Ask the Readers: What’s Wrong with Webinars?

Hi Megan. I have registered for webinars I did not attend, although I attend most of them. The problem for me is that most webinars are scheduled for weekdays when I am at work. I am always hoping there will be a replay, and I do watch the replays most of the time too. I love the “add to calendar” button and use it. I also like the idea of being able to schedule my own replay, because I know exactly when I will be able to sit down and watch it. Keep ’em coming!

Yep, I agree with the above. Every man (and woman) and their dog are talking up and peddling their webinars. I get INUNDATED with offers every week.
Personally I like webinars that I can download and watch at my convenience. Period.
I don’t care what sort of call to action hype or scarcity tactics that are used to compel me to watch them.
My time is valuable. I want to watch things when I want to watch them. I have a hard drive recorder on my TV and I download movies and shows on my apple TV so I can watch what I want when I want. In the rare times I’ve been excited about a particular webinar I’ve even been known to get my video camera out and record it. I like to stop, take notes, get screen shots, rewind and repeat things especially if there are technical points or resources. This is not possible on live webinars. What’s the harm in a downloadable webinar? It might take me a while to watch it however if it’s good I might bounce back to the site and if the webinar points to things I can download, great! If a webinar is useful I don’t mind listening to a pitch at the end and if it’s good I might even buy. That’s how I enrolled in the Audience Business Masterclass. I do agree with Michal where I get so many emails from you guys I often don’t read them. Respectfully, in my opinion I think you send too many.

I sign up for a lot of webnars because at the time of signup they hype it as a great learning experience. When the time comes I don’t always attend because I weigh it against other priorities at the moment and often the webnar looses because I know from experience that 99.44% of them are nothing but a sales pitch.

My biggest complaint is the presenters in many cases don’t respect our time. I was on a webinar last week with a well known online marketer. The webinar was 5-10 minutes late in starting because we are waiting for everyone to get online. Don’t make me wait because others can’t make the starting time.

Then even though most people have heard the stories before, the moderator has to give his history and “credentials” and then the same for the guest. Thirty minutes into the seminar not one word had been mentioned about the subject. I’m still mad I wasted 30 minutes before I left the webinar.

My suggestions would be start on time, take less than 5 minutes for background and chit chat, and deliver value in 30 minutes or less and then do your sales pitch. If you deliver value I might stay for your pitch, if not I’m gone. Lastly, always provide a replay we can schedule at a time that works best for us, and don’t try to create urgency by saying this replay will only be up for 24 hours.

Thanks for reading my rant!

It’s a combination, in my case, of my idiosyncrasies, a function of where I am on the webinar continuum (newbie, watched some, watched a lot) and whether or not I’m really your “ideal client.”
For instance, I’m drawn to the least “unbelievable” headline promises. And although my schedule is quite flexible, I want to schedule it on my time (in case an urgent priority arises in its time slot), so if there’s no replay, I almost never register.

Also, I cannot stand sitting through the background speech nor the “sob story” and don’t really care who you are and how you got where you are–not during that initial meeting at least. (It’s as if I’ve entered a classroom ready to begin a course and the teacher gets up and says let me tell you about me. I’m not interested. I want the. lesson and how it applies to me!)

If the material you present is good enough, then I’ll check you out further to see if you’re for real or just another schemer. And if these guys (NOT Danny Iny) are going to “sell,” that’s fine. Just tell me it’s an infomercial. I know where the off button is if I need it.

I want a replay I can look at later. Maybe much later.

The reason? I can fast forward it through the “life story” and all the rest of the garbage I and everyone else speaks of hating as a time waster and see if there is any worthwhile content. If I spot some good stuff they get some more of my time.

You can’t “sample” webinars live but you sure can do it on a replay.
Maybe we need a webinar DJ cranking just the best samples? Just kidding.

There are some people I trust will pack worthwhile info/entertainment into a webinar and they usually get a free pass on the sampling routine…until they fail to deliver or cease to be entertaining.

Sometimes things get and stay crazy busy enough I couldn’t get to even sample a webinar until a week later. There’s part of your number for those who don’t watch the replay if it’s not available on a longer time frame.

