| The growth in use of teleseminars is astonishing but | | | | for larger teleseminars as they can be intrusive. |
| how do you ensure that yours will be a success? This | | | | Conversely, you don't want to be embarrassed if |
| article is the result of 13 years experience in running | | | | fewer than expected people attend! |
| teleconferencing services. | | | | 6 - Sound Quality |
| 1 - Practice Everything | | | | Poor sound quality will kill a meeting. If the participants |
| You have one chance to get it right so do everything | | | | cannot hear you because you have a poor quality |
| possible to ensure that your teleseminar goes | | | | phone or there is too much background noise they will |
| smoothly. Practice everything you can in your control | | | | disconnect. Join the teleseminar from a quiet room |
| and prepare for the things you cannot control. The | | | | where you will not be disturbed. Use a speakerphone |
| Presentation Most presentations are done this way - | | | | only if you have a really good one and are 100% sure |
| because it works. | | | | of zero background noise. Don't connect via VoIP |
| Tell them what you are going to tell them | | | | Skype - never take chances with sound quality. If you |
| Tell them - this is the body of your presentation | | | | will be hosting meetings on a regular basis invest in a |
| Tell them what you just told them - summarize your | | | | headset to keep your hands free. |
| presentation | | | | 7 - Managing The Meeting |
| Call to action - what they should do about it, how to | | | | Just before the start time you (or a colleague) should |
| buy, sign up etc | | | | call into the meeting as a call leader. This will remove |
| 2 - Keep It Simple | | | | the pre-meeting music. You or your colleague should |
| Keep it simple and to the point. The audience will | | | | welcome everybody and: Remind them what the |
| remember only a few things from the presentation (no | | | | teleseminar is about |
| matter how brilliant it is). Make sure they are the points | | | | Explain that all lines will be in lecture mode during the |
| you want them to remember by repeating them. Your | | | | teleseminar to keep the background noise down and |
| attendees may have a short attention span so keep | | | | make it easier for everyone to hear. |
| the presentation focussed and brief. | | | | Attendees often join 5-8 minutes late so you need to |
| 3 - Practice the presentation | | | | keep the people who joined on time happy whilst you |
| Presenting over the telephone can be more challenging | | | | wait for the full audience to join. |
| than being in the same room as the audience because | | | | Tell everyone you will be recording the meeting and |
| there is no visual or audible feedback. For this reason, | | | | then start the recording |
| many presenters will script their whole presentation or | | | | Place the teleseminar in lecture mode if there are |
| at least the first few minutes until they get into the | | | | more than 20 lines or so |
| flow of it. If you do script the teleseminar, practice until | | | | Make introductions and hand over to any guest |
| it sounds like you are chatting to the audience. Choose | | | | speakers |
| your vocabulary to suit the audience - don't use jargon | | | | At the end of the presentation most presenters will |
| they won't understand. Try not to use empty words or | | | | say something like: "that's the end of the structured |
| phrases such as like, sort of, basically, to be honest. | | | | part of the presentation, I'd like to open up the |
| 4 - Questions | | | | teleseminar so that I can answer questions. Please |
| Most presentations will have a question and answer | | | | press star 6 to mute your line when you are not |
| session at the end. In fact, if you don't have one it may | | | | speaking (if you don't have a mute button) and press it |
| infer to the audience that you have something to hide. | | | | again if you wish to be heard. |
| Have an answer ready for all of the common | | | | 8 - Co Presenters |
| questions. What if there are no questions, is no one | | | | If you have a co-presenter, have a run through with |
| interested? Always be prepared for this by creating | | | | them. Also cover where they will be, the phone they |
| your own questions. It's not a bad idea to have a | | | | will be using and that they should call in using the call |
| couple of people planted in the audience to ask | | | | leader PIN. |
| predetermined questions . Even easier is to say "I | | | | 9 - Practice Using The Commands |
| received an email from Fred Smith this morning who | | | | Practice several days in advance using all aspects of |
| said he could not attend but wanted to know" | | | | the service so that there are no surprises and that the |
| 5 - Find a teleconference service provider that | | | | service is what you were expecting. |
| understands teleseminars | | | | 10 - Analyse How You Did |
| Ensure your conference call service allows: | | | | Listen to the recording so that you can hear what |
| Enough lines to be connected simultaneously | | | | works and what to change for next time. A good |
| The conference leader to have a different PIN code | | | | service provider will have an online portal which allows |
| to the attendees | | | | you to see who joined and their connect / disconnect |
| Co-presenters to share the leader PIN | | | | times. If everyone stayed on for the full presentation |
| Attendees to be muted by the conference leader | | | | and only left after the Q&A you know you are |
| Attendees to mute their own lines | | | | doing well. If they leave half way through, what does |
| The teleconference to be recorded | | | | that tell you? Was the presentation too long, too boring, |
| Entry/exit tones to be turned off. This is very important | | | | or was it indeed the right audience? |