Over on the Interactive Meeting Technology blog, Samuel J. Smith listed the 18 Tips To Make Your Event Webcast Rock. He had many tips on how to produce a webinar that engages attendees.

I love #1 on his list:

Think Like a TV Producer. Once you start webcasting you are basically creating a television show. You need to think about your audience and ask yourself: Who is my audience? When will they want to watch my program? What do I need to do in the presentation to keep them from changing the channel? Do I need to make any changes in the introduction, content and wrap up to accommodate them?

This reminds me of the first few video podcasts that came out in 2005 when podcasting was in its infancy. Many video podcasts did poorly because people didn’t clearly understand that they were producing short television shows. Talking heads did lousy because there was no conflict, drama or entertaining value.

Webinars and webcasting is the same. You need to produce it with a television producer hat on.