As I transition into a new job in the business/education sector, I realize the importance of planning effective webinars.  I would like to share some information that will help presenters in the business and education setting as we communicate with others.  As teachers are flipping their classrooms and online classes are becoming extremely popular, meeting the needs of students and teachers is made easier by providing content in a meaningful manner.  In the business sector, this is the primary means of communicating information to our audiences.  Here are some tips that I gathered about planning effective webinars:

http://presentationpanda.com/uncategorized/how-to-design-an-amazing-webinar-presentation/
http://l1.osdimg.com/online/dam/pdf/en/resources/wp/Gihan-Perera-GoToWebinar-The-Secret-Formula-for-Webinar-Presentations-that-Work-Every-Time-eBook.pdf

1. Slides do not need a busy colorful border, it distracts from the content of the slide. The eyes will focus on the border and will be distracted instead of focusing on the content. Simple slides hold the eyes attention better.  Google makes their slides simple so content is the focus, not colorful designs or background.

2. Meaningful, relevant images that illustrate the point will be remembered much better than a slide full of text. The brain can remember the image and the meaning/main point, but won’t remember a long list of bulleted text.  (This is how we teach students to design digital stories)

3. Graphic organizers with shapes, arrows, flow charts, work well to illustrate key points or the process and the brain captures the image for recall.

4. Links to documents, videos, and research should be embedded in the presentation for later viewing.

By using Google slides, I have been able to create a “website” type of learning environment for my audience with all the links to research, videos, pilot programs, and documents stored in the presentation. Attendees have taken the information and several have downloaded it to their computers either as a PowerPoint or in their Google Drive account via Google Slides. This has helped meet their learning needs along with the recording of the webinar. This is my work around since we don’t have a designated website for webinars.