Webinar Design – The Short Webinar

Get Ready, Get Set, Go Record

When I read the assignment I really didn’t think the project was going to be as daunting as it ended up being. It wasn’t the content, or the presentation, it was navigating the platform that had me running in circles for a short time. Thankfully it was a short webinar as I was about out of breath when I got it all together as it was! Here’s my short webinar story.

The assignment, to design a short (approximately 15 minutes) learning intervention intended for a small audience. You’ll teach one concept and your participant(s) will have the chance to practice or demonstrate their mastery of the concept. This project gets your feet wet before the Webinar Team Project.

That seems easy enough, no? The content, the slides, the layout, design, and flow came together very easily. I had just watched a few live webinars or screen cast recordings while preparing for this one and noticed that often I found dark faces, blurry screens, or sound issues. I figured a helpful tool might be to give some best practices and that should fit within a fifteen minute window. So I set about creating “Get Ready, Get Set, Go Record”.

I started practicing from home with my spouse, on another computer in another room, so I could learn what he was seeing as we stepped through the presentation on Zoom. I’ve taught theory classes online on a few platforms including Electa-Live and Skype, however this was my first experience presenting a webinar. Things were going well, until the internet started acting up one night. I can’t say I’m terribly surprised, usually my internet is spot on but I do live in the foothills and things happen. When they do it’s usually at the most inconvenient time! So I changed my plan and decided to head back to civilization to present where there should be a more stable connection.

For me that meant a different laptop with two monitors. You’d think no big deal, but it was a game changer. More than likely because I thought it would be a good idea to use the tools I had to their maximum capacity, which meant keeping my three screens open and learning to move between them. By making this choice I found I had a lot to learn…. and learn I did.

Determined as I am I spent the time needed to figure it all out, take copious notes, and when it came time to present I felt pretty good about how it all went down. If I can say one thing, I can say that any slight imperfections in the live presentation were not for lack of preparation, although I think one more run through and I would have been rock solid with the tech and able to eliminate even the small hesitations in my voice to come across more naturally.

So for better or worse, here it is…. my first crack at presenting a webinar. I look forward to your feedback!