Thinking about hosting your first webinar but not sure how to begin? Your GoTo Webinar free trial is the perfect chance to discover just how easy and impactful online events can be.
Whether you’ve already started your trial or are still deciding, we’re here to help you make every day of your 14-day trial count. By dedicating just a few minutes each day, you’ll get a hands-on experience with features that can elevate your webinars from ordinary to unforgettable.
Read on for daily tips and insights to help you maximize your trial and prepare to host successful webinars with confidence.
Day 0: Set Your Webinar Goals
Before you jump in to your free trial, spend a few minutes outlining what you want from your webinars – whether it’s generating leads, onboarding clients, or hosting meetings. Whatever your goals, getting clear on them now will help you make the most of every day of your trial.
Ask yourself:- Are you aiming to generate leads, onboard clients, or train your team?
- How important is branding, analytics, integrations, or engagement for you?
- How many attendees will you typically host?
Depending on your goals, you can decide what is really important to you regarding features, reliability, and affordability. So jot down your requirements and list your must-haves and nice-to-haves. Your requirements will include some or all of the following:
Easy Planning Tools
There’s no doubt webinars take time to plan and execute so finding a solution that makes it as easy (and automated!) as possible is critical.
You might look for:
- Simple webinar set up
- Branding options
- Automated email notifications
- Flexible webinar modes (Live stream, pre-recorded, etc.)
- Webinar templates so you can copy settings from webinar to webinar
- Integrations with your systems including CRM and Marketing Automation
Interactive Features
Depending on the kind of webinars you plan on hosting, you want some options for interacting with your audience.
This may include:
- Q&A
- Polls
- Surveys
- Drawing tools
- Webcam sharing
Recording, Repurposing and Embedding
If you will be recording your webinars for later use, you need a solution that allows for easy recording, storage, and repurposing.
You might want:
- Simple webinar editing
- Unlimited video storage
- Branded video library for easy sharing
- Video embedding
Analytics
What information do you want to capture about your webinar performance and attendees?
- Customizable registration data
- Attendee attentiveness and engagement
- Survey and poll responses
- Attendance rate
- AI Summaries
- Source tracking so you can see what drove registrations
Support and Reliability
When putting on live events, reliability is huge! During your free trial you’ll want to check that everything works as it should and that you have options to directly contact customer support.
Day 1: Get to Know the Product
With your goals defined, it’s time to dive in and get started. Log in to your GoTo Webinar dashboard and spend a few minutes getting familiar with everything. The user-friendly layout makes it easy to navigate, and our step-by-step guide can walk you through the essentials to getting started.
Today’s Action List:- Bookmark the dashboard here for easy access
- Get started with our step-by-step guide here
- Have a question? Join a live Q&A session or reach out to our 24/7 support team
Day 2: See GoTo Webinar in Action
Now that you’ve explored the dashboard and got a better understanding of how things work, it’s time to see the platform live in action. Our short demo video offers a front-row seat to the in-session experience, so you can see the platform in action.
Curious how to schedule a webinar? Or what hosting a live session really feels like?Watch our short demo video Demo
To learn:- How to schedule and launch a session
- Managing audio, video, and screen sharing
- Using engagement tools: polls, Q&A, breakout rooms
- Checking attendance and interaction reports
Take note of questions that pop up during the demo and bring them to our live Q&A!
Day 3: Get Ready to Set Up Your First Test Webinar
Now that you’ve seen GoTo Webinar in action, it’s the perfect time to create a test webinar. Using GoTo Webinar’s easy step-by-step guides, you can create a test webinar and get ready to go live with confidence.
Take 15 minutes and follow the steps below to get set up:
- Choose your webinar mode
- Enter a title
- Schedule your date and time
- Add a description
- Invite organizers or panellists (maybe ask a colleague to join)
- Update branding and colours
- Customize confirmation and reminder emails
- Share your event: email yourself a test invitation or send it to a colleague
- Try interactive features: create a poll, upload a handout, and share a video
Day 4: Practice Makes Perfect
Congratulations – you’ve set up your first test webinar! Now, let’s take things up a notch and practice running your webinar. With Practice Mode, you can fully rehearse every part of your event. It’s a secure space to try out new features, iron out any kinks, and boost your confidence, all before the real show.
Here’s how to get started:Simply log in to your dashboard and check out this quick demo video to see how it works.
You can use Practice Mode to:- Share your screen with other organizers and panellists and manage webcams
- Test polls and Q&A features
- Upload and distribute handouts
- See what your attendees will experience and track engagement
Team up with a colleague! Have them join as a co-organizer to practice swapping presenter roles and communicating privately using the Organizer chat.
Day 6: Have a Question?
At this point in your trial, you may have a few questions. We’re here to help! We want to make sure you know exactly where to find us, so if you need a hand here’s how to get instant support whenever you need it:
- On-demand Training: here
- Live expert Q&A: here
- Need direct support? Contact us here
Wherever you are in your GoTo Webinar journey, you’re fully supported. Don’t hesitate to reach out, we’re always just a click away.
Day 8: Try out the Engagement Tools
Now that you’ve mastered the basics, it’s time to take your webinars to the next level with powerful engagement features. Experiment by launching a poll or starting a Q&A session. You will see how easy the features are to use and how engaged your audience becomes.
Top Features:- Q&A
- Polls & Surveys
- Breakout Rooms
- Custom registration fields
- Real-time attention tracking
Days 9-10: Host Your First Live Webinar
Ready to go live? Host a real session and see first-hand how successful your webinars can be! To set yourself up for a smooth experience, here are some helpful tips:
Pre-Webinar Checklist:- Run a final tech check (audio, camera, screen sharing)
- Send out real invites to a small audience or internal team
- Review your agenda and content
- Have engagement tools (polls, Q&A) ready
- Check analytics for attendance and participation
- Download your session recording and attendee report
- Gather quick feedback with a survey
Day 11: What Do Other Customers Think?
Interested in seeing how other businesses are using GoTo Webinar? You’re in great company, lots of businesses from large industry leaders like Sage, Amazon or Deloitte to small teams are using GoTo Webinar to reach their audiences and drive results.
“The GoTo solution has allowed us to seamlessly migrate our physical events into a virtual environment, without impacting the quality of service for our customers and partners.”Read the Sage story and discover how businesses like yours are using GoTo Webinar.
Days 12–13: Present Your Findings to Key Stakeholders
Now it’s time to get into the decision-making process. Share what you’ve found with your team members and key stakeholders. At this point you should be able to answer the following questions:
- Will GoTo Webinar help you achieve your goals?
- Does it fulfil your feature requirements?
- Is the technology easy to use?
- Is there a package that fits your needs and budget – we’re sure there is 😉
Day 14: What’s Next?
Congratulations! You’ve completed your 14-day GoTo Webinar free trial. We hope this time gave you a great feel for how GoTo Webinar can make your events a success.
We’re so excited for what’s ahead – Upgrade now and let’s get ready to make some great webinars.
Need more time?
No problem! Take your time, and when you’re ready to return just reach out to our team, so you can pick up where you left off.
