020/2021 and Mrs. America with the American Queen Organization 2021/202.

Learn more about Deborah at: DeborahGardner.com

Deborah is one of the most accomplished people I know and proud to call her friend!
So what DO you do after lunch? Really too bad you’re not more motivated!

HISTORY Together:
I’ve known you for around 18 years or so. you were referred to me when I was creating marketing and websites, and doing brand development.
—Chat—

TODAY:
Beyond the exhausting list above, what all are you doing today?
(Maybe bring up Hosp Today last?)
—Chat—

Five Tips on Interviewing:
Using your Hospitality Today show as a reference, Hit me with your top five interviewing techniques or approaches.
—Chat—

Being Competitive:
Since we’ve been connected, you’ve come from a stance of competition; How does that resonate with you? (and/or why?)
—Chat—

Your Turn:
What do YOU want to talk about?
—Chat—

ANNOUNCE: “The Webinar Guy” business and website.
I’d like for you to kind of take a moment here to interview me on how I got to this point and what I’m doing.
—Chat—

Next week, episode 11 and I’ll jump back into “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

I’d love to hear your questions and comments!

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at TheWebinarGuy.com

Can we help you create & produce an awesome webinar or event?

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E09: Using Sales Funnels

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Episode 9- Invites and managing Filling the seats Part 3 (also known as marketing/promotion!)

In E8 we got this going- I talked about The possibility of cancellations, and/or having to cancel an event

Today’s episode- number 9-
A VERY Cool “Almost announcement” at the end!! Stay around!
Let’s talk today about sales funnels.


You know the ones. When you land on a page, there’s either an offer there (give us your email), or one will pop up when you go to leave the page.
I used to equate these with swarmy used car salesmen. But then I realized several things (Stay with me on this).
1- You had to have driven enough interest in your offer to get people to your site, or they’d not be seeing your offer!
2- WHY ARE YOU here?? I’ve not had one single potential client come to me and say, “Hey I want to give away everything I know, pay you to manage the event and not expect ANYTHING in return!”
3- No body. I DO have (and its a majority of clients) that DO offer an initial free webinar, but it’s always to the goal of a paid something.
4- Nobody had to cooperate with a funnel page. Click on!
5- If your “free” funnel page has a legit offer- something you ARE giving away to collect an email address, What’s wrong with a fair exchange? It’s not like we don’t know!
6- Finally, there’s NOTHING to stop someone from putting in an email, getting your offer and unsubscribing! (I may have done that. Once).

That’s the chance we take with a sales funnel. But there are businesses making serious money, I’m talking LOTs of zeros– selling through sales funnels!
We’ll come back to this in episode 11!

But Grant, what about episode 10 next week?
Well, next week, in episode 10 I’m going to interview one of CNN’s top 75 keynote speakers, and the entrepreneur behind the “Hospitality Today” video production/podcast series that discusses tough subjects affecting the hospitality industry, her experiences and helping me introduce a new website and service called… oh you gotta come back!
I’m so excited to have you meet Deborah Gardner, Certified Speaking Professional and hear about all that she’s got going on!
I’d love to hear your questions and comments!

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at TheWebinarGuy.com
Thank you for listening!

Can we help you create & produce an awesome webinar or event?

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E08: Marketing & Promotion (& Cancellations) Part 2

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Episode 8- Invites and managing Filling the seats Part 2 (also known as marketing/promotion!)

In E7 we got this going- I talked about how far out to connect about your webinar and options to reach your fans.

Today’s episode- number 8-
We will look at light sign ups and cancelling.

