A New Year Means New Business Practices

Update: Please note that AnyMeeting was known as Freebinar prior to 3/26/11. Blog posts prior to this date may still mention Freebinar. For more information, please review our blog post or FAQ’s.

For many of us, a new year encourages improvement, change, and a resolution or two. In the current economic climate, I think it is safe to say that most resolutions for 2010 will revolve around saving money. Many businesses are cautiously waiting for the dust to settle, while others have unlocked the secret to surviving the tough market. Either way, throwing money around in 2010, does not seem realistic.

There is no denying that the companies who have embraced technology and social media, are thriving—and will continue to do so in the next year. There are simple ways of achieving this success and stability such as communicating through Webinars and Web Conferencing. Web-based meetings are tech-savvy, cut travel fees and scheduling conflicts, and with most providers they are easily recordable.

This method of communication has been a trending topic, and many companies are blogging, tweeting, and commenting about the power and necessity of online meeting presentations. This practice can be utilized in virtually any industry: sales, marketing, hospitality, human resources, finance, real estate, public relations, advertising, education, and so forth. Not to mention, every company, large or small, needs to meet with employees a few times a month to go over general business objectives. Why not do this from your desk?

A recent blog post by CyberMedia India Online highlights the advantages of online meeting and collaboration tools stating:

“With highly effective communication and interaction, it is easy for businesses to get started and even easier to scale throughout their various operations, with minimal impact on IT or internal operations. The web meeting helps businesses keep global workers connected and moving forward towards common goals. It helps companies make more money by spending less. Now that’s the dawning of a new business era all by itself,”

Sharon Lobo of CXOtoday.com writes about how various industries successfully implement webinars and web conferencing into their business—not only saving money, but increasing productivity. She explains that sales organizations use online meetings to make sales presentations and demonstrate products, and marketing professionals embrace real-time collaboration solutions improving quality and quantity of their outbound messages without increasing costs. She also touches on how other industries, like human resources, use this type of technology to train professionals from one location to groups in multiple cities, minimizing travel complications and expenses.

Not only does this type of collaboration and communication save everyone money in the long-run, but when choosing a webinar platform that is free (like Freebinar.com) there is absolutely no out-of-pocket cost! Whether it is a seminar, lecture, presentation, training session, or staff meeting, Freebinar.com is the place to go if you want to stay current, and save money.

The Truth About Teaching via Webinar

Update: Please note that AnyMeeting was known as Freebinar prior to 3/26/11.  Blog posts prior to this date may still mention Freebinar.  For more information, please review our blog post or FAQ’s on our name change.

When you think of a webinar, what comes to mind? It depends on who you are. It might be an online meeting with other office branches, a training session, a sales and marketing presentation, or an interactive classroom. Either way, webinars have become commonplace in our ever-changing society. There are so many great ways to utilize a great communication tool like a webinar, and those ways are better when they are free!

Being the “new kid” on the web, we at Freebinar feel that it is vital to know what our consumers think of our service, and what industry they are using it for. We decided to draft a survey to truly get a feel of our current demographic and their needs. What we found was both surprising and exciting.

According to our survey, 44.4% of our customers are utilizing the free platform for training and educational purposes. Marketing and sales follows closely behind at 33.3%. This was surprising to me, considering how often I see webinars utilized in the sales and marketing realm. Online teaching and training, however, have been gaining momentum in the last few years. Today, human resources programs have been known to bring on-the-job training online, and virtually every college institution has online course opportunities.

You do not need to be a college professor or HR administrator to conduct lessons online; anyone can use webinars to train and teach—to large or small groups. Tools that are useful in educational webinars include screen sharing (this can encompass anything on your screen, like PowerPoint slides) Q&A-style chat, survey and polling capabilities, registration tools, voice communication through phone conferencing, and so forth. These features can be found on Freebinar.com.

eLearn Magazine posted an article by Jo-Ann Driscoll, all about online training—equipped with tips on how to get started. The article is titled “Designing and Delivering Live, Online Training,” and answers many common questions regarding online education. She ultimately states that it is not difficult to move to live, online training from a physical classroom environment.

Ken Molay, president of Webinar Success, and blog-master of The Webinar Blog, is a firm believer in moving training courses to the web. He recently held his own webinar dedicated to this subject matter, where he addressed advantages and disadvantages of educational webinars versus local training, how to benefit from web conferencing, what types of training does and does not work best in webinars, and the best way to interact with online students. Molay’s webinar took place earlier this month, but his blog consistently provides useful tips and commentary on the subject of webinars and their successful implementation.

If you are considering conducting training or lessons online, you may be pleasantly surprised with an increase in student enrollment due to the flexibility of the given course. It is an avenue definitely worth exploring, and will save money in the long run. You won’t only save money for choosing a free platform like Freebinar, but you will ultimately save money by not having a need to secure a classroom or space, provide tangible materials, or travel!