What makes a good webinar?

Lately I’ve been involved in the introduction of webinars to my organisation. Webinars are like a really interactive online meeting, kind of like a cross between a powerpoint presentation, a teleconference, a whiteboard, and an instant chat message session. We are holding several hundred webinars in a few months, which is an absolutely herculean effort in terms of coordination of participants, moderators and presenters. This is the first time my company has ever used any webinar technology and it is new to nearly all members in the organisation. Additionally, my organisation primarily consists of trade based workers with very low levels of digital literacy – computers are incidental to their job and have only been around about six years. So there is an amazing opportunity to do this and do it well.

From my previous webinar exposure I have come to realise that there are some key things which make a good webinar. Some of them are:

• It does not run for more than an hour
• Interactivity regular and meaningful. It is central to success.
• The presenter (read facilitator) and moderator are prepared and know what actions to take on each slide/step
• Participants are taught to use the technology at the beginning of each webinar – speed is adjusted according to experience.  This is because the technology is so new and digital literacy is low.
• Participants introduce themselves to us and each other at the beginning of the session. We do things like ask for circles on roles or pointers on maps to start this off.
• participants know what to expect prior to the session
• IT systems support the technology
• It is designed from both a technical and content perspective to meet the needs of the audience
• It doesn’t contain excessive amounts of information
• Participant knowledge and expertese are recognised through facilitation rather than presentation
• A moderator and presenter are used. As a yardstick, if a presenter (our presenters are relatively new to the technology) can comfortably run the session without a moderator there is not enough interaction and facilitation taking place.
• Presenters are debriefed and provided with constructive feedback about the session.  The frequency of such debriefs lessens with presenter experience.

What I wonder is… how much does this list apply only to my organisation? And how will this list change as our learners become more accustomed to the technology?

Only time will tell.