Another Cautionary Tale

I would estimate 95% of the webinars I attend go off without a hitch. Of those 95%, the webinar rises or falls on the quality of the content. Sadly, in the other 5% the content is forgotten completely because of a major glitch and more often than not these glitches could have been mitigated somehow.

Such was the case yesterday when I attended a professional development webinar. This webinar was high stakes for two reasons. First, it was not free. Second, the webinar was being taken by folks wanting to earn credit toward professional certification.

I'm going to present the cause and effect in reverse order. The effect: Webinar kept crashing. Some folks could see slides. Some folks could not. Some folks who could see slides were told to leave the webinar and re-enter anyway, at which point they could no longer see the slides. This went on for 25 minutes worth of what was supposed to only be an hour long webinar. The featured speaker finally told the moderator (amid the strong support of the audience) that the webinar would need to be rescheduled since there was no way he could present 60 minutes of material in 30 minutes.

The non-profit giving this webinar is now faced with a rescheduling nightmare since they must accommodate everyone who paid for the webinar or grant refunds (which this organization seldom does). Of course, they also have a major credibility hit and at least a small ding to their reputation.

The sad fact is this disaster could easily have been averted. The cause: The webinar moderator was running the webinar from a laptop connected wirelessly to a LAN in a corporate conference room. The wireless connection kept dropping. Now, in defense of the non-profit, they are a volunteer organization and the moderator was a volunteer, not a professional webinar moderator. My heart sunk for him as he told the audience "please wait while I get reconnected. This has never happened to me before."

When the webinar was over, I promptly jotted a note off to the organization's leadership with the following two key pieces of advice:

1. Never (and I mean never) run a webinar from a wireless device. First, wireless connections almost never offer the same throughput that a wired connection does. Second, wireless connections are notorious for encountering interference or going down altogether.

2. Just because you are wired, does not mean you are home free. If at all possible, have a backup computer logged into the webinar (or ready to be logged in) so you can make a quick switch if your primary device fails for any reason. Be sure to have the presentation materials on that backup computer in case you need to upload them again to the webinar space. Failing that, see if you can have a backup moderator logged into the conference with moderator permissions, to whom you can throw control should a catastrophic event occur.

Some folks, particularly when they hear advice item 2, say "wow, isn't that a bit overboard? How likely is it I'll have a complete computer meltdown?" Well sadly in the case of the non-profit's moderator, his odds for failure were 100% and the failure was devastating.

Don't let it happen to you.

Webinars as Social Media

When I say the phrase "social media" to you, what is the first thing you think of? Probably Twitter or Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn. What if I added "webinars" to the list?

What?

Think about it a minute. During a webinar we do all the things that are achieved in social media. We impart information (often for free). We build relationships. We obtain valuable feedback from customers and prospects. In fact, to the extent that our webinars don't do this, we have somewhat failed, haven't we?

Why don't we typically think of webinars as social media? Corporations have been using web conferencing software for ages now to facilitate internal communications. When the software began to be used externally, it was likely viewed as simple advertising. It was likely viewed as one-to-many communication which really violates the tenets of social media. Since that is the root history of webinars, I think people have been slow to change their view of them.

Now, as web conferencing software has grown in sophistication, implementing chat rooms, polling features, breakout rooms, and interactive white boards the one-to-many paradigm has been broken. Even webinars with large audiences have become two-way communication events. Webinars have become a way for you to get to know your audience and for them to get to know you. It has become a relationship builder, the essential element of any social media.

As you implement a social media strategy for your business, do not overlook webinars as a key component!

Webinar Public Chat -- Be Careful What You Ask For

I just finished attending a webinar that at least by certain measures was an unmitigated disaster. Let's put aside for the moment that the attendance information did not arrive in my inbox until an hour before the webinar was to begin (I registered early yesterday) and I only found it in my inbox 10 minutes after the webinar had started!

Once the three minute process to "retrieve the client" software was finished, I entered the webinar to find a major distraction. The webinar moderator had enabled public chat and in this case, there seemed to be more chat than webinar. The chat session had taken on a life of its own.

There are of course benefits to public chat within a webinar.