Let’s review the options I gave for connecting and inviting.?
· Email (Direct and in Sig file)
· –Share button!
· MailChimp-Constant Contact-others
· Blogging
· Any “Property” (social, etc) you own!
· Popups on webpage (Timer?)
· Friends & Family
· Fellow presenters/keynotes
· Chamber of Commerce, networking groups, etc.
· —Lower on the ladder are
· SMS texts
· Paid ads on social media
· Influencers you can afford

Why? We need to remember that people love to buy/ be involved with people and organizations that they know and trust!
‘DUH,’ right?
With that in mind, in my opinion- we reach for the audience that we know best and that knows us best.
Long term we should be working to ALWAYS build that long-term audience and virtually the entire list above helps build audience.
So we need to look at that audience first when we start reaching out.
If this is your first webinar, I’d also suggest reaching out in the most organic way possible.
Obviously, this has a lot to do with the size of your audience. If your current “natural” audience is only 20 or 30 people, pick up the phone or message them personally!
Otherwise, pick each channel (they’re likely mixed over several channels, right?) and send a message to inform there.
This should be your earliest people to sign up. Make your offer solid and without desperation. Many clients I work with get nervous at some point ahead and want to start “begging” the audience to attend. DON’T!

  1. Remember one of our first points was that you’ve been building an audience and they’re already saying they want focused content! “When will you do a webinar???”
  2. If your content or audience is so weak that you’re not getting sign-ups, reconsider!
  3. IF you do decide to cancel, pull it off your site, or better yet- change the page to “Coming soon; date TBD” for the “next” one.
  4. And just let it fade on social and other channels. NO “we cancelled” notices. Regroup and reconsider. The ONLY time you should announce a cancellation is for reasons OTHER than low sign up numbers!!
  5. If sign ups are still really low, go back to calling, yes, calling close friends and get SOME bodies on the call. Even if it feels like the audience is way less than you’d like, this is a golden opportunity to practice and ensure you know what’s going on.

Use this session to get feedback from your friends!
Next week, episode 9 and part 3 of filling the seats!
I’d love to hear your questions and comments!

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at TheWebinarGuy.com
Thank you for listening!

Can we help you create & produce an awesome webinar or event?

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E07: Marketing & Promotion Part 1

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Episode 7- Invites and managing Filling the seats P1 (also known as marketing/promotion!)

In E6 we discussed frequency and cadence

Today’s episode- number 7-
We’re going to back track a bit. With all that going on and being decided, now we need to think about taking our list of followers and getting them to the webinar! In my “Zooming to Webinar Success Prep form” of over 50 steps, how you’ll communicate with or in this case TO your audience that you’re having a webinar is next.


First question is how far ahead to communicate. The obvious approach here is to communicate and invite through the channels you’re already attracting them by.
There is a sweet spot somewhere less than 3 weeks, more than 7 days that you want to hit. It will depend on your audience, but longer than 3 weeks loses immediacy and less than 7 days doesn’t give people enough time to plan. Many feel that 14 daysISH is pretty decent to start.
So what are the options?
· Email (Direct and in Sig file)
· –Share button!
· MailChimp-Constant Contact-others
· (With MailChimp being the 900#…)
· Blog
· Any “Property”(social, etc) you own!
· Popups on webpage (Timer?)
· Paid ads on social media
· Friends & Family
· Influencers you can afford
· Fellow presenters/keynotes
· Make sure reg page is optimized
· Chamber of Commerce, etc.
· SMS texts

And I know companies that have jump-started a campaign through a purchase of CellPhone numbers and used SMS, integrated video, etc.

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

Next episode: Part 2 of reaching/promoting.

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at The Webinar Guy.com
Thank you for listening!

Can we help you create & produce an awesome webinar or event?

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E06: Frequency and Cadence!

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Episode 6- Frequency and Cadence

In E5 we discussed strategically setting up your webinar for success. Before we go any further, I want to catch you up,
· We’ve assumed you have a website, and other social presence that is found in searching various platforms.
· E2 & E3 I discussed researching and deciding on a CRM package to operate on so you can track sign ups, follow ups and more. Hopefully one that integrates with your website.
· E4 was about establishing the goals and objectives of having a webinar
· And last week’s E5 was strategically thinking about stepping your audience into and through your offerings.

