Recent events have left many of us thoroughly accustomed to attending online events. However, if you are only now preparing to hold a virtual event of your own for the first time, you should keep in mind that, alas, being an online presenter is not as easy as many people could make it look.

As you gear up for your first online presenting gig, one of the questions most persistently playing on your mind could be whether you should write a script for the event. While there’s no simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, the bottom line is that it’s generally a good idea – especially for a beginner. Here’s why

A Script Can Serve as Your Event’s Roadmap

In other words, a script can help you to stay on course as you present the event. Naturally, you don’t want to find yourself flailing from time to time while you are on camera – especially as doing so could make you look unprofessional and like you don’t really know what you are talking about.

Potentially, this can be hugely problematic. After all, probably one major reason why you want to hold an online event in the first place is the opportunity it would give you to position yourself as a thought leader in a specific industry – and, as a result, more easily sell products or services in it.

Search Engine Journal warns that “no matter how knowledgeable or passionate you are about a specified topic, trying to present or conduct an interview for an hour can be extremely challenging if it isn’t (at least slightly) scripted.”

To What Extent Should Your Virtual Event Be Scripted?

Once you have penned a detailed script, you should commit it to memory. Nonetheless, you don’t necessarily have to memorize every single word on the page and in the exact same order – as, if you recite the script word for word, your manner of speaking could come across as robotic.

As the Eventbrite blog advises about your script: “Try practicing it to sound like you’re naturally speaking off the cuff.” It would be especially easy for you to garner this impression if you allow yourself to break away from the script from time to time.

It’s hard for a genuinely spontaneous moment to look scripted – and it might be exactly what you need to keep your audience engaged. Besides, there might be times when you want to let your audience have their own say – for example, if you are delivering a webinar.

Having read this, you might now be thinking: “What is a webinar?” It can be succinctly described as an online seminar – complete with not only a presenter and presentation but also chances for the event’s attendees to chip in with their own thoughts.

Hence, if you will indeed be presenting a webinar, you should make sure your particular choice of webinar platform will enable you to interact with attendees in the way you desire. Not every webinar platform on the market might give you the ability to hold surveys, for example.