Learning doesn’t necessarily have to end the moment you graduate college. In fact, taking continuing professional education courses is a great way to build up your skills and learn new ones along the way, especially if you are considering a career change in your future. Even if you will remain in the same career, the necessary skills change often, requiring you to stay on top of the changes if you want to remain competitive.
Today, webinars have made continuing education even easier for the busy professionals who are working to move their careers forward, whether in the same field or a new one. In fact, according to the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, the demand for continuing education among professionals aged 35 and over is predicted to rise by as much as seven percent by 2016. This highlights the growing importance of reaching more professionals in a way that is most convenient for them.
Advance in Your Career
One of the most important reasons you may need continuing professional education is for the benefit of your own career. Your employer may require you to obtain more skills to complete your job more effectively or to earn a promotion to another position. For instance, your company may upgrade some of the equipment you must use or start using a different software system. In these situations, using webinars for your continuing education can be a great way to get up to speed on the new equipment or software. Depending on your field, continuing education may also be important to maintain your license or qualify for raises. If your job requires these courses, they may even offer financial assistance or incentives to complete the work.
Change Careers
Some people are looking for an easy way to transition from their current career to a new one. You may already possess some of the skills the new career requires, but continuing professional education may be necessary to build on those skills and add the new ones you require to succeed in the new career path. In some cases, you may need a new degree. No matter how much education you require to switch careers, using webinars and online schooling can be one of the most effective ways to gain the knowledge you need while you continue to work.
Other Benefits
In addition to advancing your current career and making it easier to switch career paths, there are many more benefits of continuing education. Some of these benefits include:
- Learning something new for the sake of learning or to start a new hobby to do in your free time for enjoyment.
- Completing specialized education opportunities that open up new doors, including higher wages, progression into management or administration or improving your chances of getting promoted.
- Improving your marketability, making you a stronger candidate for certain jobs than other applicants.
With all these benefits, you can see why it is so essential to continue learning, even after you have earned a degree. Just because you have completed college doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn anything further. While many people shy away from continuing professional education because they simply don’t have the time, this should no longer be an excuse. With the increasing use of webinars and other online education tools, even the busiest professional can find the time to improve their career with continuing education courses.
B2B companies often need to present sales pitches to their clients to show them how their products or services will help them better serve their own customers. A sales demo is a great way to showcase what you can offer to other businesses. However, instead of hosting this demo in person, you can reach an even larger audience by using webinars. Follow these sales tips to increase your reach and promote your goods or services through web conferencing in a way that will create genuine interest in what your business has to offer.
Work out the Logistics
Web conferencing is a widely used method of approaching clients with new products and services you offer that can benefit them. However, before you even offer one of these presentations, you need to make sure you work out the logistics of webinars for a sales demo. First, you need to find a provider that is easy to use and allows you the flexibility of creating and using these presentations at your convenience. Before you use one of these sales pitches with a client, you should also touch base with your client to make sure they are capable of using the method you have chosen. Practice is also essential to iron out any glitches or other flaws before the actual presentation.
Remember Sales Basics
If you are already in sales, you should know the basics, but it is often easy to forget in the heat of the moment. To ensure your sales demo goes as smoothly as possible, webinars should focus on the sales aspect of your pitch. Showing off your products or services is still important, as is listening to your clients and offering them valuable insight, but if you don’t encourage them to buy, you are missing the point. Don’t allow your sales web conferencing turn into an informational session only. The information is critical, but the event should always end with a solid sales pitch so clients will attach the product or service with your company in particular.
Keep It Simple
Your clients are busy running businesses of their own and don’t want to waste a significant amount of time on a sales demo. Therefore, you need to keep your webinars short and to the point to provide them with all the necessary information and yours sales pitch within a reasonable amount of time. Don’t drag out your final point longer than necessary. While there’s no need to rush through your presentation, you also don’t want to take up too much of your client’s time.
