How to Make an Interactive Webinar? (Fun Webinar Ideas)

Everything has gone online, from online shopping to virtual seminars. So, if people can’t make it or the management wants to make things more convenient, an online interactive webinar is a go-to.

However, there is a debate as to its effectiveness.

It must be the home setting. The fact that you can attend without first taking a shower, getting really comfortable, or the presence of different distractions.

Regardless, a seminar is already boring as it is; how much more when it is all done on one single screen in the comfort of one’s preferred place? 

Should you just let your audience doze off? Get busy with something else while you are talking in the background. No! 

You should do your best to gain their attention. It can be difficult, but as a presenter, it is your responsibility to make it hard for them to ignore you.

If you are delivering a quality presentation, participation is a given instead of a conscious decision that your audience has to make.

The question now is, how do you do that? Is it really possible to keep your online audience awake and participative?

6 Interactive webinar ideas to make an engaging webinar

The spotlight might be pointed at you, but that doesn’t mean that you should do everything all the time.

When you do everything, your listeners eventually get bored.

No matter how interesting the topic might be, if all that they do is sit and listen, their minds are bound to drift somewhere.

Instead, you need to engage them constantly.

Follow these simple interactive webinar ideas and techniques so that you don’t lose your audience to boredom.

1. Ask a Question

One way to keep your audience on their toes is to ask a question.

However, don’t capitalize on fear. Don’t punish those who cannot answer, but instead, motivate them to speak their minds.

If there is one thing people want to do, that is to talk.

The more they get to voice out their ideas and what they know, the more attentive they get.

Then they start to feel that they are part of the learning process and that they matter.

2. Survey Your Audience

Your questions should not be targeted at a single person alone. In some cases, address the entire audience. Ask something and let the response be a raising of hands.

What you are doing is a survey, and just like the number one on this list, it allows your audience to partake in the webinar.

As a result, it gets less boring and makes them feel that they can relate to what is happening.

3. Start a Discussion

Asking questions is great, but you know what’s better? Starting a discussion. Motivate people to speak their minds regarding a certain topic and enable your audience to exchange ideas.

Most of your listeners know something. They understand one aspect of the webinar, but they leave a lot of questions unanswered.

One way for them to engage and, at the same time, get answers is through a discussion. It is one of the key concepts to creating interactive webinars for collaborative learning.

4. Test Your Audience

In some cases, pressure is necessary. You want to keep your listeners on the edge of their seats by testing them.

It will help them gauge what they have learned and whether or not they should listen harder and be more attentive.

On the other hand, people don’t want to fail. So, even if you perform a test that will affect them in no way they will still do their best.

In turn, this results in more participation.

5. Critique

One of the most controversial things you can do is voice out your personal opinion. It is one of the strongest webinar engagement activities.

People will agree or disagree, regardless, you urge them to speak up or engage.

One way to do that is to critique something in front of them. If the webinar is about business, critique a certain brand or business and its strategies.

In no time, one is bound to step up to make either the same or a different point.

6. Make your webinar interactive using QR Codes

To get the attention of your audience, give them something they don’t expect. A surprise can come in various forms, but one that can give it a little twist is the use of QR codes.

Show one in front of them and have them scan for something you have prepared. You can direct them to engaging content or even a game. 

Related: How to use QR codes in your PowerPoint presentation

How to Create a Webinar Presentation

During a webinar, there is one thing you are capitalizing on, and that is your presentation. It is the only material you can present, so it is the only thing your listeners see, other than yourself.

If you want them to pay attention to you, your presentation should be one that is hard to get their eyes off.

1. Keep It Simple

Don’t be one of those people who spend so much time designing their presentation. In reality, nobody really cares.

Nobody really bothers to appreciate the amount of time you placed on your borders and the design elements you infused. If anything, it only makes your presentation crowded.

What you want to do is keep everything simple. Choose a design and color that is relaxing to the eyes. Other than that, concentrate on the content of your presentation.

2. Always Be Straight to the Point

Your presentation should only include important information that matters.

Most of the time, you get tempted to put in paragraphs and long lines of text.

You see it as providing a reference to your audience, but who takes the time to read all of that on their screen? It is not effective because nobody really bothers.

3. Highlight What’s Important

All the information in your presentation should be important, but one thing is going to be more important than the other.

So, highlight different things based on how your audience should perceive them.

You can create a list in bullet form or only include information that is noteworthy.

It would be hard for your listeners to take their eyes off when everything on it is worthwhile information. So, every slide you proceed to will be met with anticipation.

