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About
Webinars
WHAT IS A
WEBINAR?
Webinars
are a relatively new advancement which
have taken the Internet by storm.
Basically, they allow you to hold an
interactive seminar via the web, hence
the name ‘webinar’.
During a
webinar you can listen to the presenters
live, and watch their presentation
or your screen almost as though
you were right there in the room with
them. You can ask questions via a
question box, or raise your hand if you
want to actually speak.
WHY WEBINARS?
There are
two main reasons why we use webinars
regularly as platform for teaching,
learning and sharing knowledge and
experience:
1) TIME
- Having identified that one of the
biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is
having a very limited amount of time to
attend to all the demands they face on a
daily basis. We have found webinars to
be the most time-effective way of
teaching a group of people in an
interactive manner. In the past, we used
to hold regular members’ meetings at a
particular location, but this would
usually take up a huge amount of an
individual’s time (approximately five
hours or so depending on distance and
travel time, traffic congestion, etc) to
obtain the same amount of benefit that
we can now offer in a 60- to 90-minute
webinar. So, webinars offer an ideal way
of learning and sharing on a regular
scheduled basis whilst being optimally
time-efficient.
2) REACH
– We have always aimed towards
offering entrepreneurs from all parts of
South Africa (and Africa as a continent)
the opportunity to interact and learn
from one another within our community.
(As I always maintain, the best people
to learn from as entrepreneurs are other
entrepreneurs.) Previously, in the days
when we conducted most of our training
events and seminars at venues in the
central city ‘hubs’ of some of South
Africa’s provincial regions such as
Gauteng, the Cape and KwaZulu Natal, the
result was an unfortunate alienation of
the many entrepreneurs in the numerous
cities or towns that we could
logistically simply not afford to visit.
But with the wonderful advent of
webinars, this limitation is now largely
overcome – as long as you have access to
broadband Internet connectivity,
webinars allow members the opportunity
to learn with us, no matter their
location.
“I
just wanted to thank you for arranging
these webinars. I live in Knysna, and as
fantastic as the lifestyle is, I have
always missed the opportunity to attend
seminars and courses that city living
affords. This way I am able to
appreciate the best of both worlds.” -
Claire McCollum, Knysna
WHAT DO I NEED?
All you
need is a reasonable PC or laptop with
speakers (headphones really help,
especially if you’re using a laptop).
You do not have to have a microphone
unless you want to speak. (Most
participants type their questions and
comments through, rather than speak.)
HOW DO I
PARTICIPATE IN A WEBINAR?
You can
simply register by clicking on the link
of any webinar, or by going to
www.joinwebinar.com and using the
relevant
code/webinar ID (these will be
displayed with the webinars information
on the left).
Once you
have pre-registered for a webinar, the
system will send you a link
via email
which you click on in order to
join the webinar shortly before it
starts. (If you happen to be running a
bit late, you can still click on this
same link to join the webinar at any
stage of its duration.) When you’re
ready to join - preferably about 10
minutes before it is due to begin -
simply click on the provided link and
wait for the software to download and
initiate. This may take several minutes.
If you join
in once the webinar is
already in progress, the system will
immediately initiate and allow you in
straight after it has installed the
software.
I’M SCARED!
It’s quite
natural for us to feel a certain amount
of fear and trepidation sometimes when
it comes to trying new things,
especially when it relates to new
technology. Many members are as yet
unfamiliar with webinars, and worry
about the technological and bandwidth
requirements they would need to take
advantage of their benefits. However, we
use a platform called ‘GoToWebinar’ and
find it to be very user-friendly.
‘GoToWebinar’ is one of the largest
providers of webinar technologies in the
world, so their software is trustworthy
and reliable. They offer 24-hour support
for participants who may have any
problems.
A full
90-minute webinar with viewing screen
only requires about 90Mb of bandwidth.
At most, this will cost you about R30 in
bandwidth if you are on a small 3G
account, and a lot less on larger 3G
accounts or ADSL.
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