View From the BLVD

3 TIPS FOR GREAT WEB MEETINGS

Web meetings are good for your business. They can save time and money on travel, increase rapport with workers and clients, and are a great sales and training tool. With these greater rewards come risks: a misstep can cost your company an opportunity, a deal, a client. A misstep can cost you a sale, a commission, a promotion. Are you prepared?  Use these tips for great web meetings:

1) Respect the gift of attention. A web meeting is a time commitment for everybody. Be prepared. Be succinct.

Change up your content, ask questions, and solicit feedback to keep things moving.

How much time should you consume?  A good ballpark number is 30 minutes. Any less and your participants start to wonder "what was the point of all this?". Any more and you'll lose them to Facebook or to that bird slingshot.  If you need more than 30 minutes, schedule a break.

2) Share a great story. Entertain them. Shock them. Web meetings are VISUAL -- use charts, web sites, video, and pictures to tell your story. Keep them engaged. Limit side conversations. Keep text to a minimum.

If you're just reading text from a PowerPoint on the screen, it's as if you're talking, and your slide is also talking, and your participants are wondering, "Should I listen or should I read?"

Their answer: Facebook or that bird slingshot.

3) Have a great entrance, and a great exit. Open your meeting 10-15 minutes early. The starting slide should confirm the meeting details (meeting name, start time, conference call information, etc.).

Introduce yourself. Take a minute, get their attention, state the purpose of the web conference and let them know exactly what is on the agenda. For smaller meetings, ask others to introduce themselves as well.

At the end, thank them for their gift. Follow up and clarify any open items. Call them to action. Take their order.

5 Dumb Mistakes That Will KILL Your Web Conference

When using an interactive web conferencing service, make sure to avoid these common mistakes to make yourself look like a pro. Don't break the cardinal rule of hosting a web conference, distance training seminar, or sales presentation.

1. Starting late
Don't break the cardinal rule of hosting a web conference, distance training seminar, or sales presentation. Be at your desktop and on the phone at least 10 minutes prior to your pre-arranged meeting time. Use the time to 'get in the zone', put on your 'game face', and organize your online presentation physically and mentally.

2. Technical problems
When done well, a properly executed web demo will impress your prospects, 'wow' your colleagues, and make rain fall from the sky. When you spend 20 minutes trying to debug somebody's home network, firewall, or 3G connection, you look like a schmutz -- and Mr. Opportunity has already left the building.

Here's a tip: stay away from smaller or newer web conference providers - especially the ones that are Java or Adobe Flash based. If your user doesn't have Flash or the right version of Java already pre-installed, your sunk. Use a 'name brand' service that doesn't require 3rd-party software and has been around for a few years to smooth out the kinks. A good online meetings and web conference service guarantees connectivity through any firewall and doesn't require third-party add-ons to make it work.

3. Getting an email or instant message interruption
We've already established that you're a technically savvy rain-maker - so you're using online web conferencing to display your nifty PowerPoint slides, brag about the re-designed web site, and show off your cool software widget right from your desktop. Desktop sharing is a great feature to 'virtually' connect everybody to the same desktop in the same room - whether your attendees are a cubicle or a continent away. But don't risk getting interrupted by an embarrassing Instant Message from a colleague that gets broadcast to everybody in your meeting. Prior to all of your online web demos, make sure you close your IM, email, and other social-network programs.

4. Boring content
Don't limit your spiel to a 20-page canned PowerPoint presentation. Your goal is to keep your participant's attention. Keep it interactive with discussion, surveys, or pass control to your prospect and let them "Drive" to see for themselves. We recommend just a few introductory slides, then a quick interactive tour of your product or web site.

5. Boring pace
Respect everyone's time and keep your presentation flowing and interesting. Don't get side tracked and leave individual discussions and scenarios until after the meeting. And I'll end the article here, or risk myself being boring and disrespectful of your time.

Best Practices for Web Conference Presenters

Have you ever been in a web meeting and the "weakest link" was the presenter? If you use web conferencing technology, don't be the weakest link in a web meeting. A bad online meeting can cost you and your business money — either in lost sales, lost productivity, or lost self-esteem.

 

1. Establish Clear Objectives

When you establish a clear objective, your audience is able to focus its energy and attention. Once set, the activities you undertake in your web meeting should all support the achievement of your chosen goals.

 

When you set an objective, you send an image to the subconscious mind of your attendees. It remains there until the objective becomes reality.  This is how all creative people work - they transform the images they seed in their subconscious minds into a concrete form.

 

Henceforth, only items in support of your objectives are brought up in the meeting. Examples of objectives that can be established are: "Discovery session of how our widget can solve the problem of... ", or "Exploration of the various uses of the widget", etc.

 

2. Prepare

Today's modern web conferencing systems allow the presenter to easily invite and accept attendees. But that's just the beginning. Make sure you are familiar with the functions that you'll need to have a great web meeting.

 

The basic 8 functions you'll need are: desktop sharing, participant list/control, drawing tools, remote keyboard and mouse control, text chat, session recording, VoIP (for sending sound from your PC to the attendees), and polling/surveys.  (These are the absolute minimum requirements - if you don't have these functions you'll need to find another vendor). Read on to discover how you'll use these tools.

 

3. Provide Visuals (a.k.a. channeling your "inner Steve Jobs")

Does this sound familiar? You're interested in a new widget and get invited to a web demo by the Widget Company. The presenter at WidgetCo opens up his stock PowerPoint presentation, goes through it slide by boring slide, then asks you for your P.O. or credit card number.

 

P-L-E-A-S-E. Take advantage of this powerful technology. Make your presentation incredibly compelling. There's nothing wrong with PowerPoint - but don't "kill them" with it. Use a handful of visually appealing PowerPoint slides to establish and interactively highlight the key points. Then, bring out the widget. Pass the controls to the audience so they can "touch", "smell", and "taste" the widget. Start the fog machine. Mix in some audio and video. Go to your web site to show them where to learn more. Are you getting the idea?

 

4. Interact with your audience

Solicit questions from your attendees. Check in often to gauge the interest level.  Unlike a physical meeting you can't read the body language of your participants.  Pay attention to little things, like the breathing (or snoring) on the other end. Remember your established objective and stay focused. Fail to do so at your peril - you may have lost the sale before you even realize it.

 

5. Follow up

Offer attendees a meeting summary consisting of the presentation slides, documents, session recording for later review, and chat logs. Afterwards - conduct polls, evaluations, and even quizzes. Finally - send thank-you notes, solicit additional questions and establish the next steps.

 

In summary, your next online web meeting can be a success, as long as it's carefully planned, properly executed, compelling, and focused. Stay in contact with your participants even after your session has ended, and your web meeting will have proven to be a success.