• Attendees can learn from each other during the webinar.
• Webinar hosts, moderators and producers can obtain valuable feedback.

The problem arises when the public chat goes into overdrive and folks are exclusively chatting or the feedback is abundantly negative. Both were the case on today's webinar. First, the attendees were given a poll on what social media venues they used most often. Here is just a sample of what was said (chat names redacted to preserve privacy):

linked in
twitter,
A and C
none
FB, Blog
none
Facebook and MySpace are worthless
a, b, c
none
All of the above
none
Answer using the feedback box please
Linked In, Twitter, Faceb ook
Twitter, LinkedIn
all the above
All but MySpace
thinking about YouTube
I cannot choose more than one ...
b,c
a,b,c I could only select one answer
and the question?
A,B,C, & D
The feedback box is only allowing one choice (radio buttons vs checkboxes)
This polling is SO cumbersome!

As you might be able to infer, the polling mechanism was not intuitive so people resorted to typing their choices in chat instead of clicking on the poll. I've bold-faced some of the more telling comments. Folks who wanted to choose more than one poll answer could not but also didn't understand the poll asked for the "most often used" which really only requires one answer. To make matters worse, the poll had no words in it ... just choices A, B, and C so some audience members forgot what A, B and C corresponded to.

While having the public chat open allowed the audience to vent, it was a major distraction from the pitch that was in progress.

The public chat then degenerated into a gripe session about poor audio on the webinar (one of the speakers was on her cell phone ... a MAJOR no-no in a webinar but supposedly unavoidable on this one). This then segued to a discussion of the pros and cons of various webinar platforms.
Mind you, the webinar was about using social media but the chat session was about anything but! The audio debate culminated with this comment:

Very dispointing that audio is so bad, and it clear that there a lack of planning for the webinar. I would have enjoy this if you didn't have a such a time rush and if we could hear most of the words.

As the webinar came to a close one of the attendees wanted to collect the names of all the companies that presented so that he could warn people AWAY from them on Twitter.

The bottom line here is that you take a VERY calculated risk when you enable public chat in your webinar. Even a minor glitch can go from molehill to mountain once it becomes fodder for the chat session. Then, instead of your presentation, the chat session becomes the main event.

Why Social Media and Inbound Marketing Make Sense

Do you remember back when you graduated from high school or college and you were looking for that first job? What did you hear more often than not?

What experience do you have?

It was frustrating wasn't it? If you're lucky, at that point maybe you had a few part time jobs you could point to. Bottom line, you were looking to get your foot in the door, to get that first big opportunity.

Well when you think about it, how is that any different from the way you relate to potential customers? When you were looking for that first employer, they wanted to know what they were getting before they brought you on. Similarly, your potential clients are no longer satisfied to see empty braggadocio in the form of your advertisements and press releases. Your potential clients want to see what you can do, concretely, before they invest in you.

Using social media as an inbound marketing method achieves this purpose. Using Twitter, potential customers get to know you. They can judge you by how you interact on a minute to minute basis.

When you put that "squeeze page" on your web site, you're not simply collecting an email list to send empty advertisements. Hopefully, you are offering something of value. An appetizer, so to speak, that shows your potential paying client what you can do. Now they can vet you much the same way an employer wants to vet a potential employee.

It may be hard for you to break out of the mold of the old advertising paradigms. You have to understand that consumers are more sophisticated nowadays and your ad, which is really just an opportunity to brag about yourself without proving anything, isn't going to pull people in as it once might have.

View your courtship with each potential client as a job interview where you have to provide concrete evidence that you've got "the right stuff". Social media is a key ingredient in making that happen.

The Power of Web Communication

By now most folks know the broad reach of the Internet. No where is that more evident than in the realm of social activism. People who once had no voice now have a platform to share their views with millions of others. Even people with wide access such as television journalists can now use the web to break down more doors.

One such case is that of CNN journalist Veronica De La Cruz whose 27 year old brother Eric will soon die if he does not get a heart transplant. Veronica has taken her case of hopeless government red tape to Twitter where a growing legion of "Tweeple" are getting the word out. She hopes to raise money (since Eric's insurance company is pulling the old "pre-existing condition" scam on him) and attention from Nevada government officials to get Eric on a transplant list.