Use a Story
Facts are important when you are trying to make a sale, but they are quickly forgotten after your web conferencing event. One of the oldest sales tips is to use stories to illustrate your point. People have an easier time remembering stories than they do facts, helping them remember your sales demo long after you are done. Stories are also a great way to hold interest. Listing facts upon facts quickly becomes boring, losing your audience before you reach your sales pitch. Make sure your story illustrates a problem and shows how your solution can resolve that problem for the greatest impact.
Research Your Clients
It can be extremely difficult to create an effective sales pitch when you don’t know exactly what your clients need. It is your job to research into the company, including who will be watching your webinars, what the company does, what their needs are and how you can help them meet those needs. When you go into your sales pitch armed with detailed information about the company and the person with whom you will be interacting, it will show you in your presentation. The client will see just how much you care about them and meeting their unique needs.
Customize Your Sales Pitch
Clients want to know that you are working for their benefit. When you give your sales demo online, you should reach out directly to the client who is watching the demo. While you may give this same demo to multiple clients, it isn’t difficult to swap out client names and add a few additional details about the company you are currently reaching. When clients see that you have taken the time to customize your pitch to their needs, they are more likely to turn to you when they are ready to purchase the product or service you offer.
Address Uses, Not Just Features
It is so easy to start your web conferencing event with a client and go over the full list of features the new product or service will offer. While it is important for the client to know the features they will receive, it is even more important for those clients to understand exactly how the product or service will help them. Listing the features will also make for a boring presentation. Instead of simply listing features, give examples of how the goods or service will benefit them and resolve the problems they are experiencing. If your clients leave your sales pitch knowing exactly how they would use the focus of your presentation, you have succeeded.
Less Talk, More Listening
One of the best ways to reach out to your clients is to listen to what they think and need. The great thing about web conferencing is you are able to interact with the person on the other side of the screen. Instead of spending the entire allotted time talking, potentially losing the interest of your client, leave plenty of time to answer questions and actually create a dialogue with clients. The more you listen to your clients, the better you will understand their needs and what your business can do to help.
Be Flexible
Like many other areas of your business, it can often be most beneficial to be flexible in your presentation. It is always important to plan out your webinars to make sure you don’t forget something important or go off on a tangent. However, you should be somewhat flexible and allow your client to mold the conversation to meet his needs. While you shouldn’t hesitate to redirect if the discussion falls too far off topic, it is good for you to allow your clients to take the lead. After all, you are trying to make the best possible impression on your clients.
Give Real Examples
Businesses are often hesitant to try out a company that hasn’t provided success to someone else already. You can boost your chances of making sales by providing real examples of clients with whom you have worked to create a valid solution to their problems. Make sure you talk to all your clients about using them as an example of the work you can provide. With the assurance that you have been successful in the past with businesses just like theirs, you increase your chances of making a sale.
Follow these simple sales tips and you will see great results for your webinars. A sales demo online is a great way to reach the largest number of customers and make the biggest impact without spending a lot of time and money.
As the years go by, more companies are starting to use social media and other methods of online communication as part of their marketing tactics. While some companies are willing to take a wait and see approach, these companies are the ones that will be left behind.
- According to a study by the Center for Marketing Research, 28 percent of large businesses are actively blogging, while 73 percent are using Twitter and 66 percent use Facebook. Each of these numbers has increased from 2011 to 2012.
- Current data indicates 65 percent of companies now have social media links directly on their websites, while 32 percent use social media summary pages to help their visitors.
- As many as 63 percent of investors feel social media has a place in the future of IR and business.
Despite these growing numbers, many IR departments are hesitant to make use of social media as a way to enhance their online communications.
- In 2010, the Brunswick Group updated their survey on the use of social media for IR and found 47 percent of investors read blogs.
- Approximately 18 percent of those who read the blogs used them to make sound investment decisions. This was actually a decrease from 20 percent the year before, showing some hesitancy.
