Watching Webex Webinar on Sales 2.0 Enabled Business

Do you want to see a fantastic topic mangled by inept programming?

Webex Sales2.0 Webinar

Two major points to be made about this webinar:

1) The ideas behind Sales 2.0 are very important for sales professionals and have important implications for the suppot marketing can provide sales

2) This is a classic example of many of the problems with the way webinars are run today

The Sales 2.0 topic will be covered extensively over the next few months.

Let's look at the bigger implications raised by the production issues with this webinar.

We are all going to be incredibly challenged to master communication principles and practices in this new era of web and multimedia communications.

For over 15 years I've been declaring the coming role of the "new producers". People on the front line of business in sales, sales support, marketing, even the executive ranks who will be producing the equivalent of TV or video programs. Well folks, here we are. It's called the webinar.

When communicating through the web, we have to rely on our visuals, our voice and our messages. It's a a completely different experience from live delivery for both presenters and audiences.

While many are challenged to deliver effective live presentations, this medium really ups the ante.

If we don't learn to produce quality programming, we'll kill our opportunities, our brand and ultimately our businesses as we turn off viewers and mangle our messages. If you thought controlling these things in the era of PowerPoint was a challenge, get ready for a multimedia nightmare!

But to not learn and master the effective production of multimedia programming as a marketing or sales professional is to put yourself and your organization at a competitive disadvantage. If you're not working your way -- and your organization's way -- up this learning curve, best get started.

A Few Observations

• A lot of learning about what not to do can be taken from this program:
• Get the audio levels correct before you start the program -- poor audio levels are both distracting and unprofessional
• Have a clear communication paradigm -- is this a monologue by two independent speakers, a phone conversation we're listening in on, or a presentation of ideas?
• Eliminate off the cuff ramblings -- stay focused on a tight outline if not a script
• Structure the program -- the end slides did a better job of explaining what Sales 2.0 is and why I should care, they should have been at the beginning.
• Have slides support commentary -- don't talk for more than a minute on one slide, and certainly not for 12 minutes on slide 1 and 6 minutes on slide 2
• Design the program -- especially when there are multiple speakers, each should know what the other will say and the parameters of the program

A Few Ideas

• A talk show is a lousy communication paradigm -- especially for business webinars. I'm not coming to this program just to be entertained, but to be informed, to learn something.
• I listen at 200 words-per-minute (wpm), but you speak at 100 wpm. Keep it moving! I've got a lot of other things to do. According to Wikipedia:
  • 150-160 words per minute, is the range that people comfortably hear words. Slide presentations tend to be closer to 100 wpm. Conversations are maintained at around 200 wpm.  Wikipedia WPM
• We've all grown up learning how to deliver live presentations. In live presentations we minimize the use of visuals, to avoid "blazing PowerPoints". "You are the message" Roger Ailes has told us.
• But on-line, multimedia communications are a different medium, a different experience. I think we're closer to Marshall McLuhan, "the medium is the message."  What did McLuhan mean?
• Most of us have little, if any, training or experience producing TV or video programs. We need to get some, and work with people who do have this experience, to come up the learning curve quickly, and to avoid mangling our opportunities.
• Rather than using a presentation paradigm when preparing a webinar, I suggest a "virtual video" paradigm. Video was originally 30 frames per second, that is, 30 pictures per second. Turns out, for most applications, you really don't need 30 fps. One picture every 10 to 60 seconds will do. In this medium more is better. Changing pictures engage people's attention. It will also force you to create better visuals. Because we don't see the presenter, all we have are the visuals. The user experience from this medium is akin to watching a video than a presentation.
• Make it easy for me to know where you are in your program, where you are going, and how long it will take you to get there. I am constantly considering my option to discontinue viewing. If you move to an uninteresting or irrelevant topic for me, how will I know it's worth staying?
• Think in terms of "series", as in TV series. Think also of your personal brand as a program host or expert. Are you creating an experience that will have me prioritize you and your programs in my future, limited time inventory?

Watch the webinar. There is good content embedded, and the lessons for producing webinars might be more evident through this experience than through a more professional program.