Tag: webinarsuccess

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E33: The Power Of A Series Of Webinars And Virtual Meetings

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Hey, I’m Grant: My clients call me The Webinar Guy.

Welcome to episode thirty-three of  “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

Today we’re going to talk about “The Power Of A Series Of Webinars And Virtual Meetings.”

Remember you can always catch up on all the episodes on TheWebinarGuy.com

It was nineteen-twenty-six. A company was trying to figure out how to increase sales. Something we are all doing most every day. The company’s sales manager, Allan Odell came up with arguably, one of the best, and possibly most memorable marketing ideas of the era.

He was inspired by a string of signs leading to a service station in Illinois, each sign promoting a product or service available at the station.

A tweak here and there and the Burma Shave sign series was born and almost immediately the company saw a spike in sales.

If you’re not familiar with the Burma Shave Signs, do a search. A quick recap; They were “one line” signs in a series of signs, in sequence often found on fence posts along the road. Remember this was before the advent of interstate highway system and back roads kept speeds down a bit. Perfect for the time and conditions.

There were usually four or five signs about one hundred feet apart or so. Eventually more than seventy-five hundred sets were in forty-five states! And while they most often were about shaving, they also did some funny signs, and even “public service” signs that had nothing to do with shaving. But in keeping the style and brand common, you knew where they were from.

There are many lessons to learn here but first a quick work from our sponsor:

Yes, I’m the webcast and podcast sponsor, TheWebinarGuy.com! (Yeah, that’s me). When you decide to plan your webinar and are looking for marketing ideas, we have many resources and would love to help you! Email me: WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com, or visit our website (TheWebinarGuy.com) and use contact form! We’d love to work with you! Thanks for listening to my commercial!

Stories like the Burma Shave Signs are fun, but there’s serious marketing stuff going on there. Let’s go back to the title of this episode: The Power Of A Series Of Webinars And Virtual Meetings.

I’d like to hope that I’m demonstrating this concept with this series of episodes on Zooming to Webinar Success.

Lets look at the lessons:

Lesson one: The signs were cohesive; they all pointed to the same goal, brand and purpose.

Lesson two: The signs were memorable. Each sign made you want to read the next one.

Lesson three: Related to that is that they encouraged people to talk about them. Almost like Super Bowl ads. Imagine them discussing them at work, “Hey did you see the new Burma Shave series on route forty-four?”

Lesson four: They were fun. I’m sure families traveling talked about those signs for miles.

Lesson five: They were long enough to create interest, but short enough not to bore.

Lesson six: They created desire. You were hoping to see another series and see what they’d come up with.

Lesson seven: No matter the content, like golden arches, it built brand awareness.

Lesson eight: The messages were perfect for the time period and conditions.

Lesson nine: Targeting; While they were really targeted to males that shaved, everyone enjoyed them! And when Jane told Sheila about the sign she’d seen, there was a subliminal message. I’m betting Sheila told her husband Mike at dinner that night, and well, that’s pretty good marketing.

Lesson ten: They are still talked about and used as a great example of how to create marketing -now nearly one hundred years later!

While I hope these “zooming to webinar success” episodes are still around one hundred years from now, I’d be really happy if just a few of you told someone else about our services!

Go back and look at the lessons;

They were cohesive, to the point and always on brand message

The signs were memorable.

They encouraged conversation.

They were fun.

Long enough to create interest, but short enough not to bore.

They created desire.

They built brand awareness.

The messages were perfect for the time period and conditions.

They were targeted.

And Longevity; They are still talked about and used as a great example of how to create marketing!

Now think of your next webinar, virtual summit, or virtual meeting. How many of those things can you capture in your marketing of the event? How many can you capture DURING your event?

There are so many ways to engage your audience and create memorable content! I’d love to hear your ideas!

So back to the title; The Power Of A Series Of Webinars And Virtual Meetings.”

Now take all that and string together content that makes people want to come back for more. Don’t give it all away at once. You may wish to use a sequential series that for number two to make sense, someone has to be in on number one. Or like this series, it doesn’t matter which one you watch first, they are all relevant to “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

—– —–

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!” If you have a subject you’d like me to cover, please subscribe, then drop me a note or comment.

