Webinar Wire

Webinars - A Waste Of Time?

Posted by Ken Molay January 21 2010 9:38 PM EDT

3 comments

Amber Avines says "...after today's useless webinar, I will never waste my time again." She's not talking about wasting her time with a single company or a single topic. She doesn't want to ever attend another webinar, period.

Houston, we have a problem.

What happened to make Amber say "Somewhere along the line, the word 'webinar' has taken on a negative connotation for me"? She's not talking about the old flame wars regarding the coined terminology. She means that webinars as a business offering have turned her off.

And the key complaint? Simplistic content that doesn't meet her expectations as an audience member, followed by a sales pitch to make her buy "the good stuff."

Having vented a little, Amber admits that quality webinars do exist. But she's unwilling to sort through all the garbage trying to find an elusive gem.

Webinar spam is much more injurious than email spam. If you get an email you don't want, you simply delete it and move on, with a net lost productive time measured in seconds - perhaps less. But if you make a commitment to attend a webinar, postpone other business appointments and tasks during that time period, figure out login and/or dial-in requirements, fidget during the inevitable introductory fluff and then find out there was nothing behind it but more fluff and an unanticipated sales pitch, the provider has just stolen from you. Business time and productivity is a valuable asset and taking it from you under false pretenses is shameful.

Amber, I hope you keep looking for content that has true value, delivered by people who care about meeting audience expectations in a straightforward and conscientious manner. You're right... They do exist.

And to those of you using webinars as a marketing and lead generation tool, think carefully about what you are promising in your invitation and what expectations you are building. Collecting names on registration forms doesn't do you much good in building lead lists if the names represent a group of people who mistrust and loathe your company!

One of the first things to do is to decide on a level of detail you will provide and the expected audience familiarity with your topic. If you are going to offer an introductory primer for first-timers, say that loudly and explicitly in your promotional materials. If you are going to talk about your services and products, tell people that up front. There is a self-selecting audience for each type of content. Let people find the content that suits their needs. Then give them exactly what you promised.

Often the problem is not with the marketing and is not caused by evil intent from the hosting company. Instead, it stems from a simple lack of communication between the promoters and presenters. Make sure the presenters have read the marketing materials driving people to the event. Once those materials are in the public eye, they must be adhered to. It doesn't matter that the presenter has refined his ideas and come up with a different approach to the topic. He won't have an audience that wants to hear it. His self-selected audience is there to hear what the invitation promised, and he better deliver exactly that.

Webinar administrators, coordinators, and marketers... This is your challenge. You have to be absolutely firm and unyielding with your speakers. And proactive. You show them the materials. Highlight the promised deliverables for them. Tell them what level of detail is appropriate for the audience. Tell them you expect them to stay on topic with real value in their content.

Then if you have promoted an educational topic or benefits-oriented agenda, keep your damned corporate marketing slides out of the presentation. There's plenty of time to follow up with additional information about your products and services after you have made a good first impression and proved that your company can be trusted to provide what it says it will.

Maybe if enough of us think about this, Amber and others like her will start coming back to webinars and giving you those valuable leads you want.