Today the L&D Connect Twitter #LDinsight chat was about webinars. Sadly I missed it, but am catching up on the hashtag and thought I’d make some extra notes here to share too!

The opening question was:

Great answer from Niall – in the first session of a course (or early sessions in the roll out in an organisation) it’s important that both the facilitator and the attendees use the technology bit by bit, getting comfortable with one element before introducing the next: always giving time for explanation and practice.

Krystyna’s work around learning objectives is excellent, and focusing on this as the first point for any kind of learning intervention is essential.

The interactivity is so often overlooked. You simply can’t talk at people all the time if you want them involved and to be able to perform a task at work.

The point Krys makes about the follow up activities brings this into the world of blended learning – it’s not just about the webinar, it’s about the resources, activities, manager involvement and culture around them.

Jo’s point here mirrors that from Krys – it’s part of the bigger learning and performance picture.

What a brilliant list from Helen, and thanks for the shout out too! The thinking time and space is one I trick I especially work on – it’s no good just delivering material in the webinar. People could watch a video, listen to a podcast or read a document quicker and make better use of their time. Therefore the time in the session to think, share, discuss and apply is what makes the difference between a poor webinar and a great one!

https://twitter.com/TheCraigKaye/status/1043034216252895232

Excellent point – this is where selecting the right platform for your organisation and types of sessions is so important. As well as getting people to have the right information beforehand. We use this page for people attending our webinars.

The technical elements can be a lot to learn for some people – so Sharon is right about just keeping it simple and effective. Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should!

This is a great point that a poor webinar experience will put people off, wheres a truly interactive experience can compliment other things going on in your organisation.

Well said Niall! Designing and delivering great webinars is partly about the technology and tools available to you – but it’s also adapting the skills you have to manage the classroom and involve everyone, just like face to face.

Yes. One of the key drivers for webinars is geographic reach and cost saving. This LinkedIn article by our own Michael can tell you more.

Lots of good points in here about the effectiveness of just another communication tool.

You’ll often hear me say about “deconstructing” what we do face to face, so that we can understand it, then rebuild it within the webinar platform of choice.

Really interesting point here about the design and delivery of the interaction in your session. I always advocate for a lot of interaction in any type of session, but it should always be appropriate to the content and the audience. As Anne-Marie says, it shouldn’t be forced, it should help people. It also shouldn’t single them out or force them to do anything, it should be participatory for adult learners and trust what they want to get out of the session.

This tweet also highlights that a great lecture can work online for the right audience to enjoy and soak up.

James highlights how important it is that, if you are delivering webinars regularly, you have a quiet background and a good microphone/headset.

Yes Nick! This could be in your social enterprise platform (Yammer, Jive, Microsoft Teams, Slack…) or just through email. Whatever it is, as we’ve said above, it’s part of the whole learning, work performance and communication programme.

And speaking of community, we do have a free, open webinar and virtual classroom community for you to ask your questions!

So much goodness here – most slides need to be better quality in webinars for both technical and cognitive processing reasons. The chat window is such an important element of the learning, to socialise it, that it makes me mad when there isn’t one!

As always, Don talks so much sense. This is something that the face to face classroom really can’t do as well.

And Krystyna nails it about the value of live online delivery experts to make the difference between a “meh” webinar and a great one.

I died a little inside reading that.

Lovely discussion here. Rachel’s point is great. People might have preconceptions of what a webinar is or will be like. I’ve spoken to many organisations who either don’t know the difference, or once they do, don’t use the term webinar for their internal sessions because of the potentially negative connotations.

The host or producer role is important to make sure that the facilitator can really concentrate – especially in webinars where there can be so many people.

Great framework!

https://twitter.com/MizenBen/status/1043036983310737408

Great list from Ben. The recording/playback part is useful for many, or can make people think that attendees will be lazy and not turn up. Depends on the organisation and culture.

Just too lovely! Thank you Wes!

Yes, it helps them and it helps you as a facilitator to get that feedback through interaction.

The basics of using the technology are indeed simple in concept. And the easier ones are great to pick up and introduce to sessions. But great points here from Heidi and Sharon about dealing with them once they’ve gone wrong, which they will do at some point! This is why practice, playing with the platform and experience are key to building that confidence.

It’s always important to know where to go. You probably know that at Lightbulb Moment we offer training courses on this topic – you can read more about our options here.

The type of interaction is so important here, Anne-Marie highlighting well that interaction for the sake of it is going to annoy people.

Well said Holly-Rae! It’s challenging to do at first. But good time for a sip of water and looking at your notes. It’s one of the biggest things I coach people on, just giving people time to think, type and for the answers to come through in chat etc.

LOVE this point from Paul – it’s the differentiator for me between a webinar that is a lecture and one that truly focuses on collaborative learning. And it absolutely CAN be done.

A great uplifting point to end on about the future possibilities!

 

And if you want to see more of the tweets, you can see the curation of them here.