Most webinars still aren’t built as interactive webinars. They more commonly follow the same bland structure: one presenter, a deck, and a Q&A box nobody opens until the last two minutes. It’s a format built for listening, not participation. People log in, keep the tab open, and drift.

We’ve spent years building sessions the other way round. Designing for participation from the first planning call to ensure engagement. Here’s what that actually looks like, and why it’s still rare.

Interactive webinars aren’t built by bolting on a feature

A lot of “interactive” webinars are, in reality, a broadcast session with a poll dropped in every ten minutes, regardless of what’s happening on screen. It looks like engagement, but it doesn’t change anything about the session: the presenter asks the question, glances at the results, and carries on with the slide they’d already planned. For interactive webinars to actually work, the interaction has to be tied to a real decision point.

We design interaction around genuine decision points. Moments where the audience’s answer actually changes what the facilitator does next, which breakout group someone ends up in, or which topic gets more time. It’s a decision made during event design. Meaningful participation needs to be built into the session from the start, not added the week before delivery.

It’s also why, alongside the traditional toolkit, we’ve increasingly turned to embedding AI-based interactivity directly into the platforms our clients already use. We turn the ordinary Zoom or Teams chat box into a live visual space for polls, word clouds, quizzes, art, deep exercises and reactions. For a lot of sessions, this works better for our clients. No second app, and fewer barriers between attendees and the interaction. QR codes still have their place, particularly for hybrid audiences or in-person elements. We aren’t suggesting replacing all interactivity with one or the other. It’s more about carefully selecting what actually matches your audience before the event is live.

Both Zoom and Teams have expanded their own native tools significantly. Zoom Events now offers advanced polling and reporting built in. Teams has strengthened its breakout room reporting for more structured internal sessions. Native features are a great starting point. Where we add value is in designing what those interactions are actually for, ensuring every interaction supports the outcome of the session.

What “done well” looks like in practice

ES Global is a strong example of how participation can be designed across a large-scale international virtual event.

Running continuously for 24-48 hours, the event brings together speakers and attendees from around the world. This enables people in different time zones to join at a time that works for them. Maintaining energy, connection and a sense of community across such an extended programme requires much more than simply broadcasting a continuous stream of presentations.

The agenda offers a wide variety of topics, speakers and session styles, with breaks thoughtfully paced throughout. Presentations are followed by live, interactive Q&A sessions, giving attendees the opportunity to ask questions, explore the subject further and engage directly with the speakers.

Participation also extends beyond the individual sessions. The event platform provides ways for attendees to interact with one another, strike up conversations and discover people with shared interests. Dedicated networking opportunities help create a sense of community, even when participants may be joining from opposite sides of the world.

Shared resources, practical workbooks and additional links enable attendees to continue exploring the content after each session, apply what they have learnt and carry the conversation beyond the live event.

The result is not simply a 24 or 48-hour broadcast. It is a continuous global learning experience that combines expert content, live conversation, networking, community and practical resources. Giving attendees different ways to participate depending on when they join and what they want to gain from the event.

The mistake most organisations make with interactivity

The common failure point isn’t a lack of tools. Most platforms now offer polls, reactions, breakout rooms, and chat features. It’s treating those tools as decoration rather than design. Interactivity added without a clear purpose behind it doesn’t just fail to help. It can actively signal to an audience that their input doesn’t really matter. Which is worse than not asking at all.

We start by asking what this audience needs to walk away with, and where in the session does their input genuinely change the outcome? The tools get chosen to serve that answer, not the other way around.

Why this still isn’t the default for webinars

The most effective webinars and online workshops are designed around moments of participation. They’re trying to educate, inspire action, build confidence, encourage discussion or create change.

That’s difficult to achieve when the audience spends the entire session listening.

The most effective webinars don’t just deliver information. They create opportunities for people to think, respond, discuss and contribute throughout the session. Not because engagement is a metric to report on afterwards. But because involvement helps people learn more, contribute more and take more away from the experience.

For us, that’s where event design begins. Before we think about platforms, production or technology, we think about the audience and what they need to do, feel or understand by the end of the session.

Because when participation is designed in from the start, better outcomes tend to follow. That’s the difference between a webinar with some interactivity added and a genuinely interactive webinar.