Twebinars: what I'd like to see before, during & after
A Twebinar is a combination of a webinar with the chat
feature moved into the Twitter service. The idea is to spread the
conversation out into the social media space instead of confining it to
a static piece of content/site/date/time. It seemed like an interesting idea to someone who's planned conferences and interactive events, so I decided to try it.
I attended Chris Brogan's Twebinar on "Game Changing Moves: The Importance of Listening", which was the third in the series but the first that I've been able to attend. My experience in attending was so weird that I ended up taking more notes on the process of the twebinar than actually paying attention to the event itself. Unfortunate, because I'm sure there was some good content in there.
Before the Twebinar
Registration for the event started by asking for my mailing information. Since this was a free on-line event, I was completely thrown by the required fields. Still, I sucked it up and provided the information...and then the site provided me with nothing about what to do next. Even though there would be a confirmation email later, I needed next steps on that page -- where to go, what to do next. I didn't like it, not one little bit. I think that if I'd found the registration link through the Twebinar site, which had more information, I would have felt a little better about next steps. But I didn't, I'd found it through Twitter. No consideration had been given to folks who found the link through non-traditional means.
I later received a confirmation with the date, time and a reminder that the event was free. However, what wasn't included was far more telling:
1) Information about what a Twebinar was or how to set up for it. Turns out I had to have four windows open: two Twitter searches, Twitter, and the Webinar.
2) Links to all of these sites.
3) Information about what tags to use for the event: #tweb3 and #twebinar. People were using both, which was confusing. There should have been one tag for the event.
If I'd known these things in advance, then I wouldn't have been scrambling at the beginning to set things up and would have been able to pay attention to the subject. I wasn't feeling the love.
During the Twebinar
1) Announce the tags to use on Twitter.
2) Get a real videographer and serve it up right. I'm not sure what client they were using for video delivery or who was shooting the live video, but the streaming was horrible. Very choppy, hard to watch.
3) Have someone at each video site on hand to handle technical issues. Sound was lost at least three times during the event.
4) Create a custom skin for the video client that includes all necessary twitter windows as well as the video so people don't have to go back and forth or set up separate screens to view the twebinar. Gah. I know there are services that create custom skins with embedded applications & sites (Akamai, others). Look into it, seriously.
After the Twebinar
1) Provide all the info. I know the twebinar will be hosted and that content can be viewed again. However, I want to see all the questions associated with the event. I had the sense that most people weren't using tags, but were sending the questions straight to Chris.
2) Survey attendees after the event? They have my information.
Coda
I think this twebinar series is an interesting attempt to use social media to generate conversation around a topic, but the implementation is still too clunky and will undermine participation by those who are less savvy. Twebinars also remind me of the hype around live blogging -- meaning that it divides my attention and reduces retention around the subject.
Interesting idea, this Twebinar, but more can be done to make it a tighter, user-focused experience. I think it's important that the event planners don't get so caught up in the content that they forget the nitty-gritty details of how people will interact with it.
I attended Chris Brogan's Twebinar on "Game Changing Moves: The Importance of Listening", which was the third in the series but the first that I've been able to attend. My experience in attending was so weird that I ended up taking more notes on the process of the twebinar than actually paying attention to the event itself. Unfortunate, because I'm sure there was some good content in there.
Before the Twebinar
Registration for the event started by asking for my mailing information. Since this was a free on-line event, I was completely thrown by the required fields. Still, I sucked it up and provided the information...and then the site provided me with nothing about what to do next. Even though there would be a confirmation email later, I needed next steps on that page -- where to go, what to do next. I didn't like it, not one little bit. I think that if I'd found the registration link through the Twebinar site, which had more information, I would have felt a little better about next steps. But I didn't, I'd found it through Twitter. No consideration had been given to folks who found the link through non-traditional means.
I later received a confirmation with the date, time and a reminder that the event was free. However, what wasn't included was far more telling:
1) Information about what a Twebinar was or how to set up for it. Turns out I had to have four windows open: two Twitter searches, Twitter, and the Webinar.
2) Links to all of these sites.
3) Information about what tags to use for the event: #tweb3 and #twebinar. People were using both, which was confusing. There should have been one tag for the event.
If I'd known these things in advance, then I wouldn't have been scrambling at the beginning to set things up and would have been able to pay attention to the subject. I wasn't feeling the love.
During the Twebinar
1) Announce the tags to use on Twitter.
2) Get a real videographer and serve it up right. I'm not sure what client they were using for video delivery or who was shooting the live video, but the streaming was horrible. Very choppy, hard to watch.
3) Have someone at each video site on hand to handle technical issues. Sound was lost at least three times during the event.
4) Create a custom skin for the video client that includes all necessary twitter windows as well as the video so people don't have to go back and forth or set up separate screens to view the twebinar. Gah. I know there are services that create custom skins with embedded applications & sites (Akamai, others). Look into it, seriously.
After the Twebinar
1) Provide all the info. I know the twebinar will be hosted and that content can be viewed again. However, I want to see all the questions associated with the event. I had the sense that most people weren't using tags, but were sending the questions straight to Chris.
2) Survey attendees after the event? They have my information.
Coda
I think this twebinar series is an interesting attempt to use social media to generate conversation around a topic, but the implementation is still too clunky and will undermine participation by those who are less savvy. Twebinars also remind me of the hype around live blogging -- meaning that it divides my attention and reduces retention around the subject.
Interesting idea, this Twebinar, but more can be done to make it a tighter, user-focused experience. I think it's important that the event planners don't get so caught up in the content that they forget the nitty-gritty details of how people will interact with it.
NaNoWriMo
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