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

Thank you for watching! Would love to hear your questions and comments! Don’t forget to tell a friend or two!

And if you’re listening to the Podcast audio, thanks for listening!

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E31: The Most Important Factor to your webinar success!

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Welcome to episode thirty-one of  “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

Hey, I’m Grant: My clients call me The Webinar Guy. And another shoutout to Jane Wing at JaneWing.com for our new podcast introduction!

Today we’re going to talk about “The Single Most Important Factor (to your webinar success)”

I’m often asked, “When planning a #webinar or #virtualevent, what is the single most important factor I need to cover?” Well, here we go! If you are planning a #virtualsummit, or a simple #zoommeeting, I have the answer! The most important factor is…

I’ve discussed many things over the first thirty episodes! And quite frankly, most of them are really important! Stay tuned for a moment while I review…the last episode (thirty). I discussed the staffing needs larger webinars need and the bodies and capabilities to make sure you have covered for success. If you missed it, head to TheWebinarGuy.com and look for episode thirty.

Okay, so what IS the The Single Most Important Factor (to your webinar success)?

It’s you! I’ll bet you’re not even surprised! NO ONE else will care as much as you do your webinar, zoom meeting, or virtual event. No one else will have as much skin in the success or failure of the event as you will.

Any single one of the staffing needs I mentioned last episode, if done poorly, can certainly embarrass you.

Here at TheWebinarGuy.com we think we’ve seen it all. Expected speakers that don’t show up or misunderstood the time zone of the event. Bad connections, scammers that do stupid things in a public forum, really bad backgrounds, bad scripts, bad powerpoint decks, those that simply don’t even understand the interface and take no time to figure it out, poorly managed hand-off and more.

A step aside here. Actually, it’s a step up to my soap box. When asked to speak for an international conference because they’ve achieved some modicum of success, they may have been awarded a PhD in a field, published papers and more. Then this person comes onto a virtual webinar session where they are the featured speaker. Their screen comes on and they are still straightening their hair. They don’t know how to share their screen or know how to get PowerPoint into slide show mode. Oh, they’ll open it and start talking in edit mode where you can see all their notes and remnants of their desktop and more. Really?!

In my mind this is the Walmart version of presentations. It’s just way too casual! And I see it ALL THE TIME.

If you have no respect for yourself, at least have respect for those that have invited you to speak?! Makes me want to scream.

Sorry, I’ll step down for now. However, throughout the series, I’ve constantly pointed out the pitfalls that can occur while planning or holding a webinar.

How can you avoid these things? Well, partially, the answer is “good luck”.

One way is first to contact a company whose sole purpose is to produce an amazing webinar or virtual event for you.

Here at TheWebinarGuy.com we include all these points and work with your speakers and others to help ensure they are prepared and you look amazing!! Yes, I’m the webcast and podcast sponsor, TheWebinarGuy.com! (Yeah, that’s me). When you decide to approach your first big webinar or you want to plan a large, multi-dimensional virtual summit, and think you need assistance, we have many resources and would love to help you! Hit me at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com, or visit our website (TheWebinarGuy.com) and use contact form! We’d love to work with you! Thanks for listening to my commercial!

So how do you eliminate this?

Let’s go back to what we’ve identified as the “The Single Most Important Factor (to your webinar success)”

You.

One other thing I often see is that would-be presenters doing their first webinar, is that they think that pulling off a fantastic, memorable (for the right reasons) webinar or virtual summit is a walk in the park.

Its like they think, “Well, I’ve been on plenty of zoom sessions. It’s can’t be that hard!”

Well with that attitude it won’t be hard! It will likely be embarrassingly bad.

Most new clients are surprised by how may questions we ask. It’s because we know what’s all needed and we want your event to be stellar! And we try not to leave anything to chance!

Many times, in this series I ask you to stop and consider the depth of the subject we’re on. Not to take it lightly or pass over it entirely.

This is another of those times. It is YOUR name or YOUR brand. How do you want to be perceived? How do you want it treated? This is one of those crossing line decisions we make in life. We can cheap it out and hope for the best or decide today that you’ll put in the work to produce the most noteworthy, fun, engaging, interactive and maybe more- webinar possible.

