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Webinar Guidlines for Guest Presenters

Thanks so much for agreeing to present on Bloomerang’s weekly webinar series!

Our webinars typically attract 500-1000 registrants, 30-50% of which attend live. Most attendees represent small-to-medium-sized shops, and typically hold titles like Executive Director, Development Director and Communications Manager.

Promotion

Sessions will be promoted to the Bloomerang email list and social media followers. We encourage you to do the same!

Software

We use Zoom to host our webinars. You will be sent login instructions ahead of the scheduled presentation date. You will shows your slides via a screenshare of your computer. Audio can be through the phone or computer. Most presenters use a headset.

Slides

Please send your slides to the host at least 24 hours in advance of the presentation, in PDF format (not PowerPoint). We will add our intro and outro slides to your deck and upload them into the webinar software.

Recording

All sessions are recorded. If you do not wish for your presentation to be recorded and publicly available for free, we may not be a good fit.

We will have the session transcribed and upload the recording to YouTube. One week after the live presentation, the recording and transcript will be published as a blog post on the Bloomerang blog. You can see examples here: https://bloomerang.co/blog/category/webinars/

Prep

We request that you log into Zoom 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. This will allow us to test audio and get you acclimated with the software.

Flow

Sessions are one (1) hour long. Here is our preferred flow of content:

  • 0-5 minutes: introductions (host)
  • 5-45 minutes: guest presentation (guest)
  • 45-57 minutes: Q&A (host/guest)
  • 57-60 minutes: wrap-up (host)

As a guest, you are expected to contribute 30-45 minutes of prepared content and participate in about 15 minutes of Q&A.

The host will begin with four (4) slides:

  1. title slide (welcomes attendees)
  2. technical “housekeeping” slide (explains recording/slide distribution, encourages chatting, etc.)
  3. Bloomerang product slide (short commercial for Bloomerang)
  4. guest bio slide (introduces the guest and reads a short bio)

After the bio is read, the host will say “Okay (guest name), take it away!” This is your queue to begin screensharing.

When you get to your last slide, please conclude by saying “And now I’ll turn it back over to (host) for some Q&A!”

If your presentation runs too close to the one-hour mark, the host will forgo Q&A and encourage attendees to email you their questions.

Q&A

Q&A is moderated by the host. The host will flag questions as they come in during your presentation. When you conclude your prepared slides, please “pass” things back to the host to begin Q&A. When Q&A begins, the host will read questions to you. As the end of the hour approaches, the host will wrap things up.

Chat

A chat window will be present during the presentation. Attendees can chat in any question or comment. Only presenters (you and the host) can see what has been chatted in. The host will encourage attendees to use the chat throughout the presentation.

  • please do not answer questions as they come in – wait until the formal Q&A session at the end – the host will curate questions
  • please do not respond audibly to those complaining about their audio/video connection – the host will deal with those privately (as vast majority of attendees will have no problem hearing you or seeing the slides)

Polls

While Zoom does have a polling features, the use of them is somewhat discouraged. They can be buggy, lead to awkward silences and slow the overall presentation down. You can instead ask questions and encourage attendees to chat in their answers. You can then report back on what people are saying (attendees cannot see other chat responses).

Call-to-Action

You are encouraged to include your contact information and any promotional links at the end of your presentation. Special offers, coupon codes, links to downloadables, etc. are all encouraged.

Afterwards

Bloomerang will provide to you, the presenter, the following information after the webinar has concluded:

  • the chat transcript
  • the registration list, with attendees and non-attendees indicated as such
  • the post-webinar survey results

You are encouraged to send a follow-up email to the entire registration list (feel free to segment by attendees and non-attendees) that includes another call-to-action. We ask that you do not bulk-subscribe the entire list to your communications, but instead give them an offer to opt-in to continue hearing from you.

A few final things to remember

  • please use a dedicated phone line in a quiet room
  • speak in a normal, conversational tone and volume of voice
  • have fun!