As medical professionals, we are always seeking ways to spread important health information in ways that people are eager to hear. Webinars provide a good way to do this. In figuring out your webinar, asking for input from your staff can make a big difference in having a well-received, effective webinar since they are the ones fielding questions from the front desk and examination rooms. Their insights and contribution are priceless, not to forget that by allowing them to give input, it shows you value their opinions.
The pride and validation felt by the office staff will help tremendously in their seeing benefit as well as their promotion of the webinar itself.
In the planning stage, ideas and key concepts are discussed. Check out forums and chat rooms in social media sites to see the topics that are trending. Make sure that these topics that you are considering are in sync with the services that you provide. Reach out to thought leaders on Twitter and LinkedIn to see if they would like to participate in the webinar with you. By doing so, you are linked to them and perceived as a thought leader as well. In addition, these leaders will help promote the webinar by marketing it to their fans and database.
Consider your prospective patients and target market when planning the day and time. When do they typically go online? Is it when the kids are in school? Is it when they come home from work?
Studies reveal that 12:30-2 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays are the most popular time for webinars. Typically, 30-40% of registered attendees will show up for the live event. In order to attract more leads, running the webinar more than once will capture a higher percentage.
I suggest that you tape the webinar and allow for a replay the same evening and the following day for those people who have expressed an interest but could not make it due to time constraints.
7 Questions for You to Answer
- What are your demographics?
Envision the person, the age, background, economic and academic background that your webinar is aimed for. When you have made up an avatar of who you are speaking to, directing your information to that person will be easier.
2) What are your topics?
Consider a topic that would appeal to your listeners and create a captivating title for it.
3) What is the purpose of the webinar?
Is the goal to educate and inform, to provide solutions to common problems that patients struggle with?
4) When will your webinar be aired?
Set a time and date that works well for yourself and your audience. If the webinar will be part of a series, choose a day and time where you can be consistent, as in a regular broadcast show.
5) Where will you be running the webinar?
The webinar should be run in a quiet space where you are free from telephone calls and people walking in spontaneously. A meeting room or space dedicated to the webinar should be arranged. Ensure that the same goes for speakers that will be on the webinar. Having children interrupt or the pet dog barking, while adding humor to the moment, can be very disruptive.
6) What is the format of the webinar?
There are several options for the format-
- Live (where listeners have the opportunity to contribute comments and questions)
- Scheduled replay (completely recorded ahead of time)
- Prerecorded (allowing for questions to be written in by email ahead of the webinar which would be answered during its duration)
7) How long will the webinar be?
Typically, an effective webinar lasts 20-25 minutes with 5-10 minutes for a question and answer period after the presentation. This is just long enough to captivate your listeners without having them lose their attention and clicking off.
Tomorrow we will discuss the types of speakers and sites for your webinars.
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