I would be much more willing to attend a webinar that told me how long it was. I think I even asked Danny one time. He, of course, answered immediately.

I rarely attend a webinar live or watch one of those replays that play at x time on y day. I watch the 24/7 type replay so I can stop and back-it up to hear something again if need be. I watch it when it works for me. What motivates me to watch it (besides the content) is when a webinar organizer says it will be available for viewing for 72 hours before it disappears. That usually allows me to watch it over the weekend or on a Monday. And… they remind you that you have 48 hours to watch the replay and then 24 hours via email.

As some others said above – I also watch replays so I can forward through the intro parts (unless I don’t know who the speaker is) and even forward through the content to see if they get into the promised material or just ‘talk about’ the topic. It’s also helpful to be able to forward through the 30 min. of product promo to get the url for the product and to see the price. It really sucks when you’re on a live webinar and have to sit through 30 min. before finding out the product is way out of your price range.

1. I have attended many webinars, some good, some bad, but I’m at the point now where I recognize names and know the good ones, so I’ve been able to whittle it down and get the best. I realize webinars are to promote (and sell) the product, but some are so blatant and pushy. It feels like direct marketing of the “But wait, there’s more” type. Usually, I watch till it gets to the promotion part and then switch off. What I like about your approach is its lack of “pushiness,” plus a lot of obvious and real sincerity. I BELIEVE you. Most turn on the sincerity button, but it’s all part of the act. 2. I have registered for, and not attended, some webinars, usually due to a conflict in scheduling. Two days ago, I was waiting for an important call which meant I’d be out the door. It came JUST as the webinar was starting. The timing couldn’t have been better (or worse!) and 3. Live replays are nice, but what I really like are transcripts that I can read at my own pace, skip over what I don’t need, and save a lot of time. Second best is a recording for much the same reason. I can watch in bits and pieces and skip over parts if I want to. I have recordings that I didn’t get to for weeks after it aired. But if I have a recording I usually DO get around to it. Same with a transcript. Live replays are similar to the original in a sense – a limited time to watch before it goes away. I only recently discovered Firepole Marketing and am very impressed, by the content, and as I said earlier, the attitude, and the realness of the person behind it. I know you’re selling, but it’s OK because you don’t pressure. Your sales pitches are actually interesting to watch just to see how you do it. I do have one question – drives me crazy- how did you come up with a name like Firepole Marketing and is there a meaning that I’m not getting? Thanks for all you do.

I am guilty of registering for webinars and not watching them. Most of the time, I just don’t bother registering anymore. I don’t think I have ever come away from a webinar feeling like I learned something valuable and know exactly how to implement it. They are mostly just a waste of time. But sometimes, I get caught up in the excitement, thinking maybe this one will be different. That excitement often fades as the time for the webinar approaches and I realize it’s probably just going to tie up an hour or two of my time for nothing.

Last time I watched one of your webinars, I had signed up for two on the same day. They both sounded exciting. The first was two hours long, and it was by Jon Morrow: “How I Grew My Blog to Over 13,000 Subscribers and Made $500,000 the First Year.” He promised “super advanced, difficult stuff.” There was really nothing new.

An hour into his webinar, yours started, so I closed his out and went to watch yours: “4-Step, 12-Month Process to Create a Raring Fan Base.” It was almost the exact same webinar, with the key points reworded to sound slightly different. Who ripped off whom? I don’t know, but it was a complete turnoff either way.

I can totally relate to what the above commenters have mentioned. I give webinars & we also host webinars. One thing I’ve been experimenting with for the past 5 or 6 months have been “lunch break” webinars – and I’ve seen (gradually) a rise in attendance & response.

These came about when I realized that at the BEST webinars I had attended, there was no more than 20 minutes of useful information – usually MUCH less. For me, I can “spare” 20 minutes if it’s valuable information. Heck, I’m even willing to carve out 30 minutes of my time if I know it’s going to be good stuff. I DON’T give away 90 or 120 minutes of my time, though. Generally, IF I go to a webinar, the presenter has 3-5 minutes to convince me to stay. Most of them are still stroking their own egos at that point in the presentation.

