How to Host a Successful Webinar: The Complete Guide

You're getting ready to host webinars and you want to get them right. But what if you have connectivity issues? Or if your audience gets bored in the first 10 minutes? No worries, we've got you covered.

In this guide, we'll walk you through planning, structuring, and starting a webinar. We'll also cover ideas to keep your audience engaged during the event. You’ll also find a few tips from Pauline Mura, Partnership Marketing Manager at Livestorm, and insights from our users' webinar statistics.

What is a webinar host?

A webinar host is the person in charge of running a webinar. As a host, you’re generally responsible for starting the event, introducing any speakers, and leading a live Q&A at the end.

A host can sometimes be referred to as the “master of ceremony” or “MC”. That’s because they’re responsible for guiding the audience through the webinar experience. But they aren’t necessarily same person as the keynote speaker.

What’s the role of a webinar host?

The role of a webinar host is to make sure everything runs smoothly throughout the event for the guest speakers and the audience. Sometimes, the host also has a few backstage responsibilities, like putting together a presentation or showing speakers how to use the webinar platform. As a host, you need to:

• Represent the brand
• Welcome the audience
• Point out useful features
• Introduce speakers
• Guide the discussion

Represent the brand

The webinar host is usually an unofficial brand ambassador. You’re responsible for ensuring all the content follows your brand guidelines and meets the objectives of the webinar. As a master of ceremony, you also need to embody the company’s values and brand voice.

Welcome the audience

The host is not necessarily the person that will lead the webinar from start to finish; rather, the one who will manage the flow of the event. This person usually welcomes everyone to the virtual room and explains the rules and online event agenda.

Point out useful features

During the welcome segment, the host is responsible for pointing out some of the engagement functions of the webinar software. You can explain how to:

• Use the Q&A tab
• Vote on polls
• Interact on a virtual whiteboard
• Request to go on stage
• React using emojis

Introduce speakers

Another crucial role of the host is to invite the speakers onstage and introduce them one by one. Make sure you ask the speakers for a short bio and adjust it for the webinar presentation.

Guide the discussion

As a host, you also need to brush up on the subject matter. That way, you can help smooth the conversation flow or continue the presentation if the speakers have trouble with their internet connection.

How to conduct a successful webinar

To host a memorable webinar, follow a series of steps before, during, and after the live event. While online events are all different, you can turn this list into a step-by-step project plan or Gantt chart template and use it for future webinars. Focus on these areas to host a great webinar:

• Planning the session
• Structuring the presentation
• Starting the event
• Engaging the audience
• Ending the call

How to plan a webinar

When planning a webinar, there are two main things to consider: the audience and your virtual event platform. Focus on these steps:

1. Choose a topic
2. Pick the right webinar platform
3. Decide on a webinar format
4. Assign roles
5. Set a date and time
6. Build a registration page
7. Come up with a promotion plan

1. Choose a webinar topic

The first step is to pick a webinar topic that's relevant to your brand and of interest to your audience.

Use tools like Answer The Public or Also Asked to see what your audience is searching for online. Or use your company's blog as inspiration.

For example, when we choose our webinar topics, the first place we go is our blog. We take note of which posts perform the best and generate the most interest.

You can do the same thing with your social media accounts. Make note of the topics that have the highest engagement.

2. Pick the right webinar platform

The right webinar software for your company depends on the types of events you plan to run. Consider your end goals. Do you want to teach your customers, drive sales, or nurture leads?

Here are some use cases that Livestorm supports:

• Recurring demos and lead generation. The best lead generation tools have options for automated webinars, allowing you to connect with prospects around the clock. Livestorm also has built-in email cadences that make it easy to follow up with leads after the event.
• Customer training. To build a successful CS team, you need a reliable way to train your customers and answer their questions. The best software for CS teams has screen sharing, live chat, and Q&A features, which allow for engaging webinars and direct communication with customers.
• Online courses. Webinars can be a great way to educate audiences. Place your online courses behind a paywall, and set up automatic redirects at the end of each session. This way students can easily sign up for the next course.

3. Decide on a webinar format

After choosing webinar software, decide on a format. The most common options include:

• Panel discussions. This means inviting 3-5 people onstage to discuss a set of predetermined questions on a topic.
• Ask me anything or Q&As. This format usually involves the host answering audience inquiries. With Livestorm, you can easily invite people on stage and allow them to unmute themselves and ask questions.
• Presentations. This is when you invite an expert speaker to share thought leadership on a relevant topic, often using a slide deck.
• Interviews or press conferences. This format is a bit less common for webinars, but you can invite a popular speaker and allow the audience to ask questions. It’s different from a Q&A session because you get to use the content for public sharing, such as a written press release.
• On-demand webinars. This is just like a live webinar except you don’t need to be physically present. Use an on-demand webinar platform like Livestorm to pre-record your webinar and set up automations to host the event without any live intervention. Or, simply upload it to your website as gated content to generate leads whenever it gets downloaded.

