TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

Considerations for Scheduling a “Short-Timeframe” Webinar

Producing an “optimum” webinar production – and obtaining optimum results – requires a minimum 60-day schedule to do a thorough job on research, communications development, visual design, market promotion, and presenter preparation. For normal webinars that can be planned in advance, the “Optimum” Webinar Guide Planning Guide and Checklist (create link to the normal turnaround planning guide and checklist) should be used. The guidelines and checklist below should only be used for emergent topics that have a compelling reason to produce a webinar on a compressed timeline. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that because it is not possible to put the same preparation into a 15-day schedule, the production values of the webinar and the results obtained cannot be expected to match those of an event planned and produced much further in advance.

From our recent experiences in putting on webinar events, we learned several valuable lessons that we need to incorporate into planning for future "short notice" webinars. Following are several considerations for determining the business case and objectives for the event to determine the value in diverting resources and making the investment to put on an event sooner rather than later.

  • Clear business objectives stated atthe time the go-ahead for the event is given. Is there a good business case for devoting considerable resources in a short period of time and potentially affecting other initiative schedules? Does the value of the event and nature of the subject matter justify a shift in priorities? For the key planning and presentation people involved, a significant number of hours of work are required for research, preparation, promotional development and other coordination needed to bring the many moving parts together.
  • Minimum timeframe of 15 working days (3work weeks)from the date go-ahead is given. It is unrealistic to attempt to put on a webinar in less than three weeks due to the amount of development work, coordination of the people and requirements for making the event come off professionally and meet its objectives. Three weeks better allowsfor reorganizing schedules, putting together substantial materials, and most importantly, enhancingthe quality of the presentation and performance of the speakers.
  • Electronic invitations must go out to participants a minimum of two weeks prior to the webinar. To optimize the attendance for the webinar, potential participants should have enough advance notice of the event to be able to plan for it in their schedule. Even if they already have a conflict, having enough notice may allow them to designate someone else to log in to the webinar if the topic is important to them.
  • At least one full "dress" rehearsal with all presentation personnel, internal and external speakers – preferably two or three rehearsals.Successful Webinars involve both effective speaking and presentation performances, but also require the precise coordination of a number of technical functions. The speakers need to know how and when to get on to the webinar platform and obtain direction from the Moderator. The Moderator and Host of the Webinar must be able to direct the events and timing, review content for and moderate any interactive elements of the event, summarize questions from the audience and resolve any technical issues behind the scenes. A dress rehearsal will familiarize all those responsible for putting on the Webinar with procedures, timing, and will let them know what to expect when the live presentation is in front of the audience. Without a rehearsal, there is the danger of complete chaos when key participants don’t know what to do.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

Webinar Planning Guide and Checklist:

Short Time-Frame

This timeline provides a checklist for the essential steps to a successful event within a minimum time-frame of three weeks. The guidelines and checklist below should only be used for emergent topics that have a compelling reason to produce a webinar on a compressed timeline. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that because it is not possible to put the same preparation into a 15-day schedule, the production values of the webinar and the results obtained cannot be expected to match those of an event planned and produced much further in advance. The T&D, MCD and IT departments could all be involved in making your webinar happen.

RESPONSIBLE PARTIES:

FIELD: Field Coordinator from the division, office or region offering the webinar

SME: Subject Matter Expert – the presenter(s) for your webinar

HOST: The designated person running the webinar

MCD:Tim Crawford, MCD Director and staff

T&D:Cynthia Stribling, Training Director and staff

IT:Charlotte Doepker, Director of Web Services and staff

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:

MCD Service Request (Use MCD Service Queue, located under Online Applications on Keenan intranet, to submit the initial request for each major component of this process.)

Meetings & Events Service Request (Use Meetings & Events Service Queue to get your event on the Corporate Training Calendar in the Training & Development Department.)

IT Service Request (Use IT Service Queue for any needed IT services.)

PRIOR TO DECISION TO GO AHEAD WITH WEBINAR (By 15 working days prior to event):

FIELD – Obtain approval for webinar from Practice Leader or Corporate Leadership.

FIELD -- Determine subject matter for webinar and contact the SME(s) to establish availability and target timeframe

FIELD - Select several possible webinar dates, taking into account client and prospect availability.

FIELD - Check Corporate Training Calendar for possible conflicts with other meetings or webinars.

FIELD - Assign point person responsibility (if other than field coordinator) and completion dates.

