Looking to provide digital content to members? Webinars are a good place to start, but to make them worthwhile, they need to be done right.

“Current conditions have led organizations to exponentially increase the volume of webinars they present to members and customers. As you might expect, the value provided varies widely,” says Jeffrey Cufaude on the Idea Architects blog.

There are a few guidelines to follow to create a better webinar experience, and it starts with the presenters: Don’t make them multitask.

“When attention is divided; value is diluted. Few presenters can simultaneously deliver quality content, attend to informal messages from the webinar host, and engage with the participant chat,” Cufaude says.

Pre-record the presentation so that the speaker focuses only on presenting great content. This strategy also lets you add in graphics during post-production and avoids the potential technical problems that arise when presenting live.

Another way to make sure things run smoothly is to make webinar presentations a team effort. Instead of one or two webinar generalists, Cufaude suggests creating a team of webinar specialists, each having one specific function. Roles may include moderator, tech support, or a “conversation catalyst” who poses questions when none are asked and engages in the chat in response to presenter questions.

“Each of these roles is a great micro-volunteering opportunity for members of your organization,” Cufaude says.

Your Tone of Voice Matters

https://twitter.com/Robert_Rose/status/1243289156442341377

If you want your communications to affect your audience, pay attention to how you’re communicating, not just what you’re saying.

“Audiences pick up on clues about where speakers (and writers) are from, their education level, age, values, sincerity, and authority from their tone,” says Robert Rose of The Content Advisory.

Brand communicators can get in trouble when they develop only one tone of voice, Rose says, because it becomes difficult to talk about a range of topics.

“If we work on developing multiple tones of voice, we’ll develop deeper trust with our audiences—and then everything from the goofiest tweet to communicating the actions we’re taking in a global crisis—will land better,” he says.

Other Links of Note

Looking ahead to events later this year? There are ways to prepare for an event that’s six months away, suggests a recent blog post from Eventbrite.

To have impact in the social sector, we need less jargon and more plain words, argue Jon Huggett and Dan Berelowitz in Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Distracted by noisy tabs in Google Chrome that autoplay videos? There are ways to mute them, says Gizmodo’s David Nield.

(damircudic/E+)