Think Before You Engage: 100 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign

30. Are Webinars Valuable?

Think about a webinar as a way to attend a conference without leaving home. Using your computer and telephone, you can listen to a presentation (such as a conference call) and see the presenter's slides (watching it over an Internet connection). Most of the time you won't be able to see the presenter, the moderator, or others attending the program, and they won't be able to see you.

For most webinars, you need to register ahead of time to reserve your space and obtain instructions for how to join the program on the scheduled day and time.

Just before the scheduled time of the presentation, sign on to the URL specified for the webinar in the confirmation email you receive. You'll have to download some software to your computer. This software gives you the ability to see the presenters' slides on your computer plus any highlighting or drawing they might do during the presentation. In most cases, before the program beings, you'll also dial in to a conference call line using a telephone and password number provided for that particular program. You'll probably hear music (or it will be silent) until the program begins.

Different types of webinar software offer different features, but on most, you can type questions for the presenter and sometimes ask questions or make comments by telephone. You might be asked to respond (during the program) to polling questions; ...