When hosting an online event, you want to make sure your audience are not just passive viewers or, worst of all, watching the clock. Here are our four tips on keeping your online event audience engaged from start to finish.

While, of course, the relevance of the topic you pick and the strength of the information you share will largely inform how valuable your audience finds your webinar, there are also several tactics you can employ to ensure viewers are kept interested.

In the latest in our series on how to get the most of your webinar, we share some tips and tricks to keep your audience engaged from start to finish. If you would like more information on how to build out useful content for your webinar, get in touch by emailing info@springboardcommunications.ie

Consider the timings and pacing

At the outset of your webinar, let your audience know what to expect and how long you will speak for. You can also tease some particularly interesting content that will appear later on so they are encouraged to keep watching.

And as with all things, timing is everything – not too long that people get bored but not too short so that viewers feel short-changed. Be realistic about how much time you need to deliver the most useful content – and encourage viewers to get in touch if they want additional details to what you discuss.

It can also be a good idea to switch presenters to change the dynamic and reengage your audience.

Encourage feedback

Try to facilitate interaction throughout your webinar. There are several ways you can do this – from running live polls to inviting questions.

Platforms such as Menti and Slido allow you to gauge reactions, see questions and poll your audience in real-time. Utilising features such as this add to the sense of this being a live seminar rather than a video.

Diversify your content

Endless slides of text can become tedious for viewers. While you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, try adding icons, graphics, imagery and video, where relevant.

Keep text to a minimum and use colour and formatting to make your presentation visually appealing. Real-life examples and case studies related to what you are discussing can also help bring the content to live. The Springboard team can help you craft engaging content for everything from webinars to your website that resonates with your audience.

Follow up 

Engagement doesn’t stop once your webinar does. Include a strong call-to-action at the end of your presentation. What do you want viewers to do – visit a specific landing page, email you?

Make sure you contact viewers after the webinar, sharing your slides and offering your services. We’ll cover more details on how to maximise leads generated from your webinar in our next blog in this series.

If you would like to read all the blogs in this series, you can download our e-book on Maximising Your Webinars. Enter your details below and we will email you the download link.

Post by Ciara Flaherty

As Senior Account Manager, Ciara drives communication campaigns for clients in a variety of sectors including technology, law, financial services and healthcare. A law graduate, she also has an excellent sense of the media landscape, both traditional and new, having worked for the Irish Examiner and breakingnews.ie.