Investors already typically make use of a company’s website to gather information about the company to determine if they would like to invest and if so, how much. In addition to using company websites, these investors are now turning to social media sites as a way to obtain information. They will also use blogs written by other investors and financial analysts to find valuable information.
Legal Concerns and Regulatory Issues
One of the biggest concerns is the legalities and regulation of posting this sensitive information on social media sites. Many company IR departments are holding back because they aren’t sure of this area of posting financial information for investors online.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, released a report in 2008 that indicated the Internet allows companies to provide their investors with the information they desire quickly for less money. However, they also warned that the antifraud laws would still apply to blogs and electronic shareholder forums, causing companies to pause before moving forward with these online communications.
In most cases, companies use online methods of communicating as a supplement to the ways that have long been used to provide information. The best social media tips companies can follow are those that indicate these websites should be used in conjunction with the older methods, not instead of. In addition to using these methods, though, it is critical for companies to create a legal disclosure policy to distribute and let employees know what is acceptable and what is not in the use of social media regarding the company.
Pioneers of Social Media
Even though the SEC hasn’t fully backed the use of social media for investor online communications, there are many major corporations that have begun using it. Twitter has quickly become the favorite avenue for many companies, but it isn’t the only option.
- For example, Dell was one of the first major corporations to use social media as a way to reach their investors. Instead of using Twitter like many other companies, though, they chose to launch a blog for their investors to supplement their typical communication methods.
While many more companies have begun using social media, they have not followed Dell’s lead with blogs. This is because many businesses don’t have an IR department large enough to manage a blog. Others don’t understand what a blog is used for, or they fear making mistakes or disclosing too much.
However, larger companies need to keep the following in mind before starting a blog for this purpose:
- Don’t use the blog as a substitute for news releases and other forms of communication.
- Portray the information in a credible way to build a solid reputation.
- Use the blog only for investor communications.
- Counteract any rumors without addressing the rumors directly.
- Use the blog to pass on information, but also view it as a way to interact with your investors.
One of the best social media tips you should follow is to use various social media tools together. For instance, Dell will make posts on Twitter to share when they post a new blog on their investor blog. They also post video versions of the blog on YouTube. This process expands your audience and drives more traffic for better results.
Other Types of Social Sites
Many companies use Twitter and blogs for their IR purposes. However, they may also use many other social media sites for their marketing and PR. These include Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Most of them will link directly from their website to these social media sites.
Document sharing has also become an important element businesses use to reach out to their investors. Websites, such as SlideShare and Docstoc allow businesses to download documents directly to provide their investors with a clear view of their documentation in an electronic format.
Looking to the Future
Even though a majority of companies don’t yet use social media as a way to reach their investors, the trend is on the rise. There is great potential in the various social tools that are available to businesses today. As the SEC begins to accept these online communications for investors, more companies will become comfortable using them. The SEC will be able to guide companies through the process and help them realize all the benefits.
Whenever new technology becomes available to businesses, it is always a difficult transition. However, just like the technological advances of the past, eventually the use of social media for IR online communications will grow and become the accepted method.
Twitter is an important tool many public businesses are now using to keep their investors informed. These companies utilize live Tweets to display information on their earnings, annual meetings and more. When these companies use the Twitter best practices detailed below to make the most of social media, they can successfully pair this online phenomenon with virtual events.
In general, every time you hold a conference call, webinar or webcast, you should be using them in tandem with Twitter. Follow these tips regarding Twitter best practices to keep your investors informed.
1 – Solicit Questions Ahead of Your Virtual Events
Sometimes companies will implement a Q&A session into a conference call or webinar for their investors. You can make use of your Twitter account and other social media as a way to gather questions from your investors before you hold the event. When your Tweets ask them to visit your website or blog post to enter their questions, you show them you care enough to answer their questions as thoroughly as possible. This also ensures you are able to address all questions during the allotted time.
