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!