What is a Webinar and How Can I Put One On?

Web conferencing is a service that allows meetings and events to be shared by users in remote locations.  Referred to as on-line workshops or webinars, these events can be used for:

• Meetings
• Training events
• Lectures
• Sharing information on new products and services
• Promoting your business

This dynamic and engaging platform helps you build an audience that will regard you as an expert in your field, as well as keeping your education and travel budgets down.  With a little bit of planning, you can integrate this tool in to your marketing plan.

Determine your format
There are several available formats for running a successful webinar.  Take a look at this table for tips on how to choose the right one for your presentation:

	Description	Pros	Cons
One Speaker	A single presenter speaks, demonstrates, and answers questions from the audience.	Fewer people to coordinate and train on the webinar tool.	Lone presenter is more likely to become authority at the “front of the room” which may create reluctance to ask questions.
Interview Style	Interviewer asks a set of predetermined questions.	·         More engaging to hear multiple voices. ·         Interviewer asking questions often encourages audience to do the same.	·         More people to train and coordinate. ·         Scheduling run-through and webinar may be more difficult.
Moderated Panel Discussion	Multiple people on the line at the same time, with a moderator facilitating the discussion.	Offers variety of voices and perspectives.	Can be challenging to keep panelists from only talking among themselves.
Interactive	Audience members participate fully via instructor-led exercises and facilitated discussions.	Participants receive deeper understanding of topic because they’re fully engaged in dialogue and exercises.	·         Can only accommodate a small group. ·         Requires experienced teacher/facilitator.

Fill Roles

Once you have determined the style, then you'll need to fill the appropriate support roles for the webinar.  Basic roles are:

• Organizer/facilitator - this will be the person who schedules the session, creates the visuals, invites the attendees, tracks the participants, and follows-up afterwards.  You can take this role on yourself, or delegate it out to your Virtual Administrative Assistant so you can concentrate on being the expert.
• Presenter/subject matter expert - you will generally be filling this role, but you can draw on others in your field for the interview or panel discussion style of webinar.
• Assistant - during the actual webinar, you need to have an assistant that will help it run smoothly.  That person will be answering technical/logistics questions, running the slide show, and gathering other information that the presenter will need.  Again, this is a perfect role for your Virtual Administrative Assistant.

Plan Your Visuals

Webinars are a platform that relies on audio and visual content to get your message across.  Instead of having text heavy slides, use interesting visuals that illustrate your topic.  Have an intro slide that shows log-in information as well as logistic information like how to ask questions.  If your are using one of the multi-presenter formats, have a slide that introduces all parties with pictures if available.  Include a brief overview of the agenda and topics that will be covered.  When you are going to be referencing web sites or tools, try to include live versions or screen shots of those things.  Use interactive exercises like polls and Q&A sessions to keep the audience engaged.  Remember, your audience will probably lose attention if your presentation is longer than 30-60 minutes so build your presentation accordingly.

Pick a Provider

There are many providers (and growing) for putting on webinars.  You can use services such as DimDim.com, Yugma.com, GoToWebinar.com, or any provider that you are comfortable with.  Things to keep in mind when deciding are:

• How many people will be accommodated
• Cost of the service
• Does it have the features you need
• How is the audio portion handled
• Can you record the session for future viewing

Once the provider is set, don't forget to practice at least once with all the presenters and your assistant to make sure you're familiar with the tool.  Don't make the actual webinar the first time you log-on and try it out.  You want to be seen as the professional and expert to your customers.

Schedule & Invite

Now you're ready to schedule the session and invite your attendees.  The most effective days for webinars is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during the afternoon.  Set yourself a goal for invitees and attendees remembering that most webinars achieve a 30% attendance rate.  Your invitation should be targeted, somewhat personal, and sent at least 3 times to be effective.  Promote your webinar through your website, social media outlets, and blog to reach the widest possible audience.  Have your autoresponder send a thank you email and registration confirmation to each participant that signs up.

Follow-up

Everyone that took the time to participate in your webinar trusted your advice on and was excited by the topic that you chose to speak about, don't let that opportunity pass you by.  Follow-up the webinar with some value added contact that will cement your name and business in the customer's mind.  You can send each participant a copy of your presentation with additional text and exercises, you can give them a free service such as a short consultation, or you can add them to an exclusive newsletter or website access list.  This is a great chore to outsource to your Virtual Administrative Assistant.

