A webinar is a type of web conference, that tends to be mostly one-way, from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a Webcast, which is transmission of information in one direction only, like watching a concert on the internet.
A webinar however, can be very collaborative, and include polling and question & answer sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter. A webinar is 'live' in the sense that information is conveyed according to an agenda, with a starting and ending time. In most cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen, and the audience can respond over their own telephones, preferably a speakerphone.
As you might have guessed, webinars have a lot of moving pieces, however with a little forethought, your next webinar will be successful by following these helpful tips.
Tips for Success
• Turn off any streaming media applications that may take up bandwidth and resource-intensive applications that may be taxing processor ability.
• Arrive a 15 minutes early to greet the attendees as they arrive and start the Webinar on time. It also helps to have a welcome presentation running during this time. Your presence in these opening minutes can help establish the tone and direction of the Webinar.
• Call in to the Webinar from a location where there is little background noise.
• Turn off system prompts and sounds for when attendees join or leave a Webinar.
• Avoid using cellular and cordless phones because of static and use the phone handset or a headset instead of speakerphones because of background noise, tunnel effect and sentence clipping.
• Turn off your call waiting. The beep of a new call on another line is heard by everyone on the teleconference.
• Avoid putting your phone on hold during a teleconference. Your hold music will play into the conference call and make it impossible for the other attendees to continue the Webinar.
• Introduce yourself when you begin speaking and ask your panelists to also identify themselves before speaking. Not everyone in the Webinar may know everyone else’s
voice.
• If you find you are having a sound quality issue, hang up and dial back in. Sometimes these problems clear themselves up when the bad connection is terminated.
Webinar Service Providers
There are a few web conferencing technologies on the market that have incorporated the use of VoIP audio technology, to allow for a truly web-driven presentation, removing the need for any external devices, such as a telephone.
Have Some of Your Own Tips To Share?
Have you conducted a webinar? If so, can you add to the list of tips? Let us know by adding your comments below.
I use GoToWebinar and I LOVE it! It's a great way to interact through the computer. It's like you are sitting next to someone to sharing the same information. It breaks the distance barrier. No matter where you are, as long as you can get online, you can collaborate.
I use it to train our people as well as students in multiple locations.
I LOVE it!
Roz Burton-Torres
WA Real Estate Solutions
Direct 425.894.8558
Office 425.825.0121
RozBT@WARealEstateSolutions.com