MBA1997 My Checklist for Hosting a Webinar + Free Ride Friday

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Visit Dell.com deals. Hey, welcome to the Hundred Dollar MBA Show. Business truths delivered on the daily every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my co founder back in 2014 and today is Free Ride Friday. On Free Ride Friday we give away a lifetime membership to one of our programs. All you gotta do is leave us an Apple Podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw we call Free Ride Friday. Listen in on Friday just like today to see if you won. We announce this week's winner a little bit later. It's that simple. It's our way to say thanks for showing us love on Apple Podcasts. In today's lesson, I'll be sharing my checklist for hosting a webinar. I've hosted hundreds of webinars and mostly they don't stink. Now, some have been more successful than others, but I like to think that by now there's consistency, a baseline of quality that comes from doing so many reps. And one of the things that has helped me with that consistency is my webinar checklist, the very checklist I'll be sharing with you today. I'll also show you where you can download this checklist as a PDF so you can print it out and have it handy anytime you run a webinar. These are literally 13 items I check off before I click Start Broadcast and I want to share them with you today because I know how nerve wracking it can be to go live and worry about what can go wrong. I got your back in today's episode, so let's get into it. Let's get down to business.

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All right, let's jump into my webinar checklist. Quick reminder, if you want to grab this checklist you can download it for free. No need to give me your email or anything like that. Just go to webinarninja.com blog and check out one of our latest blog posts on this topic. In that post you can download a free PDF with all the items I mentioned today. Let's kick off with Item number one Protect the bandwidth. Before you start your webinar, make sure there's no other Internet enabled devices sucking up your bandwidth. We're talking about Netflix, we're talking about video games, we're talking about any other apps you're not using on your computer. Even Dropbox that's syncing constantly that sucks bandwidth. Close it down and dedicate all the bandwidth to your webinar to ensure you have crystal clear quality. Item number two A solid Internet connection. Always test your connection before you get started. I like going to speedtest.net and even though we are living in the wireless era, if you have a router that is close by your computer, a Pro tip is a hardwire connection straight into your computer. Item number three Plug in. Make sure that your laptop is plugged in. I know this sounds very, very basic, but there are so many people that I've seen drop out of live broadcasts because they forgot to plug in their laptop and their laptop dies. So rather than scrambling for the cord when you're seeing low battery in the middle of your broadcast, make sure you're plugged in beforehand. Item number four Check the background. You don't want any visual distractions for your audience. Make sure that whatever is behind you is neutral, clean and free of surprises. Minimize the chances of any unexpected action going on behind you. That includes pets. Personally, I like to curate my background. Like to stage my background with maybe relevant books, a bit of my personality with some pictures or some movie posters even. Or you might be super proud of an award. Hang it behind you in that background. By the way, you can head on over to webinarninja.com we have a blog post that is all about setting up a great background. Item Number five Notifications off make sure your phone is not going to be distracting you with pings and dings and rings. Same thing with your computer. Put it all on. Do not disturb. Put it on. I know. Number six Let there be light. Lighting is the unsung hero of a professional looking online presentation. I can't stress this enough. Great lighting makes you look great. I highly recommend you use some sort of lighting that is in front of you that's facing you. I like a ring light. You can buy that on Amazon for like $40 or something like that. But if you don't have a light hanging around and you don't want to order one, make sure whatever the light source is, even if it's an open sunny window, is in front of you, not behind you. Item number 7 AV check make sure your webcam and mic are set up and connected properly where your computer detects as the defaults are not always the devices you want to use. So make sure that your proper mic and webcam are being chosen. Item number 8 camera position I learned this one from Chris Levine over at Wistia and that's making sure that the camera is at eye level. Too many people are looking down or looking up at their camera. This does not look good. It's very unflattering and it doesn't look like you're speaking to somebody directly. By keeping the camera eye level, it's almost like you're looking and making eye contact with the viewer. Don't look at your screen, look at the camera. Number nine Headphones. If you're co hosting a webinar, if you're going to be sharing any video or any audio clips, if other people from the crowd are going to be joining you on camera and video, it's best you use headphones. Why? Because you don't want the audio that will be coming out of your computer speakers to go into your mic and create a reverb or echo. You want that audio to go into your ears and nowhere else. Item number 10 slideshow Most good webinars involve some sort of slideshow presentation. Slides of some sort make sure your slides are all set up inside of our webinar software, Webinar Ninja. You can actually upload your slides directly and display them so they're right in your account. You don't need to even have PowerPoint or Keynote open. Also, make sure your slideshow is front and center. Again, with Webinar Ninja Shameless Plug, you can have six different configurations so you can have the slides as the main screen, you can have your video on the left, you can have the video on the bottom, you can split the screen. You can do all kinds of combination. If you need tips on creating a fabulous slideshow presentation, we also have a blog post over@webinar news.com on how to create great slides with Canva. But this is all to say your slides will really represent your brand and your professionalism. So really win them over.

