The Webinar Blog

Q: Live vs. Prerecorded Webinars

Question from Bakes: “I’d like to know your thoughts on the benefits of holding a live webinar vs. a pre-recorded webinar that people can access on a site at any time. Also, do you have suggestions as to the best day of the week to hold a webinar, and the best time in the day?”

I’m going to answer this in reverse order. For a discussion of day and time preferences, please see my Webinar Wire post based on a survey I ran earlier this year. Lots of information on scheduling recommendations there!

Live and prerecorded webinars each have benefits and drawbacks. I use both, and typically you’ll get best results from a combination of the two. Live webinars have a psychological importance that says “This is a special event at a set time. We all agree to be there together and share the experience.” Attendees are generally more forgiving of little errors and imperfections in a live performance. They are also willing to spend more time and concentrate on a presentation for longer when it is live. You can help this along by including more interaction and acknowledgement of your audience, making small adjustments to your content and presentation style in response to their feedback. You also get the chance to respond immediately to questions, confusion, and concerns from your audience.

The biggest drawback of live events is that people register and then don’t attend. They forget, conflicts arise, or they simply decide it isn’t worth their time. A secondary drawback is the always present risk of something going wrong in a live setting.

Recorded events give you the opportunity to make sure that everything on the recording is up to the standards you want to present to the world. And obviously people can watch at their own convenience, no matter their schedule or time zone.

Drawbacks of recordings are a more critical judgment factor from your audience. We expect recorded broadcasts to be professional and perfect. People also have much shorter attention spans when watching a recording. They are more easily distracted and unwilling to put up with “filler material.” Whereas one-hour live webinars are common, most experts say that a 15-minute recording is about your maximum for large audience retention and comprehension.

Unfortunately, most companies and speakers are unwilling to invest the time and effort necessary to treat the two types of presentations differently. They simply record the hour-long live event and make it available as an archive. I have given lots of live events with lots of vendors, and I have never heard one that I was satisfied with as a permanent offering. My presentation style is much more formal, polished, and professional on a pre-planned recording. The content is much more directed and to-the-point. My live interactive style is looser, conversational, and includes plenty of live audience interaction. Much of that comes across as frustrating when someone is trying to quickly get the topic points on a recording.

If you must archive a live event, take the time to clean it up before making it public. Balance audio levels, remove introductory comments on how to use the live console, edit out pauses for poll responses, etc. I do this work for clients and it is tedious, exacting manual work. But it results in something that reflects better on them as speakers and their company as professionals.

I made a short recording on this subject using Brainshark. It’s less than three and a half minutes long, which means that anyone who starts it is likely to listen to all the content information. I used a real script, rather than searching for the right words as I talk. I also used a better microphone and digital editing to add good quality audio. Give it a listen. Oh, I warn you that this was done as a marketing promotional tool, so it has a pitch for Webinar Success at the end. Sorry about that, but the main points are still valid for our topic.

 

Technorati Tags: webinar,web event,web meeting,web conference,web conferencing,web seminar,webcasting,webcast,live event,prerecorded event,event archive

Q: My Favorite Webinar Technologies

Question from Gregg: “Your forum board looks a little scary, not having frequent posts. What are your favorite webinar technologies, i.e. GoToWebinar, ON24, etc.?”

First things first… I know the Web Conferencing Community Forum hasn’t had a lot of action lately. That is one of the reasons I’m encouraging people to write in their questions on it. I’m hoping I can stimulate more frequent usage, which will benefit everyone. I also fixed a problem that hid my “Ask Ken” topic from non-registered guests. Please don’t be afraid to register on the forum so you can add your question. Registration is there purely to keep auto-spammers from filling up the boards. I don’t collect registered names for marketing purposes, I don’t send mailings, and no vendors get them. By the way, there is a hard to see link at the bottom of the home page. In very small text, you can click on “View the 10 most recent posts” to see the latest additions from others. A very useful feature for following the latest threads!

