Webinars are a great way to generate awareness for your business and show prospective buyers what you can do. You can even use webinars to cultivate a subscriber list to drive your lead nurturing program (with changes in both the US and EU, you can’t just buy or rent email subscribers anymore). However, in order to achieve success, writing an entertaining and fast-paced webinar script is essential. And, since you only have seconds to convince attendees to continue listening to the webinar, writing webinar opening scripts is critical.
Your opening script has a lot it must accomplish. You must introduce your speakers and give attendees an overview that keeps them engaged to hear the rest of your pitch. But how do you make sure your opening script converts?
Whether you’re a newbie or an experienced webinar presenter, it’s important to know how to make webinar opening scripts. In this blog post, we’ll explore a few tips that will help you write webinar opening scripts that support your goals and help you convert attendees!
Why writing webinar scripts supports conversion
A webinar script is a pre-written conversation that outlines what you plan to say throughout your webinar. The “first impression lasts” saying applies to writing webinar opening scripts. It is that first impression that helps create a relationship with customers that supports sales. Your first impression must show you’re personality, approachability, and how your product solves an important problem for attendees.
Consider openings like movie trailers. They provide the opportunity to “sell” the balance of the webinar to the viewers–to give them a reason to keep watching when they have so many other things that demand their attention.
An introduction should entice the reader. Building interest in the webinar content, just like a movie trailer, showing the audience crucial scenes from the rest of the webinar. A well-written webinar script helps you stay on track, confident, and focused on your audience.
How to write webinar scripts
The best webinar scripts are designed to get your audience hooked; to pique their interest, to show them how you can solve an important problem they face, and to appear approachable.
If you want people lining up to register for future webinars rather than logging off halfway through your presentation, then check out these seven tips for writing webinar opening scripts. You can look for a sample webinar script template to help you start it.
1. Make introductory greetings for your webinar attendees.
This may seem self-evident, but the welcome is the first thing your audience members hear when they log in. That’s why getting it right not only sets the tone for the remainder of the webinar but ensures they stay logged in until the end of the webinar. You don’t just jump right in whether you’re hosting live or automated webinars.
Give them a warm welcome or a simple “hello” greetings. Let them know they’re in for an enjoyable time of learning, inspiration, entertainment, and convince them it’s something they need.
In short, create a good webinar script that makes your greeting with a smile and a twist. As a result, making it work influences whether or not your attendees stick around for the rest of the event.
2. Appreciate your webinar audience
Your webinar introduction script should also include a thank-you note for your attendees. After all, these viewers are taking time out of their day to watch your webinar, so you want to thank them right away. They’ll be more inclined to watch the entire presentation, and they’ll be more likely to participate in polls, Q&A, and surveys as a result.
Part of appreciating your audience means letting them know what to expect.
- Share your agenda and what they’ll gain by watching the webinar. If possible, use a poll to build the agenda based on the needs of the specific group attending the webinar.
- If the webinar is scheduled for 30 minutes, stick to that timeframe.
- Be sure to allow time for your attendees’ questions. If they enter questions using a chat feature, stop at some point to read the questions and give answers to the entire group unless the question is of a personal nature, then be sure you only respond to the person entering the query with respect for their privacy.
3. Share a brief narrative about yourself, any guests, and your company.
Audiences want to learn from experts who have walked in their shoes. That’s why how you introduce yourself in a webinar presentation is often as important or more so than anything else you do.
As a result, it’s recommended that you introduce yourself and any other webinar presenters with a brief bio showing your expertise. As you also write the webinar script, it’s time to brag about your accomplishments and use them as social proof. But, don’t stick to dry lists of accomplishments. Show your personality and you might even share a little about what you do outside of work. For instance, Guy Kawasaki, a much-demanded social media expert, tells attendees about his love of hockey and uses analogies based on hockey in his presentations to humanize him to audiences.
4. State an interesting fact or quote an expert
Facts, quotes, and figures are three of the important aspects of the introduction to your webinar. And the reason they’re useful in writing a perfect webinar script is simple.
Adding outside support strengthens the validity of your entire presentation while showing you carefully researched aspects outside your own experience.
5. Introduce the topic as well as the advantages of watching the webinar
Assume you’re hosting live webinars. Why should people be interested and stay to watch?
They might be interested in the topic or the guest speaker. However, you can’t assume they understand why they should spend an hour or more listening to you. The webinar agenda can help show your audience the worth of your webinar by outlining the specific topics you’ll cover.
6. Point out any audience-related issues
If you plan to use polls, you might share this early in the webinar to encourage engagement from the beginning? If you plan to demonstrate your product and how to get the most from it or offer a discount to attendees, mention that to keep your audience on until the end.
7. Keep it short but informative.
I once heard a piece of advice on length that stuck with me over the years. I have no idea where it came from but it goes something like this:
Length is like a woman’s skirt. It should be long enough to cover the subject yet short enough to be interesting.
Aside from the overt sexism of the comment, it holds true for everything from research papers to novels to webinars. Bear that in mind as you write your script.
In Summary
A webinar is no different than any other form of entertainment. If the show’s beginning isn’t compelling, people lose interest quickly and tune you out or leave the webinar. If you are personable and entertaining, people will pay more attention and even buy your product. Crafting a great opening sequence for your webinar is thus the key to success.
Take note, smile as you greet your audience, and then get on with the performance. Thinking outside the box can spice up your presentation and create audience engagement.
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