How to Build a Repeatable Webinar Programme

Your first webinar goes brilliantly.

The presenters are happy, the audience feedback is positive, and everyone's already talking about doing another one.

Then someone suggests making it a monthly event.

Great idea! Except you've now committed to twelve webinars a year, each with its own content, presenters, approvals, promotion and technical preparation.

And if you're working in Financial Services, there's a good chance several departments need to be involved before anything goes live.

Suddenly, that successful one-off webinar has become quite a commitment.

But here's the thing. Running twelve webinars shouldn't mean doing twelve times the work.

If you're planning to make webinars a regular part of your communications, it's worth getting a few things in place early.

You've already done this once. Why start again?

Think about everything your team created for your last webinar.

The registration page, confirmation emails, reminder emails, branded presentation, event layout, reporting...

How much of that really needs rebuilding for the next one?

If you're running monthly investment updates, for example, chances are the registration process, branding and event setup will look pretty similar each time.

So why start with a blank page?

Create templates for the things you know you'll need again. Keep your email communications somewhere accessible, save your preferred event layouts and document the steps involved in getting everything ready.

And we're not suggesting every webinar should look exactly the same.

A client briefing might need a different setup from an internal company webcast. But having a reliable starting point means your team can spend more time on the things that actually change.

Like the content.

WorkCast Top Tip: If you're using WorkCast, you can create branded event templates to help keep your webinars consistent. Rather than rebuilding the same event setup each time, you've already got a starting point for the next one.

Get compliance involved before the panic sets in

You've spent weeks preparing a webinar. The slides are finished, the presenters are briefed and the promotional emails are scheduled.

Then, two days before the event, someone realises compliance hasn't reviewed the final presentation.

Not exactly the situation you want to find yourself in.

For Financial Services organisations, approvals are often a necessary part of delivering webinars. But they shouldn't come as a surprise every time.

If you're planning a recurring programme, agree on the process before the first event.

Who needs to review the content? What needs signing off? When should materials be submitted? And what happens if something changes after approval?

It sounds straightforward, but having those answers documented can save a lot of unnecessary back-and-forth.

It also helps your compliance colleagues plan their workload. Nobody particularly enjoys receiving an urgent approval request at 4pm on a Friday.

Your experts have enough on their plate

Your portfolio manager has agreed to speak at the next investor webcast.

Brilliant.

That doesn't mean they should also be responsible for creating the registration page, learning the webinar platform, managing audience questions and worrying about whether their microphone works.

They're there to share their expertise.

And the easier you make that process, the more likely they'll be happy to get involved again.

For recurring webinars, it's worth establishing who's responsible for what.

Marketing might manage the promotion and communications. Your subject matter experts prepare the content. Compliance handles the necessary reviews, while an event producer or support team takes care of the technical delivery.

The exact responsibilities will depend on your organisation, but everyone should know what they're doing well before the event.

It's also worth thinking about how much time you're asking presenters to commit.

Could two expert discussions be recorded during the same session and prepared for separate broadcasts? Would a conversational format require less preparation than a lengthy slide presentation?

There are plenty of ways to make things easier without compromising the quality of the event.

Does every webinar really need to be live?

There's something great about a live webinar.

The opportunity to ask questions, hear directly from experts and discuss a topic as it happens can be really valuable.

But not every event needs that level of spontaneity.

Take a Financial Services organisation delivering regular product training to its broker network.

The information might need reviewing and approving before it's shared, and the presenters could be spread across different offices with limited availability.

Pre-recording the presentation could make much more sense.

Or perhaps you're delivering a monthly educational series. A Simulive approach would allow you to prepare the main presentation in advance and broadcast it at a scheduled time, while your team manages audience engagement.

Then there are the events where live really is the better choice, such as a timely market discussion or an interactive client briefing.

The point is that you don't need to commit to one format for your entire programme.

Choose what makes sense for each event, and don't create extra work simply because that's how you've always done it.

What happens when the person who organises everything is off?

Here's one that can easily get overlooked.

If one person in your organisation is responsible for every webinar, how much of the process exists only in their head?

They know which emails need scheduling, who approves the slides, when the rehearsal happens and which presenter always needs an extra reminder.

Then they go on annual leave.

And suddenly, everyone else is trying to work out where the latest presentation is saved.

A repeatable programme needs to work even when the usual organiser isn't available.

That doesn't mean creating a 40-page instruction manual nobody will ever read.

A shared checklist, clear responsibilities, saved templates and a simple timeline can go a long way.

After each event, make a note of anything that caused unnecessary work.

Perhaps presenters need their briefing earlier. Maybe the approval deadline is too close to the broadcast. Or perhaps your team is spending an hour manually doing something that could be automated.

Fix those things before the next webinar.

That's how a programme becomes easier to manage, rather than simply becoming another recurring task on everyone's calendar.

Make your webinar programme work for your team

A regular webinar programme can be a brilliant way for Financial Services organisations to stay connected with investors, clients, employees and intermediaries.

But it needs to be realistic.

If your team can comfortably deliver one valuable webinar a month, start there. You can always increase the frequency once you've established a process that works.

And remember, you don't have to manage everything internally.

At WorkCast, we support Financial Services organisations with live, pre-recorded and Simulive webinars, including managed event services for teams that would rather leave the technical delivery to experienced producers.

Because the goal isn't to see how many webinars your team can squeeze into the calendar.

It's to build a programme you can keep delivering, without everyone dreading the next one.

Explore WorkCast for Financial Services