How to Guide a Live Webinar, So You Can Use the Recording for Promotional Videos

Give your guest speakers an outline that includes an explanation of the topic, the message points you’ll discuss, and the questions you plan to ask.

Why this is important:

• There are many perspectives when approaching a topic, and by planning, you’ll ensure your guest speaker hits your message goals
• It allows them to think about how to frame their discussion in a way that provides value to your viewers

Have your guest speaker paraphrase your question when they answer or if it is a discussion, have them provide context for the point they are making.

Here’s a simple example. Let’s say you ask someone to tell us which digital marketing trends will be popular in the next 12 months. Your guest may answer with: “Video is a necessity.” If this happens, then the post-production process will require editing your question into the narrative or bringing it on the screen as text. But if you prep your guest speaker to paraphrase your question with their answer, you’ll get something like this: “I think video is a strong digital marketing trend for the next 12 months.” This is an authoritative statement that has more opportunity to influence viewers. It’s okay if there are pauses as the speaker thinks about what they will say next. It makes the answer feel authentic.

Why this is important:

• Provides quick context which helps viewers understand the message more clearly
• Stops your guest speaker from wandering as they provide an answer
• Makes for a cleaner post-edit cycle with a more professional result

Be prepared to paraphrase what you hear or guide your guests to a more succinct answer.

People tend to ramble as they think of the best way to frame their thoughts, leading to a few minutes of language that slowly gets to the point. This not only artificially lengthens the session, but makes it very difficult to edit a clear soundbite into a promotional video later. As the moderator, you can help your guests by internalizing their comment and rephrasing it into a concise sentence. This will give video editors more material to use. Ideally, if you can get your guest to restate the point, then you’ll have it in their words, not yours. But remember, you’re working in a live session, so don’t sacrifice your discussion’s natural cadence. Paraphrasing is a skill that becomes easier the more you do it, so play around with some online tools to practice.

Why this is important:

• Excellent ideas are often touched upon but not clearly communicated
• Viewers will find it easier to remember the points made in the discussion
• Provides more material for video editors to use when creating promotional material

For this final tip, I recommend reading our post on how to look and sound your best when giving a virtual presentation. It touches upon some things you may not consider, such as what people will see behind you.