2 – Prepare Tweets Ahead of Time
If you will be using live Tweets during a webcast or other virtual events, it is extremely important to have all your Tweets ready ahead of time. The best thing to do is to go through your presentation and extract the key points. You can then tailor those key points into Tweets so you can keep everyone who is watching over Twitter updated on what is happening in your presentation. Depending on the information you will be sharing, you may need to ask your legal team to look over the information before you release it.
3 – Make Use of Hashtags
Hashtags are a useful way to tag your posts so they are easy for people to find. If you will be using live Tweets to complement your shareholders meetings in the future, it is critical to be consistent with your use of hashtags. Always make sure you are using the same ones and attach them to all relevant posts so they will all be easy to find. However, you don’t have to use the exact same hashtag. For instance, you may want to add the quarter number and the year to specific hashtags so they relate only to those posts relevant to that quarter. The goal is to use consistency so those following live and those who want to look up the information later can find it.
4 – Use Your Ticker Symbol
Your ticker symbol is a great way for your investors to follow along with the success of your business. StockTwits created what is known as $TICKER. This feature is a way for businesses to play the dollar sign in front of their stock ticker symbol to help stockholders and others to find their posts and information about their company. When you combine your $ticker with information from your conference call, webinar or webcast for your stockholders, you will make it easier for everyone to find your Tweets on Twitter.
5 – Tweet Links to Relevant Materials
An important of the Twitter best practices for sharing information with stockholders is to alert them of this information ahead of time. You should post about your meeting and the fact you will be live Tweeting at least a week before the meeting. You should also Tweet this information a second time the morning of the meeting.
In addition to reminding your investors and others about the shareholders meeting, you can also use Twitter to link to other important materials, including press releases and presentations, to provide everyone with the information they need to be fully prepared for the meeting. This can be especially helpful if there is a merger or other major change involved.
Twitter and other social media sites are great ways for your business to share important information with shareholders, especially when they can’t attend your meetings in person. Using virtual events, such as a conference call, webinar or webcast, for your shareholders meetings, in conjunction with live Tweeting, can give every investor the information they desire, especially when you follow these Twitter best practices.
Today, many companies reach out to their investors to share information about earnings and other financial aspects of the business through a phone conference. The Investors Relations, or IR department will start a conference call, inviting all investors to attend and share information every quarter or on an annual basis to make sure every investor knows what is going on.
In today’s economy, more investors are moving away from bonds and mutual funds and purchasing more stocks. This means your earnings calls will experience more activity as you attempt to let all your investors know how your company is doing. It is in your best interest to make changes to the way you handle these calls to make them more interactive and transparent, allowing your investors to actively participate.
If your IR department is looking for a way to enhance your earnings phone conference, follow these five tips:
- Leave More Time for Questions – Many earnings calls spend a lot of time going over earnings reports, as well as other reports and information they feel investors want to know about. However, investors often have plenty of questions that are associated with the company’s earnings and where the company is headed in the future. When you cut down on your own remarks and open the floor for questions earlier, everyone will obtain the information they desire.
- Simplify the Question Submission Process – One of the best ways to make it easier to submit questions is to ask investors to visit your website or blog ahead of time and send in their questions. They may also email them directly to your IR department. Make sure you clearly indicate how to submit questions. If they can submit the questions ahead of time, you can be sure to answer all of them.
- Consider a Q&A Call Only – Some companies have had great success in making their phone conference call a Q&A call. In these situations, you won’t have to prepare any material ahead of time to build a presentation. As long as you ask for the questions ahead of time, you can prepare based on those questions you receive.
- Make the Call Easier to Access – There are so many options today that allow you to create a conference call that is easy for any of your investors to access. Whether you hold the call through the computer or via phone, all your investors need to do is dial the required number or click on a link and enter the special access code.
- Provide All Information on Your Website – Your website is the perfect complement to a conference call. While investors are on the call with you, they can browse through the information on your website to learn even more. Your website should feature an introduction to your company, as well as the key points you will cover in your presentation.
