Preparing for a webinar doesn’t just involve having a nice PowerPoint presentation and script for delivering great spiels. Your equipment plays a huge role in the success of your webinar, too. If you want your webinar to succeed, you need to have decent equipment. Don’t worry - you don’t have to get the absolute best tools, just the right ones that can do the job well. Here are 6 webinar equipment or tools that you need that works with any budget.

1. Internet connection

Having a fast internet connection is a must for everything we do virtually. It’s especially crucial when managing a webinar. Depending on the number of participants, you’ll be presenting and receiving feedback from a volume of people that your connection should be able to handle.

Stutters on your end due to a slow internet connection can ruin the engagement and immersion for your attendees. The worst case scenario is that you’ll run into communication problems that can cause delays in the process.

Close unnecessary programs that connect to the internet to maximize your connection speeds with the webinar. For best results, plug an ethernet cable to your computer to ensure the fastest connection you can acquire with your ISP.

2. Room

No matter the occasion,  one of the best practices in virtual conferencing is to minimize background disturbances to maintain the focus on the speaker. This includes turning down or removing anything that can disrupt your audio and visual backend.

Keep visual and auditory distractions at a minimum. Go to a room with a clean background, away from any potential noise that could pop up. If it can’t be helped, use a virtual background.

3. Computer

As weird as it sounds, it actually takes a solid-performing computer to host or view a webinar. You need good specs to be able to capture high-quality video of your own as well as view webcams of dozens of participants. If it can’t, it will lag behind, and so will your presentation.

The ideal computer should have:

  • An up-to-date processor (at least Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5)
  • At least 8 gigabytes of RAM
  • An ethernet port to connect directly to your modem

4. Webcam

Having a high-quality webcam is crucial for you to engage with the audience effectively. Not only is it a pretty sight; having a clear image inspires confidence in the audience about the speaker. On the other hand, it takes away from the experience if a speaker’s screen is riddled with video artifacts and a choppy framerate.

Before buying a specific webcam, consider whether or not it has:

  • High image resolution; at least 720p
  • Consistent minimum framerate at 30 frames per second
  • Decent color accuracy

No matter which webcam you get, always prepare it well with good lighting and positioning.

5. Headset

You have to be able to do well in both hearing and listening to ensure smooth engagement between you and your co-speaker. This isn’t possible with the built-in speakers and microphone of a laptop because:

  • You may not hear your co-speaker properly.
  • Laptop microphones are usually mediocre and unclear.
  • Microphone feedback can happen and annoy your listeners.

A decent headset can cover both hearing and listening very effectively while still keeping plain and implying to attendees that you want to hear their feedback. Here’s what you have to look for in a headset:

  • High-quality audio
  • Noise-canceling microphone
  • Comfortable earcups
  • Simple appearance

A pricier alternative is getting a separate headphone and microphone combo to get the truly best in both hearing and listening.

6. Webinar platform

All your equipment thus far has been hardware, but your software matters a lot, too. Regular virtual conferencing platforms may be handy but can fall short when compared to dedicated Webinar platforms. The latter gives end-users a slew of tools and functions to enrich the webinar experience, such as security, live recording and streaming, and interaction tools for the audience.

In fact, many of the best webinars rely on a dedicated webinar platform for better engagement and a more intuitive experience for participants. If you want to truly amp up your webinar game, consider getting a webinar platform like ConferTel.