5 Steps to Assessing Effective Webinar Training

Webinars can be incredibly convenient tools for professional development — or they can be a total waste of time. Not only are they inexpensive, but they also eliminate the hassle of travel and the time away from the office that traditional seminars require. The problem is that most webinar providers attempt to deliver material through the Internet the same way they would deliver it in a seminar, and a lot gets lost in translation. A webinar can be like a hot dog from a street vendor: It seems like a good, quick and cheap alternative at the time of purchase, but you almost always end up wishing you had bought something more substantial and not spent your time and money foolishly. Here are five elements to look for when selecting webinar training.

1. Determine what your employees need and find it.

When training dollars are tight and specific skills need to be developed, business leaders must seek out webinars that fit the bill, and limit their staff participation only to essential employees. Define goals for your employees to achieve after the training. For example, if you believe your sales people need training, poll them and their managers to determine specifically where their developmental gaps exist. Whether the most pressing issues are prospect management, time management, probing for client needs or servicing existing clients, you can specifically address their training needs while keeping costs down by finding skill-specific training. The alternative, finding a soup-to-nuts sales training course, would have them in more training than they need. If employees are permitted to choose which webinars they would like to attend, set firm guidelines for them before registration. Either way, to determine the quality of the webinar in advance, contact providers directly and request sample course materials or outlines of content to ensure that what will be covered will be valuable

2. Find high-participation webinars.

Webinars, a generic term for practically any online presentation, lecture or workshop, are sometimes nothing more than webcasts (live audio or video broadcasts of a lecture or speech) in which presenters speak on audio or video and perhaps show PowerPoint slides. While this format has some value, it relies on passive learners. Some providers have succeeded in creating true virtual classrooms with participant polls, breakout sessions, chat rooms and live question-and-answer periods. These features take into account different learning styles (some people learn best by seeing text, photos and video, while others benefit from hearing someone present information, while still others succeed by doing and interacting with others) and help participants engage actively. If done well, these webinars can closely approximate a live, in-person training experience. To find webinars that include participation from the audience, you might need to attend one or part of one yourself. Many providers offer free “mini versions” of their courses so mangers can sample before buying.

3. Require good, downloadable materials.

Some webinar providers prepare downloadable materials that can be easily duplicated and shared. This works especially well when your training participants are charged with presenting the training content to their peers (discussed further in step 5) or if you want to build a training resource library. But the materials are often missing “action items,” and participants can leave the training without a plan to implement what they have learned. These materials should be more than just PowerPoint slides (though it’s often helpful to have those as well), and should also include “worksheets” that allow participants to write down clear action items regarding how they intend to implement what they’ve just learned. If a webinar provider does not make clear that these are included, you should ask before registering.

4. Monitor attendance and attention.

Let’s face it; a person is less likely to “drift off” in front of a live person than she is in front of a computer screen. For that reason, some webinar vendors have adopted technology that requires participants to pay attention from beginning to end. For example, some webinars have random periodic checks where participants must click on the screen. In order for trainees to get an e-mail from the vendor certifying participation (which employees are required to submit to their employer), they need to demonstrate attendance and attention throughout. While this practice might annoy trainees and be considered policing, employers have a right to demand assurances that their training monies are being spent well. It also cuts back on employees’ tendency to send e-mails, catch up on phone calls or work on other tasks while “in training.”

5. Have trainees present back to other employees.