Web seminars have become increasingly popular, but there are some tricks involved to make them interesting. I've presented Web seminars for 5 years and here are some techniques you can use to keep the audience awake and attentive:
Closely examine read the list of attendees before the program so you can tailor your presentation to the audience's interests.
Have more than one speaker, because the difference in voices keeps the audience alert. Two male voices will sound exactly the same; it's better to have a male and female speaker.
Try to have a "talk radio" sound to the presentation -- have lots of back-and-forth between the presenters.
Distribute handout materials that have blanks in key points; during the presentation, display the completed slides; this requies the attendees to write in the blanks, causing them to follow more closely.
Use polling questions to query the audience. Ask them about what's going on at their offices, or how many of the ideas you're talking about they are already using.
Use the e-chat feature to allow attendees to ask questions and interrupt the program to respond to a question.
Let attendees ask questions live over the phone at the end of the program.
Change slides frequently. Too much spent on one slide takes too long to go through and thus, too boring.
During the show, make sure you go through all your prepared material. Attendees hate it when you talk to long and don't cover everything.
Track results with a system that supports data collection (not just polls). This way, you will have a record of all important decisions made on the call.
Take the audience on Web tours (the attendees to other web sites).
Use the annotation tools -- operate the pointers, check marks, underlining and other emphasis features to explain a slide.
Record the program and offer CDs that contain the audio, slides and handout materials.
A Webinar is just like a TV or radio broadcast. It must start and end exactly on time. The more you can be like a broadcast show, the better, becuase this is what your audience is used to.
