How to Create an Engaging Webinar

Our top tips for setting up, executing, & promoting a webinar.

Agree your objective

Ensure you have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve from your webinar. Whether it’s a panel discussion on the industry’s hot topics, a product demo, or a presentation to showcase your industry expertise and market innovations, it’s important to agree your objective(s) up-front.   

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APPOINT
YOUR PANEL

Don’t forget to confirm your panel participants early on. Select confident speakers who are experts in their fields, and ensure they are all free on your desired date. We suggest having a Host, Moderator, Speaker (internal), and Guest Speaker (external).

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DETERMINE YOUR PROSPECT AUDIENCE

Make sure you understand your target audience, their needs, the questions your webinar will answer for them, and the type of content that will engage them. Generate an audience list using email addresses or more general details such as job titles and companies.

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CREATE ENGAGING,
THOUGHT-PROVOKING CONTENT

Content is the building block upon which your webinar conversation is structured. Make sure the topic is relevant and useful for your audience (industry insights, recent market innovations, survey results, or lively debates are just some of the formats you could work with). It must be up-to-date with current trends – the timelier the topic, the more engaged your audience is likely to be.

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TIME TO PROMOTE YOUR WEBINAR

Do not expect your audience to find out about the session themselves! Use social media and email campaigns to promote your webinar and encourage attendance, so you can make the most of your expert panel and their insights.

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PRACTICE, PRACTICE,
PRACTICE

Prior to your webinar, it is important to have a rehearsal session to make sure your speakers and moderators feel comfortable using the platform and talking to the camera. Ensure beforehand that video and audio are of a high quality.

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TRY NOT TO LOSE
YOUR AUDIENCE

Engage your audience with the use of interactive tools such as questions and polls during the webinar, if your platform allows. Don’t let them become disinterested after 10 minutes!

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LET US MAKE WEBINARS HAPPEN FOR YOU

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The countdown to BIBA 2015

With only a few day to go before BIBA 2015 takes place, quite how this event comes around so quickly is one of life’s mysteries in the events calendar year. Manchester has become the spiritual home of BIBA and with it now having been there for the last two years, all attendees - both visitors and exhibitors - have really become familiar with the venue and this great city.

We are very happy to be supporting twenty clients again at this year’s event - some as part of their regular marketing plan and some as first-time exhibitors.  All have very different requirements and needs from their time spent at BIBA, but one common need is very much evident this year - maximising their return on investment and to lay ‘markers’ to evaluate the success of their participation.

Evaluating the success of a trade event is no easy task. In a service-based industry, where relationships are developed, nurtured and renewed over a longer period and where no single outcome is evident, attributing singular results to an event is not easy. But the fact is that they are an essential part of the year's ongoing communication with potential clients, a captive and immensely valuable market – and all in one hall. So how do you evaluate?

A balanced level of assessment can be made and measured, albeit varying to your own priorities and targets. This can be brand presence and exposure - data capture and footfall, entries to on-stand games and engagements, numbers of attendees at stand events such as drinks receptions, or a new product launch.

The focus for our clients this year varies depending on these criteria; from visually impactful stands that are very much brand-focused, to more themed designs where specific product pushes and demonstrations are being promoted, and to inviting spaces where welcoming receptions are planned – all of which make for some great designs which we are very much seeing come to life. And all of this in a 48-hour build time.

So the countdown is on, trucks are loaded, our team of nearly 100 including stand builders, AV specialists, project leaders, graphic installers, and film and camera crew are ready to go. Roll on BIBA 2015 and we look forward to seeing you in Manchester!

BIBA's just around the corner...

BIBA is just 14 weeks away and don't we know it at Lamb Towers - stand designs are plenty, rebrands are being considered, brochures underway, product launches and new websites being born!

It's really interesting to see how BIBA has become a launch pad for many of our clients' marketing drives with a much greater consideration across the board of its impact on their business positioning. Gone are the days of 'We've booked a space now we just need a stand...'. I think this has a lot to do with the high prestige value of a presence at BIBA.

It really is the perfect industry event to focus both internally, and from a client perspective, just how a business communicates what it is, what it wants and what it can offer. The thought, and considerable cost, that goes into exhibiting at the trade event of the year needs to be more than just a place to wave their respective flags. Hence it has become for many, the pivotal event for their year's marketing campaign.

Not that we are complaining. BIBA allows us to focus and capitalise on our clients messages, and communicate those in our stand design features as well as their other marketing platforms. The end result being a consistent message that guarantees success, and more importantly, a handsome ROI. Must get back to the ideas board!

Neil