Tips for Delivering Seminars/Training Online

I’ve done hundreds of online seminars/training sessions over the last year and thought I would write a post on a few of the things I’ve learned. I’ve put them together in a top ten list (no particular order).

#1: Mute attendees when they enter your online session. There is nothing more annoying to a participant then having to listen to people connecting into the seminar (beep, beep, beep) when you are 10-15 minutes into the class. The same goes for when they exit or disconnect from the session.

#2: Don’t mumble! If you don’t know what to say, it’s OK to be quiet for a few seconds. You don’t have to fill every second with information. Know what you are going to say and say it.

Wait, there’s more!

#3: Don’t conduct the meeting from a cubicle! As a host, it’s your responsibility to pick a location that is quiet and free of distractions. If you use a conference room, put a sign on the door that indicates you are currently “online”. This prevents people from walking in on you during the session. Turn off your cell phone, and by all means, do not answer it during the session. Yes, someone I know did this once!

#4: Don’t use a speakerphone when presenting. It makes you (the host) sound like you are talking to the participants from a trash can. Use a good headset (I use the Plantronics CS361N wireless headset).

#5: Provide interaction but make it relevant. In other words, if you are presenting your product, don’t introduce a poll question that asks, “What ice cream flavor do you like..?” Interaction is important but it has to be relevant. If I’m training on a product, I’ll introduce a poll question such as, “Which of the following features do you use the least/most in our product?” This provides vital information that I can use later in the presentation. Knowing what ice cream flavor they like, does nothing.

#6: Know your target audience. I sometimes perform the role of Sales Engineer. Knowing your participants can go a long way to helping close the deal. Check out the company’s web site, Google, check blogs, talk with your internal sales staff, etc. It serves as an excellent ice breaker at the beginning of the online session and can help you tailor the delivery to your audience.

#7: Focus on addressing their needs! Too many companies focus on discussing the features of their products without first mapping them to their customers’ needs. If you know their needs, you can explain how your products meet them.

#8: Pick a stable conferencing package. I evaluated several products before selecting WebEx. In some of the first sessions, I used a product that would disconnect about 2-3 times per session. Other products I tried introduced too much delay. Test the product you are going to use under the same conditions you will use it in.

#9: Don’t use PowerPoint slides as a crutch when presenting. This is true in both online and offline classes. This happens when you fill your slides with paragraphs of text and/or read directly from the slide. You wouldn’t do this in a classroom so don’t do it online either.

#10: Keep your sessions to 1 hour or less. If you need to go longer, provide a short break at the 1 hour point. There is a big difference between a 1 hour session and a 1 1/2 hour session from a participant’s viewpoint.

I hope this helps those of you who are just starting to do online seminars. If you have any questions, please post them here and I’ll do my best to provide you with answers.