Using a phone conference call for your earnings call can serve you well if you strive to make it an interactive, informative experience. Your IR department can follow these five simple steps to impress your investors and make your earnings calls more exciting for everyone.
Conference call, phone conference, IR, conferencing tips
There are so many more options for businesses today with the increased use of the Internet which makes it easier to reach a global audience, creates more opportunities and solves a lot of business problems from the past. With all the advances in web conferencing, businesses are able to use a conferencing provider that offers a vast array of features to reach out to vendors, customers and business partners who are located around the world in a cost-effective and easy manner. This important tool makes it easier to communicate and even collaborate, no matter the distance.
In the past, businesses were restricted to dealing with customers in their local area. Today, though, businesses can just as easily work with customers who are located in other parts of the world. While many people use email as a preferred method of communication over long distance, this is not typically the most effective method. Email may offer the convenience of sending messages at any time, but web conferencing provides the capability of communicating through verbal language to ensure full understanding. When you choose the right conferencing provider, you will have all the power of the Internet at your fingertips to meet your communication needs with a more professional appeal. This valuable option can put you one step ahead of your competition.
When you use web conferencing for your communication needs, you will enjoy the same benefits as audio conferencing with some additional advantages. A web conference allows you to reach thousands of viewers at the same time, including sharing important documents with everyone involved in the conference. This eliminates stress and reduces the chances of someone misunderstanding the intent behind your message or the instructions you are trying to portray. In addition, you can share more than just documents like you can through email; you can share your desktop and even applications with viewers. Web conferences also include interactive tools for making annotations and many other unique, powerful features that enhance the experience for everyone involved.
Geographical distances are no longer a barrier businesses need to worry about. When you find the right web conferencing provider, you can fill in the gaps in communication with real-time face-to-face interaction between you and your customers and business partners. Taking this important next step for your business is just a phone call or email away.
In the past, the only way companies could advertise at tradeshows was to actually attend them in person. Today, though, the virtual tradeshow is becoming a more popular trend for many businesses. These virtual tradeshows allow you to reach a larger audience, sometimes even a global audience with greater ease. There are so many benefits to showing at and attending these virtual events, including money savings and the convenience of being able to attend from anywhere without the need to travel great distances. If traditional tradeshows are part of your current business strategy, consider these virtual tradeshow tips to determine if you are ready to make the switch.
About Virtual Tradeshows
The first question many people have is concerning the differences between a virtual tradeshow and a traditional one. The most obvious difference is a virtual show takes place online, while a traditional one requires you to be there in person. Whichever type of event you choose, you will have a booth, either virtually or in person. Instead of being in a large hall, you will be in a virtual convention environment, making you feel like you are really at a traditional tradeshow.
During the virtual event, attendees will be able to browse through the booths, just like they can when they walk around a convention center. However, instead of having to battle the crowds when attending in person, attendees will be able to quickly access any booth they think is interesting or appealing. This also means businesses have to work hard to attract the attention of their audience and hold it. As a business, this improves the efficiency of your booth, reaches a larger audience and even admits more people into your booth at once than can fit in a traditional setting.
Try It Out
If you still aren’t sure if a virtual tradeshow is right for you, the next of the virtual tradeshow tips indicates you should try one out as an attendee. While these shows can provide you with access to a much larger audience without spending as much money, it can still be intimidating. Attending a virtual tradeshow to see what it is like and how it looks to attendees can help you gauge whether it is a good fit for your target audience. Because these shows are often free to attend, it is easy to give it a try.
When you take the time to attend a tradeshow virtually, you will see how other companies set up their booths so you can evaluate what works and what doesn’t. At a tradeshow, you can look at the various designs, see what the presenters have to offer and even listen to their presentations. Once you see what others are doing, you will have an easier time setting up your own virtual booth.