There are 3 HUGE differences between the webinars that we have created & many that I’ve attended.

1. They are 30 minutes or less. Each one gives at least 3 actionable items that can be applied IMMEDIATELY (with the research & real world experience/case studies to support why it works). Imagine, all that in a half hour – these webinars are JAM packed with useful info – not fluff!

This does a few things: a. our speakers/presenters have to agree NOT to spend more than 1/10th of the time on their background (so if they go the full 25 minutes aloted – because we always allow 5 minutes for q&a, they can’t spend more than 2.5 minutes talking about themselves). b. they aren’t allowed to spend more than 1/10th of the time – again – 2.5 minutes – on their sales pitch. So, our viewers/attendees KNOW, going in, they are going to get GREAT information for at least 20 minutes of the 25-30 minute presentation. This is HIGHLY favored & like I said, we are seeing BIG results.

2. We offer this webinar series at exactly the same time & same day every week. We have been looking at changing this up so we alternate days/times each week. However, we ALSO offer replays for a few days after that for those registered attendees that don’t have their “lunch break” during the webinar (available the next day & over the weekend). So, we are really focusing on the ATTENDEE’S schedule. Time is a highly valuable commodity – people have to choose really wisely how to spend it. We have done our best to do whatever we have to do to respect their time.

3. As I mentioned above, if it’s a guest presenter, we have to have their presentation outline IN ADVANCE (before they are even booked!). If it’s weak or watery, they don’t get on the schedule – if it looks like a giant sales pitch in disguise, they don’t get on the schedule. They have to answer the “what”, “why” & give a few steps of the “how” (at least a few) to get the ball rolling for the attendees.

I mentioned this model to my own business coach (a very successful IM), and he wasn’t crazy about it. I’m doing it anyway & it seems to be working. We aren’t at our goal for weekly attendees yet – but, the word is spreading that our webinars aren’t a 90-120 sales pitch & the response has been very very favorable. We (and our outside presenters) do get conversions (higher than the industry average) from our webinars – so, we hope we can smash that myth that people need to hear long backgrounds to build “credibility” (people ARE capable of doing research on businesses on their own – I hate that the common idea is that they are too stupid or incapable of doing some of their own leg work before a webinar) & people DON’T NEED (and definitely don’t want) a long sales pitch. Either they want MORE from a speaker/presenter or they don’t. It’s really simple. The clients we WANT aren’t those that are going to let someone mentally pummel them for long enough that they cave & buy. We want clients that actually WANT what we offer & can make that decision/pull the trigger on it without making us twist their arm.

HTH!

Danny,

You do an excellent job and as a solopreneur I attend your webinars to learn and see what I’ll need to do when I’m ready to launch.

First, I appreciate how hard you work and your drive. I work 5-6 days a wee/9-12 hours a day. I know your success is earned and I respect that. That said, to the point of this post.

The last webinar on learning anything in 20 hours was VERY weak. It was all common sense stuff and frankly I bailed out with about 15 minutes to closure. I couldn’t stand it, it was starting to be painful. That bad!

It was like death by 1000 cuts. WAYYYYYYYYYYY to many digressions off topic and the speaker needed some high test coffee. Ten he repeated his dialogue in the power point slides and this went on and on. I’m sure he’s an expert in his field as I am in mine BUT I’d never want to go through that again.

What I’m looking for, since you asked, is fast paced practical info that is not simple common sense stuff that you’d tell a ten year old.

Your first and 2nd webinars were off the charts good. I told at least 20 people about them. You need to do more of your own – they were that good.

In a nutshell, for business professionals, webinars need to be quick paced w/out any digressions and trying to say the same repetitious points over & over. Stick to the action, make it pop and you’ll get repeat business. BTW, repeat business is the lifeblood of any company – as you very well know.

Please keep up the fine work.

Best of health and continued business success.

Hi Danny,
I register for a lot of webinars because often I find them very useful and sometimes they offer products or services I really want.