Today’s episode- number 6-
Now that we know what we’re trying to accomplish, we need to think about frequency and cadence. To that end,
· Is this part of a series? And I should’ve touched on this last episode as part of goals and objectives, but a series, to me is more of the “Final deliverable”. That is, if we’re looking to monetize, the series would the money engine.
· Will this be a ONE-TIME webinar?
· Will this exact webinar be repeated at some regular cadence (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc?)
· Will this exact webinar be repeated at some infrequent cadence?

Obviously, the more often you repeat the “same” webinar (with appropriate edits for clarity or timeliness) the better it will be! I’ve mentioned a client that I do two webinars for every week. While the purpose and objective doesn’t change, we tweak the webinar every week, if only to keep it fresh for us! But we always work to find time appropriate collateral for the slides.
So what about the “how often” thing? There’s no one right answer. But budget is one huge factor. If you only have the budget to produce and hold one, you hold one and work to get the sales to do another.
What about advertising/marketing the event. I’d make each event stand out separately. That is, I’d advise against letting it be known that you’ll do this say, every week. It takes the immediacy out of the energy driving the event. When people know they can just grab the next one, it’s harder to build this one.
Better to market for individual events, even where you know you’ll be doing them on a pre-planned basis.
The frequency may also be decided by capacity. Not only in the ability to hold the webinar and all that entails, but in the demand it’s creating.
If you’re selling a book that’s already published or a course that is automatically delivered on your site, and/or something that requires little/no work on your part, not a big deal.
But say you’re building your coaching business. You likely only have so many hours a week you can coach! There, do you work to be on the edge of overfilling your capacity and or create a waiting list?
Be careful with all this, however. Once you have people thinking about your solution, it’s not too hard for them to also think about and search out other solutions.
Another related question here is how quickly you content will expire? Are you solving an important problem, yet limited in the need for a solution? Or is the problem societal or endemic? This will help drive your “how often” decision.
If this is your webinar-based course being offered, most of the steps are the same, but now you’ll be planning content out for the duration of your modules.
And you’ll want to be sure to keep pumping content into your social channels to drive the next offering!
So your homework this time it to make decisions on frequency and cadence!

Would love to hear your questions and comments!

Next episode: Invites and managing (especially when you don’t have a large following).

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at TheWebinarPro.com
Thank you for listening!

Can we help you create & produce an awesome webinar or event?

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E05: Your First Webinar (Strategy)!

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Episode 5- Strategy

In E4 we discussed defining the purpose, goals or objectives. Hopefully you have now defined WHY you’re having your webinar, or better- WHAT you want to accomplish.

Today’s episode- number 5- we’re going to strategize a bit.
Think about the learning by firehose memes you’ve seen. We all GET the metaphor. So defining what you wanted to accomplish should inform how to go about your inaugural webinar. In other words, we don’t want to firehose your audience! We want to break it down.

Lets assume several things for the sake of this episode.
Assumption 1) You have hundreds (or more) followers on various social media platforms- And/or hundreds of legit email contacts (And for “legit”, we’ll discuss that on a later episode).

Assumption 2) they like your content that you’ve been dribbling out piecemeal. This isn’t a slam on that approach, it’s how we build audience and will be used to make a point in a moment.

Assumption 3) You’ve decided to sell a coaching package. How THAT is delivered will be another episode!
So to reiterate, you’ve got an audience that to some degree is ASKING for a webinar, and your end goal is to sell coaching. Your goal might be different, say sell a course, a book, a PAID webinar or other goal, but this should help move us forward.
The obvious point here is to use THIS first webinar to whet their appetite, not sate it. As PT Barnum might have said, “Always leave them wanting more!” This is where piecemeal comes back in. We don’t want to dump, we want to tease a bit and feed.
Use this webinar to set the stage and bring your audience all to the same place. What do I mean? Remember that some of your early audience joined you at the preface of your “story”, some joined on chapter 6, and some joined last week and have been binge reading. Start with the basics:
1) where did you from (history relatable to the story)?
2) what got you into the situation you solve?
3) what was your breaking point that helped you decide to fix it?
4) how did you test your hypothesis?
5) who else found the solution valuable (do you have testimonials you can use?)

