What Is A Webinar? How To Create Engaging Online Events

Imagine you can educate a global audience, capture high-quality leads, and train your remote team – all from the comfort of your desk. Webinars, a blend of "web" and "seminar," are powerful online workshops or conferences that can achieve all of this and more.

Webinar platforms make it easy to develop presentations that align with your brand guidelines and increase audience engagement. Unlike physical seminars, webinars remove geographical limitations, allowing the host to connect with attendees worldwide. 

While renting a venue and hiring a catering company isn’t necessary, hosting an online webinar does require some planning.

How does a webinar work?

Webinars offer a streamlined way of effective learning and communication between the host and their audiences. Here are the steps involved in organizing a webinar:

Choosing a platform

The organizer will select a webinar platform to host the online event. These webinar platforms offer useful features for registration, managing attendees, capturing leads, and presenting content.

Plan the webinar

The organizer must establish the webinar's goal, whether it's to generate leads or educate the attendees. Planning also involves identifying the target audience and content. Finally, a date and time that works for the target audience and speakers are chosen.

Promote the webinar

Post planning, it's time to promote the webinar through various channels, such as email marketing, social media, or paid advertising. This typically involves creating a landing page where attendees can register for the event.

Prepare the presentation

At this point, the webinar speakers will develop the presentation content, including slides, demos, or any other visuals they plan to use.

Conduct technical rehearsal 

Before the live event, the organizer conducts a dry run with the speakers to ensure everything works smoothly. This includes testing audio, video, screen sharing, and presentation software.

Types of webinar

Webinars can take different shapes to suit different business needs. Check out some of the most common webinar types below:

• Live webinars are the most interactive, occurring in real time. Attendees can participate through chat, polls, and live Q&A. Live webinars are ideal for presentations, workshops, and discussions where immediate engagement is crucial.
• Pre-recorded/on-demand webinars are pre-recorded presentations that attendees can access at their convenience. They offer flexibility but limit interaction. On-demand webinars are suitable for evergreen content, product demos, or lectures where consistent information is key.
• Automated webinars combine pre-recorded content with automated elements like email triggers and marketing messages. They're useful for lead generation, nurturing, or delivering introductory content without a live presenter.
• Hybrid webinars combine live and virtual elements. They might involve a live speaker at a physical location presenting to a remote audience or a panel discussion with some participants attending virtually. This is ideal for large events or situations where travel is impractical.

Webinar features 

The purpose of a webinar is up to the host, but the options available are wide. This means that the tools you use to launch your webinar have to be flexible enough to provide features that will keep your audience engaged, no matter the topic. 

Below are some of the features that most webinar tools provide. Learn how you can take advantage of them while hosting your own webinar. 

Text chat

Engaging an audience, big or small, can be done in several different ways, but one of the most simple methods is enabling text chat. This allows your audience to ask related questions or answer questions that you prompt. Without being in the same room, it’s difficult to grab a presenter’s attention with a question or an answer, but text chat in webinar tools makes it possible.

Slide decks 

Making an engaging webinar can be difficult. If your webinar is educational in one way or another, consider having a slide deck handy to present to your audience as you talk through it. Having a slide deck also allows you to provide a clear agenda for your viewers, encourage engagement, and give the audience something to take away.  

Recording

Traditionally, webinars run live so that the audience can ask the presenter questions and get answers in real time. Although watching a pre-recorded webinar becomes less engaging, the information being presented or discussed can be viewed by those who missed the live version, can be referred to later by your audience, or recorded with a guest who is unable to make the scheduled time. 

Screen sharing

If your topic requires a demonstration, screen-sharing solutions in webinars will come in handy. Viewers will be able to see exactly what actions you’re taking on your screen and follow along on their own if needed.

Screen sharing can be useful beyond demos, too. If you’re sharing a video or presentation in a non-traditional way, screen sharing is a way to show your audience what you’re seeing. Additionally, if you’re demonstrating more than one process or using more than one tool or file, screen sharing is often more effective than screenshots for viewers.

