Rant: Webinars, does anyone have time for them?
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I like 'em. Or rather, I prefer to spend an hour on my own watching a webinar than have to spend an hour making small talk with a sales rep who barely knows or understands the product he's trying to sell.
They're more often than not badly done and boring, though. But a good, highly technical, webinar is great, and far more time and cost efficient than going to seminars which is what I used to do in the nineties..
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We have taken the stance that if you don't want to let me at least have a personal look around forget it. We are pretty lucky here and get to demo tons of stuff. Webinars are a waste of everyone's time.
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Setting up a demo will nearly always require a much greater amount of time and effort than participating in a webinar.
A lot of the ones I've found useful are where companies have just posted their webinars onto youtube and allowed anyone to watch them. I guess that at that point they're not technically webinars.
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Webinars?
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So here is what is weird, I find them odd and almost always pointless. Not completely, but often. I like the "guided tour of a product" or "seminar that happens casually online" but a YouTube video would often be better, but you can't ask questions in real time then, I guess. I never have time for these and even when I try to make them, like the one that @art_of_shred did a few days ago, I always have a meeting, emergency or something happen during the slotted time since they are invariably in the middle of the work day, that I miss it anyway.
But I present in webinars and lots of people attend. So they definitely work, lots of people are able to block out time and attend them and actively do so.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Setting up a demo will nearly always require a much greater amount of time and effort than participating in a webinar.
That's very true. Webinars, in my mind, fill a middle ground between a YouTube video or screenshots and a full install trial. If you want that middle space AND the ability to interface with the presenters or someone on staff, webinars are a low overhead means of filling that space. If it wasn't for the need to schedule them at popular times and have the times be so rigid I would find them pretty useful. It's only the scheduling that really kills it for me.
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I find that I have to BLOCK out time for webinars, not just make them. I don't go to many unless I know there will be an active chat. I make sure one of my other colleagues can cover for me while I am in the webinar, and unless there is an earth shattering, department stopping issue, I am usually able to attend said webinars.
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I can't block out time because I am production support. There is no such thing as blocking out time.
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@scottalanmiller You can't have one of your minions --erm... colleagues cover for you for an hour?
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@dafyre said:
@scottalanmiller You can't have one of your minions --erm... colleagues cover for you for an hour?
Nope
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@scottalanmiller You should hire better minions, lol.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I can't block out time because I am production support. There is no such thing as blocking out time.
You can multi-task though. The pace of webinars is normally pretty slow.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I can't block out time because I am production support. There is no such thing as blocking out time.
You can multi-task though. The pace of webinars is normally pretty slow.
Yes, I can often do that, except that I often get pulled into meetings that cause issues.
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My philosophy is that webinars should be educational - you do a good job at that and then you earn a short pitch for the product at the end. I can't believe vendors won't give you a demo and want you to watch a webinar instead. I'd always have time to demo Webroot for anyone who wants it.
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Exactly @Nic! Webinars that are for true training purposes are great! But if a sales person isn't willing to take the time to work one on one. Not worth it.
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@Minion-Queen said:
Exactly @Nic! Webinars that are for true training purposes are great! But if a sales person isn't willing to take the time to work one on one. Not worth it.
Yep, if they're a pain in the ass before the sale, imagine how bad it will be after. I also like to call tech support before the purchase just to see how long the queues are, and how competent their support is.
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@Nic said:
I also like to call tech support before the purchase just to see how long the queues are, and how competent their support is.
That's a neat trick. I shall try that next time
