Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Putting Together a Webinar

Although e-books and short videos can be effective in teaching people valuable information, sometimes customers require a detailed explanation of a more complex topic, with live voices or slides or drawings to complement the information. Thus, the multibillion-dollar seminar business was formed. With technology now making it easier to transmit audio, video, and text all at once, education and technology have melded into the Webinar, or Web seminar.

Think of a Webinar as watching a seminar on your computer or other Internet-connected device. During the seminar, you might

• Watch an audio feed of the instructor talking.
• View Microsoft PowerPoint slides on your screen.
• Read an outline of the presentation.
• Write some text notes.
• Use a chat window to ask the instructor some questions (or talk to your fellow seminar attendees) at the end of the presentation.

This technology is possible on a large scale because of the growing number of people who have broadband connections to the Internet using cable modems from their cable TV companies or DSL connections from their phone companies. These connections allow that information — the audio, video, and text — to be carried to someone's computer or other Internetconnected device as it's happening.

The easiest way to decide whether to create a Webinar is to ask yourself whether the video and audio add value to the presentation and whether the entire presentation is necessary to teach the subject matter, rather than ...