bobjots : redux

I was recently asked by a friend of mine to work on a proposal to set up their website and one of the elements I was to include is a tool that would facilitate real time discussion and the sharing of tools and resources as well as training tools. Having been involved in some level of marketing online over the last few years, one of the first few things that came to my mind were web conferencing and webinars.

What exactly is a webinar? Wikipedia defines webinars as:

A neologism to describe a specific type of web conference. It is typically one-way, from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a webcast. A webinar can be collaborative and include polling and question & answer sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter.

One of the disadvantages I’ve found working in collaborative working on an online environment are the limitations that e-mails, and instant messaging applications like Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, etc, in demonstrating concepts or explaining more complex issues. In a face to face environment, I’d have the advantage of being able to use whiteboards, mahjong paper, LCD projectors and more to highlight points. Coupled with the fact that one would actually be dealing with people face to face, discussion and Q & A’s are much more easily facilitated.

I remember when I used to work with an organisation that required me to travel to conduct training sessions on Content Management Systems or communication tools for advocacy. By being physically there, I was able to monitor and keep track of what the participants were doing in the process and evaluate their level of comprehension as well as my effectiveness as a trainer. In comparison to the e-mails and instant messaging trainings that I use more frequently nowadays, I feel like I’m working blind.

People generally tend not to ask questions and fumble along which would translate into ineffective training and wasted time and resources for both the trainees and me. This in itself already negates the fundamental requirements for such trainings - that people understand what you’re communicating to them, and that you are able to have some mechanism to note the indicators that people are keeping up with you.

That’s where tools that facilitate webinars would be useful and makes me want to seriously reconsider deploying it in future training opportunities, especially when it involves presenting to a larger audience. Some of the benefits that I can already see are:

• Reduction in travel costs. I don’t have to travel to where the participants are, nor do they have to travel to where I am
• Ability to mobilise a larger group of participants. I am able to access a more diverse group of participants from different locations without them having to be in one place
• Ability to mobilise a larger group of resource people - as above, they don’t need to be in one place at the same time

And what seems particularly attractive right now is that it doesn’t really cost as much as I thought it would. The learning curve required for participants is also almost non existent. If they know how to use instant messengers, they can already participate.

One of the providers of webinar services that I recently came across is MeetingBridge. As a hosted service, the participants don’t even need to download any additional software for web conferencing and webinars. I just need to :

• Set up the webinarI set up a landing page (see example here) that will allow me to promote the webinar to potential participants, register them (exportable as an Excel spreadsheet), and even charge a registration fee if necessary (the payment is processed and managed by MeetingBridge
• Gather the audience
  I just send an e-mail invitation out to my intended audience and link them to the landing page described above. They can register directly via the landing page and keep it bookmarked for use during the date of the webinar
• Register the participants
  As participants register online, I am notified by e-mail and can also review the participant’s details online. I am also given the option to pre-screen the audience by setting it in such a way that I manually approve each participant. The system will also send an e-mail reminder to participants a day before the webinar proceeds
• Webinar preparation
  I now can decide how I want to interact with the audience. Audio, text messaging as well as video are available as options. MeetingBridge will also assign an event specialist to help me get things started and do a dry-run before the actual webinar. This event specialist will also be present in the event to monitor the call in case I need any further assistance.
• Follow up
  After the webinar is completed, I will then receive an e-mail listing all the participants for follow up if necessary. If I opt for the webinar to be recorded, I can also send the link to the recording to the attendees as well as people who may have missed the event.

Considering that MeetingBridge’s going rate is as low as US$0.15 (approximate RM0.50) per minute/participant, that’s not too bad especially since I have the option of charging a nominal fee for participation which can offset the charges. It is definitely much cheaper than flying to Medan or Banda Aceh.

Remind me to thank my friend who got me started on doing this research in the first place