Now on to your main query. This is probably the question I hear the most from clients, public webinar attendees, and strangers at parties. And nobody likes my answer. There is NO single web conferencing/webinar technology that gets everything right in my opinion. They each have strengths and weaknesses. And I’ll often recommend a technology for one client based on their needs and a different technology for other clients.

I’m not trying to evade the issue, and I won’t shirk from an answer. But as soon as I write something here, I can expect to get inundated with emails and comments from vendors and supporters/detractors of the various products. So people, here’s the deal… Just because I don’t mention a particular technology does NOT mean it is bad. Just because I mention a particular positive or negative point does NOT constitute a complete product review. I have a limited space here to cover a huge and complex topic. Oh, and I am consciously avoiding a discussion of products more targeted at collaborative small group meetings. So you won’t see any mention of DimDim, Yuuguu, Glance, GoToMeeting, and other products targeted more at participatory meetings. Ready? Here we go.

Among the biggest names (by market share and advertising spend) here are my most commonly-used products, along with a few brief pointers on each:

1) WebEx. I use this when the priority is for easy integration of streaming audio and international telephone access. They have out-of-the-box toll-free access from dozens of countries around the world. No external integration necessary. Their registration management includes the ability to add source tracking, so you can see what marketing channel caused people to sign up. Their PowerPoint conversion is among the top five in fidelity to the original deck. Negatives start with high cost and also include an inability to retain uploaded slide presentations between sessions. You have to log in early and upload your slides as part of your event-day activities.

2) GoToWebinar. I use this when the priority is on live demos or other screen-sharing activities. Citrix still has the best performance in the industry for showing your desktop. It is also a great choice when you need the ability to host large audiences at a small price (up to 1000 people for $99 is a huge competitive advantage). Negatives include limited flexibility on registrant communications, no ability to upload/cache slides, and low-fidelity recordings. I have also experienced recording and display problems when switching between presenters in a webinar. And their report log format for meeting chat requires manual work to separate things.

3) Adobe Connect Pro. I use this when the priority is on flexibility of the display console, types of content shown, and multi-platform access. As a Flash application, the software truly doesn’t care what operating system or browser presenters and attendees use. Unfortunately, if a person’s computer is blocked from using or loading the Adobe Flash Player, they are out of luck and there is no work around. You can load slides ahead of time and keep them around between sessions. You can shape the various windows of the console in a million configurations and switch between different layouts for different purposes in the meeting. Conversion of uploaded slides and animations is excellent. Easy display of Flash content, including games, quizzes, and interactive components. Very good question management and flexibility in presenter/audience chat. Negatives include a steep learning curve to understand all the functionality, numerous bugs or feature anomalies that require knowing how to work around them for a smooth experience. Streaming audio often shows performance problems. Product support is only starting to come up to an acceptable level. And there is no included registration management functionality – It is an extra cost option (and not well implemented).

4) iLinc is on my next tier. iLinc has great setup and administrative flexibility and can add multi-windowed speaker video. They recently improved the conversion fidelity of uploaded PowerPoint slides, but they still can’t handle animations, which means you have to restrict the type of content you can show.

I’m keeping the above separate from recommendations for webcasting to very large audiences with an emphasis on streaming audio and live streaming video of the presenter. Almost all products with this focus eliminate PowerPoint slide animations and have more limited question management and polling options. They also usually have optional bundled services to handle technical production, with sets, cameras, sound setup, etc. The names I am most familiar with include ON24, Stream57, Streamlogics, Vcall, Talkpoint, and WebcastGroup. To be honest, I don’t get involved with these products as much as the webinar-focused ones because the vendors supply more of their own services.

In the special case of simulcasting an in-room event to a remote audience, I have been impressed by Sonic Foundry and Netbriefings. They supply equipment, personnel, and services with their technology.

