Our Webinar Producer Checklist will prepare you and your presenters for a successful webinar by taking out all the guesswork.

As you prepare for your live webcast, it’s important to review all the “need to know” details with your presenting team to ensure the webcast runs smoothly. Below you’ll find a list of system requirements for presenters, as well as, a series of checklists to help you prepare for the delivery of your live webcast. Each checklist contains a list of items you’ll want to discuss with your presenting team leading up to the live event day.

To help with your webinar planning, a copy of the checklist is available in an Excel format.  Click here to download!  This Excel checklist covers setup for both live and Simu-live webinars.

Minimum System Requirements For Presenters (10 Max)

1-2 Weeks Before Event Schedule A Rehearsal

• Send a calendar invite to all presenters for the rehearsal
  • Include the Present URL and Dial-in Instructions
• Send a calendar invite to all presenters with the live event details
  • Include the Present URL and Dial-in Instructions

One Week Before Live Event

• Conduct a rehearsal with all producers, presenters, and Q&A screeners.  Presenters should be logged in from a desktop or laptop.  
• Define Roles:  Who is the producer? Who is(are) the presenter(s)? Who is monitoring Q&A?  
• At least one person must be logged in as a Producer to start and stop the webcast.
• Define event flow (Producer begins and turns it over to X…Will the producer handle the polls or will the presenters? Will the producer read aloud questions to presenters?)
• Share the introduction and conclusion with everyone
• Train everyone to push slides, use the chat feature, manage Q&A (if necessary)
• Confirm everyone received the calendar invite with the live event details
• Confirm everyone knows to dial in 30 minutes before the live event start time
• Remind everyone they must be on a stable high-speed Internet connection. Wi-Fi connections are acceptable if they are both strong and stable. Unstable Wi-Fi due to congestion or other causes can result in connectivity drops adversely impacting a live event.
• Remind everyone cell phones are not ideal; connections are easily dropped
• What if a presenter loses internet connection? What is plan B? ALWAYS have a plan B!
• If pushing out a video clip – test it!
• If using screen share - test it! And install the plug-in if necessary (for Firefox users)

30 Minutes Before Live Event

• Confirm everyone is on a stable high-speed Internet connection
• Confirm everyone is presenting from a headset or handset, no speakerphone or cell phones
• Soundcheck – have presenters slowly count to 10. If there is a bad connection, they should hang up and dial back in, or choose a different connection method.
• Have presenters confirm they can push slides at this time. Also, have them submit a message in the Team Chat.

15 Minutes Before Live Event

Note: A reminder that best practice is to conduct a rehearsal before the live day of the event.  Everyone should be clear on roles, responsibilities, and expectations for the live day of the event. 

• Confirm the polls are in the correct location (if applicable)
• Prepare seed questions for Q&A session (if applicable)
• Remind everyone on the call to turn off all cell phones, email alerts, smart home devices (e.g., Alexa)  etc.
• Have a glass of water handy
• Review the flow of the event. Who will press Start Live? What’s the presenter's cue to begin speaking?
• Remind presenters what to do when the Producer presses Stop Live. Everyone needs to understand that stopping a webinar permanently ends the webcast, and it will not have a restart option.

During Event

• Be aware of the mute button – make sure you are NOT MUTED when it is your turn to speak
• Be conscious not to breathe heavy
• Remember to stay on the Team Chat when possible
• Listen for your cue to begin
• ENJOY YOURSELF! If you have fun, your audience will too!
• When ready, stop the event. Producers and Presenters should have discussed prior the procedures for ending the webcast.  
  • Note: Stopping a webinar permanently ends the webcast. Once a webinar has been stopped (even if it has been accidentally or prematurely stopped), it cannot be restarted.

For more specifics on using Elite Studio, see the Webcast Elite | Elite Studio - User Guide