4. Assign roles

Choose your webinar A-team and assign them responsibilities, such as:

• Speaker or trainer to deliver educational content
• Moderator to manage the backstage, encourage conversation in the chat tab, filter questions, and monitor audio and video quality
• Assistant to help the moderator and cover for them in case of emergencies
• Host or organizer to plan and lead the webinar from start to finish and ensure both the speakers and audience are looked after

"It's handy to have the moderator chat feature, especially when you have a lot of speakers. That way you can ping them and ask 'can we speed it up?' or whatever” said Pauline Mura, Partnership Marketing Manager at Livestorm. “You can send notes that are only in the moderator chat and not public to the webinar attendees."

5. Set a date and time

It’s not an event until you’ve set a date and time. Coordinate with your team to find a time slot that works and schedule your webinar.

Our webinar statistics show that the best days to host events are Wednesdays and Thursdays. That said, every audience is different so you could run a quick, informal survey to see when yours are most likely to join.

Pro tip: You can use software like Typeform to create surveys and find your target audience’s primary time zone. Post on social media to reach them or, depending on your survey software, pay to get answers from your target audience.

6. Build a registration page

Before promoting a webinar, you need a landing page to collect attendee information. If you’re using Livestorm, you get access to an automatically generated webinar registration page as soon as you schedule your meeting.

You can customize the colors and fonts to match your branding, add custom fields to the form, and set a registration limit.

7. Come up with a promotion plan

To host successful webinars, you need an audience. That means it's your job to:

• Come up with a catchy webinar title
• Capture the attention of potential attendees
• Explore topics that interest your target audience
• Invite them to register
• Keep them engaged with your brand before, during, and after the event

To achieve this, you have to create a marketing plan to promote your webinar. A common strategy is to use a combination of organic social media promotion and paid ads for a month for better reach and conversions. You can also invite your entire email list or send an invitation to a specific segment.

Pro tip: According to our stats on webinar marketing, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the best days to send out invitations to your event.

How to structure a webinar presentation

To create an engaging webinar that helps you achieve marketing goals, you have to plan ahead. Follow these steps:

1. Create an outline
2. Define your agenda
3. Include visuals
4. Plan for engagement

1. Create an outline

Avoid being 40 slides in and not even close to finishing on time. Instead, create a skeleton of your presentation first. This will help determine the length of your presentation and keep your thoughts organized. It also shows you where you can plan engaging activities for your talk.

If you’re using Livestorm, create your presentation directly on Visme, and include a short description on each slide. Then, use the app integration to share your presentation, skip, and click on your slides directly from the webinar tab.

2. Define your agenda

Once you've created an outline, the agenda is practically written for you. Just create a short summary of the content on each slide and add it to the beginning of the presentation. A good agenda will help you keep to time, especially if your webinar moderator is given an estimate per item.

"The biggest challenge for keeping an audience engaged is keeping track of time and making sure that the speakers don't go over,” explained Pauline. “Sometimes they get off track. So, it's about making that choice: do I refocus the conversation or do I cut some of these questions?"

If you’re using Livestorm or Zoom Webinars, you can chat with the moderator through a private in-app tab that the public can’t see. That way, if you’re running out of time or decide to skip questions to move the webinar along, you can communicate with each other easily.

3. Include visuals

Avoid designing a slide deck with long blocks of text. Remember, you’re not creating an ebook, you’re designing visual aid to make your webinar more engaging. Add pictures, videos, and gifs to make it more dynamic and eye-catching.

Pro tip: Use contrasting colors (opposites in the chromatic circle) or a lighter shade to make some sentences stand out.

4. Plan for engagement

Before the event, plan a webinar dry run. This allows you to chat with speakers about their presentations and help them get familiar with the platform.

Make sure they know how to make the most of the platform's engagement features. Suggest they plan ahead for interactive elements, like using Miro’s digital whiteboard to take suggestions from the audience or sharing additional resources as they go using Livestorm's Handouts plugin.

If you aren’t used to hosting webinars, the idea of being in front of hundreds of people can be a little intimidating at first. Preparation is the key to a smooth presentation. Don’t worry if you don’t stick exactly to the script—the most important thing is that you sound natural.

