What To Do When Your Webinar Technology Fails by Gihan Perera

Webinar technology - like any technology - isn't 100% reliable. If your technology fails badly, it can be very difficult to continue with the webinar. So as much as possible, prevent this problem by double- and triple-checking the technology before you begin. Do the practice sessions, use a reliable headset, ensure you've got a good Internet connection, and so on.

It's also prudent to put measures in place to manage the problems that might arise - for example:

If problems occur, do you have somebody else on the webinar who can take over as organizer/presenter?
If you have a guest presenter, have you asked them for backup material you can present on their behalf if they drop out?
Have you told your guest presenter to keep an eye on their chat window, so you can send them emergency messages if necessary?
Do your guest presenters, panelists and even participants have your mobile phone number or your PA's number to call if they get stuck?
If your visuals fail, do you have a PDF version of your slides you can e-mail to participants (or have already e-mailed to participants)?
If your audio drops out, do you have an emergency slide to inform participants you're still on the webinar?

Some webinar technology like GoToWebinar also allows you to send chat messages to participants. However, you can't rely on them keeping an eye on their Chat window, whereas they will certainly see this emergency slide.

When THEIR technology fails

Even if you test your technology thoroughly, you can't predict how successful your participants will be when they connect to the webinar. This is less of a problem for the webinar overall, but of course it could be a disaster for those participants who miss out.

Clearly, you should try to minimize or prevent the problems, with things like this:

Clear instructions before the webinar
Reminder e-mails that help them prepare for the webinar
Explaining how the technology works at the start of the webinar
Multiple options for connecting to the webinar (for example, phone or Internet)

However, this won't eliminate all problems. In fact, no matter how hard you try to coach them, some participants won't read the instructions. This is not necessarily their fault; it could just be they're intimidated by the technology anyway, so they just do what's easiest for them and hope for the best.

So you still need to be able to manage the problems when they occur - for example:

Record the webinar, and make sure participants know that ahead of time, so if they can't connect at all, at least they know they can watch the recording.
Give them a phone number to call - yours or your PA's - if they have trouble connecting to the webinar.
Encourage people to join the webinar at least 10 minutes ahead of time, in case they do have trouble.
If their microphone isn't working, remind them they can type their question to you (or send it by SMS).

Whatever you do, some participants simply won't be able to get the technology right. So have some way of giving them value - whether it's through a recording, a transcript, a follow-up phone call, or whatever is appropriate.


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