What is the secret sauce the best webinar presenters share? I have thought about this many times and I always identify the same answer. My answer makes me think about Betty Gatewood. I wish that I’d had the opportunity to teach Betty Gatewood how to present webinars because I am certain Betty would have been awesome.

I am saddened that Betty Gatewood recently died. Betty wasn’t an international celebrity of any kind, but she possessed something I think we all need, especially if we want to become our best as a webinar presenter. Betty passed away suddenly at age 93 and her list of achievements included:

• Loving parades, circuses, and upon retirement from the US Postal Service graduating from clown college
• Soaring in a hot air balloon in Atlanta on her 70th birthday and then celebrating the day with a dinner party at Hooters
• Parasailing over the Gulf of Mexico at age 79
• Soaring in a glider over the Hawaiian Islands when she was 82
• Riding in an open cockpit helicopter touring Stone Mountain Park, one of her favorite places to visit, at age 85
• Embracing the latest technology to keep up with her family and friends on Facebook, using her iPhone and iPad
• Having 31 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren who adored having Betty as an amazing role model

I only spent time with Betty on a few occasions, all more than 12 years ago. Betty however was one of those people you alway remember. She had an amazing list of positive attributes, including an amazing attitude of servitude to her family, but for me she was a stand-out in one area – Bravery!

I am a massive fan of bravery. It is the one character attribute that separates ho-hum webinar presenters from those who embrace the challenge of presenting online and who make magic with the microphone and webcam. Bravery is the secret sauce for webinar success.

What is the Secret Sauce Shared by the Best Webinar Presenters? – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzjyPeQtZk0

Why do the best webinar presenters need to be brave?

Bravery is an incredibly powerful asset for a webinar presenter. Bravery is a prerequisite for webinar presenters to be willing to:

• Confidently share themselves and their personal experiences with others they don’t know well
• To show their face and risk publicly showing their embarrassment if they stumble or something goes wrong
• Present with authority on camera without being able to read scripts
• Answer questions without advance notice

What are the benefits of being brave during webinars?

This question is central to this article, but I find it difficult to answer in a detailed way. I have no statistics or compelling analysis that explains why bravery is critical. However, I believe that bravery is essential to being a great webinar presenter, because it is the conduit to obtaining:

• Connection
• Engagement
• The human factor
• Relationship building

These things are all slightly different, but they are essentially the same. Each of them empowers us as webinar presenters to help our participants more effectively. We have a better opportunity to effectively teach, inform, motivate or sell, whichever is the objective of the webinar. If you want to have participants that appreciate your efforts and who will forgive you when you make mistakes then be brave, put yourself out there on show, and make the extra effort to connect and engage.

If you want to be a great online presenter for webinars and other live stream technologies then take a deep breath and make a commitment to yourself to be brave. You won’t have to parasail or ride in an open cockpit helicopter. However, you will need to be brave, just like Betty.

What do you think?

What do you think is the top character trait the best webinar presenters share? Please click here to have your say in the YouTube video comments.