Choosing Your Platform

  • Zoom Meetings (free, up to 100 attendees, 40-min limit): Most familiar platform. Participants can turn on video and mic. Good for interactive sessions. Free tier has the 40-minute cap.
  • Zoom Webinars (paid, from $149/month): Attendees are audience-only by default. Better for large audiences. Includes Q&A, polling and registration management.
  • Google Meet (free, up to 100): No time limit for Google Workspace users. Simple, reliable, no download required for attendees.
  • YouTube Live (free, unlimited audience): Best for large audiences and when you want the recording publicly available. Requires a YouTube channel.
  • Streamyard, Restream or Riverside: Professional tools for multi-presenter webinars with branded overlays.

Planning Your Webinar

  1. 1

    Define the topic, audience and outcome

    The best webinars have a specific, narrow topic rather than a broad overview. “How to write cold emails that get replies” will attract more registrations and deliver more value than “Introduction to email marketing.” Define exactly who the webinar is for and what they will be able to do after attending.

  2. 2

    Set up registration and promote in advance

    Create a registration page (Zoom provides one automatically, or use Eventbrite free tier). Promote 2–3 weeks before on email list, social media and LinkedIn. Send a reminder 24 hours before and 1 hour before — these reminders dramatically improve attendance rates (typically 30–50% of registrants attend live).

  3. 3

    Prepare slides and test your setup

    Keep slides visual and minimal text — attendees are there to hear you, not read. Test your microphone, camera, internet connection and screen share at least 24 hours before. A wired ethernet connection is significantly more reliable than WiFi for live streaming. Wear headphones to prevent audio feedback.

Running the Webinar

  1. 4

    Open the room 10 minutes early

    Attendees join before the start time. Play a holding slide with the start time, your name and a welcome message. This prevents the awkward silence of staring at a blank screen and lets you check that latecomers can join.

  2. 5

    Have a co-host manage the Q&A

    Running a webinar solo while monitoring the chat and questions is difficult. A co-host monitors the chat, compiles questions and moderates — this lets you focus on presenting. The co-host can also handle technical issues from attendees.

  3. 6

    Record and share the replay

    Always record. A significant number of registrants will not attend live but will watch the replay. Send the recording link to all registrants within 24 hours. The recording also provides ongoing value as a lead generation tool.

Ideal webinar length45–60 minutes is the sweet spot: 30–40 minutes of content, 15–20 minutes of Q&A. Under 30 minutes feels rushed. Over 75 minutes loses attention. End precisely on time — going over schedule is disrespectful of attendees’ time and they will leave.

Frequently Asked Questions

Typical webinar attendance rates are 30–50% of registrations. If 200 people register, expect 60–100 live attendees. This is normal — do not be discouraged by the gap. The replay sends the webinar to those who could not attend live and often gets similar or higher views than the live session. Building a webinar email list of registrants (even non-attendees) is a significant ongoing asset.
Prepare a backup plan: have the presentation open on a second device, know how to reconnect quickly if you drop out, have a co-host who can keep the session going if you have issues. Communicate clearly with attendees — if something goes wrong, acknowledge it calmly (“We’re having a brief technical issue, bear with us for 60 seconds”). Most audiences are forgiving of brief technical issues if they are handled calmly.