You can read more about the Twitter phenomenon here.

You can read more about Veronica's situation and help her here.

What does chess have to do with imagination anyway?

This article departs from my usual subject matter. When it comes to web communication techniques one must not be afraid to try new things. You have to have some imagination. You may have a blog but never thought of giving webinars. You may have a web site but never thought of using Twitter. It's important to keep your mind open to new possibilities.

One of my friends on Twitter, Laura Sherman, is convinced that one of the best ways to train young minds to be imaginative is through chess. Yes, you heard me, that 64 square board game with the rooks, kings, queens and bishops. So, I offer you today her thoughts on chess and how the game connects to imagination building.

What does chess have to do with imagination anyway?
By Laura Sherman

Artists, leaders, educators and pretty much anyone in any field can enhance our world through creativity and imagination. So what does this have to do with chess? Everything!

Chess helps a child develop his or her imagination. After all we’re just looking at a board with 64 squares and a bunch of pieces that can move around in different ways until the players breathe life into their games. As the pieces take their place on the battlefield, positions form and opportunities open up, but only if you can see them in your mind’s eye.

As a person improves, each position communicates more and more to him or her. One starts recognizing patterns and becomes able to plan future attacks. The way to win a game of chess is to plan out a strategy and follow through with it. You must be able to imagine your goal and then take the necessary steps to carry it out.

Apply this to any aspect of your life and you will do well. Decide what you want to accomplish, set the goal and then do what is needed to make that happen. Maybe you have a new business idea. Maybe you want a buy a home or you want to write a novel. The possibilities are endless and are under your control.

If we can teach our children early that it is okay to dream and that those dreams can come true, we might just be looking at an unstoppable next generation!


Laura Sherman founded Your Chess Coach (www.YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as privately in students’ homes and online.

Informal Mentorship

In the last ten to fifteen years many corporations have embraced formal mentoring programs as a career development method. This works fine for corporate employees but what do you do if you work solo? What if you're an entrepreneur?

Over the past few weeks, I've given some thought to folks who have influenced me since I started my own business. It finally occurred to me that these folks are mentors and what's more I didn't need to enlist them in a formal mentoring program. I didn't need to force them to make a time commitment. In fact, none of them probably even know that I consider them mentors.

Three examples come to mind. When I first started my company, I looked around for folks similarly engaged and rather than view my find as "competition", I viewed him as someone from whom I could learn a lot. To this day, if I find out that Ken Molay of Webinar Success is giving an instructional webinar, I'll try to attend it. Ken and I have corresponded a few times over the past couple of years but I seriously doubt Ken would consider himself my mentor. Regardless, he is.

Two other more recent examples are Mike Wesely and Shama Hyder. I'm currently in the process of expanding my consultant practice from strictly web conferencing to the broader web communications space, including social media (a fact you will soon see reflected on my web site and here in this blog). It was really by just pure good fortune that I stumbled upon these folks.

Mike Wesely hosts an almost daily web broadcast Twittalk.tv which teaches folks how to use Twitter to enhance their brand. I feel that Mike's approach and the people I've met through him have greatly improved my use of Twitter.

Shama Hyder is a social media, online marketing guru. Her can-do style and sheer energy resonated with me immediately. I spend at least a part of every week watching Shama's videos on Shama.TV and reading her posts.

Now if you asked either Mike or Shama if they are my mentor, they'd say no. I make no time demands on either of them but I still get just about everything one needs from a mentor by reading their posts or attending their sessions. What's more, I know that if I ever needed concrete advice from either of them I'd get it (within reason of course .... there is a boundary between free advice and paying for their time that must be respected).

The bottom line here is don't think that because you work solo that you're shut out of the mentoring loop. Interestingly, the current social media paradigm dictates that we share ourselves with our business partners and prospective and current clients. As a result, there are experts out there who are really giving of themselves such that you don't need to set up weekly meetings with them in order to get a sense of who they really are. Find yourself two or three experts in your field. See if their approach resonates with you and then actively follow them. You'll learn loads and if you have the courage to reach out to them with questions (or even advice FOR them), you may find you have a new colleague, friend, and mentor!