Webinar coming up? Keep it simple, silly

Join Anastasia as she shares her expert insights on creating engaging and impactful webinars. From keeping things simple to avoiding jargon, discover how you can better connect with your audience. Learn why reading off slides isn't effective and get practical tips to enhance your presentation skills. 

00:00 Introduction and Host Welcome

01:48 The Importance of Keeping It Simple

03:05 Avoiding Jargon and Building Trust

05:38 Using Plain Language and Accessibility

07:37 Simplifying Content for Better Understanding

09:08 The Pitfalls of Reading Off Slides

10:15 Using Imagery and Key Points Effectively

10:36 Engaging Your Audience Beyond the Screen

12:19 Simplifying Jargon for Better Understanding

14:52 Bonus Tips for Effective Webinars

15:40 Practice and Feedback

17:38 Upcoming Webinar Announcement

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Transcript

Microphone (Yeti Orb) & ????????? C930c: 0:27

Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. I'm Anastasia your host. And today I want to take you through, some. Things that you can keep in mind, if you are planning to present an online webinar or master class. Now, this is something that I've done a lot of in my time for. Lot of different industries. And it's something that I actually enjoy doing. strangely enough, I am one of those weirdos. but there are a couple of things that I've picked up along the way. No matter what industry. That make my life easier. But also mean that my audience actually. Enjoys and understands what I'm trying to get across. And most of the tips that I'm going to give you today, follow that good old kiss theory. K I double S keep it simple. I'll say silly. so if you remember these tips, when you are planning a webinar or an online masterclass, or even an in-person presentation, I think you'll find that your audience will retain more of the key information that you are planning to get across. As well as feel like you were in with them. So you'll feel a little bit more relatable to your audience. Hey, you might even crack a smile every now and then. So one of the first things I want to cover off is. Why I'm so focused on keeping it simple. Now. If you throw up a slide in front of people on a webinar. That has a bunch of stats, a bunch of text. a bunch of information. Sure. You're giving them heaps and heaps and heaps of value. But what are the chances they're actually going to read it? What are the chances that while you're talking, they're actually going to absorb anything. That they're rating. Or the other way around, if they're too busy reading your slide and all of the complex information on it. They're not listening to you. So either way they're missing something. Sorry, don't overcomplicate the information cause he can lose your audience really, really quickly. And then you move on to the next slide and I've got no idea what it has to do with the last one, because they were either too busy writing or too busy listening, not able to comprehend Barth. When people are watching a webinar or a masterclass. Yes, they are there to learn. They are there. To absorb information. But at the same time, You don't necessarily want them to feel like they're at a university lecture. You don't want them to feel like they're being lectured to or spoken down to. If you start using a bunch of jargon, if you start using a bunch of terms that your audience aren't familiar with, because Hey, what you do every day. Isn't what they do every day. So they can't be expected to know. Everything that, you know, Again, you're going to lose them. They going to think, oh, this isn't for me. I don't understand enough about this, this, this isn't for me. I need, I need something that I actually can start to understand. So unless it's jargon that, you know, your particular audience is familiar with. Then leave it out. Keep the terms simple. That way they don't feel spoken down to that. I don't feel like they're in a year and he like jaw. And they weren't click exit because they start thinking this isn't for me. Also, you want to build trust with your audience. You want them to feel like you're talking with them. Not just to them. When you start spouting off a bunch of really complex information. When you start using a bunch of words that, Hey, make you sound great. They make you sound very professional. They make you sound you know, Amazing. But. That doesn't help the audience. So always think of your audience and what they are getting out of what you're saying and what you're doing. Also making your content more accessible. Now you might think, I only want to attract, you know, super well educated people on 400 grand a year. So, that's the language I'm going to use, but you know what. A doctor is super educated. Some doctors are on 400 grand a year. But do they know the ins and outs of financial planning? If you start throwing out technical terms out them. Are they going to know what those terms are? No, it's exactly the same flipped around the other way. If they start coming at you and asking you about. I don't know, different, different veins and arteries in the body. And they were getting really excited about it. You're going to think, oh yeah, this person really knows their stuff, but what are you actually getting out of that conversation? Keep it simple. Keep it accessible. This is one I've kind of touched on a little bit there around jargon, but plain language. Especially when you've got information up on a slide. Run it through a checker. Or have a read of it, or Hey, even drop it into whatever AI tool you're using. And see what level of language you're using. Now, when I talk about levels of language, you may not have heard that before. So I'll drop some links in the show notes about it. But there are some fairly standard levels of language that are used when copywriting or in marketing, anything like that, or even in education. And a lot of that hinges on around strangely enough school grade levels. so, you know, you might, chuck your copy into an AI tool and ask. Does this copy meet the language accessibility or the language level of a twelve-year-old. Or. A child in grade nine. That way you can make sure that you're not overdoing it on the super complex words. And you might think that by doing that, you're trading your audience like a child. No, you're not. What you're doing is making the information that you are very briefly putting up in front of somebody while you're also asking them to concentrate on your voice, on what you're saying. You're making that content very easy for their brain to absorb. If you stop putting out content that on the screen that you're asking them to raid that is at a grade 12 or university level. Then. Again, back to what I said before around all of the jargon. They're going to have to be focused on either one or the other. We can only absorb so much at once. One of the things that I like to think about when I am putting something out there into the world, and this is making it even younger than I just spoke about. But. This goes for any marketing, is, would my toddler understand this? Now chances are the answer's going to be no. For just about anything. But. There's always a, but isn't there. But. If I ask that question about my content. And I read back through it with that lens. There's a pretty high chance. I'm going to be able to simplify a few things now. I'm not going