Webinars are a popular and convenient venue for professional education, outreach, and community building. However, in a world filled with incessant digital distractions, the virtual nature of webinars puts them at risk of becoming something like elevator music — innocuous noise that runs in the background while your attention is focused elsewhere.
We didn’t want that fate to befall us when we recently hosted our inaugural Healthtech Storytelling webinar. Our session focused on the art of communications and strengthening strategic narratives around complicated matters of healthcare and technology. And if you are going to discuss the importance of impactful storytelling, you certainly don’t want to subject attendees to a boring and formulaic powerpoint presentation with a lot of marketing jargon, three forgettable bullet points, and a heavily rehearsed sales pitch.
Here’s what we opted for instead.
A worthy webinar should…
Offer value independent of business objectives: While showcasing the value of our services is undoubtedly important to Sterling, our webinar was centered on something less self-serving — to impart knowledge and provide value to our attendees independent of any commercial agenda. Delivering tangible insights that empower individuals within the HealthTech community to communicate more effectively and fearlessly was the primary goal. If you want to be worthy of people’s time and attention, give them something worthy of their time and attention.
Demonstrate a commitment to curiosity: Challenges are not obstacles; they are opportunities for growth, so our webinar format purposely blocked a significant amount of time for answering attendee questions and addressing comments. Tough questions drilling into specific communications problems tested our expertise, but also fueled on-the-fly analysis and a more personal exchange of ideas and perspectives that generated camaraderie — which enlivened the event and enriched the overall learning experience.
Spark genuine conversation: Nothing is more dynamic than an interesting conversation with real people. Our webinar was designed to be just that. Rather than inundating participants with text-heavy slides, we encouraged our experts to simply engage in authentic dialogue about their expertise and experience surrounding the topic and be prepared to speak extemporaneously. Many of our attendees commented about how much they identified with experiences shared by our speakers or how quickly the time seemed to fly by once the conversation really started rolling. By shifting the focus from monologue to dialogue, we not only captured attendee attention but also fostered a sense of collaboration and co-creation.
Technical webinar insights and considerations
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Hosting any event, including a webinar, is a journey that never goes entirely as expected. For the Healthtech Storytelling webinar, we encountered plenty of technical hurdles that ranged from inevitable scheduling hiccups, to selecting the most suitable video platform, to ensuring smooth setup for multi-location live broadcast and recording, to untangling last-minute platform subscription activation issues.
Just as important: fine-tuning view settings for recording formats on platforms like LinkedIn and Zoom, as well as overestimating the amount of time required for graphic development, testing, and resizing. We also found it is beneficial to avoid “dead air” at the start of a session, where a bit of webinar welcoming banter provides attendees with a moment to join the session and settle in before diving into the formal introductions and discussion.
Needless to say, there is always room for improvement in communications.
Looking Forward
Overall, our first Healthtech webinar was a resounding success, thanks largely to our passionate panelists and active input from attendees. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of our participants, we plan to engage in more interactive and conversational webinars on worthy subjects in the near future. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about upcoming opportunities to join the conversation.
Are you ready to unlock the potential of storytelling in healthtech? Or cleantech? Or edtech? Curious about exceptional B2B communications in general? Reach out to us at go@sterlingpr.com.