Don’t webinars suck just like PowerPoint sucks?

Reality:  PowerPoint doesn’t suck, but it often gets used poorly.  Webinars are the same.  Blame for lousy presentations and presentation skills belongs to the presenter, not the tools.

Webinars are easy, right?

Reality:  Web conferencing/casting software service vendors (e.g., Webex, Citrix, Adobe, et al) have done a wonderful job making their software easier to use than ever.  However, managing a project (coordinating people, process, content, marketing, rehearsals), developing killer content, recruiting an audience, adapting learning exercises or creating new ones, and delivering/facilitating in an engaging way are challenging in webinars.  Hey, they’re a challenge in any medium.

Aren’t webinars just a broadcast medium?

Reality:  Start in analog.  Would you go to a seminar and expect never to raise your hand, ask a question, do an exercise?  You might not expect it from a keynote speech or something you know is a lecture, but that’s not most of what we do.  We expect real people connecting with real people.

“Webcasting” started as a broadcast medium and then as markets demanded it, moved toward enabling interaction.  Web conferencing started as a conversational medium (web conferencing added to audio conferencing).  We won’t go into details here, but they still have distinctions that make a difference when choosing a vendor.

Just because many people talk at you in webinars (a web seminar) doesn’t mean that’s a best practice.  Usually, talking at your audience instead of with them is an invitation to have them work on email or something else and give you partial attention…not an optimal way to deliver your message with impact.

All you have to do to engage an audience is push a poll at them, right?

Reality:  Not every person in an audience participates in the same way (in-person or in a webinar), but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not engaged.  The best way to engage people is to be engaging.  It’s your content, your visuals, your voice, your interactions…and the latter might include a poll, but then it might not.  Want to know your success rate?  Measure it by how many took the desired action after your webinar.

Do you think I should just create my slides like I’m going to use for Slideshare and use those?

Reality:  Slide design for on-demand consumption in a slide sharing site and slides for live, aural-visual communications are not the same.  PowerPoint (or Keynote or Prezi or…) can be used as a document designed to be read.  Even a very visual document.  Even a very visual document you post on your favorite social slide sharing site.  (And yes, I do know that Slideshare just launched they’re own conferencing service.)

In an aural-visual communication, sometimes a visual that’s just a picture without the words on it is more powerful.  Sometimes you want the audience to focus on what you’re saying verbally, your voice.  The aural and visual should work together in a complimentary way, and research shows that if someone’s trying to read something while you speak to them “cognitive load” increases and comprehension decreases (i.e., imagine reading a book and trying to have a conversation).

If you really want to make your slides the best they can be, ask yourself if these are to be read (it’s a document!) or heard and viewed (an aural-visual communication).  It’s not likely you can do both at the same time really, really well.  If you could, you’d see lots of bullet points and explanatory text in movies and television.  If you’d like to see how I tackle slide design specifically for webinars, join me here next week.

I’ve heard you can just put ‘em on auto-pilot and get wildly wealthy.

Reality:  “Build it and he will come” might be a nice tagline in a movie, but it’s a terribly industrial-age way of thinking.  Effective content marketing, distributed through multiple channels, targeted to the right audience(s), with compelling calls to action to drive your business has never been an auto-pilot money machine.

True enough, a webinar recording might be a very nice asset in your strategy, and hey, it might even be content somebody would pay to see.  But if you’re not already wildly wealthy because you’ve 1) figured out how to reach an audience who 2) wants something you’ve got with 3) a message compelling enough to 4) inspire action and pay you for it, then changing the medium of delivery probably isn’t going to get you from zero to hero.

What do you think?  Did I miss any?

So this recent question from Mandy R. in Australia is yet another good reminder: 

“What do you recommend for slow internet connections & low technology delegates?”

Mandy,

Rule number one is always, “know your audience.”  Congratulations, you passed the test!

There are two key questions you should explore.  One, what technology/ies should you look for?  Two, what do you do once you’re “in the room”? (Or, if the technology has already been chosen for you, you’re going to focus on the second.)