If your focus is online training, I typically turn to Adobe Connect Pro, Elluminate, iLinc, or Saba Centra. Each has product versions and features tailored for training and educational applications. WebEx does as well, but honestly I can’t justify the price jump based on any product differentiators.

The above notes only skim the surface. Each of the mentioned vendors has many more feature specifics than I mentioned. There are also many other vendors (take a look at my Webinar Success Vendor Links page) and you can see another online comparison at Publicare’s site. That site is more focused on collaborative meeting software.

 

Technorati Tags: webinar,web conferencing,web conference,web meeting,web event,webcast,webcasting,Web Conferencing Community Forum,WebEx,Adobe Connect Pro,iLinc,GoToWebinar

Ask Ken A Web Conferencing Question

I'm starting a new feature today... "Ask Ken"

This is your chance to ask me anything you'd like to know about webinar technology, tips, best practices, my business, or whatever else is on your mind.

Post your questions in the Web Conferencing Community Forum. I've started a special folder to hold your questions. You can start a new topic or add to somebody else's. I'll chew through the submissions and post answers here in the blog.

Here's a direct link to the folder for easy access. And don't forget that the WCC Forum is an open exchange for soliciting help and adding your own thoughts and opinions on web conferencing products, vendors, and practices. It's a great chance to share real stories unfettered by sponsorship or editing by a technology vendor.

I'll start off the action with a couple of questions that went unanswered in my last public webinar with Adobe and Training Industry Webinars. We ran out of time with hundreds of people in the audience and many dozens of questions in the queue.

 

Q: How do you keep talking, read audience questions, and answer them at the same time?

A: During the bulk of my presentation to a large audience, I don't try to read the questions and comments coming in. It is too distracting. But I make sure to throw in some interactive elements and to look over at those times to see what is being entered. And every so often, I'll make a conscious effort to check for questions or comments on a specific piece of my content. Mentioning somebody's comment within the flow of your presentation is a powerful tool in building a connection with the audience and encouraging additional interaction and involvement from them. I try to always work with a moderator who can "triage" the audience questions and call out the ones that are especially relevant, helpful, or asked by multiple people. In a smaller meeting, I pay more attention to the questions as they come in, as there are fewer to deal with and I need to acknowledge the few individuals I know are there.

 

Q: Do you ever use activities that are not interactive? Such as a self-assessment or "take a moment to choose X"?

A: Sure! Mixing different audience engagement techniques is always a good idea. Self-assessment without requiring a poll vote or type-in can be a good idea if the audience members might not be proud of their conclusions. "Do you ever find yourself unprepared and fumbling for words during a presentation?" They don't know if you are going to mention their name if they type an answer. Or whether you are tracking individual responses in a poll. So this is a good time to tell them to think about it themselves. Then you can move on and make your point. But don't rely on this technique exclusively. The more you can get people typing, clicking, and physically interacting with the console, the more they become participants rather than observers. You create a richer experience and encourage additional feedback and contribution.

 

Q: What words can we use in email invitations to get more people to attend?

A: "YOU!" Always look for ways to frame the content in terms of your audience's interests rather than your own. Instead of "We are presenting information on our new product", change it to "You have a chance to learn about the benefits of using the new XYZ product." The "you" can be implied, by the way. The subject line of this post is "Ask Ken A Question." That implies your action as the main point, not my introduction of the feature. Sharp-eyed people will notice that I violate this principle in my opening line with "I'm introducing a new feature" -- That is a quick and very short teaser that introduces another power word: "new" (making the message timely and newsworthy). I immediately follow it up with more phrasing and framing in your interests. Your other power words include direct action verbs ("take", "learn", "register") and the always popular "new" and "free". Exclusivity or limited supply also work, so point out that space is limited and there is a limited time to sign up.