Whiteboard

If you’re explaining a complex topic and want to do it live, using a collaborative whiteboard enables you and other hosts to take notes, illustrate ideas with drawings, or draw arrows to demonstrate a process. The whiteboard feature that some webinar software provides allows your audience to feel like they’re right there with you and gives them a clearer idea of your subject.  

Surveys and polls

Providing polls during your webinar allows you to give your audience a set of options to choose from, keeping your results organized in one place. Polls and surveys give your audience an easy way to engage with your presentation and questions quickly and orderly.

Benefits of hosting webinars

From internal training to capturing leads, marketers from all industries use and define webinars for various purposes. No matter what industry you’re in, below are some of the many ways that you can use a webinar.

Present your newest product

It doesn’t make much sense to expect all of your customers to book a flight to your conference every time you launch a new product. However, asking them for an hour of their time online to showcase your latest creation is a lot more manageable. 

Product webinars are a chance for you to get everyone from your leads to your brand evangelists in one place. You’re not only there to educate registrants on the latest updates but also to answer questions.

Taking the time to discuss your viewers' questions and answer each one can reassure current customers that they’re in good hands while also pushing leads down the pipeline towards purchase. 

Position yourself as the expert

Hosting a webinar on a topic—whether related to how to code a website or mental health—puts the presenter on a virtual pedestal. While some registrants choose to attend for support, many of your attendees are tuning in to hear what you have to say as a thought leader. 

Even if your webinar is free, they’re still giving you their contact information and time out of their day to hear what you have to say. Registrants trust that you’re delivering information that is valuable, unique, and interesting. 

Engage your audience

Unlike social media marketing or banner ads, webinars hold a different power over your audience: the power of scarcity. Social media posts are here to stay, and advertisements are hard to get away from. But live webinars promise a value above traditional marketing tactics, and that value is a much more unique one. 

Showing up late, leaving early, or forgetting to attend your live webinar entirely means that your viewer – prospect, lead, or customer – is missing something. Other attendees now know something that they don’t, and the person who’s missed out is going to be feeling it. 

Even if you choose to record your webinar and post it later, it’s like your viewer is choosing to watch a viral series on Netflix months after it airs. They’ll be in the loop, but only after everyone else is. On top of that, they won’t have the chance to ask questions or answer others’, leaving them in the dark when it comes to interaction. 

Generate new leads

Without leads, there’s no business. Marketers can generate leads in many ways, but they can struggle to attract high-quality leads. Webinars on topics relevant to your business are a great way to generate high-quality leads that marketers are looking for. Why?

The people who see that you’re promoting your webinar will likely venture to your landing page and engage with your form by registering for the event. These are the people who are telling you that they’re interested in whatever it is you have to say. 

Some people may accidentally click on a link or download an asset and be pooled into your list of leads, but those who register and attend your webinar are as high-quality as they get. 

Challenges of a webinar

The benefits of hosting a webinar are plentiful, but they don’t come without their own challenges, either.

From attracting people to your event and keeping them engaged, below are some of the most common challenges that webinar hosts face and how to resolve them before they even arise. 

Technical issues

Webinars have a unique set of challenges, but technical issues are universal across industries, activities, and people around the world.

If you’re organizing a webinar, the largest challenge you’ll have to prepare to face is technical difficulties. From an internet connection to an operating system, the number of different issues you'll be confronted with is endless. 

Promotion

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a webinar is broadcast and nobody attends, do you even have a webinar? The answer to that second question is definitely “no”.

Preparing a webinar means nothing if nobody sees or hears what you have to say. Promotions will make up the majority of your webinar’s success, just like any event’s success. Promoting at the wrong time on the wrong channels will not generate high-quality leads, and it might not even attract an audience. 

Keeping your audience engaged

Our attention spans are shorter than ever, meaning that if there’s a way for us to lose our focus, we will. Holding someone’s attention in a traditional meeting or presentation is one thing, but doing it virtually is another hurdle to jump over. 

The format of your webinar will determine the difficulty of this first step, but one of the things that keeps people engaged is including them in your conversation.

"A great way to break tension is to have a couple of jokes prepared for the intro. Having a few light comments ready to go while introducing guests, touching on housekeeping, or welcoming people can put you in a relaxed mood and help you navigate any awkwardness."

