Hi!
I currently offer webinars on a variety of topics to my learners. I am compiling a list of Guidelines for speakers to help with this delivery method.

For example:
I suggest 20-25 PowerPoint slides per hour
Light background, dark text,
Little or no animation
Font not smaller than 14 pt.

Any other suggestions?

I currently use the gotowebinar software and I'v found this helps with delivery.

Thanks!

Hi Mattie,
Your guidelines seem more like tips for developing the project.

My company is beginning to get involved in designing and delivering webinars, and we'd like to enlist our in-house trainers as webinar facilitators. With this in mind, I've been looking for a list of facilitator competencies related to webinar delivery. So far, I haven't found what I'm looking for.

Can any colleagues out there suggest any resources?

Thanks,
Lee

Try checking out Learning Circuits. There is a lot of good information from Jennifer Hoffmann, Susan Boyd and others. These articles provide great tips and suggestions for conducting training via live web conferences.

It’s really important to have visual variety in your webinars. In a live presentation, the audience can focus on you as well as your presentation. In a webinar, they’re just staring at the screen. So, keep in mind how long the same slide stays on the screen. Instead of a slide with six bullets, you might want to use 3-6 slides with photos or clip art that enhance the content. PowerPoint has a Slide Show >> Rehearse Timings you can use to record your timing so you can get a sense of how long a slide has been up. There's no perfect number of seconds; it all about balancing content with variety. And remember you can use animations to layer in your information.

Find ways to engage the audience. I use Live Meeting but your product probably has similar features such as creating polls. You can use polls for fun activities like a trivia contest, finding out experience or knowledge-level, or to check understanding. In the live version of a class, students completed a worksheet. In the webinar version, I used polls to list each question. I held off showing poll results until about half responded and then showed results. Since I had asked the students to be prepared to share how they came up with their answer, there was always someone willing to share their response when I opened it up for discussion. Your product may also have a web page feature so each participant can navigate through a web page on their own pc instead of just watching you navigate. I just attended a webinar where attendees used a text page to participate in a “safari” hunt; they were directed to web sites and instructed to type in their findings on the text page that was visible to all attendees.

On my PPT, I also create a "PG" box in the upper right-hand corner that indicates the page number of the Participant Guide so students always knew which page I was on.

Also check for additional product add-ins. With Live Meeting, there's a PPT add-in where you can create poll and web pages within the PPT (otherwise, you have to create it every time you do the presentation).

Don't go overboard on the webinar features. I'd rather let the audience know that they'll have opportunities to ask questions after each section rather than trying to man the presentation and the Question & Answer box. Use polls to check understanding and to help you re-direct your presentation if the audience isn't clear on something. (If you are co-facilitating, the Q&A box works great as long as the group gets to hear all the questions and answers.)

Voice-wise: watch your tone and energy level. If you're pondering a question, let them know. (Otherwise, they might think they've been disconnected from the audio portion!) Remember, they won’t have the visual cues in a live session; your voice and energy level is what connects them to the webinar.

Think about your early birds. I usually have a "pre-presentation" hyperlinked to my main presentation. The "pre-presentation" is set to loop continuously until it's time to start the presentation (Slide Show >> Set Up Show >> Loop continuously til Esc) and includes info like putting your phone on mute, F5 for full screen, number to call for audio portion, etc.


Finally, we always try to do a mock performance to the other trainers in our department so we can get feedback on content, timing, voice, possible technical difficulties, etc.

Good luck!

I have a similar question as the original post. I am attempting to locate any existing research detailing the pros, cons, significance of, and/or learner perspectives on using a standardized PowerPoint template in a webinar environment. For example, if a company develops one PowerPoint template and uses that same template (same logo, look and feel, etc.) for every webinar, what if any effect does this have on the learner and learning environment? I understand and can appreciate the need for a standardized GUI in an elearning environment where a learner benefits from accessing the menu in the same location, for example, but is there any research refuting or supporting the use of a standard look and feel when using PowerPoint presentations in webinars?