While you’re rehearsing, try to practice in different positions and locations. For example, do one run standing, and another sitting down. If possible, record your rehearsal and watch it at a later time. Try to use your nervous energy as enthusiasm and visualize a positive outcome.

How to start a webinar

Welcoming your audience is also about setting them up for success. Here's what to cover:

1. Welcome your audience
2. Set expectations
3. Share agenda points
4. Introduce speakers

1. Welcome your audience

Start the webinar with your camera on, but don’t share your screen yet. When it’s time to start the presentation, unmute yourself, and welcome everyone for joining.

If you’re waiting for more people to join, announce that you’ll wait for 3 minutes before you begin, but don’t stay silent. Use ice breaker questions to engage your audience.

2. Set expectations

Say hello to everyone who joined a bit late and explain basic ground rules:

• Is this a camera on or off type of session?
• When and how to ask questions
• How long will it last?
• Do they need to take notes or are you sharing the information?
• Remind everyone to be kind and respectful

Open the floor for questions before moving on to the next slide.

3. Share agenda points

Give your audience an overview of what kind of content to expect from the session. You can also take this opportunity to point out features like the Q&A tab, emoji reactions, and the “raise a hand” feature to help them navigate the webinar platform.

4. Introduce other speakers

Introduce the guest speaker(s) and invite them on stage. Make sure you pronounce their names properly and give an accurate professional description. Explain your role and cede the floor.

How to keep your audience engaged during a webinar

Engaging a virtual audience during live webinars might sound like a tough gig, but it’s definitely possible. Here’s what to do:

1. Conduct live polls
2. Open with an icebreaker
3. Play a game throughout the webinar
4. Run Q&A sessions

1. Conduct live polls

Keeping your audience engaged can be as simple as asking questions to include them in the conversation. Use the polls feature to ask questions with multiple-choice answers.

For example, you can use polls to introduce surprising facts and gauge your audience's pre-existing knowledge of the topic. Or just bring one in to break the ice by asking questions like "How energized are you feeling today?"

2. Open with an ice breaker

Depending on the type of webinar, you can play an ice breaker game with the speakers or the audience. “You can use an ice breaker that’s completely linked to the topic so you can ask the panelists,” explains Pauline. “For other webinars, I’d host the ice breaker with the audience. I can ask where they are tuned in from or if there is anything specific they want to hear.”

You can choose from hundreds of ice breaker ideas. Pick one that’ll take no longer than 3 minutes and invite your audience to participate.

Try this: share a meme of a TV character making different faces using a digital whiteboard. Ask attendees to add a post-it on top of the picture they feel is the most relatable.

3. Play a game throughout the webinar

Explain the game at the beginning of the webinar and play it throughout the presentation. For example, you can hide an emoji in specific slides and get attendees to use Livestorm’s emoji reactions to notify you when they find it.

Inviting your audience to play a game with you builds a sense of camaraderie. Plus, it encourages them to pay more attention as they might lose the game if they get distracted.

4. Run Q&A sessions

If you’re hosting any kind of event with a large audience, let them ask questions. Invite them to:

• Unmute themselves and ask questions directly at any time
• Virtually raise their hands or react with an emoji to notify they have a question
• Add questions to the Q&A tab
• Ask their questions at the end of the webinar

Pro tip: With Livestorm’s Q&A tab, attendees can ask questions at any time and the rest of the audience can upvote their favorites. Get your moderator to manage the questions list and message the speaker privately whenever it’s time to answer them.

How to end a webinar

Time to wrap up! End your webinar on a positive note and use the analytics to improve future sessions. Follow these steps to close your session:

1. Share key learnings
2. Add a CTA button
3. Send an automatic recording of the session
4. Review the webinar analytics
5. Reurpose the content

1. Share key learnings

Thank everyone for joining. Create a closing slide with a summary of everything they learned that day. Depending on your webinar format, you can ask the audience to share their takeaways or “aha!” moments with the room as a nice way to wrap up the meeting.

2. Add a call-to-action (CTA) button

End your presentation with a clear and engaging CTA. The link can redirect them to

• The registration form for a future session
• A web page where they can buy a product or download an e-book
• A Calendly link to set up a demo call with your sales team
• A feedback form for them to rate the session
• The speaker’s and company’s social media handles

Pro tip: If you’re using Livestorm, use the CTA feature to include a clickable link on your screen. If you’re using a different platform, but use Chrome as your browser, you can generate a free QR code to link to a specific page. Simply click on the share icon on the URL bar, click “create QR code”, and download the picture to add it to your presentation.

