In the era of virtual events, live webinars are an important B2B strategy for engaging customers, employees, and business partners.
However, as many of us have learned, there’s a lot that can go wrong during a live online meeting. One of the best virtual event tips we give our clients is to pre-record segments of audio and video content prior to the live event.
Here are a few key benefits of creating polished, ready-to-air content before you start broadcasting.
1. Control your environment
Pre-recording your webinar means you’re in control of where and when you film. You can adjust and change your lighting and record at a time when you know you’ll have minimal distractions to give you the perfect recording conditions. You can also work around your partner’s work schedule and your kid’s school schedule to ensure your recording isn’t interrupted or flooded with background noise.
2. Avoid technical difficulties
The biggest fear when doing a live event is technical difficulties. Aside from the usual worry of slow internet connections, severe weather like wind, rain, and snow can impact your power and broadband connectivity.
Imagine that you or a colleague are presenting and the power or internet goes out because of a storm outside. Your audience loses out on valuable information and will likely log off the event. Pre-recording your presentation gives you a backup if your livestream is interrupted, and you can distribute the content to attendees right away to keep the momentum going.
3. Avoid neighborhood interference
We’ve all been on live video calls where someone’s kid walks into frame, the dog starts barking, or someone starts mowing the lawn at your neighbor’s house. While these interruptions can be overlooked during an informal team meeting, you want to be focused and your attendees to be engaged when you’re giving a professional webinar to a larger audience. When you pre-record your content, you can edit out any audio distractions or start over, giving the final presentation a clean and professional look.
4. Review and revise
Recording all of your content ahead of time gives you the luxury of being able to review and edit it before you broadcast it live. If you make a mistake or didn’t like the way you delivered a section, you can go back and edit it out or record it again. You also have the ability to add in graphics, audio, and video to your presentation to up the production value and increase engagement
5. Enjoy the live event
The best part of pre-recording your content is that you actually get to sit back and enjoy your event. Event hosts are often so wrapped up presenting that they don’t take time to enjoy the event and the gathering of people.
As your recorded presentation plays, you can be an active participant in your event. You can chat in real-time and answer any questions to provide a better experience, and focus on networking with attendees instead of worrying about what might go wrong.
Planning a virtual event that requires pre-recorded content? MediaCutlet can help you manage the process from start to finish. Get more virtual event tips from our 8-step event planning strategy here or contact us to request a custom quote for our virtual event production and project management services.
