We have had our first webinar today with John King. Verdict? OK but could do better.
Its not actually the first webinar I have done, I did a series in 2014 but I am out of practice and I have never used the GoToWebiar webinar system before.
John and I had done quite a bit of preparation and I had documents – checklists and a worksheet, available for people to download. We also had a practice run the day before, but inevitably there were some problems.
The Phone Call
The worst problem was the person who rang just as I was starting. I had arranged for my husband to answer the phone but apparently he did not realise that I had started and was in the kitchen and didn’t hear it.
I had to go and shout at him, which apparently (John told me) everyone could hear! No doubt I will now be known as Fishwife Tessa. But I was panicking a bit.
Apparently the person ringing was ringing about the webinar. Which I could not really deal with as I was on it! As John said afterwards, it is like someone ringing News at Ten and asking them to adjust the picture for you.
We had nearly 200 on the webinar which is more than I have ever had before and obviously they got through OK. For the record – I can’t help people connect to the webinar as I am not in control of the GoToWebinar system. Sorry. Please don’t ring just as the webinar is starting …
The webinar itself
Other than that it went quite well. The thing to remember with a ½ hour webinar is that ½ hour goes very quickly. VERY quickly. So I had to push John on a bit (I had already warned him and apologised to him in advance).
The report shows that some people made comments at the time but due to my unfamiliarity with the GoToWebinar system I did not spot them. Although I did look. I’ll have to do better next time. Sorry!
John had a lot of interesting and useful information to impart so I hope people enjoyed it. We enjoyed doing it.
Lessons for next time
- Make sure husband knows when I am starting and has his phone with him
- Pull out the plug for the phone in my office
- Remember to click the record button
Yes, due to my panic at the start with the phone call – I forgot to click the record button. Meaning that we do not have a recording of the webinar.
That’s bad news as it means that I can’t publish John’s brilliance to the world. It’s good though as my fishwife moment can be buried in decent obscurity and forgotten. (I am going to have to be extra nice to Graeme to make up for shouting at him).
It’s also good as it gives John and I a reason to repeat the webinar and do it better. So I will be announcing this in due course. Make sure you are notified by signing up to the mailing list here.
How long should future webinar be?
There is also the question of how long the webinars should be. I like to do ½ hour as I think that is quite long enough for a free event and that people probably won’t want to give up any more of their lunch hour.
However, there is no doubt it goes past very quickly.
So I would be really grateful if you could help me here. If you are likely to come along to any future webinars – how long would you like it to be? Please answer the poll below:
Thanks.
For me the webinar was brilliant. I spotted no phones ringing or other disturbances. Perhaps 3/4 of an hour would have been better but of course it depends on the subject and I should think most of these topics could go on and on. You both spoke clearly and precisely and I found it excellent. The fact that it was included in the cost of our subscription was a real bonus. Many thanks.
I was great, both of you held my interest all the way through.
I hope that I can do as well when my turn comes up.
Well done both.
Experienced the ‘fishwife’ moment but it did make me laugh. As Tessa acknowledges, 30minutes is very, VERY short. I suggest that 45 minutes is about right subject to the topic itself and the level of existing knowledge. Most attending the webinar were agents who I assume would not necessarily have gleaned anything particularly new. However, a refresher is always useful (even if it simply confirms we are doing things correctly). John King has an excellent delivery but alas time available dictated that he was not always given time to fully complete his point. Thank you.
The webinar was very, very useful and I learnt a great deal from it. After 1st April I will certainly wish to use the TDS custodial scheme for new deposits. Just a suggestion for people who haven’t used a webinar before, it requires the downloading of an app so it is wise to log on a few minutes beforehand. Half an hour is about the right duration. Please may we have more webinars, thank you, Tessa
I only have a half an hour for lunch so that timing was perfect. I liked the pace and the focussing of the mind. John have out an email address for enquiries, but it was not clear at the end so if he could supply that, that would be ideal. I couldn’t get access to the worksheet or survey at work as we have restrictions on website access and my phone didn’t have the technology to download the software onto.
Thankyou for a webinar which is on a really helpful subject.
Hi
I recall you saying there would be a recording of this webinar.
Please could you provide a link.
Kind Regards
Paul
As I say above – I forgot to press the record button due to being flustered by the phone call at the start.
John and I will be doing the webinar again – so watch this space.
Thank you for the webinar. I agree with others that, depending on the topic, 30 -> 45 mins is a good length. Any longer and my attention may wander, sorry!
Somehow I missed the ‘fishwife’ moment