 

Technorati Tags: Web Conferencing Community Forum,webinar,web conference,web conferencing,web seminar,web events,web meetings,webcast,webcasting,Ken Molay

Support The Troops With A Webinar

This post has nothing to do with political views, party affiliation, or opinions about United States involvement overseas. It has to do with individuals. Human beings who have been wounded or disabled while serving in the US Armed Forces. There is a nonprofit organization that helps support these troops when they come home - often to a hospital room. The organization is called the Warrior Foundation. It is a nonprofit under the aegis of the Navy League of San Diego. Funds go to supporting wounded troops with clothing, recreational activities, needed equipment and upgrades at Balboa Hospital, and more.

On Wednesday, December 10 I will be acting as moderator on a business skills webinar to raise funds for the Warrior Foundation. The speakers are Drill Instructor Tony Rosenbum and Christopher Randolph.

D.I. Rosenbum served in the Marines for many years and parlayed that into a starring role on the TV shows "Boot Camp" and "Celebrity Boot Camp." He also acts as a motivational speaker (and you don't get much more motivational than a USMC Drill Instructor!). Chris Randolph is a sales expert and author of "The Sales Edge: The Difference Between an Average Salesperson & the Successful Sales Professional."

They will present a 90-minute guide to staying focused, goal-oriented, motivated, and achievement directed. You'll learn valuable tactics for your personal and business life. But more than that, your $88 registration fee will help support wounded troops.

The webinar is being held at 4pm US Pacific / 7pm US Eastern. I have put a link-through widget below (courtesy of EventSpan), but if that doesn't show up in your blog reader, you can go to www.helpwarriors.us for information and registration.

I hope you'll attend. This is about the best use of your educational dollar that I can imagine.

 

Technorati Tags: Warrior Foundation,Tony Rosenbum,Christopher Randolph,Navy League,webinar,wounded troops

PhoneTopp Targets Mobile Web Conferencing

PhoneTopp is a brand new startup (since March 2008) that just announced an alpha version of a smartphone support technology to make web conferences work better on mobile phones.

The concept is intriguing. Their software is supposed to put the user into the conference session with a minimum of fuss, optimize the data flow from the conference to the phone, provide specialized screen navigation functions for use on a tiny display, and let users independently rewind to review slides.

The company says its "market entry strategy is to embrace and extend the leading web meeting services and partner with service providers." So we can expect that they don't want to reinvent the basics of web conferencing themselves, but instead offer a new delivery vehicle for existing players in the space.

The press release mentions that PhoneTopp ran a web survey of 15,000 customers of Microsoft, WebEx, Adobe, and Citrix. There are no stats on how many people actually responded, but of the respondents, some interesting stats emerged:

• 62% said they desired or strongly desired to participate in a web conference from their smartphone
• 57% said they participated in at least one web conference per week

PhoneTopp says they will offload computing-intensive tasks to the Amazon cloud computing network. That keeps the phone's processor from having to burn cycles and power on reconstructing the web conference content.

Sam Diaz at ZDNet gave a few additional details in his blog. He says that the software is supposed to break the components of the web conference console into different data streams. Instead of seeing a chat window, attendee list, and presentation slides all at once, as the web conferencing company intended, the phone shows one at a time and lets you jump between them as desired. He also says that the technology is supposed to determine and send only changes in video information between slides, rather than downloading an entire slide at a time in a "dumb dump" technique. Sam also added another fun stat from the survey... More than 20% of respondents said they participate in a web conference at least once a day. Wow.

There's a lot still to prove from a business and technology standpoint. PhoneTopp is running on seed funding and is looking for Series A investors. That's a shaky time in a young company's life. The technology won't even be in Beta until next year. And they are going to have to work closely with established web conference providers, who are not always the easiest to deal with and who have a nasty habit of updating their technologies frequently.

The usability question will be a big one. Even though people say they want to watch web conferences on their mobile phones, will they be satisfied with the small displays and extra interaction needed to scroll and zoom bits and pieces of the picture? Will presenters be happy knowing that their audience may be off reviewing past slides rather than keeping up with their narration?

