The wild wild webinar

Up until about a month ago I had never participated in a webinar, I have done quite a lot of coaching via Skype and the occasional one-to-one meeting with a client, again, via Skype – but no webinars

In the last few weeks, I have participated in a dozen or so webinars, on various platforms (ZOOM, Adobe, Teams, GoToMeetings, etc.) and I would like to share my experience and what I see as the pros & cons of webinars as opposed to “traditional” seminars or conferences – not so much in terms of platform choice or technical problems but more from the “human” side.

This is the first of three articles about my experience of webinars; I use the term “webinar” to cover both large “conference type” events and smaller “workshop type events” – there are, obviously, significant differences with regards to participating in (and facilitating) events of different sizes.

This first article is from a “participant” point of view; in subsequent articles I will share my experience as a facilitator of webinars and my experience of “having an impact” or “influencing” during a webinar.

So, participating in a webinar; I’ve tried to look at and compare the common elements of both the “traditional” world and the “new” world – signing up for the event, getting to the event, taking breaks, asking questions, etc.

Enrolment in the event

This hasn’t really changed; most traditional conferences already had some kind of on-line enrolment option. In the past the joining instructions would probably have included a map, bus routes, where to park and so forth; today you receive a web link to “click” and sometimes a password or ID (or both).

Dressing for the event

Traditional conferences do require some thought; “is there a defined dress code”, “should I put on a tie”, “what does smart casual mean”, etc. How you dress will clearly be seen by the others and probably have an impact on their opinion of you

If you are participating “camera off” in a webinar, you can dress (or not dress) as you wish, no one can see you!

Assuming you are working “camera on”, people will be able to see at least your face, maybe head and shoulders and possibly the upper half of your body; it all depends on the number of participants.

One of the webinars I participated in had 250 participants, the video window of each participant was very small. I participated in others where there were 12 participants and, obviously, I had a better view of each participant.

Arrival at the event

In the past getting to the venue was often hit and miss; “will the bus be on time”, “will I be able to park not too far away”, “will I be able to find the venue”, “what happens if it’s raining”.

Arriving at a webinar is relatively easy, assuming you can find the email with the web link; today the webinar is where you want it to be, in the kitchen, in the living room or, if you have one, in your home office. Whatever the case, there shouldn’t be a problem getting there; you may get distracted by husband/wife, daughter/son or cat/dog on the way; but no worries about parking the car or missing the bus.

Checking in to the event

In the past checking in consisted of queuing up, finding your name on a list and being given a badge with your name on, often time consuming and worrying; “I’m not on the list?”, ”Yes I enrolled on the web”, “you don’t have a badge for me?”, “my name is spelt wrongly”.

Webinar check in is not without its concerns; “now, where did I put that web link?”, “I think I’ve mixed up the ID and the password”, “damn, I’ve signed in under the name of the web link” – nothing worse than having your image on the screen with http//:byse12nt;oo45à?!.com as your name

Finding your place in the event

Traditionally there was a lot of milling around, trying to decide where to sit; “who should I sit next to”, “do I want to be at the front”, “who should I disturb if I arrive late”

Finding your place in a webinar is easy; a couple of clicks and you are in; there is no front, back, left-side, right-side, there is no disturbing people if you arrive a bit late and there is no deciding who to sit next to

Starting the event

I don’t think I have ever participated in a conference that has started on time; “we’ll just give the latecomers a few minutes to settle in”, “I think some people are still finishing their welcome coffee”, etc.

In my relatively small experience of webinars, they start on time and no one really notices if you are late

Participating in the event

Traditionally, there were often a lot of side-discussions going on, people using their smartphones, under the breath telephone calls, etc. Asking questions was about “getting noticed”; raising you hand higher than the other hands and then waiting for the mike to come to you – if it actually finds its way into the middle of a packed auditorium.

Even if each webinar platform (ZOOM, Teams, etc) has its own particularities, there are some common functions.

In those I have been involved, there has been a “microphones off” policy; as well as eliminating barking dogs and crying babies, this also helps to clearly (depending on your internet connection) hear what the speaker is saying.