How to Participate
You will save a lot of money and time by showing at virtual shows instead of traditional shows. The technical aspect is also much cheaper than most companies anticipate. Businesses that attend traditional tradeshows often spend thousands of dollars on their booth design and presentations. Virtual tradeshows often cost less to enter and don’t require the large travel budget traditional tradeshows call for.
When you choose to attend a virtual tradeshow, you select a representative of your company that will sit with your booth. If it is a longer show, you may need to use more than one person on a schedule. As visitors enter your booth, a typed or video chat box will appear, allowing your representative to interact with visitors in real-time. Attendees can look through your profile for more information, and you can provide them with downloadable brochures, landing pages, and email capture forms so you can offer more information to attendees.
Choosing to participate in an online tradeshow with these virtual tradeshow tips allows you to save plenty of money over traditional shows. Onstream Media can provide you with plenty of options for virtual tradeshows. With their knowledge and experience, they can help you set up the best possible tradeshow booth to attract visitors and provide them with the information they seek.
An online webinar has become a popular way for businesses to reach out to their customers, vendors and business partners. Many businesses put a lot of work into their webinars, only to use them once and abandon the project. However, these same businesses are also often looking for ways to save money and time to make their business operate more efficiently. Utilizing these webinar tips will help you reuse your webinar content to save money and time and more effectively advertise your business.
#1 – Make Use of YouTube
People are always looking for video content online, which is why YouTube is such a popular website. If you don’t already have a YouTube account for your business, it is time to at least think about it so you can reuse your online webinar to reach a larger audience. However, keep in mind that YouTube often requires shorter videos so you will need to select the most important content to your message and upload multiple two to four minute videos clips of your presentation onto this popular website.
#2 – Fill Up Your Virtual Events
If your business frequently takes part in virtual events that showcase a variety of businesses, you can piece together portions of your webinar and use it for your virtual booth. When you attend live events like this, you likely have banners and a variety of other visual aids to use to attract attention. Your online webinar can help you create similar features in a virtual environment to allow you to more effectively reach your audience.
#3 – Upload to SlideShare
SlideShare is another growing trend among Internet users. When you post your content on this website, you increase the chances you will reach a larger audience. Users are able search the content directly in SlideShare so they can find your content easily. In addition, SlideShare offers social sharing buttons on each piece of content, which means people who like what they see can easily share it with others, spreading your reach even further. If you upgrade your account, you can take advantage of even more benefits, including lead generation, no ads and unlimited uploads.
#4 – Change Them to Podcasts
Some webinar tips indicate changing your webinars over to podcasts can be a great way to reuse the content you already worked hard to create. Podcasts allow you to offer your online webinar in an alternate on-demand format so you can reach an audience that needs the information at various times. The key is to keep these podcasts to three to five minutes and make sure you use intro and concluding music so listeners know when the content begins and ends. These audio versions of your webcast can be posted on your website for download or even offered in the iTunes store.
#5 – Translate Your Webinar
Today’s world is more of a global economy than ever before. With all the advances in technology, businesses are able to reach around the globe to expand their customer base. If you want to tap into this global market, translate your online webinar into a variety of languages so you can offer something people around the world will understand. Make sure you translate both the content on the slides and the audio content for the best results.
#6 – Update Your Webinar Landing Page and Promote It
Far too often, businesses create an online webinar landing page to encourage people to sign up for the event. They spend lots of time promoting it and driving traffic to it. Once the event is over, though, they allow the landing page to fall to the wayside. However, you can take your webinar content and use these webinar tips to update your landing page and then continue to promote it to drive even more traffic. If you will be posting your event on your website or in other online locations, make sure your landing page points viewers to it.
#7 – Take Advantage of Social Media
Social media has become such an important part of conducting business online today. You can use your webinar content and translate that into short posts that will provide useful information to your followers. You can also post links to a copy of your full webinar on your social media sites as a way to encourage people to watch the online webinar in its entirety. Social media is a great way to let all your followers know about all the content you create, whether it relates to the webinar or other aspects of your business.
