Our Facebook flop to fantastic fix (plus, killer webinar playbook revealed)

Let's Unmute The Audience🎙️. Down with boring, one-way presentations 😡

Hi there!

In this newsletter…

• So about our Facebook group…we closed it 🙈

• Cameras on: How to look good on Zoom 🕺

• Scott Thompson reveals his killer playbook for engaging webinars

So about that Facebook community group we started

It turns out that there’s a lot of people that really don’t like Facebook. That was a bit of a problem since a couple of months ago we decided to launch our community on Facebook.

Lesson learned.

We went back to the drawing board and decided that if we’re going to have a community of presenters, facilitators, streamers, and educators, we might as well do it right.

Introducing…

StreamAlive’s new community! (again).

Full of news, updates, and awesome sauce.

It’s a self hosted community that brings together everything that’s happening in the world of StreamAlive.

You’ll find our upcoming events…

(Don’t forget to register for Said’s event on how to look good on camera!)

Learn about all our feature and product updates…(like our newly updated Fantastic Fans interaction!)

And meet the StreamAlive team and fellow users (we’re a global tribe).

It’s also the place to ask for help, vote on feature requests, find a StreamAlive expert, and soon, where you’ll find out help and tutorial guides (the help center is still here for now).

Anyone can register

Anyone can visit and register on the StreamAlive community, so go ahead and create your account, we’re looking forward to saying “hi!”.

This is how anyone can look good on Zoom

Said is on a mission to help everyone look good on camera during a virtual event.

From simple lighting techniques and hacks on camera placement, to more advanced tips about your background, if you want to boost your virtual presence, this workshop is going to help you.

📅 April 9th
⌚ 11am EST / 4pm BST / 5pm CET / 8:30 IST

Registration is free, so save your seat today!

Said’s a busy man because the day after his workshop with StreamAlive he’s doing a free tutorial session on how to de-Zoom-ify your live sessions using StreamAlive!

📅 April 10th
⌚ 10:15am EST / 3:15pm BST / 4:15pm CET / 9:45pm IST

StreamAlive Community Spotlight

This week I'm delighted to introduce Scott Thompson, co-CEO at Acceleration Point, a company that works in the Medical Affairs space. He's been using StreamAlive for almost a year in his company webinars and hosts a regular podcast.

Hi Scott, nice to meet you! What does Acceleration Point do?

Acceleration Point partners with Medical Affairs teams to ensure the most impactful scientific insights reach the medical community—ultimately improving patient outcomes. We do this by helping clients design effective processes, adopt the right technologies, and generate data-driven insights that shape strategy. Our AI-based software platform, Kwello, plays a key role, enabling Medical Affairs teams to gather and interpret feedback from the field, refine their engagement strategies, and create more meaningful impact in clinical practice.

You host educational webinars for your customers and prospects, how do you get people to participate and hold their attention throughout the session?

With StreamAlive, our attendees interact in the chat instantly—no clunky surveys, QR codes, or phone scans.

Here’s our playbook for killer webinars: We’ve turned our sessions into a full-on production—think music, dynamic speakers, and pro-level video software rather than a boring old screen-share. It’s all about energy and movement. And we keep people active, not passive.

We kick things off by throwing out real challenges related to the webinar topic, getting everyone to vote on their biggest pain point in the chat. Then we lay out a simple framework and continuously call for real-life examples from the audience. This keeps them leaning in rather than zoning out.

Finally, we wrap up by asking what landed best for them so they can take immediate action. By the time we're done, they’re pumped, confident, and walking away with actual strategies they can implement right away.

Why is engagement or participation important to you in your webinars?

Engagement isn’t just about boosting attendance numbers—it’s about forging a connection that drives real action and results

We’re not just running another webinar—we’re lighting a spark! Our sessions need to educate and inspire folks who’ve already tried countless ways to solve their toughest challenges. We want them walking away with a whole new mindset, fired up and ready to roll up their sleeves.

Engagement is key because it shows them exactly what it’s like to work with our team—high energy, big passion, and real listening. When they jump in and share what’s on their mind, we learn what truly matters to them. Then we can knock it out of the park with solutions that perfectly fit their needs.

What does your pre-flight check look like before you start your webinar? Has this changed much over the years?

Our pre-flight checklist is all about creating a show—not just a webinar!

Here’s the breakdown:

1. 45 Minutes Out: We jump in to prep the tech—slides, virtual whiteboard, StreamAlive engagements—and test every scene in our video production software. Nothing is left to chance.

2. 30 Minutes Out: Quick run-through to confirm everything’s looking spot on.

3. 20 Minutes Out: Time for fresh air, a breather, and a glass of water. Gotta clear the head before we bring the heat!

4. 15 Minutes Out: We fire up the webinar link and start blasting music. It pumps us up and surprises guests who pop in early.

5. 3 Minutes to Show: We cue up our custom intro track and get in the zone—by this point, we’re on fire, ready to rock.

Has this changed over the years? Absolutely! Early on, we might’ve just rolled into Zoom and clicked ‘Start.’ But once we realized our audience deserved a full-on, high-energy experience, we upgraded our entire playbook. Now, this pre-flight routine is our secret sauce to delivering an epic webinar every single time.

Ever had a technical hiccup? How did you handle it?

Technical hiccups happen, but if you roll with it and bring the energy, you can turn a near-disaster into a breakthrough moment!

I’ll never forget the day the power cut out four minutes before showtime.

Total panic… but you’ve gotta roll with it!

I scrambled for a laptop on battery and tethered to my phone’s hotspot, jumping back into Zoom with, like, 10 seconds to spare. Then I brought the energy big time, telling everyone: ‘The storm literally blew up our production studio, so you’re getting Scott Thompson Unplugged!’

I switched the session on the fly to a learning circle—broke them into groups to share their biggest challenges and get advice from each other. Meanwhile, I got the slides back up, and when they returned, we dove straight into their top issues.

Having a technical problem turned out better than planned, because the vibe was so raw and interactive.

What do you know about running webinars now that you wished you had known when you started?

I used to think webinars were all about my content—what I wanted to present. But here’s the real secret I wish I’d learned from Day One: it’s all about what they take away and what fires them up to act.

When you focus on inspiring real-world change, you’ll see your attendees light up. They’ll remember the session not just for the cool slides, but for that ‘Aha!’ moment that pushes them to actually do something different. That’s the magic, and it’s a total game-changer!

What's your go-to StreamAlive interaction to get the audience to participate?

My absolute favorite StreamAlive move is the open-ended question that pumps out a real-time bar chart of audience responses. Not only does it group similar answers so I can see trends and dive in on the spot—it also gives me a killer report of who said what, letting me follow up one-on-one afterwards.

Open-ended polls are like crowd-sourced intel and personalized coaching all rolled into one!

Catch us on our social pages

If you haven’t already, check out our social media pages to stay updated on our quirky takes on the latest social media trends and the occasional piece of engagement-related advice.

All the best,

Peter and the StreamAlive team
100% human written with ❤️