The marketplace is quickly changing and customers are always seeking a more personal connection with the businesses they frequent.  Webinars are an excellent way to build your following and your reputation as an expert in your field.  Take the opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competition and dive in to the wonderful world of webinars.

Ending the Scourge of Unproductive Meetings

We've all been there: you've just sat through a 3 hour meeting that never seemed to get to a point and leads to no actions or decisions.  It basically wasted everyone's time and didn't accomplish anything useful.  But what about those rare occasions when we're party to an effective meeting?  It's a night and day difference.  We leave energized and fired up, as well as having a sense of direction and accomplishment.  There are a few easy things that you can do as a facilitator that can turn your meeting from the first kind to the good kind.

Good meetings do not just happen because the key players all get together in one place.  They have to be structured to be successful.  During meeting planning, preparation, execution, and follow-up, think about these criteria:

• The meeting should meet an objective
• The meeting should take up a minimum about of time
• The meeting should leave the participants feeling that a sensible process has been used

Be very clear about the objective and have a good idea about what a good outcome would look like before holding the meeting.  Use this sentence as a starting point:

"At the close of the meeting, I want the group to..."

The last part is your objective.  Also really think about who should be in attendance at the meeting.  Identify your key people and eliminate people who don't have a part to play in this particular project.

Everyone's time is very valuable and limited these days.  A productive meeting is one that is streamlined as much as possible.  Have an agenda with clear start and stop times that drive the meeting activities toward your objectives.  Ask all participants to come prepared to discuss their portions of the meeting or with any questions they have about others.

If your participants don't feel that any thought has been put in to a meeting, they are far less likely to be engaged.  This will stall the whole thing and leave people feeling that it was a waste of time.  Show the group that there has been a sensible process utilized by sending them the agenda BEFORE the actual meeting date.  Ask for their feedback on the times and the topics, you might be surprised about what they really want to talk about and accomplish.

During the meeting, there are some things the facilitator needs to handle to ensure that everything keeps moving smoothly.  Make sure no one person is dominating the conversation.  If that happens, make a point of asking others for their input.  At the end of each agenda item, summarize the discussion and ask for confirmation from other participants.  Make note of other items that are off topic but that need further discussion.  Watch the participants' body language for clues on when to take a break.  If you don't take those clues, you will lose their attention and the momentum of your meeting.  Keep the group on topic and make a list of tasks generated with the names of who is assigned to them.  When closing the meeting, summarize the next steps and let the participants know that you will be sending out a written summary.

The written summary is a critical follow-up piece to a successful meeting.  Collect any notes that were taken, and use the agenda as your guide for writing the summary.  The summary should include what was discussed, things that will be discussed at the next meeting, action items, and assignments.  This will also be the road map for your next meeting on the same topic.  You will be able to go directly to the action items and hold the assignees accountable.

Sometimes meetings are not in person affairs, but web based collaborations.  All of the same rules listed above apply, as well as a couple of extra considerations.

• Multi-tasking is a no-no during a web conference - Your attention should be on the meeting just like it would be at an in person session.  Don't take phone calls, check emails, or social media.  If participants are not paying attention the meeting will take longer and be less productive.
• Remind all participants to choose a quite location for the meeting - Sitting through a web meeting at a noisy cafe is a bad idea.  You'll miss important information and others will be able to see (and possibly hear) everything that is being discussed.  Ask participants to use their offices or some other quiet location for logging in and taking part.  You, as the facilitator, should also observe this rule.
• Get to know your platform beforehand - The day of your meeting should not be the first time you log on to the system and try to navigate the tools.  This is a time waster and lowers the confidence your participants have in the meeting.  A few days before, run a test meeting with all of your facilitators.  Figure out any glitches and how to solve those during the test meeting.
• Clearly define the roles of the facilitators - Often during an electronic meeting, there are multiple facilitators: someone presenting, someone running the question board, someone driving the screen, someone taking notes, etc.  Have the responsibilities of the different facilitators clearly defined during your test meeting.  This will give a more professional appearance to the meeting.

Meetings can be tedious and pointless, but they don't have to be.  With a little forethought and attention, they can be a useful time for your business or organization.

