Create An Engaging Webinar Welcome Speech In 10 Easy Steps

As a host, you’re responsible for keeping your audience interested from the moment you begin the webinar until you wrap it up. A boring webinar presentation feels like a chore to finish. This is where an engaging webinar welcome speech comes in handy.

A welcome speech sample would guide you on what to say when you start the session. Learn our tips and tricks to open a webinar in the most impactful and memorable way.

The Importance of Audience Engagement in Starting a Webinar

Now that people’s attention spans are shorter, making an impression at the start of the webinar is crucial. These reasons help you get your audience’s attention and pave the way for a successful virtual event:

• Maintain Interest: Your audience will listen to everything you say when you have their attention. Boring introductions make them turn their attention somewhere else.
• Build Connections: Having the audience’s interest right in the first minute connects you with the audience. This makes them interested in your topic, like they’re part of the whole journey.
• Retain Information: Your audience will remember what you say when they’re interested. They can remember the message better and learn more from you.
• Lead a Positive Experience: Keeping your audience engaged throughout the webinar makes the event enjoyable. They participate and interact more with you.

Now that we’ve rounded up why audience interest is important, let’s tackle the ways of making a webinar welcome speech engaging.

How to Bring Your Webinar to an Impressive Start

Captivate your webinar attendees by correctly hosting an online webinar with a great welcome speech with these tips:

1) Extend a warm greeting

A warm welcome is the precursor of a fun webinar. Set a friendly and inviting tone when you say hello or greet everyone during the time of the day. Put a smile on your face to set the atmosphere of the event. Share with your audience how excited you are about what you’re working on related to the webinar.

2) Thank your attendees

People invest time and effort in attending your webinar. Thank them for their presence to make them feel appreciated and seen. Following up on your greeting with thankful words builds a relationship between you and the audience.

3) Make your Introduction short yet sweet

Briefly introduce yourself with your name, title, and what you do for a living. Spice up your webinar introduction with a relevant story that connects with the topic. 

Stories allow you to connect and relate with your audience in a personal way for just a short while.

4) Shine the spotlight on your guest speaker

If you have a speaker or guest speakers that will offer insights in your webinar, introduce them in a professional and friendly way. Familiarise yourself with their work and highlight their accomplishments and educational attainment. Make your audience anticipate by expressing 

your excitement with what your speakers will say.

5) State the webinar’s purpose

Be transparent about your webinar’s purpose and what your audience will get. Transparency helps set expectations and keep your audience tuned in until the end of the webinar. They can also decide if your webinar topic meets their needs as they learn its purpose.

6) Share the presentation’s outline

After setting expectations with your webinar’s purpose, highlight the key takeaways your audience should expect. 

Use interactive elements like videos and images to reinforce the topics. Let them have a brief overview of the topics that you’ll tackle in the webinar. Doing so gives assurance that they have a topic they’ll like within your outline.

7) Encourage your audience to participate

Virtual events are more fun with audience participation. Let your audience know when to ask questions at specific times during the panel discussion and Q&A session. Encourage them to use the features of the webinar platform, like the chat function, for real-time interactions. 

Allowing your audience to participate fosters a positive webinar experience for everyone.

8) Inject some humour

Humour is an effective way to finally break the ice and entertain everyone for a short while. Make sure your jokes and lighthearted anecdotes are well-placed and inoffensive. But don’t overdo it to avoid straying the audience from the webinar.

9) Keep it brief and natural

No one wants to listen to a lengthy and robotic speech. Make it sound natural by adding enthusiasm and energy to your words to capture your audience’s attention. 

Keep it short to maintain the momentum and prevent yourself from going astray with your introduction.

10) Don’t forget your Call to Action

End your welcome speech with a compelling and urgent call to action. Seize this opportunity to tell your audience to join the webinar. Providing the next step urges your audience to continue and finish the webinar with you.

Conclusion

Audience engagement is an essential part of your job as a webinar host. Keeping the audience interested will have them returning in the next webinar. Remember to have a short, friendly, and authentic introduction to make the webinar experience memorable for your attendees.

Most importantly, use a webinar platform that takes more work off your shoulders, such as creating schedules and designing a registration page from scratch. Your chosen webinar platform should also be able to host live chat and create polls to make real-time interactions. By selecting a seamless platform, you wouldn’t have to worry about technical glitches that may come along the way.