The keys to a successful Webcast are fundamentally the same as for any publicity activities: planning, execution, and attracting an audience.

To begin with, you have to know your audience. Here are the questions you must ask about your audience before you invest time and money in your first Webcast:

Do their computers have the external speakers required to listen to the audio portion of a Webcast? Most newer computers do, but some journalists, particularly freelancers, as well as staffers at smaller publications and trade magazines, may have older, speakerless machines.

What type of Internet access do they have? Many freelancers connect from standard phone lines using 28.8K or 56K modems. Journalists from large organizations will probably connect using a T-1 or DSL line at 100K or higher -- but even here, there are surprises.

Thirteen percent of online journalists still use a 56K connection, according to a Delahaye Media Link Communications survey mentioned in Ragan's Interactive Public Relations. Although better quality comes with higher speeds, if you stream at 100K, you will exclude reporters with lower connection speeds.

You may want to stream at two different speeds if your budget allows you that option. For those dialing in from home or while traveling, offer a 30K to 35K option. This will allow you to reach serve both 28K modems and 56K modems. Also offer a high-speed connection at 100K, for those with DSL, cable, T1 or T3 connections.

Do the journalists on your list prefer the Microsoft, RealPlayer, or the Apple QuickTime format? You'd probably end up with no consensus, and you may have to encode your Webcast in all three formats.

The next thing to consider is that your objective is to communicate your message, not to display the most dazzling technology. It's easy to lose sight of the fact that technology is your slave, not the other way around.

Extra bells and whistles might sound appealing, but they add complexity, time, and cost to your project. And they may even make your message more difficult to understand.

For example, the publicist for Kebibble Technologies, in Chelm, decided to show the world all the fancy formats on the new video title-screen generator he had just bought. His Webcast included curly type, exploding type, dancing type, and even singing type that looked like his favorite pop star.

Journalists were entranced with his presentation, and wrote great stories about the title-screen generator. But they never mentioned Kebibble's new software release, because the fancy bells and whistles eclipsed the content of the new product announcement.

Another consideration when planning a Webcast is that complex messages need more than screen after screen of text to make a compelling presentation. The integration of text, sound and visuals, when done well, will increase comprehension.

From Chapter 6, The Publicity Handbook

The Publicity Handbook Table of Contents
Electronic Photos: When and How to Use Them
How to Choose the Best Press Clipping Service
Phone Contacts With Journalists: Strategies That Work
Secrets of Writing Newsworthy Press Releases

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