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All right guys, we got three more items on the webinar checklist item number 11 elements in place A great webinar is a multimedia mix of your webcam feed, your slides, your video and screen sharing. Make sure that all these elements are ready to rock. We discussed your slideshow your presentation slides before. Similarly, you can upload any video files in webinar Ninja if you'd like. We discussed the slideshow above, but you can also insert video. You can illustrate your point with a short clip. You can walk them through what you need to walk them through by sharing screen. By using different elements, you keep it interactive, you keep it lively, and you keep it engaging. Speaking of engagement, item number 12 is polls, handouts and offers. The more engaged your audience is, the more they're going to get out of your webinar. The more trust you're going to build, the more customers you're going to earn. The last thing you want is for your presentation to be a one way lecture. Instead, make it a conversation. And you can easily do that even if your crowd is a bit introverted with polls and handouts and offers, want to gather important feedback or get some market research, run a poll. Want input from attendees, Ask their opinions, ask what their biggest pain points are. You can also give your audience something to take away from the webinar, like a PDF, a checklist, an infographic, or even your slides. All right, we reached item 13, the last item on my checklist, and it's probably the most important one, and that's attitude. Okay, I'm gonna go a little woo here, but just bear with me for a moment. It'll be worth it. Maybe you take a few controlled breaths. Maybe you do a two minute meditation. Maybe you just put a smile on your face and repeat an affirmation, prayer, or mantra. But whatever you do, make it a concrete act, a ritual you perform right before those digital curtains go up. This is common practice for all performers, whether they're athletes, whether they're musicians, whether they're standup comedians, whether they're theater actors, whether they're public speakers. And yes, a webinar is a public speech. They get in the zone. They get their mind right, they get their attitude right. They center themselves. This is important. Your attitude, the whole vibe you bring into that webinar. When you first enter that webinar, when you first say hello to everybody that sets the tone, it has an immediate effect that ripples through the whole presentation. Take a moment, perform your ritual and bring the right energy. You'll be glad you did it. And hey, there is no judgments. This is just you here. Do what makes you feel comfortable, that settles your nerves and gives you confidence, that gives you positivity, that makes you smile. There you have it, guys. Those are the 13 things I must absolutely do. Before every webinar, every single webinar, I go through this list and. And now that list is yours. If you want to download a PDF of this list again, you can just go to webinar ninja.com blog and one of our latest blog posts is called My Webinar Checklist. That wraps up today's lesson. But today's episode is now over because it's Free Ride Friday. Let's see who won this week's Free ride. A lifetime access to our automated webinar course, our 30 day course on how to automate your leads and sales with automated webinars. And the winner is. Chris Quinby. Chris Quinby says very actionable information. 5 stars. I love how frequently the information that's presented to the podcast is something I was already thinking about. These quick episodes contain very applicable tips. Keep up the good work. Well, thanks Chris for that great review. Your mission is to email me over at omar100mba.net so we can hook you up with with the lifetime membership to the automated webinar course, you won your free ride. Who wants to win a free ride? If you do, just leave us an Apple Podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw. Listen in on Friday to see if you won. It's that easy. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 MBA Show. Make sure you hit that subscribe that Follow button on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. They say if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. I love being prepared. It gives me the confidence. I enter my webinars feeling like I got this. I can crush this webinar. My results are so much better because I have prepared, because I am ready, because I've set myself up for success. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Monday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care of.

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