THAT is why you are the most important “The Single Most Important Factor (to your webinar success)”

YOU will set the standard that all the participants producing your webinar will follow. The standard of excellence on the script, the slides, backgrounds, production values and more. Its. ALL. On. You!

That everyone on your team gets that standard is the hurdle you must cross! At TheWebinarGuy.com, we get it and can join you at that same standard!

—– —–

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!” If you have a subject you’d like me to cover, please subscribe, then drop me a note or comment.

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

Thank you for watching! Would love to hear your questions and comments! Don’t forget to tell a friend or two!

And if you’re listening to the Podcast audio, thanks for listening!

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E28: Where DO I promote my webinar?

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Welcome to episode twenty-eight of “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

Hey, I’m Grant: My clients call me The Webinar Guy.

Today we’re going to talk about “Where DO I promote my webinar?!”

How do I start might be the subtitle! Stay tuned…

In the last episode (twenty-seven) I talked about WIFFM and why it was important. If you missed it, head to TheWebinarGuy.com and look for episode twenty-seven.

Today we’ll discuss some of the many ways you can market your webinar, virtual learning or virtual training event, and your virtual summit. Will this be an exhaustive list? No it won’t. In fact, I’m tossing in a bit of a twist. But I want the thinking or strategy behind this to be what is learned, not necessarily to use this tactic to do that.

In our current world, being “followed” or “liked” is the thing (social media wise!). I think the first most important thing to know is the makeup of your current “following”.

How many people are in your influence circle? Ten? Ten Thousand? Not only is there a huge difference in those numbers, but there’s also a huge difference in the way you market and approach that difference.

I’ve touched on the subject in several past episodes, by the way- take a gander at episodes eight, nine and eleven. Episode seven was even more specific, where “Filing the seats” was the title. Valuable to catch up on if needed, but I didn’t go deep on purpose. I want to add on today.

Let’s assume you’ve listened to Episode seven, so you know most of the options. Above I alluded to whether you have fewer followers or small audience capture, or a larger following. And for no reason other than normal marketing and sales numbers, let’s call that number five hundred.

—-AD—

But before we dig in too far, a word from our webcast and podcast sponsor, TheWebinarGuy.com! (Yeah, that’s me). When you decide to approach your first webinar, and think you need marketing assistance, we have many resources and would love to help you! Hit me at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com, or visit our website (TheWebinarGuy.com) and use contact form! We’d love to work with you! Thanks for listening to my commercial!

This episode I’ll concentrate on those of you with fewer than five hundred in your sphere of influence. Here’s the first problem with that number. Most of us have that many in our sphere with just business and social contacts, not even trying for reach or growth. But it’s likely you’re not maximizing that number or just not realized it’s that big.

We’ve all heard the saying that “Content is King”. Yup sure is. High quality content where your audience wants more of your stuff is crucial! So how do you build your audience for better promotion?

The topic on this episode is “Where do I promote your Webinar?” Start with what you have where you are. But I think you need to start six months or more before your event. Why? Social credibility is all about people seeing, sharing and yes, liking your content. Six months gives you the space to start posting content that engages people to follow you.

On Facebook you have so many friends and so many followers. Yeah, kinda weird but people that aren’t your “Friends” do follow what you post. Instagram is even more that way. Then we have Tik-Tok, YouTube, WhatsApp, WeChat, and even more. And that’s only the top six! If your content is more business oriented, add LinkedIn to your list.

Many of us are on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and maybe TikTok and Twitter and even Reddit. There is no shortage of places to waste your time and efforts.

Why do I say that? Learning the nuances of every platform can drive you nuts and waste time. So Don’t. For this first effort, concentrate on the place or places you already have the most traction. Again, I’ll swing towards Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

You’ll want to get people having conversations. So, posting what you had for dinner or your baby blowing bubbles isn’t what we’re going for here.

Posting a great quote, or sharing another post isn’t going to cut it either. Start with a piece of advice. Show people something and ask a question (start the conversation).

Here’s the simplest rule for ANY platform; Get Engagement and don’t take people off THAT platform. Engagement is people commenting on your content, sharing your content, their friends commenting on their comments, and their friends sharing your content.