AJ Alonzo
Director of Marketing, Demand Drive

Measuring success 

It’s unlikely that you’ll make direct sales during your webinar, and most companies broadcast free webinars. If you’re not making any money during or immediately after your webinar, what does success look like?

How you determine success should be settled on far before your webinar launches.

Tips for creating an effective webinar

The benefits of webinars can be seized, and the challenges that arise can be resolved, but no matter how well you prepare, your success is never guaranteed.

If you’re broadcasting a webinar for the first time or haven’t seen the results you’d like in previous webinars, be sure to use these tips. 

Before the webinar

• Know your audience: Tailor your content and delivery style to the needs and interests of your target audience.
• Choose a compelling topic: Pick a topic that's relevant, timely, and offers value. Consider the audience's pain points and what they'd like to learn.
  
• Structure your content: Create a clear flow for your webinar. Include an introduction, a strong body with key takeaways, and a dedicated Q&A section at the end.
  
• Craft engaging slides: Use clear visuals, concise text, and high-quality images to boost audience engagement.
  
• Promote effectively: Use multiple channels to spread the word and increase webinar registrations.
• Practice: Rehearse your presentation beforehand to ensure smooth delivery and timing and address any technical glitches.

During the webinar

• Start strong: Hook your audience from the beginning with an attention-grabbing introduction and a clear overview of what they'll learn.
• Be engaging: Speak clearly and confidently, vary your pace and tone, and use visuals effectively.
• Encourage interaction: Polls, quizzes, and Q&A sessions are great ways to interact with the audience and ensure they stay involved.
• Manage time effectively: Stick to your schedule and allocate enough time for presentations, demos, and audience questions.
• Embrace technology: Utilize the features of your webinar platform to share screens, conduct polls, and manage the chat function.

After the webinar

• Follow up: Send a thank you email to attendees with a recording of the webinar and any additional resources.
• Gather feedback: Use surveys or polls to get feedback from attendees.
• Promote post-event: Make your webinar recording available on-demand to reach a wider audience.

Best webinar software in 2024

Webinar software differs from web conferencing and audio conferencing tools in that they’re created to have a focus on one authority and many viewers.

Like all software, there’s no one-size-fits-all webinar tool that works for every business. Depending on your company’s financial state, goals, priorities, and size, some software may be a better fit than others.

To qualify for inclusion in the webinar category, a product must:

• Be meant for multiple presenters with up to hundreds or even thousands of attendees in live webinar sessions
• Include lead capture and registration capabilities
• Provide for the creation of engaging presentations and videos for widespread viewing
• Include performance tracking and audience analytics

* Below are the five leading webinar software from G2’s Spring 2024 Grid® Report. Some reviews may be edited for clarity. 

1. Webex Webinars 

Webex Webinars empowers you to connect with audiences of all sizes and deliver exceptional virtual experiences.  Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, Webex Webinars provides the features and scalability you need to reach a global audience, deliver professional presentations, and gain valuable insights.

What users like best: 

"Webex has quite a good number of features, like video conferencing, webinars, etc. We could easily attend the online training sessions arranged by our organization remotely. It generally doesn't let or crash like its competitors. Not only online training it is quite helpful on video conferencing with n number of people on the go using our mobile or laptop. It is quite easy to install and join meetings on any device."

– Webex Webinars Review, Anand K.

What users dislike: 

"They need to work on mobile support. The app does not work as I would like; sometimes, it throws video or audio errors; they should work on customizing the program for the Linux operating system. I do not recommend working with the Firefox browser. The audio and video quality decreases considerably."

– Webex Webinars Review, Zain K. 

2. Livestorm 

Livestorm is the perfect user-friendly platform that simplifies every step of your video conferencing needs. It empowers you to host high-quality webinars, product demos, online training sessions, and virtual meetings – all from a single, intuitive interface.

What users like best:

"Livestorm is affordable and has all of the features we need. We can easily add registration forms to our website; all webinars are automatically recorded – and in pretty good quality, too, compared to many of the other webinar tools I've used. Most importantly, though, you can integrate Livestorm with Hubspot so all registrants are automatically added to your contact list, which is really important for us."