Ideas for a Dynamic Fall Planning Conference

I'm loathe to admit it, but we're heading in to the fourth quarter of the year.  Now is the time to look back on what your goals were at the beginning of the year and how far you've come towards meeting those goals.  It is also a prime time to start planning for the future and setting yourself and your team up for success in the future.  A good way to do this is to get your team together and hold a fall planning conference.

Getting away from the office and setting the strategy as a team is a powerful tool in helping your business get to the next level.  Planning two half-day sessions with a dinner in between can build your team's relationships and help everyone to get on board with where you want to go.  A sample agenda could be:

• 12:00 PM     Lunch
• 1:00 PM       Recap of the Year
• Struggles
• Successes
• 3:00 PM       Team Building Exercise
• 5:00 PM       Dinner
• Team Recognition/Awards
• 8:00 AM      Breakfast
• 9:00 AM      Goals for Coming Year
• 10:00 AM    Action Plans & Assignments
• 12:00 PM    Close

A fall planning conference away from the office gets your team away from distractions, rewards them for their hard work over the past year, and gets their creative juices flowing.  Some ideas for a location are a local hotel, a restaurant with private rooms, or even someone's house.  The most important thing is to eliminate the interruptions so your team can really be productive.

Including a team building exercise adds some fun and laughs to your meeting.  If you're not familiar with facilitating these exercises, businessballs.com has some great free ideas.  Other ideas, if you're not comfortable with these activities, you could also:

• Assign a top-selling leadership book to be read ahead of time and have everyone discuss their take-aways
• Hire an outside speaker to motivate or train your team
• Any activity that will build report among your people

A dinner where you recognize the accomplishments of your team from the past year is a fun way to recognize the work they've put in for your business.  Try to keep track throughout the year of good work and bring it up during the dinner.  It's even fun to have individual awards such as top sales person, best attitude, etc.  Certificates are easy to format and print from most word processing programs, or you can have small trophies or plaques made at a local vendor.  You'll be surprised at how proud your team members will be to display these items on their desks after the meeting.

The most critical portion of the meeting is the goal setting and action planning phase.  As the leader, you should spend time before this meeting seriously thinking about where you want to be in the next year and how you'll get there.  Present your ideas first, but then ask for your team's feedback.  They might have even loftier goals than you've thought of.  Let them take responsibility for the different action plans that you develop.  Once they have ownership, it's much easier to hold them accountable throughout the year.  Take good notes during this section and compile them to be handed out to the team later.

This whole idea may seem a little overwhelming if you've never done it before.  It takes planning, scheduling, and time to gather materials.  The idea of all that extra work could put you off of the idea entirely.  But you don't have to do it alone.  You can hire Administrative Business Consulting to make all the arrangements and deliver the materials.  They can also research vendors and activities for the meeting.  You would simply give guidance on budget, preferred location, and activities and Administrative Business Consulting can do all the rest.  Compiling the notes and sending out the follow ups can be assigned to Administrative Business Consulting as well.

Once you implement this as a regular feature of your year, you'll find that your team looks forward to it.  A fall planning conference can become the highlight of your year and can get you off to a great start come January.

What Can a Virtual Administrative Assistant Do for Your Business?

When the idea of hiring a virtual administrative assistant comes up, the most common question that occurs is "what would I have a VA do for me?".  The answer will be different for each individual client, but here's a list of possibilities to get your creative juices flowing:

Administrative Support
Email organization                                                 Travel arrangements
Voice mail response                                              Coordinate conference calls
Coordinate appointments                                      Contact updates & tracking
Calendar management                                          Business card scanning
Data entry                                                                Excel spreadsheet building
PowerPoint creation                                              Report generation
Email & mail campaigns                                       Thank you & greeting cards
Website content updates                                       Blog posts
Internet research                                                     Supply ordering
Management of team meetings                            Communication management
Mail merges

Meeting & Event Planning Support
Create & send email or regular mail - announcements, invitations, thank you letters
Set up logistics - meeting rooms, AV needs, meals, overnight rooms, vendors
Manage guest lists
Receive & track responses via phone, fax, or email
Track attendees
Follow-up with non-responders
Create meeting agendas & support materials
Collate & ship materials
Research & order giveaways

Marketing & Sales Support
Social media management                                    Mailing label creation
Email newsletter sending                                       Sales packet mailing
Compile mailing lists                                               Distribute & track surveys
Follow-up calls

This list is in no way exhaustive, but you can see that a Virtual Administrative Assistant can be a valuable right-hand person in the operation of your business.  For more information about how to hire a Virtual Administrative Assistant and how the arrangement works, check out the web site of Administrative Business Consulting.

