Here's an innovative idea that never occurred to me… Allow some Q&A before your webinar starts!
I saw this novel approach in a news alert carried in the Delta Farm Press, bringing you "Timely Reliable Information for Delta Agriculture." The article referred to a webinar that was already scheduled, with existing registrations. Here's the interesting part (edited slightly to remove details that aren't relevant to this discussion):
If you were planning to participate in the University of Arkansas’ webinar tomorrow, you may want to log in or dial in a few minutes early.
The Webinar organizers are adding a pre-session that will feature a question and answer discussion of the new USDA farm programs.
The pre-session will be held from 1:15 p.m. to 1:28 p.m. tomorrow. At the conclusion of the Q&A, Dr. Nathan Childs will begin his presentation.
I think that's brilliant. It gives attendees a reason to log in early. It starts delivering value immediately, before anything else happens. It lets folks see that the presenter is truly responsive to their interests. It allows people to come "up to speed" if they feel they aren't well versed enough on the webinar's subject. I even like the way the organizers wrote the time… "from 1:15 p.m. to 1:28 p.m." -- That promises precision and a commitment to keeping things on schedule.
I've never done this in one of my webinars, and now I'm wondering why not! Have you tried advertising Q&A before your presentation? Has it worked for you? I plan to follow up with these webinar organizers to ask them how it went.
