[Hidden-tech] Webinar Production

[B. Kimo Lee]

Hi Christine,

Here are a few questions and thoughts...

GOALS — It's not really clear from your message how you intend to deliver your "un-webinar". Is your intent to have a kiosk type presentation which does not involve your direct participation? Or will you be actively administering the presentation, i.e, speaking to talking points in a one-way fashion while the audience can only listen?

FORMAT — As Dan G. suggested, you could edit a video together in iMovie, or you could use a slide format presentation tool like Powerpoint or Apple's Keynote — both of which allow you to embed video files. One thing to consider is the length of the presentation vs user control, or lack of it. For instructional video, either you make it clear how long the piece is, or you break it into short chapters — particularly if you'll be using YouTube. For slides, the user would download the file for viewing on their own system.

DELIVERY METHOD — As for delivery of the finished presentation, if you intend to post it on your website, or YouTube, then using a video format makes sense. Most people stream the video from YouTube or Vimeo and embed it in their web site to avoid using up their hosting bandwidth. If you're using an online webinar service provider, then the slide format makes sense.

A good vendor for giving a webinar is GoToWebinar (GTW). Maybe you're already familiar with them. Their service has many great features built-in and is cross-platform. I've only been an attendee of GTW webinars, so I can speak about the actual running of the "show", but my general experience as a frequent attendee has been excellent. Most presenters do restrict the audio to one-way, but they leave the chat running for taking questions from the audience for the Q&A part of the presentation. Key benefits  that are enticing to me are the many ways of interacting with your audience even during "one-way" presentations, as well as the survey tools, reports, and followup email options. Typical webinars are in slide format.

I also like GoToMeeting (GTM), having participated in online meetings via that service. In fact, I intend to begin using it for a series of projects in the pipeline as a means of facilitating better collaboration — not your intent, I realize.

Both services are effectively giving you the ability to display all of your desktop or selected applications. Which means you could use GTM to present "webinar" slides. I'm not sure if you can restrict audio to one-way.

The GTW service is a bit pricey ($948/yr) if you're not going to be charging a fee for the viewing of your webinar. But if you can attract enough viewers and gain projects through them, it could still payoff, but over time — as such things tend to work.

I hope this has been helpful.

Best regards,
Kimo Lee


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On Jun 29, 2011, at 8:08 PM, Christine Takacs wrote:

>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
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> 
> 
> I'm looking for advice or help in creating a couple of webinars. Maybe webinar is not the right word because there will not be audience interaction, but be pre-recorded content. I'm thinking a couple of interviews on each, some information graphics that I'll create, and some other on-location video clips. Any advice, leads?
> 
> 
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