Comparison of Webinar Service Providers
The selection of a webinar service provider can be a daunting task because there are so many questions to answer. Collating the answers to those questions is time consuming and complex. This article will try to simplify the choices so a decision can be made.
The best webinars are also the easiest to use, both for the presenters and the attendees. The more complicated the service is, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. Be careful using services where there are so many options that it becomes overwhelming.
Many of the current systems are cross-platform and totally web browser based. That is, you can use them on a Mac, a PC or a Linux computer. They'll use FireFox, Internet Explorer or another browser to display the webinar's content.
Cost
Some services may require you to install a program to use them. Remember, you may be providing basic technical support for your attendees, if only to tell them how to ask a question or answer a survey or poll. You, as the presenter, should appear to know what you're doing!
The selection of a webinar service provider can be a daunting task because there are so many questions to answer. Collating the answers to those questions is time consuming and complex. This article will try to simplify the choices so a decision can be made.
What is a webinar?
How a webinar works
The webinar service is a tool designed to allow a presenter to communicate with a group of attendees. The presenter's audio/video and computer feeds are sent via the Internet to a central location from whence it is dispersed to the attendees. The presenters "feeds" are often sent in real time but recorded presentations are common as well. A webinar is a newer term whose definition may differ depending on your application or to whom you speak. Web conferencing, a very popular online tool, can brush the boundaries of webinars and can cloud the issue on what products we should examine. For the sake of this article, let's put some limitations on what we think a webinar is and what it can do.
A webinar is basically unidirectional. That is, we have a presenter and we have a multitude of attendees. This is the main difference between a webinar and web conference. The web-conference allows the attendees to communicate back to the presenter more easily.
How a webinar works
The computer feeds are often the "meat" of the presentation. These can be PowerPoint slides, drawings on a whiteboard or a copy of the presenter's computer desktop. Some services allow the presentation of anything that can be shown or heard on the presenter's computer. This may include video movies, pictures, and sound.
The best webinars are also the easiest to use, both for the presenters and the attendees. The more complicated the service is, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. Be careful using services where there are so many options that it becomes overwhelming.
Many of the current systems are cross-platform and totally web browser based. That is, you can use them on a Mac, a PC or a Linux computer. They'll use FireFox, Internet Explorer or another browser to display the webinar's content.
Webinar Options
A webinar may or may not have a telephone component. Many webinar services allow attendees to call in via a phone. The webinar's screen should sync with the voices you hear on the phone. Some webinar services require special hardware on the presenter's side to use this. Additionally, phone charges may be incurred by either the presenting company or the attendee for the attendee to connect to the service. These charges can be flat rate or by the minute of attendance.
Some webinar services use Voice over IP (VOIP) to get the presenters words out. VOIP may allow more people to attend your conference and not be restricted to using a phone line. The quality of the audio presentation may be depended on the quality/speed of the attendee's own Internet connection.
A webinar may or may not have a video feed. Having it or not having it doesn't exclude the product/service. Some webinars may require a video feed especially if the main reason for the webinar is a "show and tell" type of service. If the presenter is showing the attendees how to braid their hair in order to use a specific product, hearing about this may just not be good enough. Many webinar services do not offer video feeds.
A webinar may or may not have a telephone component. Many webinar services allow attendees to call in via a phone. The webinar's screen should sync with the voices you hear on the phone. Some webinar services require special hardware on the presenter's side to use this. Additionally, phone charges may be incurred by either the presenting company or the attendee for the attendee to connect to the service. These charges can be flat rate or by the minute of attendance.
Some webinar services use Voice over IP (VOIP) to get the presenters words out. VOIP may allow more people to attend your conference and not be restricted to using a phone line. The quality of the audio presentation may be depended on the quality/speed of the attendee's own Internet connection.
Cost
The cost of a webinar varies greatly from free to hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. The free services should not be dismissed out of hand in a "you get what you pay for" kind of mentality. Often the basic features of them are free, but the companies who offer them are hoping you'll upgrade to their pay services.
The Webinar Companies
A google search for webinar providers shows a nice, big handful of 20 or more. The good news is that if you know what type of webinar you're presenting, many of these choices can be crossed off the list immediately. For example, do you need a video feed at your webinar? If so, your choices just became much fewer. Do you have a budget of less than a thousand dollars a year (or even much less than that?). You just cut off a large part of the list again. You get the idea. Let's list out the major components of differnet types of webinars and see which ones make the grade.
A google search for webinar providers shows a nice, big handful of 20 or more. The good news is that if you know what type of webinar you're presenting, many of these choices can be crossed off the list immediately. For example, do you need a video feed at your webinar? If so, your choices just became much fewer. Do you have a budget of less than a thousand dollars a year (or even much less than that?). You just cut off a large part of the list again. You get the idea. Let's list out the major components of differnet types of webinars and see which ones make the grade.
The Selection Tool
We've designed a simple tool to assist you in your webinar services selection. This tool is NOT designed to make the choice for you, only to show you the companies whose product MIGHT do the job for you. Please take the time and evaluate each one on their own merits. Hopefully, our tool has made the number of choices more reasonable.
Making a selection
There are probably a few criterion that will greatly reduce the available choices for your ultimate selection. Here are some of the questions that you should answer before you begin evaluating of any of the products:
Do you need video from the presenter? Will you be demonstrating something where video is paramount?
Do you want your attendees to listen to the presentation over their headphones or computer speakers. If so, VOIP is mandatory.
What's the maximum # of attendees that you foresee?
Do you need the ability to change presenters on the fly?
What's your budget?
How technical are you and your team? Might you need technical support?Some services may require you to install a program to use them. Remember, you may be providing basic technical support for your attendees, if only to tell them how to ask a question or answer a survey or poll. You, as the presenter, should appear to know what you're doing!
Other options might be "nice to have" instead of "needed". For example, might some of your attendees attend via their mobile phones? Some of the services have smart phone capabilities built in.
The last question might be particularly important for a high visibility webinar with many attendees. If you're paying your presenters a fee to present, ensuring the technical viability of the webinar with a service which includes on call technical support might be money well spent.