Tips and Techniques for Designing Interactive

Webinars
Julia Young, Facilitate.com

Design Principle 1:
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Start with interactive learning objectives
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1. Start with what you already know from face-to-face find out about our free
workshops – the principles of designing a good interactive webinars on
interactive workshop still apply. running high performance
2. An existing workshop agenda is a good place to begin virtual meetings.
– remind yourself of your learning objectives for each
interactive exercise. Experience the difference!
3. Ask how a virtual learning format can provide added
advantage. What can you do now that you couldn’t in
a face-to-face format?
 Increase number of people who can participate
 Include people from multiple locations at the same time
 Engage participants from different cultures and backgrounds
 Link learning to on-the-job experience and practice
 Extend learning process in short bursts over a period of time
 Include participants on a need-to-know basis with modular events
 Reduce travel costs
 Extend the reach of training and learning professionals
 Provide consistent delivery across a global organization
 Extend the reach and impact of face-to-face learning events in a blended solutions

4. List out your biggest worries or concerns about running a webinar – identifying the problem is
half the solution.
5. Participate in five free webinars on topics you care about – make notes about your experience
as a participant. What interactive methods worked? When did you lose focus and start multi-
tasking? What would have kept you engaged? What grabbed your attention – why?

Design Principle 2:
Divide Learning Content into Three Areas
6. Identify content materials and information that participants can read and review on their own –
this is potential pre-work material.
7. Identify knowledge and information that benefits from listening and questioning a subject
matter expert – this is likely webinar material. Could you create a podcast or video snippet to
share ahead of time or during the webinar?

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8. Identify areas of shared knowledge and experiential learning that benefits from interaction
between participants – these are areas for the pre-work and/or webinar were you need to
create virtual interactive activities.
9. Look at your existing content materials – workbooks, case studies, team exercises, tests,
discussion topics. How can these be adapted to facilitate the virtual learner?
 Turn a slide presentation into a more detailed article for pre-reading
 Provide a slide presentation in a workbook ahead of time with space and prompts for notes
 Create the solution to a case study as an example to read later
 Prepare a series of questions to go along with pre-reading that can be discussed in pairs or triads by
phone
 Find out what the subject matter expert is going to say and solicit questions from participants ahead
of time
 Create a self-assessment survey that conveys key points and applies them to the individual learner

10. Plan on 60% of your webinar being interactive – that is, with all participants actively engaged
in doing something rather than listening to someone (while doing their email).

Design Principle 3:
Utilize both Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning Methods
11. Assume a webinar is 60-90 minutes in length. Determine how many webinars you can
comfortably schedule. Everything else needs to be done asynchronously.
12. Divide learning content into distinct learning modules – expect a full day course to convert to
two or three webinars with pre- and post work.
13. Brainstorm different ways of building in interactive webinar components (see #15). Prioritize
the ideas that you would find most engaging and effective if you were a participant.
14. Be creative – brainstorm different ways of creating connections and interaction between
participants, in pairs or threes or as a whole. Define what an effective “learning group” would
mean for your program.
15. Explore some of the following interactive webinar activities:
 Moderated panel with Q&A
 Problem solving exercises with online brainstorming, categorizing, prioritizing
 Ideation activities prompted by images, graphics, video clips
 Storytelling and reflection
 Quick polls and pop quizzes
 Team building discussions
 Ice breakers
 Breakout groups for Virtual World Café or round-robin discussions on one or more topics
 Case study analysis
 Appreciative inquiry
 Cross-table talk
 Online debate – point/counter-point
 Team challenges and competitions with voting for the best ideas/solutions

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16. Select which of the following asynchronous pre/post webinar activities would add value to
your webinar:
 Pre-reading of materials, including slide presentations
 Online introductions – sharing of photos, web sites, bios
 Expectations exchange
 Self-assessment survey
 Partnering activities in twos or threes
 Online brainstorming & prioritizing of ideas for later discussion
 Pre- and Post surveys or tests
 Prioritizing session content – student focused learning
 Action research – practice and reporting back
 Small group exercises locally or with virtual teams
 Individual and small group coaching
 Session feedback survey