Technology choices

I don’t recommend specific technologies in a broad, sweeping way.  That doesn’t mean I won’t help a client do an deep-dive needs analysis, develop and RFP, and shorten their search list, but there are too many factors that go into a relationship for me to say “this is best” or “this isn’t.”  For instance, to many, a great account relationship or billing terms or something else is a driver in making a choice that goes beyond technology.

Bandwidth is certainly still a challenge for many.  BIG recommendation:  I’d plan for the person in the audience with the worst connectivity.  It’s the safe shot.  Mary, you didn’t mention whether you have internal or external audiences (e.g., employee training or prospect/customer webinars), but I’d remember that “less, working” is much better than “more, but doesn’t always work.”  Remember, too, that how well the internet works itself is a variable – and one you have no way of predicting (I’ll spare you the gory details, but trust me).

Things to consider:  What is the bandwidth for a connection?  Does it adapt to the connection speed of the participant?  Does bandwidth/throughput change if the size of the audience changes?  How does use of audio (voice over IP) or video affect it?  Is there an option to have participants dial in on a telephone bridge if they’re experiencing difficulty?

Usability choices

“Low technology delegates” are common, and it’s easy to forget to look at things through their eyes.  Seriously, a poll is OBVIOUS to you, but is it to them?  I still present at webinars where, when a poll is presented to the audience, some attendees type their answer into the questions panel.

Things to consider:  This is a huge, huge subject.  My recommendation is to, as best you can, put yourself in the shoes of your invitee and literally walk through the experience click by click by click.  What do they see in an invitation?  On the registration page?  Is it obvious how to join? How to install a plug-in/add-on if necessary?  Where to find the volume control or “hand up” button?

One quick side note:  every week I see webinar producers using tools that are wrong for the job.  More specifically, they use a conferencing platform designed for meetings to deliver a broader webinar presentation or training session.  The problem is that the little differences in how those are configured make a big difference in usability.  Recommendation:  don’t be penny-wise and pound foolish.  Get the right tools for the job…especially if you need to help our your “low technology delegates.”

Mandy, it’s a long blog post, but it’s a short answer to an important subject.  Thanks for a good question.  Knowing how to ask the right question is half the battle, and I think you’re going to do well.

Problem 1:  If you start your web seminar exactly at the top of the hour, and the opening welcome script that gives instructions about how the interactivity of the day is going to flow gets done in a minute or two, then many attendees don’t hear what you want them to hear.

Problem 2:  If you start late to accommodate late arrivers (assuming that you have this positive reason and that you’re not starting late because of a negative like a later presenter), inevitably someone sitting in the audience will immediately send in a chat or Q&A submission snipping ‘you should start on time’ or ‘is this thing going to start soon?’

Solved:  Use a countdown deck.

Quickly, here’s how.

1. Create a set of slides that whose purpose is to cycle by those waiting for the event to begin.  Think of these like the preview slides you see at a movie theatre that are trying to sell you popcorn or telling you to turn off your cell phone.
2. Plan that number of slides relative to a time increment that you’re going to flip them at.
3. Start them before the clock hits the top of the hour, and let them tell everyone who’s in the audience exactly what the countdown is before the event starts.

More deeply…

• I use a set of 12 slides – duplicated
  • Content of those slides include variations of the following
    • The dial in phone number for the event
    • The phone number to event support in case they need help
    • A promotion of an upcoming event they should register for
    • A promotion for a past event whose recording is now posted in the event archive
    • Quips, quotes, or stats
    • Bios of the presenters
  • Set one I use for a cycling slide show
    • I set those slides to change every 15 seconds
    • I start the cycling slide show about ½ hour before the event starts to catch any very early entrants
  • Set two I use for the countdown deck
    • This set is identical to the first, except that on each slide I add a callout (usually a star auto-shape)
    • In the first slide, that star has text inside that says “This event will start promptly in 3 minutes”
    • In the second slide, that star (usually on a little different spot on the slide than on the first slide), the text says, “This event will start promptly in 2 minutes, 45 seconds”
    • This set I start at one minute before the top of the hour, meaning that my 12 slides, at 15 seconds each, count down to a start time at two minutes past the top of the hour.

