I was browsing through the posts on my LinkedIn user groups a few days ago and I came across a post by an SEO professional. He was questioning the the validity and usefulness of webinars (real time web based presentations) as a marketing tool.
His query was based on his own admission that he frequently signed up for these events but more often then not, he did not attend and if he reviewed the event file afterward, his attention was limited to about 10 minutes.
This elicited a number of comments, all of which had a common thread that bears note. Most people have a very limited attention span. Every one of the commentators stated that they were doing something else while they were trying to listen to the presentation.
Perhaps I’m showing my age here but it seems to me that the problem expressed is no different then the problem faced by sales and marketing professionals since trade began. That is; how do you get your prospects to pay attention to your message? The solution is really quite simple, audience involvement. Executing the solution however, takes a fair amount of thought and preparation and the selection of the correct scale for your virtual event.
I have used a number of virtual presentation tools to hold sales presentations, project planning meetings, training and tech support sessions. They are a fantastic way to stay in touch and get your message across but they need to be used correctly.
Webinars are by definition, large scale events. They are OK for announcements or lectures but they are not effective for presentations. What you need for presentations is a web meeting as opposed to a webinar. The tool used for both is essentially the same but the web meeting format is both intimate and inherently bidirectional. It invites audience involvement both with the presenter and with the other participants at the event and this is really the key feature of a successful presentation.
I get a ton of invitations to webinars and many if not most of the web sites I visit have some form of virtual real time presentation available. Almost all of them seem to use audience size as a benchmark to evaluate the success of the promotion. This brings to mind an adage told to me by a seasoned sales professional at the beginning of my career: “It’s not the number of prospects you see in a day that counts. It’s how engaged each prospect becomes in what you have to say”.
Most webinars use the same basic format: 45 or 50 minutes of lecture or demonstration followed by 10 or 15 minutes of structured chat Q & A. I think this is a huge mistake in the real world and an even bigger mistake in virtual space. When running a presentation in a real room with real people sitting in real chairs, at least you can read body language that lets you know when you are loosing audience attention. In a virtual room you don’t have this advantage!
There is no way you can hold the attention of your audience for more then 5 or 10 minutes without giving them an opportunity to interact with both you and the other people in the “room”. Prospects want the opportunity to tell you about their problems and to ask questions about how your solution can help. If you want your virtual presentation to be effective, you have to give your audience this opportunity throughout the event, not just at the end.
In order to do this effectively, you need to scale your event so that it is fairly intimate in scope, perhaps 5 or 10 participants. You cannot “talk” to 5000 or 500 or even 50 people in any venue let alone a virtual one and hope to give your audience the opportunity they’re looking for.
You also have to structure your presentation into small discreet pieces of information, intermixed with open questions that solicit a direct response from your audience.
Use the VoIP (voice) features in your web meeting tool. Chat features should only be used to allow participants to send you private notes and comments. Let your audience really talk to both you and the other people in your virtual room. Its amazing how real a virtual environment can get if you allow interactive voice conversations to take place.
Be prepared to let your prospects direct the flow of your presentation. Don’t worry if you have not covered every talking point in your plan. It’s their problems and their points of view that count! If, during the course of your presentation, you have given participants solutions to their problems and answers to their questions, then your meeting has been a success, your prospects will have been converted to real leads and you will have gained invaluable insight into what each participant is looking for.
Once your presentation is over follow up with individual virtual appointments. You will have a real understanding of what each lead is looking for and a far greater probability of converting your lead into a client.
Those who evaluate the success of a real time virtual presentation by the number of prospects that sign up or log in are missing the point. At the end of the day, the only thing that counts is how many prospects are convert to clients. A well crafted and well run web meeting results in more conversions over time.
