---
title: "Friday Buzz: New Webinar Styles"
id: "42726"
type: "post"
slug: "friday-buzz-new-webinar-styles"
published_at: "2018-05-25T17:34:29+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-16T22:00:30+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/05/25/friday-buzz-new-webinar-styles/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/05/25/friday-buzz-new-webinar-styles.md"
excerpt: "Don’t let boring webinars hurt your membership engagement. Try these alternative formats to shake things up. Also: How to strategically use social media to promote events."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Meetings / Events"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "book events"
  - "Meetings"
  - "reengagement"
  - "Webinar"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "Director"
  - "Manager"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Association Professionals"
---

[Home](https://associationsnow.com/)
 » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/)
 » Friday Buzz: New Webinar Styles

Webinars are a tried-and-true engagement tactic for many associations. But if you find registration numbers are slipping, it may be because your webinars have grown a little stale.

The MemberClicks blog shares a few alternative [formats to refresh your webinar program (opens in a new tab)](https://blog.memberclicks.com/fresh-formats-for-your-associations-webinars)
.

Remember those “choose your own adventure” books from childhood? Try layering that style onto webinar topics.

“Here, you’d have a general topic picked out for your webinar (for example, marketing trends), but then, once people log on, they could vote for what specific topics they want to discuss (for example, AI or video),” writes Callie Walker. “This ensures you’re appealing to the people who are already engaging with your association.”

To boost engagement further, try crowdsourcing webinar topics. You can do that through surveys and social media, including Twitter polls. “The more involved people feel before the webinar, the more involved they’ll want to get *during* the webinar,” says Walker.

### Build Awareness

https://twitter.com/denottione/status/999230487473221632

**One of the key ways to recruit attendees** to your meetings is to build anticipation. And social media is a great way to do that, just be sure to use it strategically.

One smart tactic is to create content such as blog posts, white papers, and interviews with speakers to share before the meeting. “Content should be a major part of your event promotion tactics,” writes Niki Lancaster in a [recent Social Media Examiner post (opens in a new tab)](https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-social-media-to-promote-event/)
. “It helps you engage different audiences and give them resources to share with their own followers.”

### Other Links of Note

**Marketing automation software can make your life a lot easier.** *CMSWire* recommends 13 tools that could be a [good fit for your organization (opens in a new tab)](https://www.cmswire.com/marketing-automation/13-noteworthy-enterprise-marketing-automation-tools/)
.

**Are you serving up big walls of text to your readers?** *Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog* shares [six less-wordy content formats (opens in a new tab)](https://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2018/05/24/content-wordy-consider-6-alternative-formats/)
.

**Amazon’s Echo has long been** the top-selling smart speaker—until now, that is. Google Home took the lead in Q1 2018, [reports Gizmodo (opens in a new tab)](https://gizmodo.com/google-just-turned-a-huge-corner-in-the-smart-speaker-g-1826290334)
.

(z_wei/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

[Raegan Johnson](https://associationsnow.com/author/raegan-johnson/)

Raegan Johnson is a contributor to Associations Now.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/raegan-johnson/)

Tags: [#book events](https://associationsnow.com/tag/book-events/)
 [#Meetings](https://associationsnow.com/tag/meetings/)
 [#reengagement](https://associationsnow.com/tag/reengagement/)
 [#Webinar](https://associationsnow.com/tag/webinar/)

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