Do’s and don’ts of webinars with Falcon.io

In times when more and more companies have to cancel their physical events due to the spread of COVID-19, hosting webinars online can be a useful way to stay in touch with your audience and share your knowledge.

Falcon.io is a social media management platform based in Denmark. They have been hosting webinars for a long time and know what keys you need to succeed as well as which common mistakes you can easily avoid. We managed to get in touch with Dino Kuckovic, director of events at Falcon.io, to chat about the do’s and don’ts regarding webinars.

In your opinion, what are the advantages of hosting webinars compared to physical events?

I’ll be honest, in a world with too many conference calls and virtual offerings, I am truly excited about meeting marketers face to face. We all want to exchange war stories and learn from one another. Nothing can replace a focused in-person conversation and we all need to learn how to put our smart devices down.

That being said, webinars are great because they have great reach and whether live or on-demand allows for a success story to live on a website or digital infrastructure longer than any physical event.  

Are there any differences in preparations for hosting a webinar compared to a physical event? If so – what are they and how do you best prepare yourself?

The biggest difference is all the technical and feature-related steps that go into hosting a flawless webinar. If done right, webinar attendees never know that hosts are more like jet pilots operating with dozens of clicks and boxes in the back end of a webinar.

By that I mean, running the pre-webinar practice session, launching polls, moderating chats, answering questions, syncing privately with panelists while live on air, etc. These technical steps are so important because they can make the webinar engaging, something I care about the most as it is a digital medium. 

What is the most common mistake brands do when they host a webinar and how do you avoid it?

The first thing that comes to mind is radio silence! ‘Hate’ is a strong word but I must use it – I hate when I’m listening to a webinar and the hosts go silent. The reasons are often very valid – for example, the technology is not working, the WiFi went out, or you’re trying to click on the poll feature to start, etc. but logistic and troubleshooting situations do not need to be highlighted to the webinar audience.

Some situations are inevitable, and you’ll have to out yourself as having WiFi issues if one of your panelists just dropped out but in those situations, it’s ever so important to jump right in and have someone else take over.

Once the webinar is finished, how do you follow up and distribute it?

One of our most frequently asked questions during a webinar is “will you share the recording and slides?” Yes, truly! We take it upon ourselves to send webinar follow-up emails the morning after the webinar. That gives me time to clean up the recording and update the landing page infrastructure. This is especially relevant for those in our audience who sign up for a webinar but plan to watch the on-demand version instead of joining live. 

Is there anything you would like to add, general advice or something you think our readers should keep in mind when hosting a webinar?

Humanity first! I’ve built our webinar program on humour and memorable conversations that make people want to come back. Thought leadership based on current and strong webinar topics make the program a success but a monotonous flatline of an atmosphere can break it just as quickly.
 

In light of the current pandemic, Falcon.io is rolling out free Essentials Base+ access to all health authorities battling COVID-19. This is to help health organisations respond swiftly with accurate information during the coronavirus crisis.