Guiding you on your webinar background choice
Creating a good webinar includes a lot of different steps. The more steps you get right, the better your webinar will be. Therefore, choosing the best webinar background can make a difference. In the recent period, we have been part of a lot of webinars and we can see that often the webinar backgrounds are not properly managed. Since we are pushed to work remotely during the COVID outbreak, it can get difficult to get the right webinar background off the ground when presenting from home.
You can access the different parts of the guide here:
- What should you prepare before getting your webinar background right?
- What should you prepare for your actual webinar background?
- What are your options when creating a webinar background?
One of the most important part of a webinar is to have enthusiastic and engaging presenters. One of the ways to achieve that is to have relatable and professional speakers. Webinar background is a good way to have a professional presentation. A webinar background can say a lot about you and how you want to present. Often, a proper webinar background doesn’t require a special room in your house or an entire remodelling, but you just need to think about the setup.
Want to get your webinar program off the ground?
What should you prepare before getting your webinar background right?
Your preparation before will be very important to get your webinar presentation running smoothly. This preparation will also impact your background. If you want to present from your home office desk, you need to be aware of what is behind you and what the camera will actually show in the frame. We tend to put our offices against a wall because it is the most logical thing to do when setting your office up. While this makes sense when setting your home office desk up, when presenting; your entire house becomes the webinar background which is difficult to control. It’s best to turn the perspective around and having the wall as a background. Your wall will be the canvas on which you can create the right background.
The second thing you need to get right as a basis for presenting a webinar is the lighting. This is a tricky one, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience. When presenting in front of a webcam or camera, light is important. Think about the room you are presenting in and how the light is diffused in it. You want to avoid direct light coming in directly behind you when presenting. This will cause your face to blur with the light and it will be difficult to see you. In terms of lighting, it’s always recommended to face the light in order to illuminate your face naturally. Check out the video we have done on the do’s and don’ts for presenting from home. If you don’t have a window near your workspace, you can have a floor lamp placed somewhere in front of you.
Your position also matters. People usually hate having the full video frame focus on a face or having the presenter cut in half by the frame. Ideally, there should be room in the shot for your shoulders and chest, plus a bit of space above your head. When presenting with your laptop think about raising your laptop to have the webcam positioned just a little higher than eye level.
Finally, get your webinar equipment right! The best webinars are the ones who present professionally and for that you need the right tools. Our common laptop webcams are not the best at recording video. We would advise you to invest in a proper external webcam. We have a guide for you to choose the best webcam for your webinar. You might want to do the same in order to record the best quality audio possible. Special microphones are designed to record your voice in a manner that will improve the experience of your attendees.
What should you prepare for your actual webinar background?
There is one element that will always be in front of the camera for the overall presentation and that element is you. Think about how you want to present to others and how you want your brand to stand out when presenting your webinar. The way you are dressed should align with the topic and the way you want to be perceived by the attendees.
The elements placed behind the webinar frame are important for your webinar background. You want to align with your brand, and not steal attention from you. You want your background to be in line with your brand and not too personal. When thinking about your background, don’t distract too much from you and your content. Zoom digital background can be fun for a few minutes but can also distract from you and your presentation.
With a small investment, you can be able to set a professional and neutral background for your webinar. You can put your desk a few feet from a neutral-coloured wall with your webcam facing the wall. A good option is to set up a shelf or have a piece of furniture on which you can stock books or artefacts from your field of expertise. Finally, you can use the wall behind you to put up artwork that will dress the wall but not be too distracting.
What are your options when creating a webinar background?
When thinking about a background for your virtual conference, you have multiple options. Depending on your budget and technical abilities you can use physical backgrounds, your presentation as a background, use virtual background tools as well as green screens.
Physical background
Backdrops are a standard equipment used by professional photographers and videographers. This equipment makes it easier for you to manage the background during your presentation. The market is full of different options, with different sizes that can adapt all your needs. Places you can look for professional backdrops are Amazon, Backdrop Outlet or Capture by Lucy.
Background in your presentation
Webinar presentations often include pauses and slots in which you are answering questions from your audience, build interaction or divert from your original presentation. This is all part of the show but if you are recording a video or sharing your screen, it’s a nice touch to think about special holding slides. A lot of different online platforms can be used in order to create nice holding slides. You can download stock images on Unsplash, Shutterstock, Pixabay and other providers. You can also download vector images from Freepik or VectorStock if that suits your presentation style.
Virtual background tools
The use of virtual backgrounds, especially during video conferences, has exploded during the COVID outbreak and was an international meme during this period. These virtual backgrounds were especially used on the platform Zoom since they offer standard backgrounds when using the tool. The flexibility of Zoom let’s you upload your own background. Providers like Elite have compiled the best virtual backgrounds according to your presentation goals. If you feel especially creative, you can also build your own background via free tools such as Canva.
Green screen
Green screens is a technique used extensively in the entertainment sector and is now affordable for a lot of content producers. Thanks to your green screen you can remove the background from the subject of a video and replace it with something else. You can therefore remove the background of your home and display something in line with your presentation. When using a webinar provider yourself, you will need to use a specialised software to display your background on the green screen. At Webinars.com.au we take care of this for you and we can create any background you wish during your managed webinar. When considering the use of a green screen you should be aware that it’s still an expensive item if you plan on using it just once. Professional studio gear can cost up to $200. For the green screen to work at it’s best you will need a good webcam to have the best video quality.