That engagement is the path to people following you. You can look at stats and ask people to “follow you” and such.

So technically we’re not yet promoting your webinar. What we’re doing is establishing social credibility. Once you are known for “X”, people start asking you for advice and/or you’re seen as the expert. Having your closest twenty friends on a webinar is great, especially for practice, but you’ll likely not be able to build a business model around that. You need twenty, one-hundred twenty, FIVE-hundred twenty and more in your sphere of influence, just to get some traction. Trust me, you want more.

Remember you’ll likely never get all five hundred twenty on a webinar. If you do, call me and I’ll take some advice from you!

It IS a numbers game, but the credibility factor is HUGE!

Your plan for today is to do an inventory of the platforms you’re on, where you have the largest reach and plan to start there, building credibility!

So did I answer the question of “where to promote your webinar, or virtual meeting?” Not in the literal sense, but hopefully in a way to help you plan on approach.

So what do we know now that we didn’t earlier? Don’t drive people from the platform(s) you’re using.

That social credibility and being seen as THE expert is crucial to success! Take time to build that when you’re looking for zooming to YOUR webinar success!

—– —–

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!” If you have a subject you’d like me to cover, please subscribe, then drop me a note or comment.

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

Thank you for watching! Would love to hear your questions and comments! Don’t forget to tell a friend or two!

And if you’re listening to the Podcast audio, thanks for listening!

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E27: What’s a WIIFM and why is it important?

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Welcome to episode twenty-seven of “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

Hey, I’m Grant: My clients call me The Webinar Guy.

Today we’re going to talk about WIIFM!

What’s WIIFM? Stay tuned…

In the last episode (twenty-six) I talked about using polls and chat interaction in your webinars and virtual meetings or presentations. If you missed it, head to TheWebinarGuy.com and look for episode twenty-six.

So, what is WIIFM? We ALL suffer from WIIFM now and then. At least from the side effects of not knowing what it is and how it affects all we do.

If you’ve been around business or marketing very long, you already know what it is, if not, WIIFM is an acronym for “What’s In It For Me!?”

What’s In It For Me strikes at the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs! Maybe not literally, but wanting to know how something will benefit us is so very deeply rooted we may not even give it conscious thought.

We are always looking for things that are pleasurable, make our lives easier, that are fun, taste good, earn us more money and so on. Remember in this instance we are on the subject of holding webinars, on-line meetings, virtual summits, self-improvement workshops, virtual master classes, virtual podcasts, and so on.

So What IS in it for me? Well, define first define “me”. Because you first need to know what is in it for you.

WHY go to all the work of assembling a webinar, writing the script, creating a powerpoint deck, planning, scheduling, finding a moderator and/or host. Planning and creating all the collateral where needed and more!

By the way, as an aside that list is woefully short of what’s really needed. Our webcast and podcast sponsor, TheWebinarGuy.com! (Yeah, that’s me), has a free PDF with the steps needed to cover when you want to get all the details right. More than eighty items to consider. Want a copy? Hit me at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com, or visit our website (TheWebinarGuy.com) and use contact form! I’d love to send you a copy! Thanks for listening to my commercial!

Back to the subject; Why would you go to all that work? What is in it for YOU!? You should know the answer. “Just deciding” to do a webinar or virtual event is fine but know why you’re doing it!

Why do I do these videos and podcasts? Yes, I’m a bit altruistic and want you to have great webinars and I hope this series helps you. But let’s be frank; I want your business! I want you to look at all those details and think, “I just want The Webinar Team to do it! Yeah, I’m contacting The Webinar Guy!

I’m in this to gain customers plain and simple.

Why do YOU want to have a webinar? What’s in it for YOU. If you’re not real sure, maybe go hit TheWebinarGuy.com and look for episodes four and five. I talk about Purpose and strategy.

Okay, after you figure that out, you better know “What’s in it for ME”- your audience- or “What’s in it for them?” Why would they bother to take part of their day to listen to you? What’s your expertise? What will you offer? What will they gain?

To drive your webinar attendance you must be able to answer that question. Why would someone care?!

