Entrepreneurs discuss webinars
By Alison Coleman T
he demands of setting up and running a business
leaves entrepreneurs little
time to spare for things like training and development, at least when it involves travelling to a venue and spending a day or more sitting in a conference room listening to a series of seminars and presentations.
But this is the age of digital enablement, and thanks to advances in web and video technology, having to spend precious time away from the business to boost skills, learn new sales and marketing techniques, and how to train and develop their own staff is becoming a thing of the past for business owners.
Web-based seminars, more commonly referred to as webinars, which can include video, slide presentations and other visual and audio content, have become a valuable tool in the online training and development
effective? How is the quality of the content maintained?
Online entrepreneur Paula Wynne, author of Create A Successful Website and co-founder of home business social community iHubbub, says: “The single most important thing in achieving a successful webinar is to ensure that the presenter fulfils the promise. If I run a webinar on how to optimise a website, or how to get free publicity, at the end
if the webinar
the attendees must have learned about these topics and acquired the knowledge they need to get them started immediately. They know the benefits of what my webinar ‘promises’ and they receive that benefit by the end.”
arena,
enabling training and other business- related content to be delivered remotely from a single point to hundreds of ‘delegates’ who can receive it without having to leave their own office.
The ease with which this technology can be accessed and used means that anyone with a PC, software and broadband connections can create and run a webinar. The question is, how do you ensure that it is well structured and
36 entrepreneurcountry
Webinar presenters should be comfortable with what they are presenting, and know their subject inside out. Their slides should reflect the level of knowledge and expertise that
they will be delivering to the
attendees and they have to be very aware of and in control of the timings. “Presenters who are not used to public speaking often run out of time,” says Paula.
There are plenty of webinar facilities on the market, including GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting, the latter of which is the online platform of choice for
Tony and Cally Gedge
husband and wife dental marketing team Tony and Cally Gedge, who work with around 90 private dental practices in the UK, delivering webinars on a range of topics, including developing business skills, marketing, practice growth and staff training, from their home in Alora, near Malaga in southern Spain, where they have lived since they left their home city of Leeds nine years ago.
Tony said: “It is a great way of delivering training and coaching content, and whether they view it as a live webinar, or a recording, which they can access via a web link, individuals and teams can get the best out of the webinar and apply it to their business without disrupting their practice time. We also help them develop and record webinars for their patients, on different topics, which they can access via a web link included in the practice newsletter. Digital technology really is the future.”
Securing feedback from the attendees after the webinar is a good way to
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