FIELD – Schedule webinar planning conference call with field point person, SME(s), MCD, T&D, and IT to come to decisions on the following items:

  • Clear objective and expectations of what the participants will get out of the webinar
  • List of participants to be invited to the webinar, validated and with email addresses
  • All speaker names, titles, degrees and affiliations confirmed
  • Determine final day and time of the Webinar
  • Initial content of invitation so that distribution can be completed two weeks ahead of the event to maximize participation.
  • Content for presentation (PowerPoint), and who is responsible for collecting and preparing the presentation (SME/HOST?) The preliminary content should be put together early enough so that all the speakers can coordinate what each speaker is going to talk about.
  • Capacity needed for webinar/conference bridge infrastructure based on expected participation
  • Select aModerator who is familiar with the materials that are going to be presented, knows when to switch from speaker to speaker and has some prepared opening and closing remarks.
  • In addition, is that Moderator going to assume the Host functions of the Webinar? The Host uploads the presentations a short time before the Webinar begins, controls who is muted and who is allowed to speak, manages the timing and monitors the chat function if attendees are allowed to submit questions during the presentation.
  • If there is a live Q&A session, the Host selects the questions from the chat submissions and poses them to the speaker(s.) This is a very busy job, and unless the Moderator is experienced with running a webinar, there should be a separate Host.
  • The webinarmust have at least one, preferably more than one, dress rehearsal before the live event in front of clients. There is a lot of credibility at stake, and the more speakers we have, more coordinated rehearsal and preparation is needed.
  • Agree on timeline and accountabilities
  • Determine whether webinar content will be posted on Keenan websites, and made available to attendees.
  • Determine what ancillary materials may need to be posted or new webpage created

FIELD -- Open the MCD Service Queue Request Form on Keenan intranet and review information to be completed.

FIELD - CompleteMeetings & Events Service Queue Request Form to get your event on the Corporate Training Calendar

AT LEAST 3 WEEKS BEFORE WEBINAR:

FIELD - Prepare brief description of webinar and why an invitee would want to attend for Save-The-Date mailer:

  • Request Save-The-Date mailer and invitation. Complete MCD Service Request.
  • Develop talking points/script for AEs and AMs to discuss webinar with invitees.

FIELD - Compile mailing list of invitees. One Excel spreadsheet to be pulled together in the field and submitted to MCD.

FIELD – Prepare text for final invitations and email to MCD. Advise MCD if print hard copies are also needed and request quantity.

AT LEAST 2 WEEKS BEFORE WEBINAR:

MCD/IT–E-mail final invitations. Copy HOST, SME and T&D. NOTE: Do not include audio phone dial-in information in the invitation for distribution to attendees prior to logging into the webinar. Attendees should log into the webinar and then receive the audio phone number on the webinar page. This is important to ensure that the Host can identify all callers and unmute only the speakers at the right time. This will also prevent attendees from showing up on the webinar as anonymous connections.

MCD/IT – Provide information on bounce-back or bad email addresses to HOST for clean up and/or follow-up

FIELD–Clean up mailing list and start follow-up calls by AEs or assigned field staff

FIELD - Maintain list of RSVPs. Keep both T&D and MCD informed of numbers via e-mail (Ongoing – ideal webinar size is 30 to 50 attendees. If at any time, expected attendees increase or decrease significantly, this will affect webinar cost and could require additional resources or prompt cancellation. Notify T&D and MCD immediately in this case.).

DURING WEEK FOLLOWING INVITATIONS GOING OUT:

FIELD - Continue follow-up calls by AEs or assigned field staff

FIELD - Update list of RSVPs. Keep T&D and MCD informed of numbers (Ongoing).

HOST and SME(s)–Finalize presentation to be posted to webinar site. Conduct any practice run-throughs.

AT LEAST 1 WEEK BEFORE WEBINAR:

FIELD – E-mail attendance count to T&D and MCD. (NOTE: webinars with more than 75 attendees may require notification at least 2 weeks before webinar in order to arrange sufficient number of ports.)

HOST -- Conduct dress rehearsal with all participants using the webinar platform. If necessary, conduct more than one rehearsal to ensure everyone understands the procedures and the presentation and timing flows smoothly.

AFTER WEBINAR:

T&D – Provide attendance and chat records to HOST

FIELD - Follow-up on questions from attendees

AT ALL TIMES:

FIELD – Communicate with MCD, T&D and IT whenever questions arise or changes occur.