What makes a great Webinar?

I love standing up in front of a group of people explaining new and interesting concepts. Ideas that will hopefully transform the way they think, work, and live. Lockdown has temporarily put a halt to physically being with clients.

How fortunate we are that today's technology and internet bandwidth mean that presenters, trainers, and teachers can still be with their audience. Yes, it's not quite the same as the buzz and energy of being in a room together, but you can still build engagement and interaction.

Short attention spans

But how many webinars have you attended where you have been fully interested and involved for the full duration of that hour or longer? Studies by John Median of the University of Washington reveal that our brains get bored after about 10 minutes.

You zone out due to a monotone voice, complex cluttered slides, and sitting there passively watching. You know that your interest is waining when you start looking through your email, playing with your phone, or thinking about the next task on your list. You might even leave the webinar, telling yourself that you'll watch the recording later. Although you know you won't!

Staying engaged

What makes a webinar interesting and engaging? Here are my 5 top requirements for a great webinar. See if you can spot them on the next one that you attend:

1. There's interaction with the audience. Through polls and surveys, with the results, then shared. Attendees are asked to put their thoughts, questions, and answers to the presenter’s questions into the chat text box. You are spurred into action.

2. There are breaks and resets by the presenter, at least every 10 minutes. They throw in a question, a new idea, switch the topic. They want to pull your focus back in.

3. There's some humor and personal stories thrown in by the presenter. Not too much and not too little. This creates authenticity and connects the audience with the presenter.

4. Videos within a webinar keep attendees actively listening, and encourages discussion. You don't see them that often as they can be considered a cop-out, but they really work. I personally think they should be no longer than 4 minutes.

5. The audience gets to do or build something themselves during the session. This isn't possible in all webinars but really helps the audience to "get" concepts. For example, in my Habits webinar, attendees get to design their own new habit. In my Time Blocking webinar, they get to briefly experience some of its power by using it on their own todo list.

Many webinars are passive, it's just the transfer of knowledge from one brain to yours. Assuming that you the attendee are paying attention.

If they are done right, they can be engaging, enjoyable, and very useful.