December 12, 2017 Aman
Anandpuri
Webinar
dates are locked in, speakers are on board, and timings are confirmed.
Everything seems to be in working order — until an inevitable issue arises to
interfere with the scheduled webinar flow. The best way to avoid these abrupt
circumstances is a simulive webinar event. In a simulive webcast, all audio,
video, and presentation materials are pre-recorded. The webinar is scheduled
and delivered to a live audience at a designated date and time. This gives you
the flexibility of creating an on-demand presentation, plus all the benefits of
running a live webinar. It’s almost like hosting a fully automated webinar.
As a
Demand Gen Marketer at ON24, I execute a variety of marketing programs and,
with the help of simulive webinars, I am always prepared for sudden changes
with my programs. Here are some ways simulive webinars can help:
Global webinars
One
problem I have faced when working across global teams is trying to find the
best time that can fit the schedules of all parties involved (including those
overseas). It is technically possible to find a time to air a live webinar in
EMEA or APAC from North America, but only if someone is sacrificing their
sleep!
Marketing
programs are a global effort. EMEA and APAC timings are drastically different
than in North America. Running our webinars simulive has been a life-saver!
Now, our EMEA webinar hosts jump right into the ON24 platform and record their
slides during the time that fits best with their schedule. This relieves the
stress of late-night or early morning phone calls and juggling a million
schedules at once. Simulive webinars are also a great way to repurpose content
that was created in North America as an EMEA or APAC resource. With simulive,
we can simply copy over an existing event and select for it to air “live” in an
EMEA or APAC specific time zone. Pretty cool!
Speaker unavailability, PTO, and OOO
Simulive
webinars are a GREAT way to keep your webinar on track. More often than not, I
receive email notifications from a speaker mentioning that they are unavailable
to commit for a live date proposed on the marketing calendar. With simulive
webinars, I have the option of letting my speaker know that they can always
pre-record the event at their convenience and we can still run it on the date
that best fits in our calendar. It’s a win-win situation!
By
setting up an event as simulive, we can pre-record the entire webinar before
the scheduled “live” air date. Speakers can go into the recording platform and
record audio on their own time in the comfort of their homes, hotel rooms —
literally anywhere (with a working wifi connection, of course)!
Simulive
webinars take the stress out of running around attempting to lock down guest
speakers. During the “live” air date, the producer and/or presenter(s) will
just be monitoring live questions that come in during the Q&A session of
the webinar.
Speaking nerves
I work
with a variety of speakers daily. Some speakers are extremely outgoing and able
to do live webinars in a breeze, while others are a bit timid and prefer to not
be put in the spotlight. Simulive webinars are a GREAT way to calm your
speaker’s nerves. Simulive webinars allow speakers to log in to the event on
their own time and comfort, without feeling the stress of a live event. If the
speaker makes a mistake, he or she can simply go back into the event and
re-record over any slides.
Simu-live
also gives speakers an opportunity to hear their recorded presentation from
start to finish. If they don’t like what they hear, speakers can go back into
the event and make edits or re-record. Having control over what can be changed
in the presentation relieves speakers and calms their nerves.
Live event emergencies
All
marketers running webinars have experienced a couple of live webinar event
emergencies: The speaker can’t dial into the event, the phone bridge doesn’t
seem to be working, the slides aren’t progressing, screenshare isn’t sharing to
the audience, etc. Simu-live webinars help avoid any live event emergencies.
You have the ability to pre-record your entire presentation, so if something
does come up, it’s easily fixed and redone! Especially when speakers decide to
screenshare and present a live demo, it is extremely convenient to leverage
simulive. You can take the time to make sure the functionality is working
correctly and pre-record rather than project an empty screenshare to an
impatient audience during a live event. Simulive relieves all the stress of a
live event, so all you have to do on the air date is sit back, answer
questions, and enjoy the show.
Multiple webinar events
Webinars
are important for our business, therefore we do A LOT of webinars every month.
There have been times where we book two or three webinars on the same date
because that’s what makes sense on our marketing calendar. Simulive webinars
make it easy for the producer to be in multiple webinar events at once.
Personally, I have managed multiple webinar events that happen on the same day
because they run on simulive. I have everything set up for the webinar events
before the air date and can monitor the Q&A for both events without a
hassle. It’s that easy!
On a
final note, it’s important to be equipped to face any webinar scheduling
troubles/live day hassles and provide your speakers (and yourself) with
seamless alternatives and sanity. Most of the time, simulive webinar events are
the answer to all my webinar worries. On the day of the scheduled “live” event,
there is minimal effort to be done by the producer and presenters; they can sit
back and enjoy the show — literally. Bring out the popcorn!
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