Lesson 2: Enhancing Webinar Participant Engagement

1. Introduction

Is this how your webinar participants feel?

2. Overview

In this lesson, you will learn about:

• Evaluating the quality of a webinar from the perspective of user engagement.
• Using webinar best practices to engage participants.
• Using interactive webinar tools to engage participants.

3. Evaluating Webinar Quality

Next, you are going to watch a video about evaluating webinar quality. In the video, the presenters explain a rubric developed by the staff of the Technical Evaluation Assistance in Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) project.  The rubric focuses on seven key components of webinar implementation: 

1. Recruitment
2. Technology
3. Content
4. Organization
5. Delivery
6. Visual aids
7. Participant interaction

These seven components were derived from a review by the TEAMS project of best practices shown to enhance webinar participant engagement. Each component consists of three to five quality indicators that further define how it enhances participant engagement. Considering these quality indicators when developing your own webinar can help you improve your participant engagement.

While watching the video:

• Reflect on your own experiences either attending or conducting a webinar as they relate to the topics discussed.
• Document the best practices you think would be useful for your own webinar.
• Recognize how the presenters use the best practices they are discussing during the webinar.

Before you begin, you may want to download a copy of the rubric so you can refer to it as they talk about each section. Here's the link to it - TEAMS Webinar Rubric.

Watch the following video about evaluating webinar quality:

The next sections summarize each of the components addressed by the rubric. Some of the key best practices from the video are also discussed.

3.1. Recruitment

Recruitment, the first component of the TEAMS rubric,  includes best practices for jump-starting participant engagement before a webinar begins.

Some key recruitment best practices that were described in the video are:

• Survey registrants to learn about their background or expectations. What you learn may make it necessary to modify your presentation so it better meets the needs of your audience.
• Encourage registrants to ask questions in advance of the webinar via email or a survey. When appropriate, answer some of these questions during the webinar. 
• Provide supplemental materials for review prior to the webinar. If a participant reads them in advance, it can increase their motivation to pay attention.
• On the registration page, provide a good description of what participants will learn from the webinar. This helps them to determine if the webinar topic is relevant to them. It also helps to convince them they need to attend. 

3.2. Technology

The technology component is used to evaluate three areas: tools, distractions, and access to supplemental materials. The need for a technology support person during the webinar is stressed.

Some key technology best practices described in the video are:

• At the beginning of the webinar, give an overview of the webinar platform and the tools you will be using. This can be a slide you display while you are waiting to begin the webinar. The amount of time you spend on this would depend on how familiar your target audience is with the technology. You could conduct a quick poll to determine their level of familiarity. If they are not familiar with it you could spend more time on it.
• Explain how you will use the interactive tools during the webinar. For example, tell participants if you want them to use chat to ask questions and your plan for answering them. Tell them if you will be using polls for activities such as soliciting input or conducting knowledge checks.
• Make sure you eliminate any possible distractions that could disrupt the flow of your presentation. For example, a cell phone ringing or a dog barking. Any unnecessary breaks may cause your participants to lose their focus and disengage with the webinar.
• Provide links to supplemental materials in the chat window so they can be accessed throughout the webinar. This is better than just including it on your slides since it will be persistent throughout the webinar.  (You should still include these links on your slides so they remain in the archived presentation.) Also, inform participants where and when they will be able to access the archived webinar materials.

3.3. Content

The third rubric component is content, the core of any webinar. Without content, there is no webinar. 

Some of the key content best practices described in the video are:

• At the beginning of the webinar, introduce the speaker(s). This can give credibility to the speaker so participants feel like it will be worthwhile to listen to what they have to say.
• Include a picture of the speaker at the beginning of or throughout the webinar. The webinar video displayed the presenter's pictures at the top left corner of each slide. This increases social presence and will increase engagement with your remote participants.
• Clearly communicate the goals and learning objectives for your webinar. This helps the audience determine the relevance of the content to their needs and can serve to motivate them to pay attention.
  
• Stay on task. Make sure your content matches your stated goals and learning objectives. Unnecessary information may be interesting but can lead to confusion and cognitive overload.
• Give examples and demonstrations that are relevant to the target audience. This helps by giving students real-world practice with the information in their working memory, which aids the learning process.

3.4. Organization

The organization component is used to evaluate how well the structure of the webinar facilitates engagement. The three indicators used are direction, outline accuracy, information chunking, and structure. Direction is provided by an accurate webinar outline or agenda, information is presented in small segments (chunking), and the webinar is organized in a way that makes it easy to follow.

