John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, offers some helpful ideas on using webinars and online technology to replace the traditional regional meeting where your company spends hundreds of dollars on gas driving in all your regional reps or employees. “But we don’t want just a conference call, we need to deliver presentations and even see the participants face-to-face,” some may ask. That’s the difference between CONFERENCE CALLS and ONLINE WEBINARS (seminars on the web). One of the coolest features of online webinars is that you can link to the host computer and everyone participating (from anywhere in the world) can see what’s on the host’s computer. Need to make a PowerPoint presentation to a group? Using webinar technology allows everyone to just stay put and not have to spend money on travel expenses and everyone can view the same presentation LIVE! And depending on the service, the host can have his/her picture on the screen and invite feedback/questions from participants (either over the phone or better, typed into a forum box on the webinar screen). Perhaps this doesn’t replace annual gatherings or a multi-day meeting, but for those monthly meetings or special presentations to potential clients or strategic partners (do you have a new product or promtion to roll out?), try using this technology. See if it doesn’t save you some money!
