Question

How might issues surrounding webinars be addressed/solved?

Provide statistically significant data or evidence to support your findings.

Answer 1

The Disadvantages of Webinars

The webinar seemed like such a good idea when it first came along. Employees could take training classes online, without having to leave their desks. A sales team could pitch a proposal to a client without having to travel. Sure, there are some advantages to be gained by replacing face-to-face meetings with webinars, but there are also disadvantages to using webinars as well.

Technical Difficulties

Every presenter who uses technology during a presentation runs the risk of technical difficulties will interfere with her time at the podium. During a webinar, in which the audience views an audiovisual presentation on their computers, opportunities for technical problems are virtually limitless. Each webinar participant has a different computer with a unique operating system configuration, connection speed, Internet browser and software applications. Corporate firewalls can block the connection to the webinar and prevent participants from downloading information. Participants might become annoyed and frustrated with these issues and may disconnect from the online meeting -- literally or mentally.

Body Language

Body language is missing from virtually every webinar. In a typical webinar, the viewer never sees the presenter. The presenter provides voiceover while a facilitator transmits his deck of slides onto the viewer's computer screen. The audience misses important nonverbal cues, such as eye contact, gestures and facial expressions, that add context and interest to the experience. In a live setting, these subtleties help a speaker establish credibility with the audience. A live audience knows that a dramatic pause is meant to build suspense, while a webinar audience that hears the speaker stop talking may think she lost her place or accidentally hit the "mute" button.

Environmental Control

In a live setting, the presenter can often control lighting and seating and help ensure that distractions are removed from the environment where a seminar takes place. The presence of others in the room helps focus attention on the speaker, as peer pressure among the audience discourages side conversations and disruptions. By contrast, during a webinar, the presenter has virtually no control over the audience's environment. Attendees at a webinar can be at home, in the office or in a coffee shop. With a muted phone line, a webinar "participant" can check his email, do other work or surf the Internet. The presenter's absence can make it harder for participants to learn.

Audience Interaction

An live seminar can be a dynamic, interactive experience. Audience members can meet new people and form valuable new relationships during breaks in the action. A live presenter can utilize small group exercises to engage his audience and help drive home his message. A webinar offers virtually no opportunity for the kind of experiential learning that a group can achieve by being together in one place. Webinar participants don't know the size of the audience or whether their colleagues, customers or competitors are among the online listeners. Some webinars try to add interactivity by polling the audience about key issues and displaying poll results on the viewers' screen; to many users, online graphs of poll results are a poor substitute for an in-room speaker asking for a show of hands.

Webinar – Advantages	Webinar – Disadvantages
Saves costs through no longer having to travel to and from the hotel, overnight stay, room booking, etc.	Technical problems can lead to the event being canceled, or prevent participants from joining in
Simple and automated registration	The participants’ mood and motivation is difficult for the speaker to determine
Easy to exchange information before, during, and after the event	Participants could easily be distracted i.e. due to their surroundings, or because they know they aren’t being watched
Anonymous participation is possible	Interaction between speaker and participant is often reduced to a minimum
In theory, there is no limit to the number of participants (in practice, the maximum number of participants depends on the technical conditions)	Time frame is almost always binding – sometimes it isn’t possible to log in later.
Ability to share or download additional digital material at any time during the webinar (non-binding)
Easy to evaluate and store presented content