What’s in a webinar?

I’ve given and attended dozens of webinars over the years and, frankly, most of them have been little more than thinly veiled sales pitches. But I attended one the other day, and it was really, really good.

Now, I won’t reveal just who gave this webinar, because the client whose webinar it was asked me not to, but here’s what I can and will say:

• They provided real content that would be useful to those participating, whether they were ever going to by my client’s product or not.
• Most of the real content was provided by a couple of customers. The customers were from name-brand companies, adding instant credibility to my client, even though my client is not a name-brand company, but, rather, a small, niche software vendor.

Yes, the organization, format, setup, etc. was all flawless and supremely professional. But the real, usable content was what really made the difference for me - and, I suspect, for the "real" folks attending the webinar. While I was not particularly interested in the domain being discussed - other than how it relates to my ability to help my client - I did manage to learn a lot about one of the issues that makes my client’s product so darned useful. (Which it really and truly is, and I’m not just saying that!)

Those who are constructing webinars would do well to make sure that there is something meaty and informative involved in theirs. Sure, it’s okay to talk about your company and your product: everybody knows that this is a sales event. But if your webinar is going to be given over entirely to information about your product - with just a thin scrim of pseudo "real content" - then it should be advertised as such. Don’t make bogus promises like "you will learn about the most important factors impacting your ability to survive as a company" when what you’re really going to offer up is a handful of lame-o bullet points:

• The world is changing rapidly
• Technology matters
• Globalization happens
• Competition is increasing
• The economy is ailing

Followed by a long-winded discussion singing the praises about how your product is just the answer to all of the above.

Don’t waste my time!

If you’re going to give a product overview and demo, just tell me. Sometimes that’s what I want to see. But don’t try to woo me in with false promises about "learning" something other than your sales pitch, thank you.

There really is such a thing as a good, informative webinar! Who knew?

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