Those looking for a good model to follow when it comes to running webinars could do worse than to look in on the series of events run by the Learning and Skills Group (LSG). Although fashioned primarily around the needs of attendees at the Learning Technologies conference, all of the webinars are actually available freely to all comers. They must be doing something right because they’ve been running now for many years and attract audiences in the hundreds. So, what do they do well:
- The sessions are put together and hosted by Don Taylor, a highly experienced conference chair.
- Don makes sure none of the speakers get into sales mode.
- Every session is thoroughly rehearsed.
- They keep to time.
- The format is kept really simple, with most interactions occuring through text chat.
- Participants are actively encouraged to use the text chat facility as a back channel and they take advantage of this energetically.
- All sessions are recorded and the videos made available to anyone.
All of the partners in Onlignment have presented at LSG webinars. Peek back through the archive and you’ll find Phil Green talking about Building e-learning for classroom trainers and Barry Sampson on Social media behind the firewall – the paranoid organisation. My own webinar, held this morning, on bridging the e-learning skills gap, will be available shortly.