Step by step guide: How to host a webinar?

Planning to impress your potential customers with a great webinar? Check out EventX’s ultimate guide to hosting a webinar. Get insights from our virtual event expert on creating great webinars step-by-step.

Plan your webinar

Choose your webinar topic

A great webinar starts with an exciting topic. Think of a topic that will be informative and motivational for your target audience. If your topic does not interest your target audience, it would be difficult for you to get enough attendees. Before settling down with a specific topic to cover, you can spend some time researching your current customers and your target audience. Figure out what they’re interested in solving or learning, and what you and your product can provide them value. Since a webinar is usually an hour-long, think of the most valuable thing you can offer within that hour. 

Decide on your webinar format

Once you’ve decided what to cover in your webinar, it’s time to decide on the format that best relays your key message. Here are some of the common webinar formats that you can refer to:

• Single speaker: Just like that name suggests, this type of webinar will only have 1 speaker communicating and interacting with the attendees. The speaker will be the one delivering the content and answering your attendees’ questions. Having a single-speaker webinar works well when you have a small audience, which you can maximize the interaction between you and your audience. 
• Interview: Webinar that takes an interview approach involves a host asking questions to the guest(s) questions. If your topic requires diving deep into expertise, or a topic that is on-trend, this type of webinar format would be engaging since the audience can also jump in and ask questions.
• Moderated panel discussion: This type of webinar format involves several speakers discussing a predetermined topic with a moderator facilitating. If you’re planning to explore the issue with experts sharing their insights about the topic, hosting a moderated panel discussion is definitely the right choice since you can dive deeper with speakers discussing the topic.

Build a budget plan for your webinar

Building a budget plan can help project and manage your webinar’s ROI. Here is a quick checklist that you can include in your budget plan:

• Webinar hosting platform costs: A virtual event hosting platform is definitely the most obvious cost when you’re running your webinar. While there are various free webinar platforms with barebone features, if you’re looking to host a bigger-scale webinar with more interactive features, choosing the right webinar platform can definitely maximize the outcome of your webinar.
• Webinar equipment and creation cost: The simplest types of equipment would be headsets for your speakers, a webcam, and a good internet connection. If you’re running multiple webinars every year, investing in good equipment would help as well.
• Webinar speaker costs: If you’re hiring keynote speakers or consultants for your webinar, don’t forget to factor in those costs. 
• Webinar promotion costs: Promotion costs for your webinar vary depending on the goal of your webinar and what type of promotional channel you’ll be focusing on. If lead generation is your key focus for your webinar, spending more budget on paid social, google ads and other paid ads can help with promoting your webinar. 
• Other unexpected costs: This includes extra staff support that you might need on the day of your webinar or other unexpected situation that might happen. Always be prepared and factor in so you can save time handling the unexpected.

Set up your webinar

Select a webinar hosting platform

After building a budget plan for your webinar, you can start looking for the right webinar solution based on your budget plan and your needs. There’re many webinar and virtual event platforms with their own pros and cons. If hosting webinar and webinar marketing would be something you’ll be doing regularly, choosing the right webinar platform can help you a lot. Webinar platform features including email automation, data analytic reports, interactive tools during the webinars are crucial factors when you look for a webinar platform.

Publicize and promote your webinar

When you have your topic and webinar date ready, it’s time to get the words out. It is crucial that you promote your webinar as much as you can in order to make sure people are signing up for your webinar. Here is a quick checklist of what you’ll need to do:

• Landing page: This is the main entry point where people will sign up for your webinar. Be precise about the topic of your webinar, the speakers’ features, date and time, and a call-to-action for people to sign up. People would love to know what they will learn and get value from attending your webinar, so be sure to add that to your landing page.
• Social media feed: No matter if you’re doing organic posts or paid ads, having attractive copies and visuals is important to spread the word.
• Email reminders to your attendees: Once people have signed up for your webinar, don’t forget to keep them posted and excited about the event. You can showcase the countdown to your event in the email, as well as the speakers’ features so they won’t forget about your webinar.

Plan visuals for your webinar

In order to deliver a better experience to your audience, try making the visual materials eyecatching and easy to read. Keynotes with wordy paragraphs will not do the trick since people might not have the time to focus on reading your slides. 

Do a practice run

Get yourself and your speakers comfortable with the webinar platform and the rundown of your webinar. This is to make sure everything will go smoothly using the webinar platform. If you’re doing to use the interactive features on the webinar platform, like polls, Q&A, chats, etc., be sure that there will be staff dedicated to monitoring those during the webinar.

Host your webinar

Your hard work pays off! Enjoy your webinar and the interaction between you and your audience. If you are going to upload your webinar video on your website or keep it as a record, don’t forget to record your webinar! You can broaden your reach and attract a potential audience by sharing highlights of your webinar. 

Follow up after your webinar

Once you’ve completed a great webinar, check up on your attendees by sending them an email, preferably within 24 hours. Your email can include your gratitude for having them in your webinar, and ask them if there are any questions or requests. Inserting a survey that asks for your attendees’ feedback can also help with improving your next webinar.

If your webinar hosting platform includes a data analytic feature, you can also get insights on the attendees and this will be valuable to segmenting your target audience and what they are like. 

Practice makes perfect! Build a webinar plan that works for your team and your brand! Looking for the right webinar platform? You’ve come to the right place. EventX offers a one-stop solution to your next webinar. Sign up and maximize your webinar potentials!