The many comments to my Webinars post brought up some additional points: Main criteria are interaction and convenience.
With "webinars" that are really teleconferences or broadcasts, i.e. that are primarily listening to the speaker, panelists, interviewer/interviewee - which are the least desirable "webinars" for me, I agree with Katerina Gasset, who said she likes teleconferences because she can call in and walk around or listen in her car - for that I prefer the tapes or CDs that StarPower, Jack Peckham and many others have been producing for years, that I can listen to in my car whenever I want. Or, to be more up-to-date - that can be downloaded onto my iPod for listening anywhere, anytime. That's convenience.
If it's truly a teleconference, like our FIABCI luxury group monthly calls, then the phone connection is fine (of course it would be nice to see everyone who speaks on the screen so that And for me - clicking two survey buttons during an hour's phone call doesn't count as "interactive". Even for those calls, seeing each other on the computer screen would be even better, so that we can identify names and faces, if we don't already know each other. It's the "listen only" ones that I'm referring to above. At the very least, interactive needs to engage all of our senses. We need to be involved rather than passive to learn the most. In addition to seeing the participants on the computer screen (and sometimes they just speak and don't appear), I like seeing examples of the marketing they're talking about, screen shots with arrows and movements when they're teaching a computer skill. If polls and questions can be included on a sidebar, so much the better. That's interaction.
And of course - what's the real content and level? This applies to conference sessions, seminars, meetings, etc. Please describe exactly what's going to be covered, rather than a specific topic. Please specify if this is very basic, hoping to capture all levels, advanced, etc. Otherwise, you'll not only get walkouts and hangups, you'll have disgruntled attendees who could have better scheduled their time.
Best of all - adding that little something extra - since many of us can't take an hour in the middle of a business day, an hour away from our family or a monthly meeting in the evening - post the webinar on the web (yes, it's ok to be for registrants only so that you can keep track of who's listening - but then, let the registrants know upfront that if they register they can attend the "live" event or catch it on the web later, and ideally for the Katerina-types, also have it available for download to an iPod for later listening-only pleasure).
This time - add your comments, of course, but also please share with us which webinars you've found the best technologically, and the best in content.
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p.s. Stefan Swanepoel has opened voting for "The Top 100 Most Influential Women in Real Estate". You can vote for 5 people, and Stefan has separated the 100 nominees into 5 categories. Voting closes at noon on Friday the 26th, but don't wait. Vote now!
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