With the advent of information society and acceleration of civilization’s development, a person has a need to save time, resources, and the maximum convenience of many traditional processes. Conducting webinars may have been a thing of the past but it will more be a thing of the future with the rising trends in remote working, convenience in communication and everything being readily available a click away.
One of the most effective modern educational technologies is a webinar, which allows those who wish to get the necessary knowledge in any cognitive field with the lowest costs and maximum comfort.
The topics of webinars can be very different, as a rule, they are quite relevant, a large number of users have been interested in them and still participate in it. Coming from various businesses, sales, education, career counselling, sports, medicine, fashion, astrology, psychology, travel and many more genres. Free live webinar; often used as part of a distance learning system for conducting corporate courses and advanced training.
It is known that the first online conference call was carried out in the late 90s. Since then, the popularity of this type of organized communication for people has only increased. Today, thousands of webinars on various topics are held daily on the web, allowing millions of users to receive educational services without leaving their devices.
A webinar blog brings together people who are interested in learning a subject, obtaining a specific type of knowledge. During this event, communication takes place between the presenter and participants, and on the other hand, between the students themselves.
The whole process is similar to holding a regular seminar, with the difference that everything happens through the computer screen through information technology. Incredible, right?
A webinar provides participants with the following technological capabilities:
1. Real-time video and audio communication using headphones or speakers.
2. Slide presentations and electronic comment board.
3. Text chat for questions and answers – possibly both group communication and Private communication between two participants.
4. Polls and voting – the leader can give participants a choice of several answer options.
5. Remote desktop, application sharing (sometimes with partial control of the host computer).
6. Web tours – page addresses, scripts and other information about the session is transmitted to the participants for the purpose of entering the system, switching between screens, etc.
7. Broadcast recording, which is located at a unique web address for later viewing or listening by any user.
Benefits of conducting webinars
Significant cost savings
Webinar costs are low, and they help to eliminate costly travel, hotel fees for participants, the cost of organizing seminars or conferences in a common room, rent, staff for organizers.
Significant time savings
In reality, the time for self-education is often not enough. Attending training events, as a rule, happens after work, which is very inconvenient. While at home you can get knowledge in a cozy atmosphere while relaxing.
Possibility of remote access from home or from work
You can participate in the webinar in a comfortable, cozy home environment with a cup of tea or coffee, or from work, without interrupting your usual activities.
Combining a number of functions in the process of organizing training
Participants have the opportunity not only to listen to and perceive information, watch demos but also to chat in parallel, participate in surveys, visit other necessary resources, which is impossible in ordinary classes.
An unlimited number of participants
If the limits of the audience or conference room often do not allow accommodating all interested listeners, there are no boundaries for the Internet space, and thousands of users can attend a webinar at the same time.
Global geography
You can listen to or watch a webinar from anywhere in the world. The main thing is to have a computer with Internet access, a microphone and a webcam.
The anonymity of participation
A huge plus for most attending webinars is the anonymous nature of their work. It is possible not to disclose your data, not to have external contacts, which is essential for many shy users. China has the most internet users in the world; wouldn’t you like to reach the market in China?
Ability to view events in the recording
If at traditional conferences and seminars, it is easy to overlook any important information, then you can return to the webinar in the recordings, again and again, repeating the necessary points.
Low cost of participation
Compared with the cost of attending classes in a regular environment, participation in webinars has the opportunity to save materiality, which is achieved by reducing the cost of organizing the event.
Important facts
All participants in the webinar, including the host, during the session, are located at their computers, and communication between them is maintained via the Internet using a web application. To join the event, you must enter the link to the webinar in the browser window, as well as the username and password for access.
All the data is sent to each participant by e-mail or published on the webinar page. It is better to follow the link 5-10 minutes before the start of the lesson, although you can connect to the work at any time and even then listen to it in the recording. Each webinar has a specific topic and plan, which must be followed by the moderator and participants.
During the lesson, the facilitator provides students with material and shows slides with his presentation. He talks, explains, delivers the necessary information to the participants or asks them questions, and they, in turn, can also write questions, comments, reviews, communicate with the host and each other in a special chat. Sometimes the facilitator transfers the right to conduct a practical lesson to any of the participants.
Often during training, polls are held, as well as active emotional discussions of the information received, which contributes to a feeling of complete interaction between the audience and the host.
Thus, an interactive communication mechanism is implemented. At the end of the event most often follows a series of questions from the audience on the topic of the lesson and the answers to the organizer.
At webinars, students are provided with visual and textual material, for which they are given special presentations, videos, text or image files through special communication channels.
You can consistently create quality webinars as long as your site or blog runs smoothly, without glitches, and crashes. For this, you will require a managed hosting service with a stable connection as well as security, like BionicWP.
Some successfully conducted webinars to gain insights from
HubSpot: You can visit the platform’s webinar portal and find an array of webinars list with on-demand viewing function. Each webinar follows a landing page comprising of a signup form and a summary of the whole session. Using webinars, HubSpot has managed to drive sales leads quite effectively. It is a simple thing to do that if you are required to monetize each session.
Webinars are also a good alternative to live videos, and as a matter of fact, 73% of internet users prefer on-demand video content as opposed to live streaming.
With the rise of webinar hosting companies, webinars are a modern way to engage with your audience on a regular basis. Their popularity is set to grow in the next few years, as we enter into different phases of digital communication. Just like blog posts and videos, a webinar may become the ideal mode of communication and delivering training sessions in the business environment. Have you ever attended a webinar presentation?