3. Send an automatic recording of the webinar

When you host webinars, you want to present interesting information to as many prospects as possible. It’s common for people to sign up for online events and not show up. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in your content or product - they just couldn’t join.

At Livestorm, we’ve discovered that our platform's average attendance rate to events is 58% (that’s higher than other tools). We’ve also discovered that 31% of no-shows (people who registered but didn’t attend) watch the webinar recording.

So, you should always record your webinar and share the replay to capture potential customers’ attention even when they couldn’t join live. If you’re using Livestorm as your automated webinar tool, we’ll send the email with the replay link as soon as the session ends for you.

4. Repurpose the content

As great as long-form video can be, it's far from the only way to reach your audience. To connect with a wider audience, repurpose webinar content into different formats:

• Cut it and splice it into social media posts
• Turn it into short-form videos
• Embed the recordings on your website
• Transform the recording into a blog post
• Make the event available as an on-demand evergreen webinar

5. Review the webinar analytics

In life and in webinars, you can only improve if you know what you did wrong. So, go to the people’s dashboard (on Livestorm) and review your engagement metrics. If you’re hosting webinars for lead generation purposes, download the contacts record report. There, you’ll find your attendee’s contact information that you can include in your email list and nurture the high-quality leads.

Hosting a webinar: It’s all about preparation

Webinar hosts are responsible for running successful brand awareness, educational, and lead generation virtual sessions. And jumping in to save the day in case anything goes sideways. Your role as a webinar host includes:

• Designing the webinar content
• Welcoming attendees
• Supporting your speakers
• Making it engaging
• Wrapping it up

Apart from making everything go smoothly, you should anticipate issues and come up with a contingency plan. This means, having a relevant video at hand or a backup practice exercise.

As the host, you need to be an expert in the platform and be able to do any of the planned actions without any hassle. If you’re on the Livestorm Enterprise plan, you can ask us to shadow your next webinar (or a dry run) and give you technical support and pointers.

Key takeaways before hosting your webinar

There are several steps to follow to guarantee your webinar is interesting, engaging, and designed to get participants to complete the call to action. Here are the best practices to follow:

• To schedule a webinar you need to carefully research your target audience as you choose the topic and invite guest speakers. Set yourself goals and success measures to evaluate your webinar later.
• To make your webinar presentation you should choose a presentation tool that integrates with your webinar platform. Keep your slides simple and visual.
• To create a webinar be sure to brief your speakers and moderator and test all your software and hardware ahead of time. Remember to segment your mailing list and leverage online communities to promote the event.
• To host a webinar try to be the first one there and be ready to use interactive elements like live polls, CTA buttons, and the Q&A feature.

Still deciding on a webinar platform? Try Livestorm’s free webinar software as a trial. Once you’ve got to know us, you can upgrade your plan to host longer webinars and allow for more on-demand replays. With Livestorm, you can use the same platform to create custom registration pages, host dynamic webinars, create on-demand content, and analyze your event metrics all in one place.

Frequently asked questions about how to host a webinar

What are the benefits of hosting a webinar?

The benefits of hosting a webinar include:

• Boosting brand perception and awareness
• Generating new or nurturing qualified leads
• Educating others on a specific topic
• Increasing engagement
• Reaching a global audience

What’s needed to host a webinar?

To host a webinar you need to:

1. Choose a webinar platform like Livestorm that lets you host live, hybrid, and on-demand webinars
2. Pick a topic and develop the content
3. Invite an expert to speak at your event
4. Set a date and time
5. Invite attendees
6. Host the webinar

What’s the best webinar software?

The best webinar software is Livestorm. With Livestorm, you can host automated or live webinars and create recurring events. Plus, you can host up to 3,000 attendees and invite up to 16 people to speak on stage at the same time. Livestorm also comes with a packed set of engagement tools that will help you keep your audience attentive before, during, and after your webinar.

What do you say as a host in a webinar?

As the webinar host, you should welcome your audience and your speakers. You can also invite attendees to interact with you or the presenter and ask questions, invite the speaker to stage or present the topic, and ask for feedback.

How can I host a webinar for free?

To host a webinar for free, you need to use the free version of a webinar platform like Livestorm. Livestorm’s free plan is a great place to start because it will always be free - not just for a trial period.

Bear in mind that most free trials come with limitations on your event duration or attendees. If you need to host hour-long sessions for free, you can try Google Meet but, unlike with Livestorm, you’ll need to create a registration page and automate email reminders on a different platform.