You have expertise and that can be a powerful differentiator for you in business.

Use a webinar to share your knowledge, attract new people and even help hone your internal processes. Here are five reasons why using webinars (and WebEx) is good for business.

1. Add value to your brand.

Leverage your in-house expertise using it to distinguish your business leadership. A good webinar parallels all of the information your company is already putting out, but adds depth to a particular area. It also can allow users to ask specific questions. Here’s how Mike Bartkus at SkillSurvey uses webinars to tell people how to avoid bad hires. While you learn new information, you tacitly trust Mike’s advice and expertise.

2. Educate and inform your audience; share your passion.

Seeing is believing. If you have a great widget, show me how it works and what it can do for me and my company. Engage me. Don’t bore me with a slide-show about your company’s history. Show me what your product or services can do and why I can’t live without them.

3. Fill the funnel.

Generate marketing leads with a successful webinar. You’ll attract those people who are most interested in the subject matter which should shorten your sales cycle. The potential audience here is unfettered by time or location, and bonus, the webinar lacks the associated travel costs of a large marketing event. It’s win-win.

4. Create a lasting impression.

“Whatever webinar you’re doing, it’s worth recording it,” says Brian Carroll, CEO of InTouch Inc. “We’ve been able to show that 300% to 500% more people watch a recorded webinar than attend a live one,” Carroll said. “If you don’t record it, you’re missing out on more than half of your audience.” Creating an asset that can be used repeatedly over time can save you money and time.

5. Move your business forward.

Webinars can help you train your employees on a new piece of software from your home office, saving you time and travel costs. You can provide employees with everything they need all at the same time, with hyperlinks, and if you record the webinar, employees can refer back to it at a later time if they need a refresher or feel that they missed something the first go round.

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Tags: event, marketing, Online Meeting, Recording, WebEX, webinar

Online meetings are a great day to deliver a product demo. They can save time and money, but doing a great job requires you adapt your skill set so you do a terrific job.

In addition to the marketing and public relations skills you already have, you’ll need to learn to embrace the tools you have for the online demo and then pump up the volume on your “wow” factor since having a nice lunch afterward isn’t on the agenda.

Lessons from the Front

Software product manager Gopal Shenoy writes about his recent experiences conducting three demos during online meetings. Two went well and the third “was an outright disaster”.

The bottom line: You can choose to avoid doing the homework to your own peril or spend the time during discovery to start building effective relationships with your prospects.

Nate Westheimer at Innonate offers some firsthand tips (and examples) for pulling together a great demo.

It pains me when people come to demo and, instead of putting on a magic show — showing off how humans (themselves) and software interact — they try to inspire the audience through their words and by speaking about their ideas; or, just as bad, they flip through a bunch of preloaded tabs in an effort to “show” the product, as if pre-loaded tabs are any better than PowerPoint slides.

Technology Do’s and Don’ts

1. Find out some basics before you set up the WebEx.

Will they be in an office, a conference room? Are there likely to be distractions? Do what you can to help them control their experience so you will be heard and you’ll have their attention. Dialing in on a phone line is probably optimum for them to hear every nuance (it also helps if you decide to record the meeting).

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Tags: demo, how to, Online Meeting, Recording, tips, video conference, WebEX

It’s easy to share some time with the ones you love.

Use WebEx and you can host a video conference that lets you see your special love, your parents, your kids or anyone else you are missing on Valentine’s Day. You can see up to six people at once during your video conference.

Use WebEx absolutely free.

You can also record the conversation and save it -- so you have a lasting memory. Here’s all you need to do to get started. Read More »

Tags: connect, how to, Record, Recording, Valentine, Valentine's Day, video, video conference, WebEX

Steve Urquhart knows the struggle well. When he got back from serving in the Army in 1997, he had to find a job. But making the transition wasn’t that easy. He shares the details in a recorded WebEx.

“When our soldiers come home, they face a daunting task. They are faced with trying to find work in a non-military setting,” Steve explains. “They have to translate their military skills to public and private sector jobs and that transition is extremely difficult.”

According to Steve, there is help out there -- including President Obama’s new Gold Card Initiative -- but much of it is bureaucratic and slow. In the meantime, these folks need jobs and they need them now. That’s why Steve started VETSourcing and joined forces with Darkhorse Benefits.

Together they have put together a program for helping Vets get the training they need to enter the workforce. They talked with us about it on a WebEx which is available on-demand. Focusing on skills that allow them to thrive in today’s professional landscape, the program focuses on the following:

• Self-discipline, resilience and strong work ethic are essential
• Teamwork and technology focus
• Ability to grasp the big picture and stay mission focused
• Telecommuting: getting the job done from anywhere

Watch this online meeting, to learn more about VETSourcing, Darkhorse Benefits and the program Read More »

Tags: No Office, Online Meeting, Recording, training, veterans, veterans day, Veterans Programs, video conference, WebEX

When I told my daughter that her gramma was going to be with her other (younger) grandchild this year for Halloween, I did not expect her reaction. She’s 12 and has had gramma with her every year since birth and I figured she knew she would eventually have to share.

But that was not my kid’s idea. She was downright pissed!

“She needs to see me in my costume! It’s tradition!” she told me. Oops. Apparently we have a tradition that I just took for granted all these years.

But then I suggested we have a little fun and get to share the holiday with her cousin as well. We could do a WebEx, show my mom my daughter’s costume and see our little three year old firefighter in his outfit. “I guess that’ll work,” she conceded. And off we went. We did a test drive on Sunday.

We fired up the WebEx, turned on the webcams and the kids had a ball. Everyone get to see each other, there was lots of conversation and excitement and gramma Read More »

Tags: family, free trial, Halloween, holiday, Holidays, Recording, WebEX