These first five help all your audience to know you better.
Now think…
1) do you have a free ??? to give away that starts helping without someone having to buy your coaching package?
2) Remember our assumption that our goal is selling coaching; have you priced your coaching according to your value and the benefit to the buyer?

There’s likely there more to decide, but even that is a lot of information to assemble and put into an initial package!
From my experience as a professional presenter, corporate trainer and webinar moderator, I can tell you to plan your webinars, especially this first one, to come in under 30 minutes.
If you can do all the above in a really short time period (Less than 15 minutes?) you need more proof of concept and MEAT for your audience. It will seem hurried, rushed or like, “where’s the value”?
More than 30 minutes and you’d better be an AMAZING presenter. I notice that my clients often start to lose audience (remember we’re talking virtual!!) after 20 minutes and REALLY drops at 30 minutes. (There’s MANY reasons for this including, “my lunch is over)!
Therefore I try to encourage (especially initial) webinars between the 20 and 30 minute mark is good. Remember we have to open the webinar with talking and close it with an offer and that takes time too and needs to be considered in the above- as well as time for a short Q&A.
Several issues control this;
1) How interesting you are.
2) How valuable your content is.
3) How interesting the content is
a. revealing? stunning? etc.
4) Date/time of day held

The goal here is to get people to the webinar, establish you and your credentials to “prove” your value/worth, then offer the next step.
This is when we create a limited offer like taking the next/first 10 people into your coaching program.
AND offer the free downloadable PDF that people can start with on their own.
There are MANY strategies and tactics, so this is only one.
Hopefully you know see how we’re moving people along.
Free webinar, There MUST be value, not just sales.
Another offer for a free thing (PDF)
Offer to enroll in the coaching program (First 10 save $15%?)
Would love to hear your questions and comments!

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at VoicePro@grantsvoice.com
Thank you for listening!

Can we help you create & produce an awesome webinar or event?

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E04: Purpose, Goals, Objectives

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In E3 we discussed managing your contacts. We assumed you have some type following and as a result of that episode #3, you’ve now created some type of structure to manage contacts. This is one of the most critical early steps!

Today’s episode- number 4 we’re going to discuss purpose, goals or objectives.
As simple as this may sound, in consulting on webinars and business both, it stuns me how often people don’t consider the real purpose of what they are doing!
There’s an old story that then President Kennedy, remember this was moon-shot-planning days!— asked a janitor what he did at the White House. Supposedly the man answered, “I’m helping put a man on the moon!”
True or not, it really demonstrates someone who understands their purpose.
So, I ask you; What is the purpose of your webinar? What’s the goal, the objective?
When I’ve coached professional speakers on their speeches and presentations and stage craft, I always asked, “At the end of this speech, what do you want your audience to– feel? What do you want them to DO? Change? Enact? and more.

So I ask you- WHY are you doing this?
I consulted with a client yesterday who is about this phase of webinar planning. I asked her the same question.
She had the base answer. “I want to XX”. After using the “ask why five times” exercise, we discovered there were SEVERAL purposes (porpi?).
Give away free information
Build audience for future paid webinars
Build audience for a planned paid course
Attract clients for private consulting

FOUR perfect goals that go together! But when we first started talking, she was no where near that.
So todays homework for you: Write down ALL the goals/objectives…Reasons you’re having this webinar and now see if they fit together, or is there something there better left for the future?

One example of this from another consultation. The client wanted to do a 90 free webinar for single moms. Great. But how many single moms, that work, do you know that can sit through ONE 90 minute webinar?
Exactly.
Once considered, we started working on breaking that down to initial free “Teaser” information and one later paid event.
When I know what you’re trying to accomplish overall, I can really help you more towards the longer term goals.

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!”
As always, if you need help now, don’t hesitate to reach out at VoicePro@grantsvoice.com
Thank you for

Can we help you create & produce an awesome webinar or event?

