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Optimize your webinar with screen sharing

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably hosted or attended a webinar in the past few weeks. In fact, the average company hosts 23 webinars per year. And while these live, online meetings and seminars may not be the newest tool in your kit, 73 percent of B2B marketers surveyed believe that webinars are a simple, cost-effective method for generating high-quality leads, connecting with remote teams, training new staffers, hosting employee or customer town halls, or simply sharing knowledge with others.  

 

However, with so many webinars available across virtually every industry, your webinars need to stand out from the crowd. Which means fantastic software can make all the difference. 

 

With the power to do live video broadcasts, record your event, and encourage the audience to interact, you can create a more engaging webinar. And with built-in screen sharing tools, you can take your webinar to a whole new level. 

Why screen sharing (still) matters 

Screen sharing has been around for a while, but with all the advancements in webinar technology, it’s also one of the most overlooked and underrated tools available. So, let’s explore just a few of the ways that screen sharing can improve your webinar.

It lets you show AND tell

Roughly 65 percent of the population learns visually (and 30 percent are auditory learners), so by using screen sharing and your voice, you can engage up to 95 percent of your and audience in the way that suits them best.  

Through screen sharing, rather than merely explaining something to your audience verbally, you can demonstrate how a piece of software, a process or website works. And because screen sharing lets you often communicate complex processes more clearly (as opposed to using static drawings or charts), it can make the presentation more comfortable for you and make it more meaningful for your audience. So, in cases like this, screen sharing can be a win-win.   

A man and a woman sit at a desk in an office, holding a tablet and looking at a computer screen

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Allows for co-presenting


Some software tools allow you to share your screen and then hand the controls over to another presenter, so they can share their screen and continue the discussion. This feature can make it easier to provide attendees with differing or complementary perspectives and can help take some of the pressure off the host or primary presenter. Plus, a webinar featuring two (or more) people can be more fun and engaging to watch than a webinar with a single presenter. 

Helps avoid errors

When planning a webinar, most people will use a slideshow presentation tool to help them organize their thoughts and deliver information. But sometimes, when uploading slides to live broadcast or webinar software, that software can change fonts, animations and shapes, making your slides look unprofessional.

However, if you use screen sharing during your webinar, you’ll demonstrate to your audience what’s on your screen – and the software won’t have the opportunity to make any unwanted or unexpected changes to the file.  

It can work with video cams

 As a way to keep things appealing and engaging, some webinar software not only lets you share your screen but allows you to stream live video simultaneously. This way, your audience can see you in one area of their monitor (usually a corner) while also viewing your shared screen. And, during those times when you don’t want or need to share your screen, you can switch the display and fill the screen with your live video image.

Encourages participation

Even while sharing your screen, some webinar software allows you to post an audience poll, take questions in a chat window, use an interactive whiteboard, or share your computer’s audio so that you can play a video. In this manner, you can encourage participation and engage your audience without ever leaving your desktop.

Although screen sharing may, these days, seem like an elementary function of any webinar software, it has evolved and changed with the times. And because it can now give you the power to share information visually and auditorily, allow you to have co-presenters and interact with your audience, it’s easily one of the most important features for anyone who hosts meetings on the web.  

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Business Insights and Ideas does not constitute professional tax or financial advice. You should contact your own tax or financial professional to discuss your situation.

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