How Not To Host a Webinar Launch

How Not To Host a Webinar Launch

My first live webinar was supposed to be a turning point in my business. The moment everything clicked. The moment I went from “I hope someone buys this” to “wow I actually have a real business.”

Instead it turned into a masterclass in what not to do.

And honestly, I am grateful for it, because that disaster taught me more than any polished webinar ever could.

A webinar launch sounds simple.

• Show up live.
• Teach something great.
• Present your offer.
• Make sales.

Easy. But if you do not understand the strategy behind how to launch with a webinar, you can end up in a spiral of tech issues, awkward pauses, audience confusion, and sadly, almost no sales. My first attempt checked every one of those boxes.

Here is exactly how it played out.

The Webinar Platform

The platform I used was LiveWebinar, something I bought from AppSumo because the promise of lifetime access reeled me in immediately. It felt like a steal. I had this shiny new tool, a massive slide deck, and a plan to run the perfect webinar.

Except what I had in my head and what actually happened were not remotely the same experience.

And not because of tech issues with the platform… it was all operator error!

What I Was Selling

I was launching a brand new twelve week program about making money while you travel.

This was not a quick mini course or a simple training. It was a full scale program that took me weeks to create.

• Videos.
• Worksheets.
• Lessons.

Hosted inside Teachable.

The price was around $197 which felt brave at the time. I believed the webinar would be my big moment. A clean, confident presentation followed by a flood of sales.

Structuring the Call

In my mind, the plan was flawless.

I had slides that took forever to design. I had a script. I had a platform I thought I understood. The webinar itself was ninety percent teaching because I genuinely wanted to help people and thought the value alone would make them want to buy.

There was no fast action bonus.

No urgency. No upsell. No order bump. No closing framework.

Nothing that resembles the kind of webinar launch strategy I would use today.

What Went Wrong

Then over one hundred fifty people showed up live, and everything fell apart.

I was not expecting that level of attendance. At all. When the attendee count kept climbing, panic kicked in immediately. I forgot how to use the platform I had practiced on. People could not see my screen. I tried again. Still nothing. When I finally got the slides to appear, they were stuck in a tiny sidebar box no one could read. And I could not figure out how to fix it.

The chat was exploding the entire time. Questions. Comments. Tech issues. People telling me they could not see anything. People telling me they could hear background noise. And for some reason I could not stop checking the chat which meant my delivery was choppy, distracted, and full of awkward pauses.

Because I was reading from a script, the timing was off. The pacing was slow. It felt like trying to teach while juggling and answering questions and putting out fires all at once.

When the webinar finally ended, I realized I had no follow up plan. I sent out two emails I wrote in a panic, both of which lacked structure and clarity. After everything I put into that program, sales were almost nonexistent.

It was the complete opposite of what I would do today.

What Went Right

I did have one win.

The turnout. Over 150 people showed up live even with no big promo strategy behind it. That meant interest was there. The audience was there. The potential was there.

My content was strong too. I spent hours putting together the slides and the training. The information itself was helpful and solid. I just delivered it in the least strategic way possible. And even though the webinar was a mess, it proved that when people are genuinely interested in what you are teaching, they will show up.

That was enough to keep me going.

That disaster taught me everything I needed to know about running webinars.

• Tech matters.
• Preparation matters.
• Delivery matters.
• And your strategy matters most of all.

If you want live webinar conversion tips that actually work, you need more than good intentions and a pretty slide deck.

You need a plan.

Now let’s talk about how to launch with a webinar the right way.
Read Part Two: How To Launch With a Live Webinar.