Toral: Use of webinars growing

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I GOT the chance to interview Jam Mayer-Flores of ProFora Media on how webinars are growing in the Philippines (http://bit.ly/jamflores). Personally, I would not have gotten into webinars without Jam’s persistence and patience in explaining its potential two years ago.

After being able to use it for free briefings, one-day events, workshop series and certification programs, my passion for webinars has become immeasurable, thanks to Jam.

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Although webinars are often associated with the phrase “online seminars,” Jam said more than half of webinars usage today is for lead generation. In the business processing outsourcing field, some companies now use webinars for recruitment where they provide orientation on career opportunities. At the same time, they use the same venue to elicit applicants for senior positions in the organization.

Some real estate brokers are now using webinars to communicate with Filipinos abroad and promote the properties they are selling here. This is seen as more cost-effective than sending a sales team abroad.

For those planning to get into webinars, Jam recommends that one should have a stable bandwidth (around 384 kbps minimum but 1 mbps is preferred). Although wireless connection may also work, quality consistency is risk with such a connection. Having a local area network or cable-based connection is much better. This is the reason why I do my webinars at Internet café shops from time to time.

Once bandwidth gets better in the country, video-based webinars will be possible. But for now, audio and presentation-based webinar will do. The challenge is for the speaker to be as engaging as possible when giving their online talk.

Schools like the Ateneo De Manila University and De La Salle University have begun embracing webinars for online continuing education and supporting student association learning activities.

In terms of online promotion, Jam finds Facebook and Twitter as effective tools. She gets inquiries today through their Facebook fan page or when followers get to see her tweets. E-mail marketing can also be effective although it is very much dependent on the size of your database.

Just because it is online, the work involved shouldn’t be underestimated. The preparation required is similar to that for an actual face-to-face seminar. Time should be spent training speakers on how to use the webinar platform. The organizer should also take time to focus on coordinating before the webinar, assisting participants and conducting an evaluation after the event.

Savings for a webinar can be substantial because you don’t have to worry about food, transportation, venue and other costs. That is the reason why seminars offered using the webinar platform are usually cheaper.

If you are wondering whether webinars can be of use to you, I suggest that you attend free courses to get a feel for how it works. (http://digitalfilipino.com)