Webinars have been a part of the system even before the world knew of the pandemic. The only thing was, they weren’t popular then, but they became popular when organizations started operating remotely. There is nothing new about webinars that one needs to understand; they are the tried and tested formats that have always been a reliable format for delivering content to the audience.
To understand; webinars are the web versions of the ever-popular seminars or say, webinars are the seminars that are hosted on webinar platforms. They are interactive events that not only allow the hosts to share knowledge but also the attendees to interact with them, ask questions, and clear doubts. As the name suggests, they are hosted over the internet using webinar services; the hosts get the opportunity to reach out to a wider audience. It means people from all over the world can be part of a webinar.
There are not one, two, but several advantages of hosting a webinar; let us have a look at a few of them:
- The organization gets to connect with its audience and expand its base.
- Since the webinars are informational and around knowledge sharing, they enable the organization to build its brand’s authority.
- They are cost-effective and a less complex method to build the reputation of the brand.
What is a Webinar Service?
The web platforms used to host webinars are known as webinar services or webinar platforms. These solutions are equipped with several features and tools that help the organizers give a closer-to-real feel to the audience. These audience engagement tools enable the attendees to get an immersive experience that adds value to their overall experience.
Here are the features that a webinar service must possess:
Easy Accessibility:
While you are planning your webinar, the last thing you would want to have is a platform that would require high-end technical knowledge. The fact that your attendees won’t be able to access the webinar service will have a direct impact on the success of your webinar. Along with it, nobody has enough time that they will spend on your platform to access a webinar. Hence, the feature that makes a webinar stand out from the rest is its accessibility.
Budget-Friendly:
Budget might not be a problem if you are a large-scale company, however, if you are a small to mid-scale business, money will be a concern. Also, even if the budget is not an issue, you should always have a predetermined budget so that you don’t end up spending more money than you should. Not only this, there are various webinar services available that come with free plans; make the most of them.
A1 Audio and Video Quality:
Since the attendees will be a part of the webinar through their screens, ensure it is a high-quality experience. For this, you need to get your hands on a platform that provides top-notch audio and video quality. A poor video quality, disturbances in the background, disruptions in the sound will leave a bad impression on the audience.
Screen Sharing:
When it comes to sharing knowledge effectively, there’s no doubt in the fact that seminars are way more convenient. However, if it makes you think that webinars don’t let you share the content effectively, maybe you are wrong. An impressive and expert platform will let you share your screens; you need to seize the opportunity and use it in the right way.
Free Trial or Demo Session Availability:
There is no better way to test the efficiency of a platform without getting your hands on it. However, spending money to test the suitability of a webinar service is one of the most illogical decisions you ever make. Don’t worry; we have a solution for that also; let us tell you something; an efficient service will always provide you with free trials and demo sessions so that you can know the platform better.
Customization:
When it is easier for the organizers to design their seminars according to their brand requirements, it gets challenging in the case of webinars. However, several webinar services come with personalization options that allow the host organization to execute their webinar according to their demands and requirements.
Recording:
Though there are fewer chances of this happening, still, there are times when not all the registered participants won’t be able to show up in the live broadcast. Here is when the recording tool comes to the rescue. Though it doesn’t matter to some, you should still provide your attendees with a recording of the webinar for those who have missed it. It will help you win the trust of the audience and develop a bond with them.
Wider Audience Accommodation Capacity:
One of the most prominent limitations of seminars is they can accommodate only a certain number of attendees. But, this limitation comes as the advantage of webinars. Several webinar services don’t have any limitations when it comes to the number of attendees and let you accommodate as many attendees as you want.
In-event Analytics:
Now, this is something that a seminar will never get efficient at. Event analytics is the track of all the attendees’ activities. It is impossible to record what your attendees are up to in seminars, but webinars are a pro at it. With an event analytics tracker, you can keep a record of all the activities that your attendees engaged in. Not only this, they can track the segment of the webinar that was the busiest of all, and things like this. This feature comes as a great advantage to the organizers as they can use the data to measure the success of their webinars.
Interactive Tools:
The reason most people still prefer physical events over web events is that they feel that the latter don’t have enough opportunities for the attendees to interact with each other. They haven’t come across the webinar services that allow the attendees to communicate and expand their networks.
We hope this guide helps you understand everything you need to know about webinar platforms and what kind of platform you should be getting your hands on.