Best Webinar Practices – Understanding the Value of a Good Web Seminar

Posted on the 29 April 2013 by Nrjperera @nrjperera

Webinars when conducted and taken right offer immeasurable value to participants. When conducting and participating in webinars however, there must be a conscious choice to be selective with regards to the offered benefit. The value does not depend in participating  in as many webinars as possible but in finding the ones that are relevant to participants’ needs.

Image: USDAgov’s photostream

What Makes a Good Webinar

Generally speaking, a good webinar is determined by the value of its content to the audience and the efficiency of its conduct. One without the other tends to offset any benefit which a webinar seeks to provide. Webinar hosts therefore have the responsibility to ensure that both points are seriously considered before offering to conduct a webinar to the online audience.

A good webinar presentation doesn’t just happen. It is planned and designed to succeed in its objective. In the end, webinar participants will be the one to decide for themselves and determine if they found value in being part of the activity.

Planning and Execution

A big part of the success of execution of a webinar presentation depends on how carefully planned they are. Dealing with an audience that is geographically dispersed presents specific challenges to webinar hosts. Webinars must be able to engage their audience very well considering that it is very easy for them to opt out once it is evident that nothing beneficial will result from participating.

A webinar is a good online tool but it is not meant to address every online learning and marketing situation. The relevance of a webinar to a specific objective has to be determined from the very start. Good planning begins from knowing that a proposed webinar has the potential of accomplishing the set objectives. Doing it just becomes everybody seems to be doing it does not constitute good planning practices and will most likely result to poor execution.

Do What Needs to be Done

Coming up with an excellent webinar presentation requires the host to do what needs to be done. These include finding the right speaker and a capable support team, determining the most suitable format in relation to the subject being offered, and choosing the right tool to make the webinar happen. Webinar hosts should consider looking into reviews about webinar providers at www.bestwebinar.com to get some ideas.

It is aways a good idea to conduct a dry-run with participants to thresh out last minute kinks. Registering for the webinar should be as smooth as possible with collection tools in place, whenever applicable. With all the things that need to be done, webinar hosts must never, ever forget to promote their event.