But if PhoneTopp can pull all the pieces together, this could be a big expansion of web conferencing to the mobile workforce. It will be interesting to watch developments over the next year.

 

Technorati Tags: PhoneTopp,mobile conferencing,web conference,web conferencing,web meetings,web events,webinar,smartphone,Sam Diaz

Adobe Connect Pro Gets 24x7 Support

According to the Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro blog, hosted customers now get 24x7 in-meeting support as part of their hosted subscription (active as on November 3). You can pay extra and get "Gold" support, which includes customization and integration, along with "direct access to senior level engineers and prioritized case handling."

The company posted toll-free support telephone numbers for the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, and Germany. I guess we just found out by context where the bulk of the Connect Pro hosted customers reside!

Good for Adobe. I believe 24-hour support included with the software should be a high priority consideration when looking for a web seminar technology. Adobe had been lagging in their support offerings.

While I'm on the subject, I've also been encouraged by a recent addition to the Adobe Connect User Community forums. Last month David Yun, the Connect Pro Community Manager, started a forum board for Connect Pro product suggestions. A few people have written in (including yours truly) and David has read and responded. I appreciate the appearance of taking user suggestions seriously. I'll really appreciate it if they implement all my suggestions without question and build a product completely customized for my tastes and preferences!  ;-)

 

Technorati Tags: Adobe Acrobat Connect,Connect Pro,David Yun,Adobe Support,webinar,web conference,web conferencing,web seminar,web events

An Update On Business Expert Webinars

In May, I wrote an article on Webinar Wire talking about a new webinar production company called Business Expert Webinars. Last week the company issued a press release highlighting their 100th for-fee webinar. I decided to call up the president and CEO of Business Expert Webinars and ask him about this early period in his company's growth.

Lee Salz was willing to share some of his discoveries, as well as what he has changed in the basic business model to make the offering work better for speakers and audiences. As a quick backgrounder, the basic idea is that business subject matter experts on a wide variety of topics can sign up to deliver educational courses in their area of expertise. Lee's company handles the technical side of the webinar production and promotion, and splits the enrolment fees with the speakers. Lee has been using ConferTel as the underlying web and audio conferencing provider.

Lee told me that the single biggest thing he learned early on is that being a subject matter expert does not make a person an expert in how to market or promote their topic. He would send speakers a form asking for a description of their webinar and receive "a sentence and two bullet points." He tried giving educational seminars for speakers on how to describe and promote web events so that audiences will be interested, but didn't see a big improvement in the promotional materials he would receive. People may not have the skills or the time needed to create effective marketing copy. So Lee finally decided to change his operational model. His company now produces the marketing copy for each event and lets the speakers concentrate purely on their content.

Lee also mentioned that attendance at events varies not just with the topic, but with the speaker's perceived expertise and drawing power. The site has dramatically expanded the amount of information available about speakers. You can search through a gallery of head shots and drill down to find a biography, testimonials, optional audio or video greeting, links to articles or blogs, and even a link to Amazon to buy books written by the speaker. Lee says that speakers who invest the time to build up their professional bona fides on the site are rewarded with higher attendance rates. This area is also important because Lee remains adamant that webinar content must remain marketing-free. If someone pays to learn about a subject, they must not receive a promotional pitch for the speaker's services or company. So the profile information becomes the only place that speakers can promote themselves. There are now over 150 speakers signed up with Business Expert Webinars.

The company promotes and markets the seminars through a combination of affiliate sites, newsletters, search engine optimization, and Lee's own internet radio show. Lee says they are still in a growth period and he continues to invest in new enhancements to the website and support features for speakers, while building awareness about their business topics and educational offerings.

It's nice to see this venture growing and experiencing early success. I think we are likely to see more entrepreneurs trying out variations on this business model. Lee is nicely positioned as an early visionary in the space.

 

Technorati Tags: Business Expert Webinars,Lee Salz,webinar,web conference,web conferencing,web seminar,web events