Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Dear lsterling,

In a word, no.

There are webinars that are genuinely useful and packed with information.

But then there are webinars that are 15 percent fluff, 15 percent chat, introduction, ums ere, arhs, and waffle, with the rest being a long-winded, (often overly long) sales pitch in which the host's main role is to get you to pay often an arm and a leg for some kind of continuity program.

At least, this has been my experience.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Webinars are for the most part the same as any presentation. The keys are the quality of the content and the skills of the presenter. Some articles on webinars from the Marketing Profs library:
https://www.marketingprofs.com/4/davison1.asp
https://www.marketingprofs.com/4/davison2.asp
https://www.marketingprofs.com/9/maximize-row-return-on-webinar-smith.asp
https://www.marketingprofs.com/9/webinar-essentials-five-must-have-ingredie...
https://www.marketingprofs.com/5/hanson1.asp
https://www.marketingprofs.com/5/stroll79.asp
https://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/199

Both Gary and Jay have given good input. Your best bet is to listen in on several webinars yourself, and make notes on techniques you think are good and those you think are not-so-good.

It won't take you long to zero in on best practices. I've delivered a number of webinars, and I don't think there is really a formula or format that always works. You have to kind of mold the structure and format to suit the topic and the presenter.

If you need a resource for presentations generally, I would recommend Cliff Atkinson's book, Beyond Bullet Points. He's also delivered a seminar for MarketingProfs, so you might want to check that one out too.