That being said, here are my problems with webinars in general:

1. I often can’t get onto the webinar with the link I’m sent. And/or am sent to a register page for the webinar rather than the webinar itself.
2. Lately it seems that most seminars require you download specific software to go to the webinar instead of just letting you use gotomeeting (which used to be the standard). This puts me off because it’s just one more thing to download and I really would rather not if I don’t have to.
3. Almost always there is about 20-25 minutes of ‘dead time’ while the webinar sponsors are working out tech problems and then talking about themselves and who they are and what they’ve done. I understand the whole concept of social proof but I’m usually good to go after about 5 minutes. I mean if I was interested enough to register, then I don’t really need 20 minutes about who is talking. Since I’m self employed if I’m going to give up an hour or more of my time, then I want that time to be filled up with information I need or want. Know what I mean.
4. Also, someone else mentioned this – the time these webinars are scheduled are usually right in the middle of the day for me, which means I either have to pass or stop working so I can attend.
5. Also, sometimes when I register for a webinar I get mulitple notifications and that clutters up my inbox (a small thing but still I get enough email that extra isn’t needed.)

Anyway, that’s my two cents, hope it helps.
Annie

The issue I run into with webinars is that I forget about them, even with reminder emails. A button to add the event to my calendar could be helpful.

How great that you asked this questions. From my viewpoint, the first problem is that there are way, way too many of them and they’re all too long. Some go on for three and four hours!! People don’t have that kind of time. People who give webinars talk as if they’ve got all day, but must spend very little time trying to hone what they say into a succinct presentation. If you cannot say it quickly, go back and rework it. Also, unless there’s a replay, chances are I won’t make it. Most of us have many commitments and need to hear it at our convenience. Everyone is trying to sell you something and everyone has a webinar. That’s it in a nutshell. I get at least three offers a day.

I have such a crazy schedule – I teach 13 fitness classes a week. But I love attending worthwhile webinars, so I do often sign up hoping that I will be able to attend a replay if the time conflicts with my schedule. One man whose webinars I attend, usually offers two different time slots – one early in the day, the other in early evening. The flexibility helps.
So many webinars – not yours – go on and on and on. Have you considered doing Hangouts? They are so much more personal and interactive!
You know that I love your information and content, so I attend as many as possible.
Thanks, Chris

To throw my 2 cents into the mix. I have pretty well given up on trying to go to any webinars for the following reasons:

1. They are scheduled when I have other things to do – like work! I have a day job and it seems any that are marginally interesting are scheduled during the day and I can’t attend. I did try to watch the replay on a few; but, they failed to deliver on what was promised.

2. The webinars I have attended all follow the same script as mentioned in several comments. They are a mostly a one-way sales pitch. Yes, there are questions at the end. You have to have people left at the end to ask questions though. Most I have seen I haven’t been interested enough to stay that long.

3. The webinars don’t provide enough detailed information to make a good decision on the purchase. The only webinar recently I attended that was really useful was one from Frank Kern. He actually went through each step and explained it and his pitch was to join his training and learn all the details and get access to tools. There was enough information to make a good decision if it was something you could actually do.

The medium has succumb to a “standard” and not living up to it’s potential. The presenters are stuck in their own presentation. They seem to have to do it “this way”. Probably because everyone else does it that way.

The real missing part of the whole process is the front talk. To find out what the attendees are looking to get out of the webinar and then the presenter uses this opportunity to provide information about what products they have to fill the need of the audience.

It seems webinars have become not much more than an “infomercial” on the web.

That’s my story and I ‘m sticking to it!

Hi, Sometimes the live event is scheduled at a time when I sleep and when the replay is also in the ‘wrong’ timezone that is not good.

Other times the scheduled time is within both the awaken time and my schedule is open, but some event of great importance come in the way. Again the replay doesn’t necessary fits my agenda either. That has happened often with Firepole’s replays actually.

