1. Create Event Lobby Slides. Event Lobby slides can be a great icebreaker, as it’s a mini presentation that runs before the meeting starts. Common content can contain meeting start times, presenter bios, content references and even fun facts.
2. Record it. Whether you plan to promote the recording for attendees that couldn’t make it or just to have on hand for reference later, you should always record your webcasts. Depending on the web conferencing solutions you choose consider recording the audio on a separate audio stream. Additionally, some platforms allow for local recording so establish a secondary presenter to also record in case one of the devices goes down.
3. Q&A. During the event, attendees will be using the Q&A pane to interact with the content and technology. In larger webcasts, individual roles should be assigned for responding to content Q&A (i.e. moderator) opposed to technical support (event producer) inquiries. Many web conferencing platforms allow for tagging or coding of these inquiries which greatly streamlines the Q&A for better responses and response times.
4. Chat. Encourage attendees to send feedback by asking open-ended questions. This is a great way to get the audience to participate and share their ideas on the topic at hand.
5. Post Polls. Polling is a great opportunity to get audience feedback and a quick drink of water. Polling intends the question to be brief so speak to the polls relevance, share the poll results and move back to the content.
6. Moderate commonly asked questions immediately. Inform your moderator before the event starts to surface any common questions or technical concerns so they can be addressed. Challenges with audio or content are usually easy to address and are imperative for a good experience.