I’ve presented or hosted webinars, such as; employment webinars where interested candidates find out about a company and why they’d want to work there.

For a trucking industry consulting company, why drivers would want to become owners instead of just being drivers (it’s to build wealth).

For a consultant on relationships: How to manage a relationship with a narcissist. If you’re in that type relationship, you need her workshop!

Several for the elder care market, where one client helps current communities manage them better and another on helping those communities help their elder members build memories.

A client that is treating Bi-Polar disorder with laughter, trying to help others with the same challenge.

MANY companies that want you to invest in their bitcoin operation!

I host, present or moderate several hundred webinars each year. There are several common threads; Helping people, selling people, developing authority and trust, generating leads, broadening your current audience and more.

When you know why you are doing your webinar and you can really define “What’s in it for THEM”, you’ll be way down the road on your marketing, your scripts will be better, you’ll have better engagement and the audience you draw will be more open to your message!

What’s in it for me? My goal is more clients and broadening how many people know about the services The Webinar Guy.com offers and sell those services.

What’s in it for you? I want you to hold amazing webinars and have massive success!

So what do we know now that we didn’t earlier? There are two “me’s” for lack of better definition. What’s in it for me as the presenter, speaker, consultant, etc. And the “What’s in it for me” that is really “them”, your audience. Take time to define those for zooming to YOUR webinar success!

—– —–

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!” If you have a subject you’d like me to cover, please subscribe, then drop me a note or comment.

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

Thank you for watching! Would love to hear your questions and comments! Don’t forget to tell a friend or two!

And if you’re listening to the Podcast audio, thanks for listening!

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E24- Handling Hecklers

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Welcome to episode twenty-four of “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

Hey, I’m Grant: My clients call me The Webinar Guy.

Today we’re going to talk about how to handle hecklers.

First off, there is no one way to eliminate getting a heckler in your session. As with many subjects I chat about, this one has setup and things to consider.

Let’s go back to the beginning and think about the purpose of this webinar. If you need or want audience interaction, your audience will need to be able to use a chat function, and/or be able to unmute their mics at some point and be able to talk.

Most webinar and virtual meeting platforms allow you to turn these functions on and off. For instance, in zoom, you can mute your audience and either allow or not allow them to unmute.

So think about how you want this to happen during your session. There is a belief that charging for a session as opposed to free will eliminate this issue. I can tell you that if someone wants badly enough to harass you, they will find a way.

So now let’s prepare a bit. Assume that in any given session that you may have one or more hecklers- by the way, this assumption will save you embarrassment at some point and being ready for the “might happen” will serve you well.

Step one is to consider your familiarity with the webinar platform you are using. And along with that, are you using a moderator or not? Depending on the formality of your session and how many attendees you expect to have, you may want to have a moderator that is on your session if only to monitor chat and remove idiots, or if mics have been allowed to be unmuted and you get a vocal heckler, your moderator can pop them out of the session immediately without warning.

A lot also depends on the heckler and their goal. As The Webinar Guy team does hundreds of webinars each year, we’ve seen it all- or so we’d like to think! Sometimes you just have pushy, belligerent people that think for some reason your virtual meeting or training is their playground.

Just yesterday, I was doing one of my regular sales hosting sessions where we talk about lead generation. We always start with concepts and strategies on how to generate your own leads. One guy in chat just had to chime in, “Generate my own? I like working off a client list!”

Well, goodie for you! Give me a minute and we’ll talk about that. But why he thought he had to tell everyone that and what he thought he’d accomplish is beyond me. What it did do was eliminate him from my client’s prospective hire list. Any potential salesperson that jumps to conclusions and doesn’t listen has already put themselves at a disadvantage.

Forgive my self-promotion here, but I’m pretty good at what I do moderating and hosting. I’ve had webinar attendees put in chat, “He’s not really live, this is one of those canned webinars!” Imagine their surprise when I call them out!

Using a moderator can really help these kinds of situations. In both the examples above, I did not have a moderator. But my experience level, familiarity with zoom controls and the way I setup my screens allows ME to monitor things in my simpler webinars.

I want you now to consider your personality. How you handle various things will mirror your personality and your brand. Yeah back to your brand. How you handle hecklers reflects not only on you, but your brand or in our case the brands you represent!