Design Principle 4:
The importance of pre-work
17. Describe the ideal “prepared participant.” How can you get all participants to this level of
readiness? How will you know if they are?
18. Solicit questions ahead of time. This helps prepare participants for a good conversation as well
as help you adjust your material to match the interest of this particular group.
19. Determine the importance of trust and social capital (willingness to engage as a group) that is
needed to support your learning objectives. How can you create connections head of time to
build the right kind of trustworthy environment for your interactive webinar?
20. Pair up participants for a 15 minute phone conversation about the pre-reading to build in
accountability and improve the quality of preparation.
21. Get to know the participants yourself and establish your own virtual facilitator personality.
Establish the equivalent of your “front of room” presence through the content, tone and
individuality of your communications.

Design Principle 5:
Include Individual, Small and Large Group Activities
22. Interaction before the webinar sets the expectation for interaction during the webinar.
23. In a workshop, participants often learn as much or more from each other as from the
presenter – this applies to webinars also.
 Design your agenda with a distracted participant in mind.
 Be sure to design your agenda with: tight content; lively speakers; no more than 10 minutes or three
slides of talking before a fully interactive exercise; and, more than fifty percent of time spent
collecting and responding to ideas, questions, perspectives from participants.

24. People are more likely to be typing than listening – give them something to type about.
25. There is little air time when one person talks at a time – use online meeting tools to allow
everyone to talk at once and then summarize and reflect on what you have collectively
created.
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26. It’s OK to have silence on a webinar. Quiet, individual thinking time gives participants a chance
to absorb ideas and apply them to their own scenarios. Time to type ideas into a shared online
flip chart gives everyone a “voice” and can be much more engaging than sitting and listening
to one person talk at a time.

Design Principle 6:
Take the role of moderator and facilitator, rather than presenter/speaker
27. More pull in from the participants, less push out to the audience.
28. Webinars are more interactive if the moderator is in conversation with the whole group rather
than him/herself or with a presenter.
29. Five simple rules for presentations
 No more than three slides before an interactive exercise
 No more than 10 minutes before an interactive exercise - correction, make that 5 minutes
 Use slide animation to make slides more visually interesting
 Know your material with your eyes closed – practice to keep your delivery short and to the point
 Listen to yourself, know what you sound like to others on the call, vary your tone of voice to show that
you are excited by, interesting in, wondering about, doubtful of, amused by… the material that you
are presenting

30. Five ideas for making presentations interactive

 Hand out your slides ahead of time so participants can be ready to discuss them
 Solicit questions ahead of time so that you can know your audience and focus your comments on their
questions
 Ask a question on each slide – think of an example of, how does this apply to your work, what would
be the impact of… – or start with a quick poll
 Be interested in what your participants have to say, make their input a part of the dialogue, prompted
by what you are showing on your slide
 Integrate the information giving with a brainstorming or prioritizing exercise that will allow all
participants to engage with the material and apply the ideas you are discussing

31. Five ways to use webinar speakers and panelists effectively

 Use an interview format with a moderator rather than a presentation format – prepare and share
your questions with each other ahead of time, practice your interaction so that you are interesting to
listen to
 Set up a point and counter-point between panelists to create an interesting conversation and to
challenge participant thinking
 Use an inquiry circle technique asking each panelist to end their statements with a question – what
this leaves me wondering is…
 Collect comments and questions from the audience during the participation – use a moderator to ask
pertinent questions or open the microphone to named individuals
 Use subject matter experts to get a conversation or idea generation exercise started then open up to
all the participants; circle back around to the guest speakers to summarize what you have heard from
the group – web collaboration tools are best suited to support this kind of interactivity and idea
sharing.

