Make people sit up and take notice of your web conferences!

Do you know what are the ten most common and dumb mistakes people make at web conferences? You should be reading this if you conduct web conferences or attend them on a regular basis.

We list out annoying mistakes that make people walk out of the conference half way through. And a few ways to pep up your web conferences!

Every minute counts!

Have you ever wondered why most web conferences start late? Give or take ten minutes seems the norm. But when you dollarize the time wasted it amounts to several hundreds of dollars down the drain. Commence the web conference at a fixed time. Whether it is slides, handouts or other presentation materials, have them in hand. Time delays and lags can increase the drop-out rate.

Leverage technology benefits…

There are several advances and web conferences are becoming more personalized. Make use cutting edge web conference features to avoid getting stale. You could share web cam feeds. Send text messages to participants publicly, conduct polls or have a live twitter stream. This will stop your registrants from feeling bored even if your web conference is three hours long.

Use technology that is accessible to everyone. Plug- ins or downloads should be avoided at all costs.

Nobody likes staring at a bland web conference console!

Customize your console. Include more graphical elements and make it visually pleasing. Use photos, diagrams and charts to illustrate your point. Include your company’s logo or tag line in the console to make it look more personalized, exclusive and visually interesting.

Poor etiquette can drive people round the bend…

Strictly instruct all attendees to silence their desk phones. Inform your registrants about when you’ve scheduled the question time. Don’t encourage attendees to ask the same questions over and over. Inform politely that you discussed this question with “xx” before and that you’d send across a transcript, to help them get the answer.

Don’t make ‘half an hour’ promises!

Don’t ever say this will take another twenty minutes when it is going to take an hour. Most people feel tricked, cheated and trapped if you give false promises. State, the exact time and duration, of, each, segment.

Become easier to connect with…

People don’t make overseas or Trans- Atlantic calls unless it is really important. Have a toll free number to connect with the audience. Test your phone lines before the conference. Have a moderator to pick up, divert and place calls. So your phone lines don’t get jammed.