– Livestorm Review, Elisabet N.

What users dislike: 

"Livestorm is not the most intuitive platform. The internal event room experience can be jarring for team members who haven't used it before, as it's not clear that you aren't visible to outside attendees when you join the stage until you start the actual event. We've experienced a number of issues with configuring event sessions, most recently caused by an uncommunicated migration to a new plan that prevented us from configuring hosts on an existing webinar session. I also wish Livestorm offered more control over the display of team members during the presentation, including the option to show only the team member who is currently speaking."

– Livestorm Review, Emily M. 

3. Zoho Meeting

Zoho Meeting is a secure web conferencing platform designed to empower your remote collaboration.  It goes beyond simple video calls, offering a feature-rich experience for online meetings, webinars, and even hybrid meetings in physical conference rooms. The tool enables high-definition video meetings with screen sharing, collaborative whiteboarding, and real-time chat for effective communication.

What users like best:

“We evaluated Zoho Webinar for our social non-profit organization for a month. We run an actual webinar with multiple hosts and approx. 100+ attendees. We aim to continue with Zoho after comparing other tools for our requirements. The tool is easy to use by people who are not necessarily technical. In the social service world, we encounter many people who are not tech-savvy. In a virtual event, the ease of use of the tool is critical for getting these stakeholders involved.

The people from Zoho customer service and the account management team are very supportive and genuinely provide advice in our best interest."

– Zoho Meeting Review, Ashutosh K.

What users dislike: 

"The thing I dislike about Zoho Meeting is the audio in meetings can sometimes become degraded. When I informed Zoho of this, it was looked into immediately, and some adjustments were made, which seemed to have remedied the problem. Another annoyance is the quality of the background feature. If not in a good spot, it will make you disappear in part to reveal any activity that may be happening in the background."

– Zoho Meeting Review, Dwayne S.

4. Zoom Events and Webinars 

Zoom Events and Webinars is an all-in-one platform designed to empower you to host impactful virtual and hybrid events of any size. Built on Zoom's secure and reliable video conferencing technology, it offers a seamless experience for both you and your attendees.

What users like best: 

"It is very user-friendly and has tons of useful features to help give a great webinar class; it has AI tools, and if for any reason you should have issues, they always have customer support ready to help answer any questions. It has an easy-to-understand integration, and this is the only application I use to run my online classes."

– Zoom Events and Webinars Review, Alberto S.

What users dislike: 

"There is a cooldown for free users if they use up most of their last 10 minutes of the 40-minute free video call time. This has been my problem ever since. I cannot go beyond 35 minutes, or else I won't be able to log in for a good 10 minutes in the next session."

– Zoom Events and Webinars Review, Eunice R.

5. BigMarker

BigMarker offers a comprehensive solution for creating professional, interactive webinars, virtual events, and hybrid experiences. It's the perfect platform for businesses, educational institutions, and anyone who wants to create impactful online events and connect with their audience in a meaningful way.

What users like best: 

“The features that we like best that BigMarker offers include the instant updates from the admin back-end directly to the app, home screen widgets, background image, “My Favorites” schedule, onsite check-in process with custom question, attendee QR code scanning for networking/leads, AI matchmaking based on industry product categories and region, pre-scheduled push notifications, and post-conference analytics."

– BigMarker Review, Cassie S.

What users dislike: 

“The initial learning curve for some of the more advanced features. While the platform is generally user-friendly, diving into some of the more intricate functionalities required a bit of exploration and experimentation. However, the extensive help documentation and responsive customer support team were always there to assist whenever I encountered any challenges."

– BigMarker Review, Robert Attila F.

Ready to tune in? 

The potential your webinar can reach goes beyond your own imagination. But it’s impossible for a webinar to exceed expectations without preparing appropriately.

Just like any other marketing effort, it’s critical that your goals are set clearly, the way that you’ll measure your webinar’s success is determined beforehand, promotion is present on the proper channels, and you and other presenters are well-rehearsed before it’s showtime. 

Interested in checking out what other webinars look and sound like? See examples of G2's own webinars.

This article was originally published in 2020. It has been updated with new information.