8 Reasons You Should Attend More Free Webinars
What is a webinar? According to dictionary.com the definition of a webinar is a seminar conducted over the internet. A seminar is a conference or other meeting for discussion or training. So, in essence, webinars are the most advanced form of human interactions for teaching and lecturing.
1. Free. Who doesn’t like free things, everyone does. People call today’s era the “information age”, also known as the computer age or the digital age. Just as the Industrial Revolution was the beginning of the industrial age, computers and the invention of the internet marked the beginning of the Information Age.We must take advantage of the widely available information these days, and absorb all the knowledge we can.
2. Expand your mind. There are webinars for every industry imaginable (and those who we still haven’t imagined): income taxes, insurance, physics, to woodworking and welding. With such an abundance of great free content out there, it’s a shame if we are not constantly improving ourselves. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
3. Making connections. Usually the presenter of a webinar is a subject matter expert, so it might be beneficial to ask questions and ultimately interact with them. There are a few other ways of interacting with a host other than asking questions at the end of the webinar.
- Send the presenter a thank you email for their time
- Let them know what you thought about it
- I remember back in University, I had a professor who told us about the criticism sandwich. First, tell the person something positive about the topic at hand, don’t tell them they’re beautiful and hearing them present brought you to a place of internal happiness. Tell them something like” Hey Presenter, I really enjoyed how you explained ABC, but maybe in the future can you elaborate a little more on XYZ. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule I found this really informative.
4. Watch it from your phone. According to statcounter.com 51% of all 2017 internet activities were done on a cellular device. More and more people are using their phones to surf the web. The beauty of this is that software companies need to innovate and adapt to this ever-changing digital age if they want to survive.
A few years ago, if someone wanted to attend a webinar they would have to schedule some time from their day to sit in front of their computer. Compare that to today, where you could watch a live webinar from the comfort of your own bed without having to sit in front of your computer.
5. Career Development. Never stop learning, never get comfortable as Henry Ford said, “anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty, anyone who keeps learning stays young.” No matter what type of business you are in, be it in the tech sector, legal, taxes, financials, the way to approach your industry and how is developed is constantly changing.
Using webinars properly and effective are great tools to have in your arsenal.
6. Learn from the pros. Remember, a webinar is only as good as the presenter, the host should have personal and professional experience to be the subject matter expert in their respective field. As an attendant you should feel confident in your host.
Take for example our tax webinars. They are hosted by our Enrolled Agents who have years of experience preparing tax returns. Or another example, I’m interested in learning more about digital marketing. I find a webinar from a reputable online ad agency firm, the host is the Chief Marketing Officer, what better person to learn about digital marketing, than the CMO of a digital marketing company.
7. No commitment. One of the greatest perks of free webinars is that there are no commitments. We are all playing this game called LIFE, and this game is extremely unpredictable. You may have registered for a webinar for Tuesday morning, but for whatever reason you can’t make it. It’s ok. All the webinars will be OnDemand.
8. They’re archived. Most companies that offer webinars, whether free or for a price, they archive them and continue to offer then in an OnDemand basis. You can also visit their archives and downloaded them or request a copy vie email. You will usually get a link to the webinar after the live session. You will not miss out on the great information.
Webinars are a great learning tool to have in your tool box. Use them properly! Take advantage of the learnability of this tool. Next time you get an email offering take the opportunity to learn something. You never know what you may learn and who you’ll meet. If you can’t attend it live, watch the recording on your free time, it’ll be worth it.