Some key organization best practices described in the video are:

• Tell participants what to expect. One way to do this is by presenting an outline at the beginning and appropriate points throughout the presentation. The TEAMS webinar did this quite effectively by showing the outline and expanding each section as they reached that part of the presentation.
• Present information in a logical, easy-to-follow sequence.
• Chunk information into small segments to prevent cognitive overload. 

Chunking Explained

Chunking is a strategy used to break information into smaller pieces that the brain’s working memory can hold more easily. George A. Miller introduced the concept in 1956. His evidence showed that the capacity of working memory is limited and can only hold approximately seven chunks of information at one time. Other researchers have found that the number of manageable chunks is smaller with a range of four to five bits of information.

The goal of chunking is to reduce cognitive overload so that information is not lost. This is done by presenting information in amounts the learner can manipulate in working memory making it more likely to be moved to long-term memory (i.e., learned).

The practice of chunking content is very important in instructional design. Although the rubric includes it in the organization component, it is not just about organizing content. You will learn more about it later in this course.

3.5. Delivery

The delivery component of the rubric has three indicators: variety, reflection, and transitions. Variety keeps things interesting, reflection gives participants time to absorb key information, and transitions between presentation modes should help participants follow the logic and flow of the presentation.

Some key delivery best practices described in the video are:

• Change presentation modes every ten minutes. For example, switch speakers or interact with participants using a poll or Q&A session in chat. In other words, do not talk non-stop throughout your presentation.
• Provide participants opportunities to reflect and absorb the information. Do this by summarizing information or asking a question and pause briefly while participants respond in the chat window.
• Ensure you transition smoothly when switching speakers, slides, activities, and so on. This is best achieved by practicing your talk in advance.

3.6. Participant Interaction

The participant interaction component of the rubric is critical for engaging participants in a webinar. If you do not use interaction, then there is no need to use a webinar to present the information. You could simply record it and supply a link to the archived recording. Three indicators were used to evaluate this component: active learning approaches, the expectation of participation, and questions.

Some key participant interaction best practices described in the video are:

• Present information using a variety of approaches such as demonstrations and examples.
• Engage participants by asking questions using interactive tools such as chat and polling.
• Tell participants at the beginning of the webinar that you will be giving them opportunities to actively participate in the presentation. Let them practice by having them type something such as their location in the chat window and/or have them answer a quick poll.
• Let users ask questions throughout the webinar. Be sure to explain at the beginning how you will address these questions. For example, will you immediately answer them or will you stop at certain points during your presentation?

3.7. Visual Aids

The rubric's visual aids component has four indicators: purpose, readability, scaffolding information, and visual relevance. The main focus is to ensure that presentation slides aid the presentation rather than serve as a script to be read by the presenter. They should be visually pleasing and compel participants to engage by not overwhelming them with complexity.

Some key visual aids best practices described in the video are:

• Use slides to convey main points only. Do not include too much detail or read word-for-word.
• Include text and images that are easy to read.
• Use more slides—scaffold complex information by presenting it one component at a time. For example, break up a large computer code segment by showing only the section you are talking about. You could provide the entire code in supplemental materials you made available before the webinar.
• Highlight information as you talk about it using tools such as an arrow, circling, or pointer. These tools will vary depending on your webinar platform.
• Only use visuals that are related to the topic. Otherwise, they can be a distraction that hinders attention.

4. Practice

To practice what you learned so far, reflect on a webinar you have attended or conducted. If possible, view a recording of the webinar and evaluate it using the RMC Teams Webinar Rubric. Then, think about ways it could be improved using what you learned about best practices for engaging webinar participants.

5. Using Interactive Webinar Tools

5.1. Polling

Polling enables you to ask audience questions and immediately receive a response from your attendees and display the results. This feature is found in most webinar software. You can create poll questions in advance or on the fly for dynamic interaction. There are a variety of question formats available, but the most common is multiple choice.  Other formats include free text, clickable images, and rank ordering.

You can use polling to:

• Assess understanding as the webinar progresses. If necessary, you can revisit the material or change your presentation.
• Learn about your audience. What are their pre-existing knowledge, interests, and biases?
• Assess learning outcomes by asking questions aligned with your learning objectives.
• Allow participants to practice what they were taught.

5.2. Chat

Chat is the most commonly used webinar tool. At a minimum, it is used to provide technical support and let participants ask questions during or at the end of the webinar. While these interactions are important, you can use the chat window to support more active engagement.

