It’s been proven time and time again that interactive webinars boost attendee engagement — but keeping attendees engaged throughout the entire experience can be tricky, especially when you’re up against short attention spans and competing tabs.
Here, we’ve listed seven simple ways to make your webinars more interactive so you can turn passive attendees into active participants and ultimately, pipeline.
Have a clear agenda for your event – and stick to it
There’s a time and a place for “going with the flow,” not when you’re running a webinar. We recommend sharing the webinar agenda with your audience before the live webinar date and again at the beginning of your session.
Explore every opportunity to get direct feedback from your guests
Let the audiences know how to interact with the event and motivate them to engage with the experience. For example, if you offer live Q&A, polls and survey opportunities, make them easy for attendees to find. If there is a live breakout discussion after your presentation, let your attendees know so they can turn on their cameras and participate. A little organization goes a long way.
Capturing this type of audience engagement data will enable you to create more targeted follow-up messaging and even develop topics for future webinars that you know will resonate.
If you see a stream of similar questions come in from your audience chat, great! Address them as part of your presentation (this is where spontaneity is your friend).
A good rule of thumb is this: Make sure that your webinar attendees have plenty of things to do and places to go. Including links to social media and even additional assets like blogs, e-books, and on-demand webinar hubs will keep your audiences engaged and enable them to move on to the next step in their buying journey.
Pro-tip: Use AI-powered chatbots to generate responses to questions in real-time, freeing you up to focus on your presentation.
Encourage reactions
Turn attendees into hand-raisers by enabling them to react to your content with emojis like ❤️, 👏 and 😆. Maybe an attendee doesn’t feel quite ready to ask a question but they can react to your content and provide feedback this way. Text emojis are so ingrained in how we express ourselves today. Incorporate them into your webinar to create a relaxed, conversational vibe.
In the same way that poll and survey responses can be analyzed, reaction data can be time-stamped and reviewed at the end of the webinar. Use it to heat map your session and identify key moments that resonated most with your audience.
Include videos
Add a new dimension to your webinar by embedding a short video into your presentation. We use a different part of our brain to process visual information so leveraging videos will increase audience engagement and attention.
Intro videos, product demos, customer testimonials and even fun behind-the-scenes clips can liven up your webinar, mix up your output and bring any screen-snoozers back into the virtual room.
Factor in time for valuable breakout sessions
Breaking your attendees out into smaller groups or even one-to-one discussions will add more value to your webinars by giving attendees the opportunity to engage with their peers and build more meaningful connections. Plus, mixing up the format in this way is great for switching everybody’s brains back on after long periods of listening and note-taking.
Moderate the discussions to guide the conversation and use this as an opportunity to get to know your attendees better. The more insights you can gain into their goals, challenges and needs, the more effectively you can engage them and build trust.
Choose a skilled right host or moderator
Pick an enthusiastic and engaging presenter to bring down the virtual house. Great presenters don’t exactly grow on trees but there are a few tips that can help even the most reserved presenter add a little pizazz to their session.
Be yourself. Embrace authenticity, as it fosters trust. Anticipate questions and be prepared with insightful answers. Practice, practice, practice — confidence comes from familiarity. Lastly, welcome feedback for continuous improvement, and remember, a great presenter makes learning an enjoyable journey.
Bring the passion!
People will speak up and interact with your webinar if they feel inspired by what you’re saying. Show your audience that you’re passionate about your content and area of expertise and encourage them to participate in the discussion actively.
Engagement is the name of the game
In the world of webinars, engagement is key. Following these seven strategies will transform your webinars into dynamic, two-way conversations that keep attendees actively participating. From clear agendas to interactive elements like polls and surveys, videos, breakout sessions, and passionate presenters, these tips will help you deliver webinars that drive engagement and real results. For additional insights, our webinar guide provides expert recommendations.
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