Do you want to make sure your audience enjoys your webinar and is motivated to follow your call to action? Then fine-tune your delivery. Pretty slides and compelling content are not enough.
You need to use four delivery tools to excite, delight and engage your audience. Used correctly, these L.O.V.E. tools will help you convert passive webinar listeners into active participants. Before your webinar, practice your Look, Opening, Voice and Engagement:
LOOK
Do a dry run to make sure your delivery looks natural and you are familiar with the webinar software. Remember, look directly into the camera lens above the screen, not at the faces on your screen. Don’t forget to smile. Everyone is looking at your face!
OPENING
No matter how long your webinar lasts, the first minute is crucial. Those 60 seconds set the tone. Open with a story, question, personal anecdote, or Ice Breaker activity that gets your audience involved. You should quickly explain how your audience will benefit from your information and what to expect (preview the key topics you’ll cover).
VOICE
Speak with energy, emotion, and enthusiasm. Use inflection, pauses, and emotion in your voice to emphasize key words and phrases. Add facial expressions and natural gestures that reinforce your message. Have a two-way conversation with your audience, not a one-sided lecture. Please, memorize your opening and closing remarks, so your voice will sound more natural.
ENGAGEMENT
In your introduction, explain the rules of engagement. Tell your listeners how they should ask and respond to questions. Can they submit questions in the chat or will you have a question and answer section?
Get your audience involved by taking polls, asking questions, playing games, or allowing time for breakout room small group discussions. Tap into the problems, concerns, and issues your audience is experiencing around your topic.
And make your slides easy on the eyes. Your slides should be mostly images, with one sentence of text on each slide. Share your slides, but don’t read them. Talk about each slide for no more than a minute. Your comments (examples, anecdotes, stories) should reinforce—not repeat—what’s on the screen.
For more ways to excite, delight and engage webinar audiences, check out my free audience engagement cheat sheet: https://mailchi.mp/betterspeakingskills/cheatsheet
