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With social distancing sweeping the globe, within the next few weeks you will likely be looking at turning your workshops, training sessions, talks, and keynotes into online experiences.
If you haven’t done this before, or simply feel more confident on a stage than in front of a camera, this can feel daunting. But before you feel overwhelmed, we’d like to share some resources that can help.
As the speaking industry has moved more and more online over the past few years, we have steadily been creating resources that will help you:
decide which tools, apps, and platforms are best for you
learn how to speak specifically for video for online-audiences
create interactive, engaging webinars
Figure out how to diversify your revenue streams off-stage
Let’s get started.
You are likely going to be looking at how you can offer your talk or training session as a webinar within the next few weeks.
The articles below will help you navigate platforms, audience engagement, and learn how to generate revenue from your webinars.
1. The comprehensive webinar checklist
With a good plan in place, a webinar is relatively simple to do. This being said, they take a fair bit of planning and communicating if you’d like them to be successful (ie. having people show up and find your message impactful/useful.) With this in mind, we have drawn on our collective experience here at SpeakerHub to create this useful checklist for webinar hosts. We wanted to convert these ideas into a very practical format, so we created a two-page PDF checklist that you can print off and change to suit your needs.
2. Use webinars to boost your speaking revenues
Ken Molay is an expert on webinars and has been teaching speakers how to host them effectively for 20 years. His background in public speaking, stage acting, and corporate training has given him a unique perspective. He shares new ideas on how to leverage the online world to support and enhance your earnings potential as a professional speaker.
3. Body language in a digital world with Dr Nick Morgan
In this fascinating, high-energy podcast interview, Dr Nick Morgan and Ryan Foland talk about how to use body language effectively online. They discuss how to integrate elements of body language into your digital communication, and the things you can do to make sure the meaning behind your digital communication doesn’t get misconstrued.
4. 10 Webinar platforms reviewed (Plus 3 free tools you can start using today)
Figure out what you need from a webinar platform and what options are available to you. Dive into the pros and cons of GoToWebinar, ClickWebinar, Join.me, Adobe Connect, UberConference, ZOHO Meeting, ReadyTalk, WebinarJam, Zoom, and AnyMeeting. We also explore free options, like Facebook or YouTube Live, Google+ Hangouts, and Skype.
5. Captivate your webinar audience: how to create an engaging online event
Webinars are a highly effective, versatile way of reaching out and communicating with your audience amidst social distancing. And while they allow you to connect with people across the globe virtually, many speakers find they pose a completely different set of challenges. Mainly, how do you keep your online audience engaged? This article covers some strategies.
6. 5 ways to make your webinar interactive
While more and more speakers bring their content online by offering webinars, how can you stay ahead by getting creative and interactive in your sessions? This article and infographic will delve into a few ideas on how to stay ahead of the game and give audiences quality information while ensuring they stay engaged with you right through to the end of the webinar.
An essential component of many online-experiences is video. But presenting on video is a substantially different experience than presenting on a stage or in front of a live audience. The articles below will help you get started.
7. Live Video for professional speakers
Live Video is one of the fastest-growing trends for professional speakers: it is a way to connect instantly with your audience and share your message 100% remotely. But how do you set up a Live Video session? How do you keep the audience engaged? Find out in this article.
8. Getting on camera, with Dorien Morin-van Dam
Ryan Foland speaks with Dorien Morin-van Dam in this World of Speakers podcast interview. Dorien is a marketing trainer and consultant who specializes in video and social media. The two of them explore the topic of videos, specifically how mid-level speakers can maximize on tools they already have, like a smartphone and Facebook Live, to connect with their audiences.
9. Mastering Facebook Live, with Mari Smith
Mari Smith, the Queen of Facebook, is one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing and has been featured on Forbes’ perennial Top Social Media Power Influencers lists. In this podcast interview for World of Speakers they talk about how speakers can use Facebook Live to engage their audiences. If you’ve been thinking that it’s about time you mastered Facebook marketing, this is a great place to start.
10. Impactful speaking in a digital age, with Brian Fanzo
Ryan Foland speaks with Brian Fanzo, a groundbreaking social media and communications expert who has mastered Facebook’s Live Video. Brian is maximizing on the new technology to connect with audiences from around the world, and this World of Speaker podcast interview offers a lot of great insights on how to get started.
11. YouTube, Canva, and SlideShare: How to repurpose your presentation as marketing material
Now might be a good time to look at what resources you already have—mainly your older presentation slides—and turn them into new content that you can use to continue sharing ideas online. The article looks at three free tools; YouTube, Canva, and SlideShare, and how to use them to create shareable content.
12. Using killer videos in your training sessions for top-level audience engagement
You can use videos strategically throughout your session to help hit home points, drive discussions, tell stories, or re-engage a fading audience. However, when used incorrectly, videos can be a big time suck and leave the audience unengaged. Find out how to pick the right videos and when to use them effectively.
We are all uncertain as to how the chips will fall after the current crisis, but perhaps this is a good time to look at ways to develop revenue when the stage is no longer an option.
If you are an expert in your field or have a message that needs to be shared, there are creative ways to get your message out while continuing to add to your income.
13. 10 ways to monetize your professional speaking business
There are many benefits to creating a business model that does not rely exclusively on getting paid to speak on stage. When you are building your speaking business, boost your financial security by diversifying your sources of income. Here are 10 ideas to get you started.
14. Build your speaker business: 5 ways to monetize beyond your talk
From writing a book to setting up online training courses, this article offers some strategies for building your business off-stage. Please note there is a lot of advice here on how to use stages, but this same advice is applicable to online events.
15. How to promote your event online like a pro
There are hundreds of details to consider when it comes to organizing a great event and there are no real easy short-cuts, but sometimes a clear and simple list can make a world of difference. This infographic will help you narrow down what you need to do to create a successful online event.
Helpful articles and resources
16. The World of Speakers Podcast
From coping with the COVID-19 crisis to being consistently creative, the World of Speakers podcast’s 70+ episodes cover all aspects of speaking. From business building to presenting tips, there are over 50hrs of recordings filled with insights. Listen now on SpeakerHub, SoundCloud, or iTunes.
17. Top 10 most-read articles on SpeakerHub
The articles, podcasts, infographics and videos on SpeakerHub's SkillCamp provide professional speakers with new ideas, expert insights, practical how-to's, and inspiration. The key focuses are speaking skills and business building. See which articles have been most read by our readers.
18. SkillCamp for Solopreneurs
This series on SkillCamp looks at how to build your business as a solopreneur speaker and covers topics such as common roadblocks and challenges and how to get over them, the best tools and platforms, marketing, and business strategies.
19. The ultimate reading list: 50 great books that every speaker should read
We’ve compiled this list of book recommendations by assessing the areas in which speakers typically need inspiration or guidance. Many of these books will cross categories and have great ideas that span from creating influential openings, to designing impactful slides.
20. 31 of the best smartphone apps for presenters and professional speakers
As presentation skills become more important for professionals across all industries, there has been a slew of new apps developed that can help you give better presentations. From platforms that will help you create visually stunning presentation slides, to tools which will train you in perfecting your pace and timing—there’s an app for that.
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