Webinar Chat 101

What are the webinar chat basics that affect software choice

Webinar Chat 101 is all about choosing the right webinar software for you. This is because each type of webinar software normally only permits one type of chat. If you choose the wrong software your preferred type of chat engagement might not be available to you.

Today’s video identifies the three types of webinar chat so you can make sure your webinar software enables the type of chat you want.

Webinar Chat 101 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRZBX81cQbY

What are the 3 types of chat?

The three types of chat are:

  1. No chat – The name says it all. No chat is best suited to webinars used to present announcements or information only sessions where no questions or feedback from the participants is required.
  2. Individual chat – Each webinar participant can submit feedback or ask questions to the presenter (and moderators) and receive replies from the presenter. Individual chat is best suited to webinars where the presenter wants the participants to exclusively focus on the content without being distracted by the chatter and opinions of other participants. However, presenters should be aware that by using individual chat their ability to maintain the engagement of the participants with the webinar instead of checking email, using Facebook, browsing other websites or other distractions might be reduced.
  3. Group chat –  Every webinar participant can see the feedback and questions of the other participants so that in addition to communicating with the presenter (and moderators) they can chat with each other. Typically, there is an option for a participant to also send a private message to the presenter or another selected participant instead of making the comment visible to everyone. Group chat is best suited to webinars where the presenter wants to provide maximum opportunity for the participants to remain engaged with the webinar with less scope for distractions. Using group chat also provides more opportunity for the presenter to help nurture a feeling of community among the participants and provide a more enjoyable webinar experience. This can boost retention rates during the webinar and the likelihood that participants will want to attend future webinars by that presenter (or community).

It’s all about engagement

This training article is the second of 5 consecutive weekly articles dedicated to helping you create engaging webinars that your participants will love. Later this month I will release my new Webinar Engagement Checklist (which you can pre-order here). You will be able to use the checklist to self-assess your level of engagement when you present webinars and score yourself. If you are not yet presenting webinars then the Webinar Engagement Checklist will give you the chance to best practice engagement habits before you even start presenting webinars and avoid some bad habits.

How engaging are your webinars?

You can register now to obtain my free Webinar Engagement Checklist to be released later this month. Put simply, it is your chance to identify lots of options for making your webinars engaging and interesting to your participants. It will help you identify:

  • What you are doing well
  • What you can do better
  • New ideas for improving engagement

If you want to be one of the first webinar presenters to get a copy click here and it will be automatically emailed to you when it becomes available.

What do you think I should include in the Webinar Chat 101 syllabus?

I seriously want to know what YOU think. Please click here to share your thoughts with myself and others in the YouTube video comments.

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