Please allow me to take a moment to promote our sponsor, TheWebinarGuy.com (yeah that’s me!). Our webinar and virtual meeting team will work with you to produce stellar events! From a few people on a book cover reveal to hundreds of attendees with breakout rooms, we’d love to discuss how to make your event amazing! Thanks!

Okay, I began this section talking about the goal of the heckler. So far, I’ve really just talked about people that don’t think before they type or talk, or think their opinion matters at a given point. I’ve had people whine about THEIR sound. THEY can’t see my video, When is the Q&A, and my most consistent favorite, “Will this be recorded for us to watch later?” Even though the sign up said it would be, we said it would be in the introduction, and there’s a banner at the bottom of the screen that says that- simply amazing.

My personality is one to take control of the situation, it’s what my clients pay me for, and eliminate, or mitigate the challenge.

On to the bad hecklers…The ones with the goal of embarrassing you, or “calling you out” or trying to damage your reputation.

Sorry if I’m pounding this, but having a moderator really helps. But as I said above, being ready for it and having a few strategies can help.

So again, ensure you know your webinar platform’s controls! Make sure you know how to mute them or remove and block them on the fly.

When someone is calling me or my client out, I realize the issue will be a reputation challenge, so I know to have something ready to speak to that. For example: one construction company I do regular informational webinars for- had a guy turn his mic on and before I could remove him (you’d be surprised what can happen in fifteen seconds!) he swore, used really offensive language and also called us out for poor quality, etc.

I removed him, apologized to the rest of the webinar audience, then having noted his name, I said, “Dang, Sure wish that Dan had gone to the Better Business Bureau site and looked up our A+ Rating. Too bad he also missed our more than 600 positive Google reviews!” Then I used other points in the session to refer back to his interruption. Everyone had a good laugh and didn’t lose one attendee.

On the fly sometimes you just need something snarky to say like, “I remember the last time MY breakfast upset my tummy.” Or “Geez, Larry must be Hangry!”

The biggest point is to acknowledge it, then move on. Most everyone in a webinar or virtual meeting understands this can happen and will overlook it. However, NOT handling it or handling it badly WILL affect your audience. KNOW your controls and how to remove and block.

Okay my really biggest point: Never, ever argue or get into a battle with the heckler. The sooner you can remove them from your session and move on, the better.

I’ve done hundreds of “Live” sessions where we’re in a hotel conference room or other large venue. Depending on the size of the conference, we’d usually have one of the production team ready to call for security. Tough to do with zoom.

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 at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com

Thank you for watching! Would love to hear your questions and comments!

And if you’re listening to the Podcast audio, thanks for listening! Tell a friend!

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E23 Handling the Question and Answer period

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Episode 23- Handling Questions & Answers or Q&A.

Hey, I’m Grant: My clients call me The Webinar Guy. Welcome to episode twenty-three of “Zooming to Webinar Success!”

In case you’re catching up, the last three episodes (twenty, twenty-one and twenty-two) had to do with presenting content via some choice on slide decks (PowerPoint, Prezi, Canva, etc) and the importance of script writing.

So what to do with this episode, twenty-three?

Since we’ve been covering content, let’s talk about the ubiquitous Q&A session, often held at the end for obvious reasons.

You know what you want to say and based on episode number twenty-two, you may have even written and practiced a script to ensure you are actually saying it.

But as you know, no matter how well we prepare, our guests will always think of something to ask. Usually.

Maybe they didn’t pay attention during part of your webinar or virtual meeting. They got a phone call and couldn’t watch for a bit. Yes, I’ve gotten questions that cover those situations. I love it when people ask in the chat feature and others answer the question for you!

Just as likely, especially due to the complexity of a given subject, it’s possible that one explanation just wasn’t enough. Maybe they just didn’t get it!

Pay attention to this! We often think we nailed something when talking about it- due to our familiarity with the subject, but some stares, furrowed brows or tilted heads may say otherwise.

Why pay attention? If you do many of the same webinars and continually see the same questions pop up, it’s time to modify your presentation. For some reason, your audiences just aren’t getting it.