4. Follow a Format

If you create a presentation that has each slide looking different from one another, it gets tedious and tiring for your audience.

At some point, trying to understand each slide is something they will give up on.

So, find a format you like and stick to that. The more coherent and uniform your format is, the easier it is to understand and follow for your audience.

5. Have Photos

As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. So, you will want to infuse images in your presentation. For example, if you are talking about business, show photos of successful business ventures.

It will help your listeners visualize the message you are trying to impart.

In addition, people don’t really like reading. So, while you decrease the number of words in your presentation, replace them with images instead.

6. Use QR Codes

Whether it is an informative or marketing webinar that you are having, there is always a place for QR codes in it.

Instead of using the traditional link to tell people your sources or when you want them to check something out, start utilizing QR codes.  

Nobody has the time to type a long URL address.

So, if you want to make sure that your audience puts in the effort to pay attention to all that you show, make sure to keep everything simple and convenient. 

Related: How to convert URL to QR Code in 6 steps  

How to Keep a Webinar Alive

Try to remember how long you can concentrate in a class or meeting. People can barely sit and listen for more than an hour. How much more during a webinar that doesn’t have much stimulation?

There is more to keeping a webinar alive than engagement and presentation. It also includes understanding what your audience needs. Making it easier for them physically and mentally will help them stay attentive.

How do you keep your audience in tip-top shape during a webinar?

1. Infuse a Break Time

No matter how good your presentation is, after an hour of the webinar, everyone will be tired of it.

As a result, their attention span significantly decreases, and they are just hoping for everything to end. When that happens, the purpose of your webinar goes out the window.

It is not your listeners’ fault for losing interest. How could they be when they are physically and mentally drained?

You should at least provide break times in between for them to collect themselves and get back on track.

2. Be Spontaneous

When everything you are talking about is the topic at hand, it creates a momentum of monotony.

The hard truth is that no matter how interesting your presentation is, it just gets predictable.

When that happens, boredom ensues.

So, from time to time, break the flow by being a little spontaneous. Dwell a little around different topics before returning to where you have left.

You could also do things out of your script so everybody gets the rest they need.

3. Fun Chat Session

Do the members of your webinar know each other? They should because it will bring down the barrier between them and allow for a more comfortable experience.

When they don’t, have a fun chat session just before everything else.

People can talk, and those who are shy, they can chat.

It only takes one message to urge others to keep it going. Before you know it, people are having fun and forget that they are there for something more serious.

4. Side High-Fives

People are trapped in their small screens and enclosed in squares.

You can’t really blame them if, at some point, they get bored of being there.

One way to break the barrier of boredom is to make them feel that the physical constraints are not there at all. That they are more than just on their screens but actually engaging beyond that.

It might be hard to visualize, but there are different things you can do. One is to do a side high-five.

You urge people to put their palms at the edge of their borders, recreating what seems to be a physical high-five with the person next to them.

It is interesting, fun, and engaging, which breaks the ice away.

5. Scavenger Hunt

The main disadvantage of a webinar is that people are in various places.

However, you can actually turn that into an advantage.

Have at least one scavenger hunt throughout the duration of a webinar.

What you do is have people bring something specific to their screens.

Some would have them by their side while others have to scour around. That is the fun part.

Each has its own advantage and disadvantage, which urges a conversation and breaks the ice.

It isn’t just physical but also activates the mind in preparation for the webinar.

6. QR Code Games

With the help of dynamic QR codes, you can generate a QR code game to break the ice.

You can set the parameter to the number of scanners so that the first ones to scan the code get a surprise while the rest receive something else. 

One game you can have is who gets to be the fastest to make a scan.

This will keep your audience on the edge of their seat in anticipation.

Another can be a QR code hunting game wherein QR codes are spread randomly throughout your presentation, and your audience needs to pay attention, or else they won’t be able to catch them. 

Webinars don’t have to be boring

People think that it is inevitable webinars are always boring. It can be that way when you don’t try.

However, with the right approaches and engagement, it doesn’t necessarily have to end that way.

To make things better, the best webinars are the simplest.

A simple presentation paired with understanding the needs of your listeners. 

Adding to that, you can also use QR codes to make your webinar interactive today. 

Related: How to use QR codes in the workplace

Promote your webinar with QR codes using QR TIGER

QR code technology not just makes your webinar interactive; you can also use it to promote your upcoming webinar events.

You can make use of it in your print marketing, digital marketing, and email marketing efforts.

Use se this technology and drive more registrants and attendees to your webinar with QR codes. 

To learn more about the creative ways to promote your webinar to a wider audience, visit this article about effective webinar marketing with QR codes.