The Webinar Blog

Working With Pictures On A Mac

I just tracked down how to eliminate an annoyance that has plagued me several times in the past. Sometimes a client sends me a PowerPoint file where some graphics look fine and others won’t display. Instead, I see a message stating “QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.” This is particularly frustrating because I know I have the latest version of QuickTime installed and tested on my computer.

If I use a web conferencing technology that relies on screen sharing to display the slides, I’m out of luck. If I use a technology that uploads and converts the slides, results vary. Some products show the graphics, others don’t.

I recently received a Word document with the same problem. I couldn’t see the graphics in the document. Just that cryptic message. Some digging finally turned up the culprit…

If you work on a Macintosh computer, make sure to embed images in your PowerPoint or Word documents by using the toolbar commands to Insert Picture From File. Those get encoded properly for cross-platform visibility. If you copy/paste a graphic into your file, it looks fine on your Mac, but PC users can’t see the image when they open the file.

It’s unclear whether we should hoist torches and pitchforks outside the Microsoft or Apple offices, but the solution is simple once you know the problem.

 

Technorati Tags: PowerPoint,Word,graphics,cross-platform,webinar,web seminar,web conference,web conferencing,webcasting,webcast

Wainhouse Report On Webinars For Marketing

“It may not be new, but it’s new to me.”

That’s all I can give you as justification for pointing you to a white paper that is a year old now. WebEx just sent me an email with a download freebie: A white paper written by Wainhouse Research with the long and unwieldy title “The Evolving Role of Web Seminars and On-line Events in the Marketing Mix.” You’ve got to give them points for descriptive accuracy in their naming.

My snarky editorial comments aside, the paper is a treasure trove of great information both for organizational marketers and for web conferencing technology vendors. It was sponsored by WebEx, so they get some mentions in the copy, but most of the information is generics findings from a business survey encompassing more than 400 respondents.

Wainhouse covers questions such as:

• What role do web seminars/events play in your total marketing mix?
• How do you use web seminars in your business?
• Why do you use web seminars for lead generation?
• What are important features/capabilities in web seminars?

I won’t print the answers and results, since that is copyrighted material. But you’ll get charts and statistics that are very interesting. This is worth filling out the lead gen registration form on the WebEx site.

 

Technorati Tags: WebEx,Wainhouse Research,marketing,webinar,web seminar,web event,online event,webcasting,webcast,web conferencing,web conference

Get Started Already!

I just attended a webinar hosted by a web conferencing technology vendor. The initial minutes of the web conference unfolded like this:

1. Hold music until a few minutes after the scheduled start time.
2. A telephone operator telling us our “teleconference call” will begin shortly.
3. A technical moderator giving us tips on how to use the web conferencing interface.
4. A content moderator introducing multiple speakers.
5. An initial set of five audience polling questions.
6. At 11 minutes after the hour, we saw our first content slide.

That is too late to start delivering the value your audience is there for. You need to demonstrate as quickly as possible that your webinar is going to be worth spending time with. Look for ways to cut out, streamline, or postpone non-content activities at the start of your event.

Instead of introducing all the speakers up front, maybe you can provide downloadable or linkable bios for the audience members who are interested. Or maybe you can introduce each individual before calling on him or her the first time.

Instead of covering instructions for all possible interactive uses of the web conferencing console, perhaps you can sprinkle those later in the session, using them as repeated prompts to encourage interaction and participation.

Instead of asking your audience to provide you with information up front in polls, why not give them something first to establish your recognition that they are there to learn and gain from you… Not the other way ‘round.

Remember the hoary old cliché: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Your first impression can be that you are delivering value or it can be that content is secondary to procedural protocol. Which is more likely to engage your audience and make them receptive to the remainder of the session?

 

Technorati Tags: webinar,web seminar,web event,web meeting,online event,webcasting,webcast,web conference,web conferencing

Dimdim Integrates Webinar Widgets

Dimdim announced a new release 5 this week. One of the new features is “Webinar Widgets.” For a video demonstrating the idea, click this link: http://www.dimdim.com/demo/WebinarWidget_Dimdim_Flash.flv

The concept is that once you schedule an upcoming online event, the product generates some embeddable HTML code that displays a little banner ad announcing the event. You can include things like a countdown timer to show how long it will be until the event starts.

EventSpan has offered this feature for close to two years, and I have used it for events scheduled with many different web conferencing technologies. It can be a great aid when promoting webinars and webcasts. EventSpan lets you select from several different sizes and shapes for your banner ad to fit different web needs, while Dimdim went for simplicity with a single default size display.

Of course the big difference is the amount of tight integration that a single product focus allows. With EventSpan, you have to manually enter all the details of your event and a person clicking on the promotional banner is taken to the EventSpan event information page, from which they click to go to your event registration page.

Dimdim knows the details of your webinar from the event scheduling you do in the product, so it can generate the banner ad widget without further data entry. And interested parties can register immediately by typing their email address into the widget box itself. No other page clicks are required. That can be very convenient, since each additional hyperlink and web page display offers another opportunity for someone to abandon the registration process. But I haven’t tested this yet to see how it works if you want to collect additional registration information from your attendees.

It’s a great idea, and marketing/promotional aids are going to become more and more important as a differentiator and enabler in the web events industry. I get just as many calls about event marketing as I do about event production and delivery.

 

Technorati Tags: Dimdim,EventSpan,webinar,web seminar,web event,online event,online meeting,web conference,web conferencing,webcasting,webcast

Watching The Web Conferencing Wars

I have said this before, but I’m really feelin’ it this week… I am SO glad I’m not a web conferencing technology vendor! In case you haven’t been keeping up with industry news lately, check out these headlines:

• March 25: Stream57 Launches StreamLine 3.0 Webcasting Software Suite and e-Symposia Virtual Meeting Platform
• March 26: PrismStream, Inc. Announces Launch of www.prismstream.com – An Innovative Web Collaboration Tool and Social Networking Utility
• March 30: Premiere Global releases new employee comms solution to assist rapid company-wide comms
• April 1: New version of Huddle launches, phone and web conferencing included
• April 2: PeerPort and Onstream Media’s Infinite Conferencing Division Revolutionize Audio and Web Conferencing Services
• April 2: Dimdim Releases Version 5, Makes Meeting on the Web Easier
• April 2: Next Generation Technology for Webinars Released

It’s getting awfully hard to differentiate yourself from the web conferencing pack and to offer something unique. The market for small collaborative meeting software is rapidly heading to a pure play commodity, with many solutions already available for free.

“Good enough” isn’t going to be good enough to survive the new battlefield. The low end is filled with cheap and free solutions. We’re looking at a clear case of survival of the fittest.

 

Technorati Tags: web conferencing,web conference,webinar,web seminar,web event,online event,webcasting,webcast,web meeting,online meeting