Now the audience knows exactly what’s going on.  It’s not so late that everyone is mad.  And attendees ready to be engaged are increased.  Every time.

Use a countdown deck to start late and create happy attendees.

Would you consider hosting a trade show booth, networking luncheon, cocktail reception, or seminar at a hotel somewhere without considering all the details, tangible and intangible, that are part of the experience?  Would you invite people to a “great presentation” but not tell them where to park or how to find the restroom?

Nope.

Don’t do it for a web seminar either.

Design the user experience every click of the way from the first thing they see when they get an invite to the last follow up afterward.

Then test it.

Walk in their shoes.

Ergo, presenting virtually becomes an indispensable part of the communications mix.

Unlike teleseminars, web and/or video conferencing add multi-sensory (visual) components to live, distance communications.  And because the activity is snychronous, the power of dialogue explodes your opportunity to deliver influence ~ and what marketer, sales person, or trainer isn’t attempting to create a certain outcome?

Webinars/webcasts/web seminars don’t replace in-person meetings, seminars, and events.  But don’t get trapped into thinking that a recording is the same thing.

Dialogue + Distance = Uniquely Irreplaceable

Problem:  trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all calculator to determine ROI would not have served anyone too well.

As promised, however, here are the two known online calculators we are aware of that compare online to offline.  They should help you jumpstart thinking about how to get to your own calculations of how moving training online will impact help your organization.

http://training.cuna.org/trainers/roi_calc.html
http://www.ewebuniversity.com/corporate/roi.asp

Isolate.  Quantify.  Monetize.  Calculate ROI.

• They offer rudimentary advice akin to telling a wedding planner to not forget inviting the guests
• Or worse, they hype webinars as the most revolutionary thing since the printing press, including how the leads will flow in, how trainees will worship you, meeting planners are going to be out of business, and speakers will start magically making money

Fact: they’re an invaluable part of the communcations mix.  Irreplaceable.  If they’re not in your bag o’ tricks, you’re missing out.

And that’s why we at 1080 Group are committed to teaching the real goods.  Microsoft Word doesn’t teach you how to write.  And a web conferencing tool doesn’t teach you how to manage projects.

Web Seminar Planner’s Toolkit.  Out soon.

I was cruising Guy Kawasaki’s cool Alltop site when I bumped into The Event Manager Blog espousing for terrestrial events what we’ve been saying for years about web events:   they’re projects.

And this post entitled 85+ Tools to Manage Projects saves me a lot of research and writing…check it out.  I’d add Project KickStart to the list as one I’ve used and like.

BTW, the fact that webinars/webcasts are projects is why we at 1080 Group see the need for independent content… it’s not just about operating software any more than planning a wedding is just about booking a church.  You need a rock solid, 360-degree perspective and performance from your planner, your promoter, and your presenter…  3 x 360 =  you guessed it.

(Web) events are indeed projects.

P.S.  Keep your eyes out.  1080 Group’s Web Seminar Planner’s Toolkit, the retail version, is coming soon.

Instead of counting on the telephone for post-event oomph, consider investing that telephone-dialing effort into pre-event reminders (in lieu of one or more email reminder).

One, it’ll boost your attendance rate. Even if only a portion of calls connect with a live person, a tight script from a real human being is not only warm touch there are two advantages. There’s a proven advantage of using multiple media to deliver a benefit-laden message, and these days a voicemail may well get cut through life noise better than another email.

Two, you can use the event reminder as a soft-entry into a conversation. “Hi Pradeep, this is Suzi from Acme Widget Launching calling to confirm we’ve got you registered for tomorrow’s webinar, ‘How to Launch Widgets on a Shoestring.’ Just out of curiosity, are there any questions I can pass along to the presentation team that you’d love to make sure they cover?”

Cut through the noise with voicemail reminders for your web-based event.

By another analogy, though, now that you can record digital quality sound and press a great sounding audio recording to a CD doesn’t mean you’re a great musician either.

Producing great web seminar requires presentations and content worth watching, promoters who can reach audiences with compelling messages, and producers who can pull it all together in a usable manner.

Web seminars are art. Become an artist.