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Design Principle 7:
Tailor the interactive experience to the size of your group
32. Mini webinars: 5-10 people
 Take advantage of the small group size to foster a conversational tone and the feeling of sitting
around a table. Assume everyone can have air time.
 Provide opportunities for the group to get to know each other and build social capital that can lead to
sharing of personal stories and experiences in a trustworthy environment.
 Be prepared to provide both content and process components.
 Talk to people ahead of time and get to know something about them and their interest in your topic.
This gives you something to refer to in your session and a way to connect with them on the call.

33. Small webinars: 10-25 people

 Shift introductions to before the webinar using a shared sign-in sheet with photos and background
 Pair participants up to connect with someone ahead of time over a pre-work exercise.
 Consider whether you could use the assistance of a moderator, subject matter expert or co-facilitator
to help manage both content and process, especially if you are using collaborative meeting tools to
provide opportunities for greater interaction and participation.
 Use emails as primary means to connect with participants ahead of time - perhaps following up with
phone calls to those who are unresponsive.

34. Medium webinars: 25-50 people

 The connection with and between participants is more distant and less personal. You will rely on
group emails to provide information, instructions and logistical details.
 Team up with a moderator, subject matter expert or co-facilitator to help manage attention to
content and process particularly when using chat tools to gather questions from participants.
 As the two-way audio bridge starts to become more difficult to manage, consider setting up separate
lines or “audio breakout rooms” to allow for small group work and discussions.
 Use collaborative web meeting tools for shared brainstorming, categorizing and voting/prioritizing
activities to build interactive components and enable group interaction before, during and after the
webinar.

35. Large webinars: 50-150 people

 Assume that the shared learning experience will be more impersonal but may still be interactive and
engaging.
 As the audio bridge will be primarily one way, team the moderator with a subject matter expert or
panel to provide verbal commentary and introduce topics and materials.
 Use collaborative web meeting tools enable full participation by posing questions and scenarios and
sharing everyone's typed responses. Have the moderator and panelists review and comment on the
collective input, providing feedback to deepen the learning.
 Make printed output available to all participants to provide the benefit of a shared learning.

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36. Very large webinars 150+
 Webinars of this size tend to be communication devices with a subject matter expert or panel in
conversation or making a presentation. These events may best be held asynchronously, available for
view and review at any time. Interaction will be limited but questions and topics may be collected
ahead of time or sent in while on-air via email or Twitter.
 Use live blog tools to allow listeners to contribute questions and opinions. Use collaborative web
meeting tools to collect large group input before, during and after the live event.

Design Principle 8:
Select the right technology to facilitate participant interaction and engagement
37. Look for technology to support your learning objectives and interactive design rather than limit
your design to the most common web conferencing tools.
 Use web conferencing services for same time webinars that primarily push information out to an
audience.

 Use web collaboration tools like FacilitatePro from Facilitate.com for facilitated virtual workshops and
webinars where an important component of the process is to pull ideas and comments in from
participants.

38. Use collaboration technology to support both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration –
good for pre-work!
39. Be familiar with your tools. If you don’t have time to practice, just use the telephone.
40. Demand that technology be reliable and easy to use. Know that there will be glitches and user
error – keep a good sense of humor and have a back-up plan.
41. Be aware that technology that requires downloading something adds complexity, especially if
people are signing on at the last minute. Make sure your participants sign in early, and/or
complete assigned pre-work

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Contact MoreInfo@Facilitate.com to find out about our free interactive webinars on running high
performance virtual meetings. Experience the difference!

Julia Young is Vice President and co-founder of Facilitate.com, a leading provider of web meeting
software whose signature product, FacilitatePro, offers collaboration tools for innovative thinking
and decision making. Julia has over 20 years of experience as a facilitator and process consultant,
the last sixteen of which have been focused on the integration of collaboration technology into
group processes for both face-to-face and virtual meetings.

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