How to Create a Webinar Outline That Engages Viewers

A webinar is your chance to connect with your target audience, build trust, and encourage viewers to take the next step in their customer journey. To put your best foot forward, you need a webinar outline.

In this article, we'll walk through how to create a webinar outline you can use to present a polished online event that engages your audience and makes the most of the marketing or sales opportunity.

Why you need an outline for webinars

A webinar outline is a framework that serves as a guide for every host, speaker, and moderator involved in the online event. Think of it as a plan or agenda that everyone follows during the event so you can achieve key goals.

Here are a few reasons why developing an outline is a webinar best practice.

Establish the structure and flow of the event

Which themes will you cover, and in which order? When do you plan to introduce guest speakers? When do you want audience input to guide the direction of the webinar?

An outline details the webinar structure, helping you maintain the right flow throughout the event. It also helps you avoid forgetting to provide context or touch on important topics.

Keep speakers on the same page

If your online event includes more than one speaker, it could quickly become disorganized or veer off topic without a clear plan. An outline ensures everyone understands the webinar flow and knows when it's their turn to speak.

If the event touches on multiple topics, an outline also tells presenters which topic to focus on when. This way, you can build toward important points and create engaging conversations between speakers.

Adhere to time constraints

Whether you're planning an hour-long event or a quick micro webinar, it's critical to keep time constraints in mind. If the event goes way over time, your audience may drop off, causing viewership and engagement to plummet.

With an outline, you can plan the amount of time to dedicate to each topic. This way, you'll end up with the ideal amount of time to make key points and achieve your goals during the webinar presentation.

Create an engaging experience for viewers

When your audience makes time to attend your virtual event, you want to create the best webinar possible for them. By planning ahead and developing an outline, you can deliberately plan moments of engagement.

For example, you can pinpoint moments to poll attendees, ask them to submit questions for the speakers, or encourage them to react to a question. After all, the more you engage viewers, the longer they're likely to watch.

What to do before developing a webinar outline

You'll have an easier time creating an outline if you complete these steps first.

Get clear on goals

Is your webinar part of a demand generation or lead generation strategy? Is it part of your customer education program? Or are you hosting a webinar to establish your executive team as thought leaders?

Either way, clarify how the webinar fits into your marketing strategy and which goals you want it to achieve. For example, our 2024 Webinar Marketing Report shows that some of the most common goals are:

• Brand awareness
• Lead generation
• Sales and revenue
• Audience engagement

However, customer retention, customer expansion, and brand authority are also important goals for many teams.

Define your audience

Next, clarify who you want your webinar content to reach. In some cases, your target audience might match your ideal customer profile (ICP). But in many cases, you'll want to create a webinar script that speaks to a segment of this audience.

For example, if you're targeting brand awareness, you may want to reach people who fit your ICP but are just beginning to search for solutions. Or if you're aiming for brand authority, you may want to reach executives or decision makers at your target accounts.

Decide on a topic

Before diving into the details, get clear on the webinar topic you'll cover. For example, do you plan to cover an industry trend? Or showcase your product to help customers get more value from it?

As an extra perk, defining your webinar idea typically helps you determine the webinar format you'll follow. For example, you might opt to host a panel discussion with multiple speakers or a product demo that focuses on your product.

Give the webinar a title

The title of a webinar is more important than you might think. Not only should it sum up the event's goals, audience, and topic in just a few words but it should also capture your ideal viewer's attention.

Speed up your brainstorming by using our webinar title checklist. Or get ideas instantly by plugging your topic and a short description of your event into our AI-powered webinar title and outline generator.

How to create a webinar outline

The easiest way to create a webinar outline is with our AI-powered tool. Use it to generate a webinar outline template that provides a structure for your event and subtopics to explore with your audience.

Just enter a topic and a description, adjust the tone of voice and audience's knowledge level, and choose the auto-generated title that best fits your webinar. Then click to generate an outline instantly.

Follow the steps below to add details and plan a memorable event.

1. Craft an introduction for the topic and speakers

Begin by mentioning the topic(s) you'll cover during the webinar. List a few of the key points you'll explore over the course of the event.

Set expectations by explaining the format you'll use. For example, discuss the order in which presenters will appear or if they'll be in dialogue with one another.

If the event includes guest speakers, introduce each one. Consider running the introduction by each speaker beforehand so you can make sure it's current and includes relevant credentials.

2. Explore the problem you're solving

Next, provide context to get attendees on the same page. Offer an overview of the current state of things.

For example, say you're presenting a webinar on fintech software trends. You might want to set the scene by sharing an overview of the current fintech software landscape.

Then, explain what's wrong with the status quo. This should echo problems your target audience is experiencing.

3. Detail the main points to cover

After setting the scene, go through the main points for the webinar one at a time. Our title and outline generator will automatically suggest a webinar template with points to cover. But it's up to you to:

• Add nuance and unpack each point
• Go deeper by expanding the list
• Include specifics like mentions of your products or services

If your webinar includes multiple speakers, make a note of which presenter will discuss each point. This way, you can seamlessly hand over the mic at the right moment during the live webinar.

4. Highlight examples or case studies

The more abstract these points sound, the more likely your audience is to tune out or fail to be convinced by your presentation. Whenever possible, include real-world examples throughout the webinar. For example, highlight:

• Case studies that show problems you helped customers overcome and the results you achieved
• Customer stories that walk through problems and solutions from the client's perspective
• Benchmark reports or original research that provide data to back up your claims

5. Make space for audience engagement

Maintain audience interest and retain viewers by keeping your webinar engaging. Identify moments to prompt viewers for input, invite them to weigh in on a topic, or encourage them to ask a question.

With Livestorm, creating a webinar engagement strategy is simple. Use our webinar platform to:

• Poll viewers about their take on a hot topic
• Host live Q&A sessions with speakers
• Get attendees to express themselves with emoji reactions
• Divide participants into breakout rooms for focused discussions

6. Summarize the takeaways

Help attendees process the information you've presented by summarizing the takeaways from the webinar. Highlight the main points you've covered to inform how your audience thinks about the topic.

For added effect, reinforce these points in your post-webinar marketing. Repurpose the list by including it in your webinar thank you email.

7. Conclude with a call to action

Finally, decide on a call to action (CTA) for your audience. Use your original webinar goal as a guide.

For example, if you aim to improve brand awareness, you may want to direct attendees to more resources on the topic. But if you aim to generate leads, you may want to prompt attendees to book a call or demo with your team.

Bonus: Plan a webinar dry run

After creating an outline, take your webinar preparation a step further. Host a webinar dry run to go through the entire agenda with hosts and guest speakers.

Think of it as a dress rehearsal. This is your opportunity to make sure everyone knows how to use the webinar software, has a chance to test their camera and microphone, and has prepared their webinar slide deck.

Livestorm for webinar outlines and online events

Livestorm helps you do much more than simply create webinar outlines. With our webinar software, you can:

• Organize live, on-demand, and automated webinars
• Market the event with branded registration pages and email campaigns
• Keep your audience engaged with polls, Q&As, breakout rooms, and more
• Use Livestorm integrations to connect our webinar platform to your tech stack
• View analytics to see what worked and adjust your strategy accordingly

Curious how our platform can support your webinar marketing strategy? Sign up for a Livestorm account and set up your first event in just a few minutes.