How to Use Hashtags with Your Social Media

Hashtags (#) have been in use on Twitter for some time, but they have become common on other social media sites such as Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and now even on facebook.  But what are they for and how can you use them to boost the reach of your social media presence.

A hashtag is a key word (or group of words, with no spaces) prefixed with the "#" symbol in a social media message.  The format would look like this: "#topic".  These hashtags then become clickable text that allow users of social media to see what others are saying about that topic. People use hash tags to highlight events, ideas, conferences, products, TV shows, and many other subjects.

Any user can make any word or combination of words in to a clickable hashtag.  If you open a facebook status and type the "#" followed by your chosen phrase, you'll see that the text becomes highlighted by a blue box.  Once you hit post, the tag will appear in bold in your update and other users will be able to click on it which will show them a listing of all the other posts featuring that hashtag.

It is important to remember that this system is a simple form of organization and it can often have trouble with hashtags that are too complicated.  For instance, you can have a tag like "#thingsididwheniwassevenonmybike", but how often are other people going to use that tag?  If the answer is never, then it is probably not an effective tag to use.  Try to keep the tags short and relevant to what you want your message to be. If you would like to see what hashtags are currently trending or if the tag you want to use is already being used, you can visit www.hashtags.org or hashtagify.me.  Also, don't put too many hashtags in one post.  Research is showing:

http://blogs.constantcontact.com/product-blogs/social-media-marketing/how-to-use-hashtags/

As a business, you can use hashtags to make an event more social, join other conversations that are trending up with your customers, boost the visibility of a promotion, or engage more visitors.  Take for example an event like a customer appreciation picnic.  You could announce it on your page with a hashtag of #welovecustomers encouraging your fans to bring friends with them to the event.  Your customers share the information with their friends using your hashtag, and that gets passed around to and even wider audience.  You can then click on your tag #welovecustomers and see who is using it and get an idea of your posts reach.

It may seem complicated or just another part of social media that you have to learn, remember that 71% of users on social media are using hashtags in their posts.  43% of those users think tags are useful and 34% use them to follow categories and brands of personal interest like your business.

Tips for Planning a Successful Meeting

In business life, we are often called upon to put together a meeting.  It could be a department level one day event or even a multi-day event that requires hotel rooms and dining options.  If you've never been in charge of planning and executing an event, don't panic!  There are some simple steps to follow that will help you come out looking like a star.

Ask Questions
The very worst thing you can do when planning a meeting is assume that you know what is expected.  You will need to ask questions, lots of questions, in order to put on a successful event.  Some basics that need to be established are:

• Budget of event
• Date(s) and time(s) of event
• Preferred location and second choice
• Theme of meeting or event
• Number of attendees and guests
• Meals that will be provided
• Any special entertainment or decorating needs
• AV needs for presenters
• Materials needed for participants
• Meeting room set-up
• Hotel rooms needed

This will give you an excellent starting point for planning, but do not stop asking questions.  The event will continue to evolve as planning goes on, so always be clarifying the details.

Set Up Agenda and Get RSVPs
One of the most difficult things to manage when putting on an event is keeping track of attendees.  It is best to get the agenda set up and sent out to the proposed attendees as soon as possible.  You should plan on having to send this out at least twice, and possibly more, in order to get the most accurate head counts for meals, seating, and hoteling.  It is also very effective to get it out in more than one way.  Send it via email, snail mail, and even by phone in order to reach the most people.

Track Budget and Attendees
Once you have the basics figured out and have made contact with your location, then you will need to start tracking the budget and attendees.  Administrative Business Consulting has put together a great budget and rooming list template that automatically calculates your meeting budget.



Double Check Everything Before the Event
The final tip is to always double check your plans at least a week before the meeting and once more a day or two before.  This will help you get a handle on what items are still unsettled and need to be finalized.  Make sure you know who your site contact will be and meet with that person before the meeting begins.  And last but not least, take a deep breath and enjoy yourself.