Time to Reinvent Webinars?

According to a recent Austrade-CSIRO report on post-COVID megatrends, the onset of the pandemic saw 10 years' worth of digital transformation happen in a few months. Whilst all sectors were forced to digitise rapidly, we've seen particular explosions in the demand for telehealth, telework, online retail, online education, and online entertainment.

One area I have been following closely is the new trend towards online webinars, on topics ranging from the role of technology in economic recovery, understanding the health aspects of COVID, and each industry's thoughts on how they are best positioned to support post-COVID regeneration. The events industry had a particular challenge once the social-distancing and lockdown measures came in. How would an industry accustomed to gathering hundreds of people in a room in close confinement pivot to a context in which everyone is working from home, or even confined to their homes?

The answer to this question has, I'm afraid, been somewhat disappointing. For the most part, the events industry has made the mistake of assuming that what works in a face-to-face context will work online. So we have been overwhelmed with webinars all largely following the same format - one hour of "discussion" with a panel of experts, dialing in remotely from their homes, usually with some limited Q&A from the audience through chat functions. A quick search on LinkedIn on "webinar" throws up hundreds of results all following the same format. If I had endless time on my hands, I would be able to follow "a fun and lively webinar on taxes", learn how "product data can empower my eCommerce strategy", or even, intriguingly, understand "how to make my online event a success".

I've been on both sides of these virtual webinars, both as speaker and audience. And I've grown tired of them. In the early days of the pandemic, as an audience member, this was all very exciting. I could attend all those events that I would normally miss because I couldn't make it through the traffic from my office in time. But as time has gone on, there has been little to no innovation in the way these webinars are delivered. They are little more than talking heads background noise. A good one might have a few soundbites or occasional deep thoughts worth listening to, but, at sixty minutes, I can't sit through them all to find the nuggets. As a speaker, these events also fall short. They are typically "webcasts" so you cannot see your audience. It is speaking into a void, without any idea how your audience is reacting. And you typically get cut off almost immediately after the webcast has finished - I really miss that banter after a talk with fellow panelists or audience members.

So, what can be done?

It is time for the sector to innovate. I will leave it to those who are specialists in the topic of online events to dig into this deeper, but it seems to me there are some pretty obvious things that could be considered:

(i) Hour long events don't work online

Make these events shorter. Better yet, run the session for an hour, but then edit it down and release a 10 or 15 minute video with all the best bits. Yes, this means it won't be live, but is this necessary? (see next point)

(ii) Interaction doesn't have to be synchronous

In an online world, there's no reason why all audience members have to gather at the same time. Webcasts allow absolutely no interaction between the audience, so the only interaction possible is audience-to-panel. But this doesn't have to be in real-time necessarily. Why not provide a way to contact the panelists with questions - they can then reply in their own time; this could lead to deeper and richer conversations.

(iii) Make use of technology

In the early days of COVID, my team at Monash University quickly pivoted to take their student employer fair online using virtual world technology. It was a great success - with participation from 1100 students and 41 employers. I'm surprised not to have seen more of this since. Yes, it's probably more expensive, requires more tech-savvy, and more planning. Which means fewer webinars overall - but is that a bad thing? As an aside, COVID is likely to spark a resurgence in research on remote collaboration tools. Current technology only gets us so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing what remote collaboration will look like in ten years.

(iv) Live online demos

This one's a bit more futuristic but is completely do-able with current technology. Why not let participants try out live demos of products online - using interactive virtual worlds or AR/VR technology. Yes, these technologies are not for everyone so this might be a niche market for now. But used properly, it could augment simpler technologies geared towards a more general audience.

As with all things in life, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to online events. Yes, there will be some cases where the hour long webinar is the right format for in-depth, intimate discussion. But it won't be the majority of cases.

Hopefully, innovation will see a diverse set of online formats, each catering to a particular need, and delivering content in a way that a post-COVID audience wants to consume it. Until we get there, however, I am off to watch a webinar on "Being True to Yourself". Wish me luck.