Joint webinars and educational events

Plan a joint educational event around a question both partners can help the audience answer. Agree on the audience, each expert's contribution, the registration arrangements and the follow-up before promotion begins.

Choose a useful audience outcome

Start with a situation both audiences recognise. The session might help people compare approaches, identify a constraint or prepare a better supplier brief. State what an attendee should be able to do afterwards.

If one speaker could teach the whole subject alone, a single-host session with a guest may be clearer.

Choose a format that serves the question. A demonstration can show a workflow, provided the partners can describe its requirements accurately. A discussion can explore a decision with several credible approaches. A workshop can give attendees a task to practise.

For an in-person event, also settle venue, access and on-site responsibilities.

Agree on one event brief

Record the audience and outcome, teaching sequence, speaker roles, moderator, format, date and time zone. Name the registration owner, promotion channels, rehearsal and technical backup. Include what attendees will receive, whether the event will be recorded, who handles questions and how the partners will review it.

The brief should also identify costs, brand approvals and recording rights that need agreement. A proposed date or asset is not approved simply because it appears in the event plan.

Choose live, recorded or both

Decide whether the learning depends on live interaction or current information before promising a recording. Good Things Foundation says its webinars are best viewed live because they are interactive and include information about active programs and grants; it does not offer recordings for that reason.

If a session is intended to help a network learn together, make participation part of the event design. Good Things Foundation describes its Community of Practice sessions as a way to support its network with skills or information members want to know more about.

Live vs Recorded Webinars: When to Choose Which

Make the attendance route clear

Give attendees a clear path from invitation to registration, and make any access limits apparent. For example, Good Things Foundation directs network partners to log in to my.GoodThings, select Events and Webinars, then register; people outside its network are directed to learn about joining the network.

For in-person events, explain the purpose as well as the practical booking step. Good Things Foundation uses network meetups to help community organisations connect and learn together, and notes that places are limited and registration is required.

Give each expert a distinct job

Confirm that each partner has a distinct role in the session. The supporting article on speaker allocation covers how to divide content between speakers, order the hand-offs and allocate questions.

Each partner should check statements about its own offer, including examples and screenshots. The ACCC says it can require businesses to back up claims about their products or services, so have each partner confirm it can support the statements it plans to make before the session goes live.

Set the data and message plan before registration

Before registration opens, agree who collects attendee details and what each partner may do with them.

Co-hosting alone does not give both businesses a general right to use the attendee list. Where the Australian Privacy Principles apply, the OAIC expects reasonable steps to notify people about collection matters before or at the time of collection, or as soon as practicable afterwards if earlier notification is not practicable.

The supporting article on attendee data permissions covers that assessment in full.

Keep joining instructions and promised resources in the plan separate from later promotions. Check the applicable requirements before sending commercial electronic messages.

Pre-Registration Checklist for Co-Hosted Events

Rehearse, deliver and review

Rehearse the opening, hand-offs, questions, closing and response to a failed connection. Check that the registration page and confirmation message promise what the speakers can deliver.

During the event, avoid reading out a private question or passing a contact to the other partner without checking the agreed data arrangements.

Afterwards, provide the promised materials through the agreed route and assign unanswered questions to the relevant expert. Review whether the session answered its stated question and what needs clearer explanation next time.

Registrations and attendance show participation; they do not establish an opportunity or sale.

Key Compliance & Best Practice Stats