Webinars 101
By Samantha Devine
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Mar 09, 2010
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Last week, some of my Koroberi coworkers and I participated in a “virtual event” sponsored by the American Marketing Association titled “Social Media: Cracking the Code for Business Marketers.”
I was armed and ready. I had circled the speakers that interested me and marked the conflicting time slots to remind myself to watch them on-demand later.
One problem: I couldn’t log in. I never even received my login information. Emails to the AMA were answered by an automated message assuring me that my “question would be answered within 24 hours.”
This is the equivalent of a locked entry hall door at a tradeshow. There were others in the same boat on Twitter, calling out to @marketing_power for help. The problem could have been solved faster had any of us known the hashtag for the event (it was #AMAVESM), but even that wasn’t released until after the webinar had already begun. We could “hear” bits and pieces of the presentations from some of the other Tweets, but it was akin to pressing a glass to a wall.
Once I was able to log in (piggybacking on a coworker’s information), I joined my conference and immediately found myself adjusting my speakers. The presenter’s audio was terrible! I had to “turn it up to 11,” my tinny computer speakers threatening mutiny.
There were some strong lessons to be had, though most of it not about social media. It was about how to do (or not do) a virtual event” Now that I’ve had a week to think about this, I’ve compiled a list of guidelines for coordinating and running a virtual event.
1) Ensure that attendance links are sent out in advance – not when the “doors open.”
Even after I logged in, I had to update my Mozilla and restart my computer. I would have appreciated the chance to update earlier in the morning (even if I didn’t take the opportunity to do so!)
2) Post the event hashtags to your Twitter account – not within the event!
For those that couldn’t join the conference, it’s nice to be able to catch a glimpse through a Twitter search feed.
3) Powerpoints are never glamorous – but please give us good audio.
The high-pitched ringing of my speakers made an introductory topic painful to listen to and likely caused several audience-members to tune out.
4) Consider how the user will interact with the speakers and others.
The presentation was located in a “pop up” window but the chat was housed in my main browser. I lost the presentation “underneath” my browser windows and couldn’t efficiently watch the presentation and chat at the same time.
5) Always provide the information for on-demand viewing.
Bravo, AMA. The Virtual Event is still on demand here. Yes, that’s a typo in the link. No, that’s not my typo…
That being said, we applaud the AMA for putting the event together. We can’t all dedicate a day in our local city to attend a conference that only has one or two applicable presentations, let alone fly out to Beverly Hills or San Francisco, so virtual events are a helpful and cost-effective alternative.
On a side note, we’re breaking out the popcorn and watching one of these this afternoon!
