Although this topic was discussed on this blog just last month, it’s an important one, and I think it warrants some further discussion. So, take a read and save yourself some potential webinar angst and a few grey hairs. Who doesn’t want to do that, right?

As a webinar producer, I find myself repeating the following mantra to my clients.  “If your bring an umbrella, it won’t rain!” What do rain, umbrellas and webinars have in common, you ask? Even if you didn’t take the bait, I’ll tell you! I produce a lot of webinars, and if you’ve spent any time presenting on or even attending webinars, you may know that there are many opportunities for things to go wrong. To name a few, I’ve witnessed lousy audio, missed cues, late panelists, mismatched slide advancements, rouge pop ups on the screen, cut off logos, muted speakers, recording failures, and even snoring cats  and honking geese. Yes, it’s a true story. You just can’t make this stuff up.

With all of the potential for drama, what is a webinar producer to do?

My best advice is to “bring an umbrella.” What I mean is, if you take precautionary steps each and every time you hold a webinar, you will greatly reduce the risk for mistakes and all-around drama. If you pack an umbrella, it won’t rain.

We all love checklists, so here is my “umbrella” list:

  • Meet with the speakers 1 hour before your event: no exceptions. If everything checks out, you can all go grab some coffee and meet up again just before you are ready to bring up the curtain. But, if anything is amiss, you can troubleshoot it without feeling as if you’re on an episode of the Amazing Race. More often than not, we end up using that time for content improvement, rapport building and at times, for putting out unexpected fires. With that little extra cushion, when the webinar starts, the speakers are more relaxed and able to focus; it shows!
  • Have a checklist and use it. Don’t cut corners just because you haven’t run into problems recently. Remember that umbrella analogy…  Don’t temp Murphy’s law, either.
  • Conduct a sound check for all speakers. Be sure each speaker knows how to mute and unmute as well.
  • Review the slides one last time. I swear there is a team of gremlins that run through cyberspace and get laughs from messing with random PowerPoint presentations. Whether it is this band of mischievous gremlins, or perhaps other folks on your team, who shall remain nameless, stuff happens. Be sure to review before you go live. As a matter of fact, just today I had a presenter delete the final version of our slides from dropbox. Luckily previous versions are retrievable, but it’s just one more thing to keep on the checklist.
  • Appoint a backup person to record and remind them of their  important role.
  • Review how to communicate behind the scenes. Whatever you use, chat, text or otherwise, be sure to communicate it clearly.
  • Silence cell phones and office phones. No more explanation needed here.
  • Close down any apps that ding or pop up. Apart from hogging bandwidth, they can make guest appearances on your webinar and/or recording.
  • Remove all four legged assistants. The UPS guy always shows up at wrong time, and apparently most cats snore…
  • Review the handoffs and how long each person will present. Attendees expect the webinar to end at the time you have advertised. Checking in on this detail is critical.
  • Discuss how questions will be addressed and review the process.
  • Distribute a backup dial in number if your speakers are joining via VOIP. Having a plan “B” is always a good thing.
  • Schedule in a bio break! Speakers tend to drink a lot of coffee on webinar day, which can have more side effects than keeping them awake.  If you’ve failed to heed the 1 hour rule, you might not have time for this important detail. 🙂
  • Finally, take a moment before the curtain goes up to focus the team and instill that despite the fact that they are speaking into a seemingly inanimate object, there are lots of live people out there waiting to hear what they have to say. As a dear friend and colleague, Mike Agron, Co-Founder at Webattract always says, “It’s not about perfection, it’s all about connection.” Rally the troops and get the enthusiasm going.

You’d never show up to perform on stage without a sound check, and a webinar truly is a theatrical performance. So go ahead and pack that umbrella, and don’t forget to “break a mouse!”