How to start an online class, workshop, webinar

There are a lot of solutions to host classes, workshops, group coaching sessions, webinars online. My intention is to keep things very simple so I am going to list here one solution. I think it is the best solution when you are starting out. You might just need a small class to start with and you don’t want an expensive solution. The good thing is that this platform is actually suitable for big classes as well as you grow.

ZOOM: video conferencing, online class, workshop, webinar platform

Zoom is a very popular solution that is widely used for video conferencing, webinars, workshops and online classes. You can record the live call and send it out easily as recording as well. There is a free account to start with, but it has a 40 minutes limit on group classes. If you want to start a class for a group of people longer than 40 minutes, you can start an account for around $16 with the Pro plan.

Get payed

Zoom is a very powerful platform, you can even connect it with PayPal and set up payment for your class, webinar, workshop. People will be able to register and pay for your workshop. Check out this article on how to set this up: Configuring Zoom Webinars with PayPal

Keeping participants informed

If you would like to add your participants to your mailing list, you might need to use Zapier for the integration. Here you can find some info about how to use Zappier to add your Zoom participants to your Mailchimp account. Zoom + Mailchimp integration. Create a Mailchimp group in your list before you start the integration, so you can send a letter to them separately.

If you are just starting out and you expect just a few participants, you can forget about Mailchimp for now. Zoom will send a notification to them anyway!

If you use some other newsletter service provider, Zapier might have a solution for you too, so search for it on their website.

Tools to use

You can start these meetings even from your phone. If you need to be further away from the camera because you want to show some movement, you might want to invest in a wireless lavalier microphone or earbuds, so people can hear you when you step away.

I hope this short info will encourage you to start sharing your knowledge in an online classroom as well.