to make it a two year old reading level. They don't read yet. But what I'm going to do is look at it through a lens of how can I simplify this? If I said this sentence out loud, would it make sense? If I said this sentence out loud, would my toddler at least get the gist of what I'm saying. If you run it back through that lens in your mind when you read it out loud, but say it out loud so that you can hear it back. You'll start to see where you might've overcomplicated something. With your slides. People have a tendency to. Use your slides like speaker cards. Just read straight off it. Now you've probably heard or seen other people say that's a big no-no. But the reason for that is when you go into a webinar, a presentation, a workshop, anything like that, and you are reading off the slides. You are most likely reading out loud slower then what most of the audience are actually reading off the screen themselves. So in their mind, they're already a sentence ahead of you. Because they know that it's exactly what you're saying. So they might as well read it as faster for them to read than it is to listen. In most cases. You'll put pauses where there need to be pauses. You'll put emphasis on different words. So, this makes it. A little bit harder for your audience to concentrate strangely enough, by putting the exact same thing that you're talking about in front of them, as what you're saying. I prefer to use slides for imagery. Graphs, graphics. And not use them much about the words, maybe a couple of key points to keep me on track. If I don't have some kind of prompter in front of me. But not word for word. That your slides. Aren't your speaker cards. It's very, very clear. When you do that as well, that. You're not just talking to the audience and wanting to make a connection with the audience. And. They actually feel, and I know I feel this when I'm watching a webinar, if. People come to the end of a webinar or the end of a section and say, All right. So any questions from the audience? I am a lot less likely to actually get involved, engage and ask questions. If the presenter has just read off the screen. And you might ask why. Because I'm not actually sure they know their topic, all that well. That sounds really harsh, but it's true. I could. Get a set of slides on any topic today and have all of the information on each slide. And I could present that pretty well. I'm a half decent presenter and. I can fumble my way through most of things. But. If somebody does that, and they're just reading off the slides and they're not talking about something like they know it really well. They're just reading out loud. They could have picked up a book on it yesterday. So, if you're reading directly off the screen, then it's a little bit harder for you to expect your audience, to actually engage, ask questions, get involved in the conversation because they don't necessarily have the confidence that you know, any more than is what, on what is on the screen and what they'll probably be emailed as a PDF of the slides later. Couple of examples I want to give you of using. Jargon in your presentation versus changing things over to slightly simpler language, because you might've wondered what I was on about a little bit there. And as is usual for me, I'm going to use finance as a comparison because I know it. So, couple that I've got that I prepared earlier. I'm going to say to you, and it's going to be up on a screen. Amortization schedules are crucial for understanding the breakdown of your monthly mortgage repayments. Did that take you a couple of seconds to compute? If you're not a finance person. How could I say that a little bit more simply? A payment plan helps you see how much of your loan payment goes towards the loan, or to interest. There you go. Slightly simpler, little bit less jargon. Yes, you probably knew all of the words in that first sentence. But it takes a little bit longer to compute. Tiny tiny bit longer to compute, unless that language is what you're using every day. Another one. Unleash the potential of a boundless financial horizon with our premium investment strategies. Oh, that sounds cool. That sounds professional. That sounds like you really know what you're doing. Great for the ego. Not so great for your audience. How else could you say it? Grow your money with our top investment strategies. That's it. I made it a bunch simpler. A bunch easier for your audience's brain to comprehend. And less about may showing off all of the awesome words I know. And more about actually. Getting some of that value in some of that information into the audience's head. Without making them think too hard. No one wants to think too hard. Halfway through your presentation. They probably wondering what they're going to have for lunch. You're also making them understand jargon. You've lost them. Couple of bonus tips now. When you can, with a webinar. Stick to one main topic or one clear takeaway that you want your audience to go home with. One main thing. What was my main thing today? My main thing was to keep your language simple. Remove jargon, keep language simple. Practice makes perfect. But don't over script it. A little bit of an oxymoron there. Practice makes perfect. Nobody's perfect. Nothing's perfect. But it's a good thing to keep in mind. If you get in front of a crowd of people online and you've never gone over this presentation before. You're going to feel nervous and that's going to show. If you have at least practiced in front of a camera and then watched it back at two times speed, because, Hey, who likes sitting through watching themselves back? Just to see whether there are any parts of the topics that you stumble on, or if there's anything that you, you know, that, you need to change the order of in the slides, because once you start actually speaking about it, you're not flowing through the topic as well. Do a practice recording. Just to see those little glitches so that you're not making them in front of people the first time, because that's just going to make you nervous. Short sentences are key. I am hugely prone to rambling. I ramble more when I'm nervous or when I don't know the topic that well. I daresay, you probably do too If you keep it short, keep it simple. Keep it concise. Then you're going to find your audience absorbing a lot more. If you want a set of eyes over your content. Let me know. I am more than happy to be a sounding board. I'm more than happy for you to practice on me. If you're not comfortable just practicing and watching it back yourself. You can book in a consulting hour in my calendar. And Hey. You'll have an audience of somebody who might not know your topic, all that well. So you're going to have to use symbol language. I've got a webinar coming up a masterclass coming up, in conjunction with New South Wales Small Business Month. That is coming up on the 9th of October, the 9th of October. And that one is all about how to show up online as you, without putting on the mask and how to feel a bit more confident sitting in front of a camera, doing the kind of thing that I'm doing now. And some of these tips will probably be in there as well, but there'll be a whole bunch of other bits and pieces. Speaking of which I should probably. Get off and go practice that one now. But just remember if you want an extra set of eyes on your content on your webinar. Let me know. Happy to help. Take care.