This is what makes using a script on a zoom webinar tough. You’re so concentrating on the content that you can’t “read” the audience like you can when you’re live on stage. So also take that into consideration. And even if you don’t use a script, the people’s images may be so small as to not be able to track that well anyhow. To me, it’s one of the greatest drawbacks to virtual events.

What’s the answer there? I know in many of the sessions I do, we just tell people to enter their questions in the chat or (Q&A function of some of the webinar platforms) and tell them we’ll wait until the Q&A part to answer. Or we tell them to NOT enter the questions, just to hold them till the end. Then either way, we stay on-task and on-script until the end.

This option also has the added benefit of you answering the question before it’s offered. That happens too.

First considerations: If you have someone like a professional from TheWebinarGuy.com team moderating your webinar and gathering the questions, (and knowing in advance what’s coming) possibly telling attendees “We’ll get to that” or answering simple questions you’ve approved- that helps simplify your webinar. The point here is that a moderator can help you a lot on this.

If you’re running solo, or you don’t have a moderator, tell people that you’re running a “one man show” and can’t monitor the chat and you can’t track questions. Then don’t!

Let’s say you’ve presented your information and we’re now to the actual Q&A. Now that we’re there, let’s back up. This requires planning.

First of all, limit the time for Q&A. Tell people ahead that you’re limiting the Q&A to five minutes, or ten, or whatever. This helps your audience know what to expect. If you followed the advice from the last episode, you should know how long your presentation is within just a few minutes and plan accordingly. So if you have a twenty minute or so presentation, then plan a ten minute or so Q&A and tell people at the start that “Today’s webinar/presentation/training/whatever will be about thirty minutes- THEN STICK TO THAT. But what if people are really engaged and asking great questions? Your call, but it’s “Entertainment Law” to get off stage with the audience wanting more! Suggest they enroll again for the next one- offer a deal! If it’s a series, consider telling people, “Sorry we’re out of time, but we’ll answer more of these: On our blog; Our social media feed, or possibly (not recommended) at the beginning of the next session.

Now that you’ve managed that expectation, one choice is to just wing it. You start reading through chat and take the questions as they come. But another reason to use a moderator is while questions are being asked, they can also organize them and even collapse multiple similar questions into one better question instead of you parsing out answers as you read them- that can get repetitive.

Your moderator can also ignore repetitive, ignorant, or otherwise bothersome questions-because your moderator isn’t trying to read them ‘live’.

Answer questions concisely. Don’t blather on. This is another thing to practice! Keep your eye on the clock!!!

—-By the way, a quick commercial from our current sponsor TheWebinarGuy.com (me). I’ve mentioned utilizing a moderator or session manager several times in this post. Your moderator can also be your tech person, or depending on the complexity of the session, ONLY moderate chat and NOT do any of the tech. Whatever mode you choose, contact our team at the TheWebinarGuy.com and let’s chat about your needs and how we can help you manage your webinar, virtual summit, training sessions, product launches and more! Thanks!

Ok, so what happens if you get to Q&A and you get crickets? NO ONE has put a question in chat? They’re silently staring at you. There are no questions!

That does happen. I do many repetitive sessions for clients and two times in a row won’t get a single question. The next session, with the exact same content, I might get ten- You just don’t know.

First, if you feel it’s needed, have a handful of “canned” questions for your moderator to toss at you. “This is from a recent email…” might be a way to handle it. This may help get the Q&A going.

But if you feel you’ve done your job, people are smiling and nodding, thank them for their attention, announce any follow-up sessions, offers, etc, and get off the call!!

If you sit there, like you’re not gonna end the call until you get to answer a question, it’s just really bad theater. It sucks all the energy you’ve built -out of your webinar session. Honestly, give it ten, twenty seconds, then end the call.

If you can, record the call! For example, zoom sends you a transcript of the chat function. It will help you later to look at that and see what you may have missed.

I hope this has helped you think about how to better manage your Question & Answer period!

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 at WebinarPro@TheWebinarGuy.com

Thank you for watching! Would love to hear your questions and comments!

And if you’re listening to the Podcast audio, thanks for listening! Tell a friend!

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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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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?

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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

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.