Most platforms seem to have a “chat box” where you can post comments or ask questions. Some even have a private message option, where you can exchange with someone specific (a bit like having a side-discussion) without disturbing everyone else.

Asking questions during the event

A specific part of participating is questions. Conferences often suffer from questions like, “err, I was very interested in what you err said err earlier with regards to your experience when, err if I remember correctly, you were err working in Europe. This err resonated very much with my own personal experience of two, no, maybe, three years ago …. or maybe more, anyway, I was working with ……….”

In the webinars I have been involved in, the chat box has been used for questions; this leads to written questions such as “could you tell me more about XY” or “do you think AB could be used to replace XY”; i.e. questions are much clearer and more succinct – this can be difficult for people who tend formulate their questions as they are asking them, and …… you need to be quite quick on the keyboard.

Breakout groups during the event

A much-awaited part of most conferences; the opportunity at last to talk to people, not only in the breakout group itself, but going to and from the session; “which session are you in” “oh, that sounds interesting, “why did you choose that”, “how was your session”, etc.

I have been involved in some traditional conferences where the time taken to find and get to the right breakout room and then back to the plenary session was almost as long as the session itself; however, the time often led to meeting interesting people and making new contacts

In a webinar getting into the breakout session is almost instantaneous.

In the first webinar I participated in, the host said, “we are now going to put you into breakout groups, where you will have the chance to exchange around xyz” and my screen went from a “screen share” of the question with a lot of small video windows of people in the webinar to 5 video windows of people I didn’t know – no “should I take my affairs”, no “now, where is  the room”, no “who should I sit next to”, no settling in – straight in!

After a short silence, the facilitator in me took over, “hi, I’m Bob in France, where are you all from”, “Jenny in Florida”, “Bill in Wales”, “Ann in Singapore” came back followed by another silence ….. so, I ended up facilitating the session.

There is clearly a “time saver” in terms of webinar breakout sessions, the composition can be changed easily and they can be held regularly without all the back and forth; however, if you are not used to being in small groups it can be a bit daunting

Breaks during the event

The traditional coffee break is not only the time for a coffee (or tea) and a visit to the bathroom (if the que is not too long), it’s also an opportunity to meet old and new contacts and, sometimes, get new business.

Webinars have breaks as well; 90 minutes in front of a screen is a long time for many people. Getting to the toilet is easy and you can have your coffee just how you like it; however, chatting to others (except the husband, son or dog) is not easy –  you can video-call someone on WhatsApp or ZOOM maybe, but it’s not easy.

Of course, you can also have breaks when you want during a webinar; you can “slip out” and “slip in” without disturbing people, you can even be polite and use the chat box to say “I have to slip out for a couple of minutes” and “hi, sorry about that, I’m back”

Ending the event

The traditional ending of a conference is the time to “hang around” and catch up with people, both those you know and those you don’t. You can talk to the organisers, leave your business card, speak to that person who asked an interesting question, etc.

In a webinar it is much more abrupt; when the link is cut, the link is cut – you move instantaneously from being absorbed in something to being back in your living room

Getting back home from the event

Discovering the price of the car park, traffic jams, packed buses, rain and no umbrella ………. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination

So, at the end of the day, is a webinar better than a “normal” conference?

To be honest, I have been pleasantly surprised by what can be done during a webinar; I’ve asked questions and got replies, I’ve shared my screen, I’ve brainstormed, I’ve participated in instant surveys, I’ve exchanged in small groups and I’ve had people in the webinar contact me via LinkedIn during the webinar. Not only that, but in most cases, you can ask for a copy of the recording of the webinar to go over bits you may have missed

Webinars, even the paid ones, are cost effective (no travel, no parking …), no hassle (where I want to be) they are interactive (when well organised) and, yes, you can make contacts – I see them as a serious option to traditional conferences

Clearly, one of the keys to making a webinar successful, apart from having useful and interesting content, is how you facilitate it – I’ll share my initial experiences of running webinars in the next article

Keep a look at for the hash tag #digitalbob; I will be using it when I post anything related to what some call the “virtual” world

#webinars #digitallearning #onlinelearning #virtualconference #boblarcher #digitalbob