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Are Webinars a Passing Fad?

By Marcel Mongeon posted 03-17-2009 14:44

  
Not a day goes by without an invitation to yet another webinar. Some are 'free', others are paid.

The free ones are clearly marketing come-ons. Goodness knows, I've considered them myself for some training services that I offer.

The paid ones intrigue me and I'm curious what people are doing with them. Both AUTM and other  organizations are offering webinars (or web-assisted teleconferences) on at least a monthly 'paid' basis. We are offered those who are labeled as experts in many fields that appear useful to our work. But there seems to be little accompanying material that will be part of the webinar and the few webinars that I have been on seem to be plagued with technical problems (such as poor audio quality) and little real opportunity for a two-way discussion.

Those in time zones outside of North America have little use for time slots that would require them to participate  in the middle of the night adn don't seem to be interested in the taped replays.

So, let me ask you for your comments:

a)     Are webinars really useful to you?
b)     Have you participated in a webinar where you can truly say that you (or your boss) got good value for the money?
c)     What features of a webinar helped you achieve that value? (Saving the travel expenses is expected.)
d)     How do you keep track of all of the different webinars that people in your office are attending? Is there any real assessment of what you learned being done?

I look forward to your comments!

Marcel
6 comments
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Comments

Donald Martin
03-26-2009 10:58

Hi Marcel, Just finished a webinar and thought that I would share my thoughts. I would rate my experience level as "new" to the TT profession. A. For me, webinars are nice because I can generally find time to attend one even given the time zone difference. If the event is recorded (like the recent NCET2 series) it is even better because I can see it during a lunch break or share it with co-workers the next day. B. As for value, for general concepts I think a webinar is fine. For more complex topics I'm not so sure. If a topic requires a lot of feedback or background material I think that you do not have the ability to drill down into the topic. C. I think the biggest value is in gettting to know the subject matter expert and to then contact them when you have more specific questions or comments. Perhaps outside of the TT world this is not as common (or even possible). The ability to download (and save) the presenation is nice as well. D. No

Chris McKinney
03-18-2009 14:16

Marcel, I think you touched on a good point, that webinars may not be the end-all for evermore. Given this reality, I think AUTM adapts to changing needs of its members and will continue to do so in the future (i.e., if webinars become passé, then we’ll move on to the latest and greatest delivery methods). Yet, we should remain mindful of continuing to make webinars as relevant, timely, and hassle-free as possible.

Marcel Mongeon
03-17-2009 17:18

I guess an additional question I should add given Lee Heiman's response pointing to it:
If you didn't have to acquire continuing legal education hours, would you still be taking the webinar?

Lee Heiman
03-17-2009 16:08

And here are my personal experiences:
a) Are webinars really useful to you? My experience has been mixed, and some providers like AIPLA have consistently been better.
b) Have you participated in a webinar where you can truly say that you (or your boss) got good value for the money? Yes, absolutely!
c) What features of a webinar helped you achieve that value? (Saving the travel expenses is expected.) As a whole, high quality materials seemed to be the most important single feature I can identify in terms of what I ultimately got out of the webinar. Obviously, speaker engagement and competancy were important during the presentation itself.
d) How do you keep track of all of the different webinars that people in your office are attending? Is there any real assessment of what you learned being done? We don't keep track, and only my personal assessment is made.
Lee Heiman

Lee Heiman
03-17-2009 16:07

Hello Marcel.
Interesting question, given how prevalent and important these have become as travel budgets have dried up. I have addressed your questions in a second message from the student perspective, but I would REALLY like, from an organizer/instructor's perspective, to hear how people suggest that we can improve webinars in general, and especially those put on by AUTM.
In particular, unlike a llive presentation, I found it uncomfortable to have zero feedback during the presentation. Without the nodding heads (and laughter), it was very hard to know if I was getting through!
Best regards,
Lee Heiman
AUTM Online Professional Development Committee member
Co-Presenter for AUTM May 19, 2009 course: "Patent Basics for Administrative Personnel"

Gennaro Gama
03-17-2009 15:51

(Gennaro Gama)
a) Are webinars really useful to you? I registered for a few, but left the room midway. They did not meet my expectations and nothing new was presented.
b) Have you participated in a webinar where you can truly say that you (or your boss) got good value for the money? NOPE. See above. Some titles were blantly misleading!
c) What features of a webinar helped you achieve that value? (Saving the travel expenses is expected.)
d) How do you keep track of all of the different webinars that people in your office are attending? NR
Is there any real assessment of what you learned being done? no.