The webinar facilitator is the go-to person for any questions about the event and is solely responsible for its technical success. To be that person, you must master every aspect of running a webinar.  We can’t tell you the precise details of what you need to master because every webinar provider’s technology is different. But there are some general categories to focus on. These categories are:

 Audio: The webinar audio can broadcast over the telephone, over the Internet, or via both. Here is what you need to know for all three options:

1. Telephone Audio: You will need a teleconference number, one either assigned by your webinar provider or by a third party. Research which option is most cost-effective and offers the necessary features. Then learn how to use it.

2. Internet Audio (VOIP): The webinar presenter(s) and facilitator need a digital headset to broadcast the audio over the Internet. Research and select a headset that meets your quality standards and then master the audio settings, for example: the mic settings, your computer’s audio settings, and the webinar provider’s audio settings. Attendees must handle their bundle of settings too to receive the best quality sound. For example, they will probably need to shut down all non-essential applications and adjust their firewall and security settings. The webinar facilitator must give them step-by-step instructions for doing this.

3. Both: This works when the conference call is used and broadcast over the Internet. To do this, you will probably need to purchase a “telephone handset audio tap”; it connects the telephone to your computer’s microphone jack. (Two manufactures of these are JK Audio and DynaMetric.)

 Visual: Webinar technologies variously offer private and public chat features, video feeds, polling, link sharing, desktop sharing, whiteboard overlays, login screen branding, full-screen toggling, screen setup flexibility, and more. Spend time playing around with each feature to master them. (Don’t worry about messing things up during your practice
sessions.)  Not every feature serves each webinar. As the facilitator, advise each speaker about which features might serve them best.

 Recording: Recordings give companies a lasting copy of their one-time events. Make sure your webinar technology can create a high-quality audio/visual recording. Some providers also offer editing features. This comes in handy when you want to remove unnecessary technical instructions or excerpt part of the event. The recordings are large files. Does your webinar provider host the file or must you find space for it on your company’s server? Some providers will host the files free for six or twelve months and then start charging. Others will host the files and charge you for each time someone views them. It is an important detail to know because costs can add up quickly.

Finally, webinar recording files can get lost or become corrupted. Make arrangements to back them up. The best way to learn the technical details and have everything operating in concert is to run several practice events. In the practice sessions, you will experience the game-day pressure and learn what checklists to create and what shortcomings to address.