*Editors note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E03: Managing Your Audience

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Episode 3- Managing contacts

E2 was the start of the “meat” as it were. I talked about having a website, managing it, social media- a way to establish a “following”?

Today’s episode- #3 will assume you have some type following. This is almost always from one or two places: Over a period of time you’ve established a solid email newsletter list: 2) You have established a following on various social media platforms. In essence, you have followers or fans and they are WANTING more content.

The question then for today is, “How will I manage the audience?- or How to manage contacts?”
There are MANY ways to manage a list of contacts.
From typing them into the simplest of text editors, into excel, to managing them in your email program of choice to on-line CRM’s that can be pricey!
What’s a CRM Customer Relationship Manager? The previous list could be argued as such, but sophistication is what you are buying as you spend more.
What we need here is a way for you take whatever list you have now and amend it by those that will sign up in the future.
The challenge here is now we start combining webinar teasers, with a funnel or squeeze page and the new sign ups.
But when they sign up, will you know what offer they responded to? Of course! How about a year from now? Maybe not.
How often has “Brad” signed up for various classes? Was Sheila interested in your book when published?
Will the CRM send the webinar invite? Can it follow up with an “after response?
There are many services that will do this, but what is the best one for you?

This series is for smaller organizations and soloprenuers that may not be tech savvy, don’t know all the steps, or don’t WANT to know all the steps.
Over the series, I’m going to lead you through the significant decisions and capabilities you’ll need to “Zoom to Webinar Success!” Thank you for listening!

May we help you plan and execute your webinar?

*Editors note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E02: The Very Basics

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Welcome to Episode 2 Welcome back! 

Welcome to Episode 2

Welcome back!
You want to reach your audience on a deeper level, teach, cajole and maybe even sell.

But where do you start?
After a meeting this week with a new client I realized that I can’t assume anything- so will start with some of the most basic of basics.
In order to have a webinar, it may sound obvious, but you really need an audience!
So the question becomes, how to build an audience. This series isn’t about that. There are many, many videos on tweeting and toking and building that audience -on youtube and various other channels. So when you’ve built that audience, please stop back!

This series will assume several things;
–You already have one or more social media or other channels (such as an email list) that you can market to.

–You already have an established website that is up to date and you can be found in search.

Now that we’ve leveled the starting point, what’s next? There are probably 10 things we need to do all at once, but since we can only do a few at a time, we’re going to start from the excel sheet I’ve built with more than 50 things we’re going to be covering.

In my mind, number one is how you will manage your audience. Most likely that is going to be some type of Customer Relationship Management tool, or CRM.
Having one that integrates with your website is a great way to go, although there are ones that can work in conjunction with your site to gather names and sign ups, manage funnels, send out invites, meeting links and more. Some services to consider are ClickFunnel, Kajabi, GroveFunel, Kartra and more.
Next episode we’ll cover how these are used and the strategy behind them.

So to reiterate, You’ve already built a following, you have social media channels, an email list and functioning website. And if you’re missing any of that, or don’t want to wait for the next episode and need help, please reach out.

Thanks for listening!

May I help you plan and execute your webinar?

*Editors note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.

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E01: Zooming To Webinar Success

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Webinars are a way of life for many of us. Like many things in life, some are amazing, some, not so much.

For most of my adult life I’ve been in training & development and emcee’d or presented hundreds of seminars.

A recent experience with a client that had never done a #webinar/#virtualmeeting, put the entire development in my hands. From planning, to script writing, to- well every single element. It made me realize that there are others that may not be well prepared to host a meeting like this, so here we go.

I’ll be looking to cover every element of a great webinar from the first idea to the “day of”. I’d love comments and questions you might have!

Thanks again to #AliceEverdeen for the intro #voiceover! www.AliceEverdeen.com

May we help you plan and execute your webinar?

*Editors note: This was originally posted as a “Grants Voice” post before we split the brands.