Tip 1 – be careful what you share in your Webinar

One of most important and useful tools in any Webinar is the ability to share.

You can share presentations, websites, documents, images or practically anything you have on your computer with your audience.

However, it’s also possible in most webinar systems to share your computer desktop and this is where you need to be particularly careful.

What’s on your desktop? Is it appropriate for your audience?

I have witnessed several occasions where a Webinar host or presenter has shared items they didn’t mean to or shouldn’t have. It’s possible to show email alerts with the title and first few words of a confidential email. Desktop pictures of holiday snaps or other unprofessional images can also appear by mistake on the audience’s screen.

Even text chat and audio can cause sharing problems. I once shared the name of a supplier in the text chat of a confidential webinar and there was an embarrassing incident when I was showing a child and his parents a web conferencing system.

For the full stories, take a listen to the podcast episode above.

So what’s the answer?

Here are a few suggestions on how to avoid sharing what you didn’t intend to:

• Make sure your desktop image is blank, shows a corporate logo or a default operating system image
• Switch off email alerts, Instant Messenger programs, Twitter, Facebook etc.
• If possible, only have the applications you actually need open during the Webinar
• Be careful all your Webinar software systems have been considered – restrict text chat or other tools if necessary

Just remember…

…you are hosting a live event. If in doubt, assume everything you do and say is being broadcast. Always have a second computer logged in as a participant so you can monitor what is visible and audible to your audience.

Creative Commons image credit: Pink Sherbet Photography | Copyright music credit (used by permission): Mike Murphy