Webinar hosting: how to set it up
Ready to host your own webinar? A webinar can be a great business tool to connect with your market, share ideas, showcase your expertise, build your brand, increase your leads, and generate more sales.
Deciding to host a webinar is a smart move. The easy part is deciding to do the webinar, then comes the challenge of figuring out what to do next and how to set it up.
Before we get into how to set up a webinar, let’s see what a webinar is:
A webinar is a live, interactive seminar or conference that takes place online. A webinar can be organized in various ways and there are various programs available, both paid and free.
Now, let’s look at some of the tools you might need to host your own webinar:
– Telephone
– Three way call
– Conference call line
– Audio recording software
– Audio editing software (if necessary)
– Camtasia
– Webinar Software
How do you choose which configuration is best for you?
When planning your webinar, you will want to consider the following points:
– What tools are you comfortable using right now? Microphone? telephone? audio recording software?
– What webinar programs do you know and like?
– What budget can you work with to host webinars?
– How often would you like to host your webinars?
Once you find the answers to these questions, you’ll want to use them to find webinar programs for your online event.
This is how I do it when I host a webinar:
1. I have what I want to say written in the form of notes in front of me on the desk.
2. I use my laptop to log into the webinar software so I can see what my students are seeing in case there are any technical issues.
3. I have my conference call-in number ready, as well as my Acrobat audio call-in number.
4. My Camtasia is set to record screen.
5. My PowerPoint presentation (or open office) is open and ready to go.
During the webinar:
1. Dial into the conference line.
2. Check on Audio Acrobat and start recording.
3. When I’m ready to start recording Camtastia, I pause and then say “OK, let’s get started” so I can see where to match the audio to the video when editing.
4. Download the audio file and combine it with the video in Camtasia editing software.
5. Notify the list that the download is ready to begin.
The above process will need to be modified depending on the software you are using to host your webinar. Some programs host their event entirely online, which would eliminate the need for a phone line, audio acrobat, and camtasia recordings.