What is a webinar and how does it work?

A webinar Often business-related, these sessions can be used to share knowledge, ideas, and updates with people around the world. Webinars can also be leveraged to build and nurture relationships, build authority around a brand, or demonstrate a product.

What is the purpose of a webinar?

From internal training to capturing leads, marketers from industries across the board use webinars for all kinds of purposes.

What features can a webinar have?

The purpose of a webinar is up to the host, but the options to choose from are on a wide spectrum. This means that the tools you use to launch your webinar have to be flexible enough to provide you with features that will keep your audience engaged, no matter the topic.

Below are some of the features that a majority of webinar tools provide. Learn how you can take advantage of them while hosting your own webinar.

Text chat

Engaging an audience big or small can be done in a few different ways, but one of the most simple methods is by enabling text chat.

Doing this allows your audience to ask questions related or answer questions that you prompt. Without being in the same room, it’s difficult to grab a presenter’s attention with a question or an answer, but text chat in webinar tools makes it possible.

And, just like your question being addressed in a traditional meeting, answering questions that your audience has builds trust and authority.

Slide decks

Making an engaging webinar can be difficult. If your webinar is educational in one way or another, consider having a slide deck handy to present to your audience as you talk through it.

Having a slide deck also allows you to provide a clear agenda for your viewers, encourage engagement, and give the audience something to walk away with.

Recording

Traditionally, webinars run live so that the audience can ask the presenter questions and get answers in real-time.

Although watching a pre-recorded webinar becomes less engaging, the information being presented or discussed can be viewed by those who missed the live version, can be referred to later by your audience, or recorded with a guest who is unable to make the scheduled time. They can also be held more than once if you have an evergreen topic.

Screen sharing

If your topic requires a demonstration, screen sharing features in webinar tools will come in handy. Viewers will be able to see exactly what actions you’re taking on your screen and follow along on their own if needed.

Screen sharing can be useful beyond demos, too. If you’re sharing a video or presentation in a non-traditional way, screen sharing is a way to show your audience what you’re seeing.

Additionally, if you’re demonstrating more than one process or using more than one tool or file, screen sharing is often more effective than screenshots for viewers.

Whiteboard

If you’re explaining a complex topic and want to do it live, using a whiteboard feature enables you and other hosts to take notes, illustrate ideas with drawings, or draw arrows to demonstrate a process.

Just like you’d be able to do in a classroom, the whiteboard feature that some webinar software provides allows your audience to feel like they’re right there with you and gives them a clearer idea of your subject.

Surveys and polls

Having your audience answer a question in text chat can become a little chaotic, especially when your audience is on the larger end of the scale.

Providing polls during your webinar allows you to give set options for your audience to choose, and it keeps your results organized in one place. Polls and surveys give your audience an easy way to engage with your presentation and questions in a quick and orderly manner.