What,Not,When,Giving,Online,Cl marketing What Not to do When Giving an Online Class

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Teleseminars, webinars, and online training have made their way into the standard toolbox for coaches, virtual assistants, and online marketers. They are not only a great marketing tool, but there are so many uses - everything from teaching "how to's" to online coaching! The technology certainly has come a long way, but it doesn't end there.  Whether it is your first time or 50th time giving a teleseminar or webinar, there are countless details to think of when putting on just one hour-long class - use FreeConferenceCall or InstantTeleseminar? How to get people to attend the class? Does the software support webcast and phone? Are the handouts up-to-date?  A few weeks ago, I completed my first week of teaching an online autoresponder training class and found out just how stressful and overwhelming it can be! Of course I made my fair share of mistakes so learn from me and read these pointers of what not to do when giving an online class. 1. Don't double check the details. Don't rely on your copywriter or virtual assistant for the attention to details. Make sure the detailed information, such as the date, time, phone number, passcode, and links are correct. I have seen (and sent) my fair share of "Oops, here's the corrected link" emails and though many of them can be corrected quickly enough, having 100 people dial into the wrong phone number at the time of the call can be disastrous. Also make sure that the handouts, session notes, and follow-up URLs are all correct and updated. At the last minute, I thought it would be great to send a worksheet to the attendees. But I forgot to check it first and what they received was the 3-page rough draft instead of the completed 15-page worksheet - it had the same name of the file, just a different folder. Double check! 2. Don't test the technology. Make sure you test, re-test, and test again the delivery method and format for your class, especially if it is the first time using the program. If you are giving a webinar and want to use an online meeting software, make sure it's reliable and test it by going through an entire mock meeting. I decided to use a free webinar conferencing software which allowed me to webcast, record, and browse the internet with up to 20 participants. Sounds great doesn't it? It was great until it froze up halfway during the class. I had only tested for five minutes at a time when my class was a 90-minute class. I firmly believe in "you get what you pay for" so I switched over to a paid service (GoToMeeting) and it worked much better for the rest of the sessions. Test! 3. Don't prepare. The weekend before the class was to begin, I made a checklist and listed everything from remembering to unplug the phone during the meeting (to eliminate background noise) to posting a "do not ring the doorbell" sign on the front door. I know myself - I need to write things down or else I will forget. I had to attend a ceremony the morning of the class and when I rushed home to get ready, I was so flustered that I couldn't find the checklist. I thought that I could wing it without my checklist and I was wrong. And of course my phone rang - loudly - and interrupted the meeting. Another note is that when giving a teleseminar via the phone, remember to turn off call waiting because I also discovered that people can hear all those clicks and the voice will cut out. Prepare! 4. Don't have a Plan B. After the fiasco of my first session, by the second session I had familiarized myself with the new webinar software, I had a spare headset and microphone, I created my new checklist, I had printed out my outline, and I thought I was prepared. But what I didn't plan on was my computer freezing up. Had I printed out the bridge line phone number, at least I could have dialed in to the bridge line and talked to the participants while I wrestled with my internet connection. It was the longest 15 minutes of my life! I had a backup laptop sitting right next to me but without the needed information, it did little good. I showed up late to my own training class. Argh! Even though my training was aimed at a test group, I see this mistake a lot:  5. Don't advertise or promote. Don't take the "if I hold it they will come" approach. Promoting to your standard mailing or newsletter list probably won't get you the results you are looking for. Even if you are holding a free teleseminar, you will want to promote to teleseminar sites such as PlanetTeleclass.com and Conference Call University (cculearning.com), post announcements on listservs, advertise in other ezines - and if you have affiliates, write up some promotional copy so they can get the word out to their lists.  You would think that I would totally be turned off to teleseminars with all the technical problems, sending the wrong information, being late to my own class - but it was actually an exciting couple of weeks! It can sometimes be uncomfortable to grow, learn, and challenge yourself... it is so much easier to just continue doing what you are doing. But then you'll never reach your long-term goals. Don't let the fear of failure keep you from trying out new things. What it comes down to is that no one will remember what happened a month from now. I am still here, the world did not end, my business did not cease to exist, and I did not get discouraged.