At The Clinician Exchange, we want every webinar we host to offer the greatest experience for our hosts/panelists, clients, and audience participants. The host(s) / panelist(s) offer the greatest impact as to the ultimate success of a webinar, and with that we offer the following guidelines / best practices as suggestions to enhance the overall experience:
PREPARATION
- Know your material inside and out
- Know your expected audience and modify your material accordingly
- Make sure you are fully aware of the flow of the material you are presenting (i.e. slide order, location of any inserted videos, etc.)
- If presenting any written material (i.e. powerpoint slides), please review and edit at least 2 times before finalizing your content for presentation
- Utilize large fonts to showcase your material and attempt to not cover every aspect of every slide
Remember, some audience members will be joining from their smartphones, with smaller screens where small font will be very hard to see/read
- If you are incorporating any additional multi-media (audio/video content) into an existing slide show, please make sure you have gone through and tested that the source files are properly mapped and recalled by the base program (i.e. powerpoint)
- Please script out talking points ahead of time and practice it at least 3 – 5 times in advance of the live event. You may know the content very well, but if you are attempting to just speak to it while live without practice, there is a tendency to incorporate a lot more colloquialisms and audible pauses such as “ums” and “ahs”. Conversely, strictly reading off a script during a presentation seems unnatural and tends to lower the “energy”. Rehearsal is key!
TECHNOLOGY PREPARATION
- It is highly suggested that you fully shut down your computer for at least one full minute the night before so as to clear out your CPUs short term memory (remember to save any content ahead of time)
- Ensure that your computer is plugged into a power source or has a full charge prior to the presentation
- If possible, connect your computer to the internet via an ethernet or HDMI cable. This will offer greater speed/latency over pure wifi
- If wifi is the only available option and you are presenting from a home office:
Please work to limit internet/downloading activities from others while you are on the webinar and select a location that positions your computer close to your router and away from any potential signal disruptions/blockages
- Prior to joining the webinar, please shut down all other programs and applications running in the background of your computer. The webinar program and the presentation application (i.e. powerpoint) should be the only ones currently open and running
Additionally, please pay particular attention to any programs/applications that may display alerts/messages across your screen and close them
- If you access the webinar platform via a web browser, please close all other tabs on that browser
- If utilizing multiple screen display, please make sure you are familiar with how to ensure your screen share is capturing the proper display
- Please ensure that your computer offers a strong microphone that clearly captures your voice, otherwise, it may be wise to purchase additional recording accessories
TIME OF THE WEBINAR
- Please work to minimize/eliminate all background noise and potential disruptions or distractions throughout the duration of the webinar
- Try and work from a room that limits echo and offers natural sound into your microphone
- When speaking, situate yourself close to the microphone and avoid turning your face away
- If the request is for you to be shown live on camera:
Please be dressed in appropriate attire
Please ensure that whatever is displayed in your background is neat, clean and appropriate for large audiences
If there is a window or strong lighting in the room, situate your body so you are facing the light (i.e. computer screen facing away from it). When there is too much light behind you, the camera will have a difficult time shining on you
- If you are co-presenting with others, please mute your microphone while listening to the other panelists
- Speak slowly, loudly and clearly when presenting, especially if your audience is culturally diverse
- Be confident in yourself and have fun – audiences respond best to authenticity!