A webinar or panel takes planning, speakers and an hour of other people's time, and a live session reaches whoever could attend at that moment. The ideas discussed in it can reach people who were not there, if you pull them out of the recording and publish them in a form people read on LinkedIn. This guide sets out how, from the recording to the scheduled post.
What repurposing a webinar means
Repurposing means taking the substance of a recording and presenting it again in smaller pieces: posts, an article, a list of questions and answers. Each piece should make sense on its own, without the reader needing to watch the recording. The recording itself can be linked as a source for people who want the whole discussion.
It works best for sessions where people spoke from experience: a panel, a customer conversation, an internal meeting you have permission to share from, or a Q and A.
Step by step: from recording to posts
1. Get permission before you record
Tell everyone on the call that it is being recorded, and why. If you plan to publish anything from it, say so, and ask each speaker whether they are happy to be quoted. Ask again before you post, once you have the draft. Leave out anything said by people who have not agreed, and anything confidential.
2. Record with clean audio
A transcript is only as good as the sound. Ask speakers to use a headset or a decent microphone, keep one person talking at a time, and record the full session, including the questions from the audience.
3. Transcribe it
Convert the audio to text. You can do this by hand, with a transcription tool, or with a tool that drafts content from the recording as well. Read the transcript against the recording at least once in the places you plan to quote, because names, product terms and numbers are where transcripts go wrong.
4. Mark the moments
Read through the transcript with a highlighter. You are looking for passages that stand on their own:
- A clear claim, with the reasoning behind it.
- A number or example someone gave, which you can check against its source.
- A story from someone's own experience.
- A direct answer to a question that people in your market ask.
- A point on which two speakers disagreed politely.
Mark ten to fifteen. You will use fewer, but a longer list lets you drop the weaker ones.
5. Give each post one idea
Take one moment per post. If a post tries to cover the whole session, it becomes a summary nobody needs. A post built on a single idea can open with the point, add the detail that supports it, and finish on a specific fact, such as the figure or the example.
6. Draft in your own voice
Write the post as yourself or as your company, not as a transcript. Edit speech into writing: remove the false starts and repetition, keep the speaker's meaning, and add the context a reader needs. A useful pattern is a plain opening sentence that states the point, two or three short paragraphs of detail, and a close that names where to hear the rest. Leave out lines such as "we were thrilled to host", because they tell the reader nothing.
7. Check quotes and figures
Send each draft quote to the person who said it, and wait for a yes. Check every figure against its original source and name that source in the post. If something cannot be confirmed, remove it.
8. Space the posts out
Publish one or two posts a week, in the order that tells the best story, instead of releasing everything in a day. Tag speakers only if they have agreed, and add a link to the recording or the event page in the first comment or the post, whichever suits your style.
9. Use what is left
The moments that did not become posts can become something else: an article that develops the strongest idea, answers to the audience's questions on your website, or a prompt for the next event's agenda. Keep the transcript and your marked-up copy so the next session starts from what you learned.
Pre-publish checklist
- Everyone on the recording knew it was being recorded
- Each quoted speaker has approved their words in writing
- Nothing confidential or unreleased is included
- Names, titles, company names and product terms are spelt correctly
- Every figure is checked against its original source
- Each post makes one point and makes sense without the recording
- The wording is edited from speech into writing and sounds like you
- The posts are scheduled over several weeks
- The recording or event page link is included where it helps
- A second person has read each draft
Using a tool for the first draft
The slowest parts of this process are the transcript and the first draft. A tool can cover both: you supply the recording and it returns drafts for you to edit. The editing still matters. The draft needs your corrections, your detail and your speakers' approval before anything is posted, and the checklist above applies in full.
How many posts to expect
A one-hour discussion with two or three speakers will usually yield several distinct points, enough for a handful of posts and possibly an article. Treat the number as an outcome of the content and not as a target. A short session may give you three strong posts, and that is a good result.