#8 – Blog with Your Webinar Content
Blogs are an effective way for businesses to establish themselves as an expert in their field. Today, more people than ever are turning to the Internet for answers to all their questions and information on products or services they require. Take your online webinar content and use it to create one or a series of blog posts you can post to your company blog so you can spread this information to even more people. You can even include additional content to provide even more value, even to those who attending your online webinar.
#9 – Answer Questions in Your Blog
One of the most important webinar tips to follow is to leave room for a Q&A session at the end of your event. During this session, you may be able to answer some of the questions. However, time constraints and the need to research certain issues can result in unanswered questions. After your online webinar, though, you can take those questions and construct a blog for your website that addresses each of these questions. If you choose to do this, make sure you mention this fact at your event so your viewers will look for the answers in your blog.
#10 – Create a Case Study
Another great way to provide information online is through the use of a case study. These studies look at a problem a typical consumer may have and show how the company can help resolve that problem effectively. Take the webinar content you have created and use that to create a customer case study that will show other potential customers how your business can help them solve their problems. One of the best tactics in marketing is to make it all about your customer instead of your business.
Because so much time and effort goes into the creation of an online webinar, it is important to create one that can be used for other purposes as well. When you follow these webinar tips, you can serve many purposes with one event, reaching a much larger audience and increasing the potential power of the webinar and online marketing tactics.
Years ago, the only way to gain a large audience for an event was to put it on television. This is why sporting events and other similar television shows were aired on television. This allowed the event to gain a national audience, drawing in big-name sponsors as well.
During the early years of the television, it was quite expensive to produce and air a television show of any kind. This is why the majority of shows weren’t broadcast live and most of the taped shows were provided by the largest sponsors.
Today, the use of the Internet has become a much cheaper option when it comes to producing a live video broadcast. With the high transmission speeds and video clarity, live streaming video over the Internet can be the best choice. However, there is still the question of whether these live Internet webcasts are actually better than television. Detailed below are five ways that live streaming video can be more effective than the traditional television broadcast.
Target Your Audience
Most people in the business world understand the importance of targeting your audience for the best results. When you use live video broadcasting through television, it can often be difficult to ensure you are reaching your target audience in particular. If you can’t broadcast your event live on television and need to settle for a later showing, people won’t be interested either because they may have already obtained the information they required through the Internet. This makes live video streaming online a logical choice. The people who want to watch will know where to go to watch.
Engage Your Audience
When it comes to many live events, it is the thrill of watching in the moment that best captures the viewers. If your broadcast is results-based, you need to make sure you are giving your audience exactly what they want to see in the moment because this is your only chance. With a live video broadcast, you want to keep your audience interested and watching.
The use of the Internet for live video streaming also provides the opportunity for more interaction among your viewers. Many video streams online also include a Q&A box or comment box so your viewers can share information during the presentation. You can even allow your viewers to send you a message or encourage them to vote on their favorite part of your presentation through surveys and polling.
Save More Money
Originally, television programs had to spend large amounts of money to get their show on the air. The production costs along were often large, even for low-quality shows. In addition, these shows had to pay to appear on the major television networks or contract with smaller local networks to get any air time. This created major costs many show producers couldn’t afford.
With advances in technology, production equipment has dropped drastically in price, allowing many production companies to create quality broadcasts for much less, even a live video broadcast. Using live streaming video over the Internet is also a much cheaper delivery method. When you are able to save money on production and delivery, you can refocus those funds to other areas of your business.
Reach a Larger Audience
Everyone wants to be able to reach a larger audience. After all, this is what made live video broadcasting over the television so popular. However, when you air these events over the television, it limits you to the people who have access to a television, as well as the station on which you will broadcast. With live video streaming online, many of these restrictions are eliminated, helping you reach a much larger audience.
Most people have access to an Internet-enabled device at many times of the day and night, even while they are at work or out of the home. With the use of these devices, people will be able to view your live video broadcast, no matter where they are. This increases your audience size drastically.