Three ways to use the chat feature to enable active engagement are the following:

1. Ice breaker - By asking a simple question at the start of a webinar, you can get participants comfortable using the chat tool and begin connecting with them. A common question to ask is, "Where are you from?" Or ask a question that is relevant to the presentation. For example, begin a webinar on an introductory scientific computing topic by asking, "What is your scientific discipline?" After you get responses, be sure to highlight some of them before moving on to your presentation.
2. Recall of previous knowledge - Ask a question about their previous experience with the topic. For example, a question for a webinar about conducting effective webinars could be, "How do you typically decide what content you will cover?" This type of question helps them make sense of the new information you will present by relating it to something they have already experienced or know. It also helps you get a better understanding of your audience's skill level.
3. Push-pull information exchange - Sometimes, it can be advantageous to solicit input from the audience about a topic rather than just relying on the presenter's knowledge. Asking a question about how participants have handled a situation could provide useful information that you had not considered.

Managing Chat Activity

Using chat can be chaotic. It may be difficult to keep track of chat activity while also delivering the webinar content. Ways to manage this chaos include:

• Have someone help you monitor the activity and bring important input to your attention.
• Start small using just a few planned activities until you become comfortable with the interaction.
• Take (and plan) time for receiving chat input. Pause while participants are typing their input and read good responses out loud. Don't rush through it - it is part of the instruction.

5.3. Application Sharing

Application sharing, or screen sharing, lets you share your computer screen with your webinar audience. Some webinar software will also allow you to give control of the application to audience members. 

The most common use of this tool is to share the webinar presentation slides. You can also use it to give live demonstrations. For example, share the site live with your audience rather than present a static slide of what a web page would look like. Or, when talking about logging into a computer system, demonstrate the actual process using application sharing. This not only gives you the ability to provide more detail, but its dynamic nature also helps maintain audience attention. Participants could ask further questions in the chat window, which you could answer with more live demonstrations.

5.4. Audio

The audio feature lets audience members speak during the presentation. Typically, participant audio is muted during a webinar and only the speaker can unmute it. Otherwise, there can be too many distractions from background noise or interruptions from participants who may speak at inopportune times.

If you allow participants to use the audio feature, you should specify how they may do so at the beginning of your webinar. One way is to have them request it in the chat window or use an emoticon such as hand-raising. 

In general, using the audio feature is most feasible when you have a small number of participants. It can be a useful way to give participants the opportunity to share their experiences when using the chat window is not appropriate.

5.5. Video

The video tool enables the presenter and audience members to use a webcam to see each other. Concerns with bandwidth issues may limit the use of this feature, but in most cases, it is not a problem. However, full use of video displays may not provide any advantage during a webinar. It can take up screen space that you could use more effectively. Too many videos can cause distractions. Even a video of just the presenter could be distracting if it is a poor-quality image.

A good way to use video is to show the presenter before the session, during the introduction, and during Q&A sessions. If you allow participants to speak during the presentation, it could be valuable to let them display their video rather than just use audio. Using video this way can increase the sense of connection among the presenter and audience members, increasing engagement.

5.6. Whiteboard

The whiteboard tool is like the typical classroom whiteboard. You can use it to write or draw on as you speak or you can let your students contribute by adding text and drawings.  

Using the whiteboard can break up the monotony of a presentation by giving participants a fun way to engage with your content. For example, you can ask a question and have students circle the correct answer from the options you display on the screen. You can also use the whiteboard early in your webinar for icebreaker activities. For example, you could pre-load a map image and have students mark their location on it.

5.7. Emoticons

Emoticons are a simple tool you can use to elicit feedback. Most webinar software has one or more emoticons, such as a smiley face, hand-raising, confused face, and applause hands.

Some uses for emoticons are:

• Ask participants to use one of the emoticons to indicate if you are going too fast or too slow at any point during the webinar.
• Let participants request audio by using the hand-raising emoticon.

6. Practice

Following are three example webinar scenarios.  Read each one and think about how you would use one of the interactive tools you just learned about to support the interaction. Then, view suggested approaches you might take by clicking the "View suggestions..." link.

7. Summary

In this lesson, you learned about various webinar best practices you can use to keep your participants engaged. These range from how to organize the content to actively connecting with learners by using tools such as chat and polling. 

One of the most important ideas you should take from this lesson is that you need to use a combination of these techniques throughout your webinar to enable effective engagement. If you do not, you will most likely lose many of your participants before your webinar ends.

8. Self-Test

Check your understanding of the material presented in this lesson.

Take the Lesson 2 Self-Test