Lesson 2: Enhancing Webinar Participant Engagement

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.