Be Exclusive for More Value
Television shows are no longer exclusive. If you miss your favorite television show, all you need to do is look it up on YouTube, Hulu or a variety of other services that show broadcast television later. In addition, if people attend your live event and take video of your own, they can often stream it online faster than you can, reducing the value in your event.
Therefore, it is in your best interest to use live video streaming to ensure you reach your audience first. Even if others are using cell phones or other devices to attempt to stream your event live, the quality and benefit won’t be there.
If you are wondering if your next live event should be televised or streamed online, consider these factors. With the increased use of the Internet, live video streaming can often offer you more benefits than live video broadcasting over the airwaves, especially if you can’t afford to pay for live broadcasting.
Years ago, making an international conference call was a pricey venture and also lacked in quality, making it difficult to conduct business across oceans and around the world. Back in the mid-1900’s when audio conferencing was first introduced across international lines, a live operator was required. Today, with all the changes in technology that have taken place, international phone conferencing has changed for the better. All users need to do is dial a specified phone number and enter their access code to be immediately connected to others around the world. In addition, an operator is no longer needed.
Technological Advances in International Calls
Over the years, overseas calls have drastically improved due to the technology that is used. This makes audio conferencing a more realistic option for many businesses that have dealings around the world. In fact, the clarity is improved enough to feel as though the person is in the next room instead of halfway around the world. The clear audio and reliable connections are common in international phone conferencing today. This improved quality is due to technological advances, such as fiber optic cables and faster transmission speeds to reduce sound delays and create clearer calls.
Recording Capabilities
MP3 technology has made a major impact on recording capabilities for audio conferencing. These compressed audio files don’t take up as much space and offer incredible clarity. In some cases, you will be able to automatically record all your international conference calls and save them in this quality format to use for on-demand listening. You can also distribute it to those who were at the conference to provide them with a record they can listen to again to ensure they get the most out of the call. In addition to these uses, the recordings can also be transcribed or even translated to best meet your needs. You can even share it with other people who would benefit from the information or place it on your website for more public use.
Improvements in International Conference Call Access
With the advances in technology international conference calling, it is easier than ever for anyone to access these calls. Perhaps one of the greatest improvements to audio conferencing is it no longer requires an operator to log in first to handle all the incoming calls. Instead, the attendees are given a toll-free number to call, as well as the date and time and an access code to enter. This is all the information that is needed to access the conference call. To attend, they only need to call the number, follow the prompts to enter the access code and gain an immediate connection to everyone else on the call.
Another great feature for international conference calling is called “dial out.” With this type of audio conferencing, the person who starts the call is able to dial out to add people to the call. This can be a useful feature in a variety of situations, including when attendees are located in a country that doesn’t support toll-free calling or when someone fails to show up to the conference. Some systems will also allow organizers to schedule dial-outs to specific numbers at a designated time, automatically bringing people into the call at the right moment. This feature prevents forgotten calls and lower calling rates.
Reduced Calling Costs
At one time, it was incredibly expensive to make an international conference call, often $10 per minute or more. As technology improved and the increase in competition in the audio conferencing markets, international call rates have dropped dramatically. Many countries are charging $0.10 or less, with most of them with rates under $1 per minute.
Integrated Management Features
Today, an international conference call may even be held over the Internet, providing you with even more features. If conference calls are a common part of your routine, you can set up a schedule with recurring calls, choose participants and even input the phone numbers of the people who attend your audio conferencing calls most. With some conference calling plans, you can even make call reservations, schedule calls or set up calls on-demand.
The advances in technology have had a positive impact on how people communicate today, both online and offline, particularly with international conference calling. With the improvements in transmission speeds, quality, costs, access simplicity, integrated account management and various calling features, conference calls have taken on an all new meaning. Taking advantage of these changes will ensure your business can reach a global audience, enhancing your ability to grow and succeed.