Always start with a sound check, and I recommend you have all presenters and panelists login an hour before going live….to both check out the technology, learn about any updates, and make sure everything works.
A few things to always do:
Show respect for your audience by starting as on time as possible and end on time
Since your only real connection to your audience is your voice, use it as an instrument as it will help you project your natural self….and keep a glass of cold water handy, as it’s important to keep your throat moist.
Since you can’t look at your audience in the eyes, you can interact with them through the use of 1 or 2 Polls every hour, just as we did in the beginning of this webinar.
Try to budget the hour including the welcome and other parts to end with about 10 or so minutes for Q/A.
A back of the envelope metric that I’ve found is that attendance will peak as you get into 1 or 2 questions, and it’s not unusual to have people leave, as they are busy too. A good target is to hold onto about 90% of your audience into the Q/A