A Wider Net

I have been working on, in, and around webcasts for seven or eight years now, and I can say with some certainty that webcasts are boring. That’s really saying something, since I actively suggest webcasts as one potential part of a marketing or communications strategy. But to be fair, they’re usually boring. They’re not all boring, and they don’t have to be boring - they just usually are.

The sad thing is, webcasts have long been sold as the answer to boring conference calls. And there are still millions of meetings carried out huddled around a Polycom starfish or some other conference phone. I’ve even conducted conference calls with five people huddled around my cell phone with the speaker turned on. Now THAT’S engaging.

WHY ARE WEBCASTS BORING?

1. PowerPoint. The focal point of most webcasts, webinars, and webconferences is a slide window built in, most likely, PowerPoint. And the vast majority of those presentations suffer from the same ills I discussed in this post. Where PowerPoint can dull the fun in a live meeting, it’s absolutely lethal in a webcast.
2. The Presenter(s). A webcast is a public speaking event. Just because your audience isn’t in the room with you doesn’t mean they’re not there. If you wouldn’t put your presenters in front of a large crowd at a face-to-face event, then don’t put them in a webcast.
3. Looooongggggg. Look to YouTube for the answer to your question about how long your webcast should be. YouTube has stated that the optimal length for their videos is 2 minutes. I’ve seen webcasts range from 5 minutes to 5 hours and without question, the most well-received were under 30 minutes. These days shorter is better. Going back to watch a long webcast using chapters seems to be giving way to shorter presentations and more of them.
4. The Experience. Your audience is at their desk. Your webcast is competing for attention against piles of unfinished work, the phone, coworker interruptions, incoming email and rss feeds, and widget alerts. Asking them to focus on their computer screens can be asking quite a lot. I’ve always thought it would be fun to email the attendees a PDF of a sign that says “Don’t Bother Me- I’m Watching a Webcast!” to hang on the back of their chair or office door, if they are so equipped.
5. Bad Video or Audio. YouTube has lowered the bar for video production standards, but serious webcasts still benefit from real production values - clear, intelligible audio and video that uses multiple cameras, decent lighting, etc.
6. Interactivity. One of the coolest aspects of webcasts and webconferences is interactivity - yet very few webcasts use the interactivity at their disposal. Q&A is only one part - you can push polls and surveys, provide content to explore, and allow users to network with each other. Frankly, it’s amazing that so few webcasts offer any kind of audience networking, discussions, or group opinions.
7. Fun(less). Webcasts are a natural platform for using games to reinforce content and create engaging fun, but they almost never incorporate them. You can push trivia games, bingo, and all kinds of simple flash games - and they can be competitive with the rest of the audience, with a prize reward. Add a game, make it fun - make it memorable.

WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?

Handle more questions: Many long webcasts get long because they handle questions one at a time. With an audience of 500 people asking 1000 questions, a typical webcast gets to 10-20 of them. Instead, you may consider having a team of people answering questions via text that the audience can browse right within the webcast player, at their leisure. That way more people get their questions answered faster.

Get a Moderator: A good moderator can spruce up a webcast better than a coat of paint on an old house. By setting the pace, keeping things moving, and using their talents to keep the energy level up, a professional moderator can make or break a webcast.

“You”: The man of the year, “you”, wants to be involved. Let the audience drive. Q&A and user-driven chapters and interactivity is just part of it. Support Social Media. Companies like Operator11 are building webcast platforms using Adobe Flash that allow any audience member to insert their own videos, live or pre-recorded, into the overall broadcast (under the control of the webcast producer, of course.) Support Social Networking. A webcast audience usually has a lot in common. Let them meet each other and communicate about the topic at hand. Before the webcast, let them tell you what they want to discuss.

Any other ideas on how to improve webcasts are most welcome - especially if anyone has a way to broadcast chocolate.

no… that picture is not of me.