I do prefer the live event. If you think limited replay is a good idea you should perhaps consider more options with respect to timezones. There might be marketing (scarcity, avoid copying) issues for having limited replays, but I have to say I prefer the free availability of the replay. It gives more flexibility for those with busy schedules and living in other timezones. If the quality of the webinars (cannot be direct sales pitch – those webinars I ignore completely) are good and I am interested in the topic I will watch replays.

With so many comments above mine, I rather doubt many will get to this one! But I have been thinking about my answer, so here are my 2 cents.

I wonder if internet marketers have no one to blame but themselves (ourselves? Do I dare call myself that yet?) if there are a lot of no shows, and even a lot of complaints. The real question is, since when did people think that they have a right to get something for nothing? Essentially, that is what happens when people complain about so little value in the webinars! Napster went away, replaced by iTunes. Free news is going away, being replaced by paid subscriptions. It seems to me that there is really nothing wrong with asking people to pay for quality products, even if that payment is in the $5 to $10 range. Then people who sign up are more likely to show up, and the marketer has a real reason to provide quality content. When you go into Costco and they give you some food, is it more than a mouthful? Everything else requires actual money.

Yes, I understand the bit about using quality content to build relationships with potential customers. I guess that is the new cost of advertising, right? You, the presenter, give up your time to prepare slides with (hopefully) quality material, then you give up your evening to present it to people for free. Those who show up give up their time in hopes of gaining some small morsel of information that they hadn’t heard or considered before. Hmmmm…. As I write it, this model sounds a little funny. Perhaps that is why there is less and less trust between potential customers and the marketers.

To be fair, Danny’s webinars have been phenomenal. He delivers exactly what he says he will, and he doesn’t fool around at the beginning. So do a few others, like Derek Halpern (who, last time, got into the meat of the presentation within about 4 or 5 minutes). But these are few and far between. I think these types of webinars have an unwritten contract between audience and presenter: I’ll give you something valuable and useful in exchange for your time and attention. Then please consider my reasonable offer at the end. Ramit Sethi also makes it very clear that there will be an offer at the end and if you don’t want to hear it, go away!

It’s like the vacation time-share presentations. You give up an hour or 90 minutes of your day to hear their pitch in exchange for 2 airline tickets. It must work – they must make money – or they wouldn’t still be doing that same old thing!

So what is the answer? Unfortunately, good webinar presenters take the hit for all of the bad ones. Webinars have developed a bad reputation because there aren’t enough good ones. So the message must be clear: in exchange for your time and attention I will share some good stuff with you; please then consider my offer at the end because that is how I make a living. And yes, shorter presentations would be terrific! (Advertise them as 30 minutes and you may get more people to show up!) In essence, it is unfair for people to expect a lot for free; it’s not how our economy works!

As a potential customer, “schedule your replay” works for me

I’m also going to add that, like Terry above, time is a factor. I would prefer to read (or even speed-read or skim) an article that has outlined bullet points of what to do than listen to an entire 60-90 minute webinar on something where the presenter spends the first 15-20 minutes talking about himself, the next 40 minutes presenting content with a lot of fluff (stories, etc.), and then making a sales pitch at the end.

Ita, I register knowing full well that I won’t be able to attend the LIVE webinar.
The only way I can have access to the replay is through registering.

I DO loyally listen to the all replays … every one of them. It’s the only way I CAN listen.

So I sign up so that I’ll be guaranteed to be sent the link to the replay.

I am tempted by webinar descriptions– as always sound like something I need to know.

Sometimes what I take away is more how the person presented, than any content.

I miss webinarsI’ve signed up for through fatigue or life getting in the way. Try to catch the replay, but often end up doing that on the weekend, when I would like to do a little living that does not involve sitting in front of a computer.

I have a life to lead and it can only be lived once. Webinar–and marketing overwhelm. I hate to unsubscribe to helpful people, but I am going to have to take my life back.

I prefer MP3 recordings that leave me free for other things while getting informed to sitting through more live pitches for further training, just so they can read my comments. A moratorium on webinar attenance may be coming soon on my part. I wll have to get strong within myself about this. I had told myself I wasn’t going to take any over the summer–and then, couldn’t resist the inbox marketing. See?