Certain types of questions come up time and again on webinars. A well-organized webinar team knows the answers ahead of time and is ready to provide quick responses to attendees. If you have a moderator or session assistants monitoring the chat log during the webinar, they should know the answer to these common questions and have prepared responses ready to copy and paste.
Proper planning means more than just agreeing that you will make the slides available. It means you have checked with your guest speaker and confirmed that s/he is comfortable with distributing the materials and that there are no copyright issues involved or special attribution needed. It means having a download link already planned so you can publicize it immediately… Or my personal preference: Having a post-webinar resources page created with "coming soon" placeholders for any materials not yet ready.
Proper planning means you have scheduled the additional follow-up tasks you will need to perform after the live session, and have people assigned to them with calendar time blocked out for each task after the webinar. You will be ready to deliver post-session materials and send out emails as quickly as possible.
Proper planning means that if you are not providing something an attendee might ask for, you have a diplomatic and approved way of stating why it will not be made available, which all assistants can consistently use.
Here are a few of the most common questions I see in webinars, with examples of the type of responses you should have prepared in your copy and paste "cheat sheet." Obviously the specifics will be your own, but this gives you an idea of the type of planning you want to put in place ahead of time.
1) Will the presentation slides be made available?
- You will be able to download them later in this web session
- We will be posting them at this address after the session: http…
- We will send you a download link by email later today
2) Can I watch a recording of the webinar?
- We will post the recording on this page after the session: http…
- We will send you a playback link by email tomorrow
- We plan to edit the recording to optimize the quality. We will send you an email with a link as soon as it is ready.
3) Can we get a list of all questions asked, with the answers?
- Yes, we will review the question log and create a reference document with answers. You will receive an email with a download link when it is ready.
- No, the volume of questions prevents us from creating a full answers document. But let us know if there is a specific question you would like to get an answer to.
4) Are professional credits available for this webinar?
- Yes, you will receive a certificate by email as soon as we have verified time in session from our logs.
- Yes, you will receive an email later today with instructions for claiming your credit.
- Unfortunately this webinar has not been pre-approved for credits. Please consult with your state board to see if you can claim the viewing time for credit.
Attendees recognize and appreciate a webinar team that is prepared with answers to questions that seem obvious. Having a set of canned, ready-to-use responses to questions such as these will make you look more professional and competent, while making it easier to concentrate on more relevant topic-related questions.
Feel free to add a comment with other standard questions you like to plan responses for in your webinars!
