Philippine Webinars

Webinars are everywhere. If you type the word in Google, you’ll get about 8 million results. There is just so much out there and most are hosted by organizations and professionals in the US. Within the Philippines, there are just about 13,000 results and take note that not all of them are hosted in the country.

Being in the webinar business for years now (and learning it years before starting it), I’ve talked to a lot of people and all of them were very interested in the technology and thought it would be a great idea to implement. But, the reality is that only a few were willing to go through it. Despite the benefits, it wasn’t enough to propel them to do webinars. There were several reasons but underneath it all, it seems that they didn’t completely understand why and how they should start it.

With that being said, here is a list of reasons why others are doing it. I’m hoping that this would help you move to the next step and realize that it isn’t complicated after all.

Convenience
A traditional trainer or speaker would normally accept a session for a couple of days and have to travel to different venues. If traffic was terrible (and it always is), he could be late. To make sure he gets there on time, he has to allocate more hours to travel to the destination. That could mean losing sleep to wake up early or rescheduling other tasks for another day. With so much time needed for just one session, other opportunities can’t be accommodated. This can be stressful.

Webinar speakers, on the other hand, are less stressed and can handle more sessions. They are always on time for their sessions, they can conduct the session anywhere (home, office, internet cafe, coffee shop), and even not to stress on what to wear! They have more time to do other tasks and can now spend time with family and friends.

Cost Savings
Renting a venue to accommodate 25 people or more can cost from P3,500 or more. Traveling to the venue will mean spending a few hundred of pesos on gas or even a cab ride. For destinations outside of your city, you will spend more for airfare and hotel accommodations.

Those who do webinars see the value of cost savings. A speaker or trainer can still charge the same professional fee (based on content) but the bottom line is bigger. Organizations that do webinars can now offer more training sessions to internal staff with the existing budget. Webinar attendees also benefit since the price can be lower and they get the same content.

Shortens Sales Cycle
On average, a salesman conducts the same presentation once or twice a day. This means 10 leads a week or even less since follow up meetings are done in between. If he wanted more, he’ll have to sacrifice more hours to accommodate more people.

Organizations that offer webinar sales presentations maximizes their sales force, get more leads and focuses more time on getting the contract signed. They manage to talk to several leads in one session instead of just one. Some have less people in their team, which makes it now possible to have them earn more on commissions.

Value Added Service
Professionals and organizations alike are constantly looking to bring more to their customers. Value added services are often expensive but we know it’s worth every penny to keep a customer loyal.

Some have used webinars to extend customer support and further educate a consumer. Say, Company X now offers monthly webinars to existing customers for them to manage common questions. This has then decreased the number of calls in their call center and customers are more satisfied. The possibilities are endless.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and there are more reasons why YOU should start implementing this technology in your organization and professional life. Stop hesitating and start one today.

If you’re still not sure if it’s something you should implement, list down your apprehensions and write it on the comments box. I’ll go through each one and do follow up posts, if necessary. Better yet, I’ll schedule a webinar for those who would like to get a deeper understanding of what webinars can do for you. Let me know.

Photo courtesy of lovepeachphotography.

During the mid afternoon of April 28th, Lopez Link through the HR / PR Council of the Lopez Group of Companies launched its first webinar session entitled “Social Media and Networking 101”, which was conducted by Janette Toral.

There were close to 50 registrants for the webinar comprised of different employees within the group of companies and guests. About 30 made it to the session. Considering this is their first undertaking within the realm of webinars, the number was definitely a good start.

As the room was opened, attendees started to come in as early as 20 minutes before the session.  The session started at 3PM sharp.  About 70% of the audience were first time webinar attendees, as they were asked by Janette at the start of the session.  A phrase has been coined for newbies stating that they are not “webinar virgins” anymore.

The presentation was filled with statistics, discussed the basics of social media and existing sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn plus a showcase of social media campaigns from top corporations and what made it successful.

One interesting thing to note are the questions asked during the session. Some were basic such as “What is the difference between a blog and a microblog?”, “What does SEO mean?” and “Is it advantageous to “be-friend” your competitors in social media sites?”. Some were geared towards internal communications, corporate branding, whether social media is just geared towards the B & C market but probably hard to penetrate lower C & D, and even a short assessment of Meralco’s effort to confront recent issues through social media.

Despite the audio issues experienced during the session, which could be due to high internet traffic usage at the scheduled time that resulted to a slow internet connection, the participants engaged with the speaker and stayed 20 more minutes to learn. Some even asked for an extension.

Rosan Cruz, AVP of Group Public Relations for Benpres Holdings Corporation informed us that there will be a monthly webinar session available for its employees and guests through Lopez Link, a monthly publication of the Lopez Group of Companies.

Support for the event was managed by ProFora Media.

Webinars rely on technology most especially on bandwidth.  Without it you can’t attend or host one.  If it’s too slow you’ll be disconnected several times.

Unlike our first world counterparts, our bandwidth is shared and not guaranteed.   Broadband providers here offer a fast download rate but we know that we don’t get the “stated” speed in our plans.

So, the question is: What Internet provider can I rely on to successfully host or attend a webinar?

We’ve managed to test the huge broadband players with several webinar tools prior to us launching and still constantly testing on every session we’ve hosted.  For this post, I’ll focus on the residential service and not the wireless broadband products. Here are the results:

SMART BRO

The 999 Unlimited plan that has a speed of 1mbps.  This should be good to go but because the connection isn’t stable, it’s not recommended.  The “transformers” experience was born when we used it.  I realized, in hindsight, that I should’ve counted the number of times I said “You sound like the Transformers!” during our meetings.

An attendee would be able to connect to a session but might encounter some difficulty hearing the speaker at some point.  For speakers, I would say don’t even dare to use it, not unless you want a catastrophe in your hands.

BAYANTEL DSL

The 384kbps plan just won’t cut it.  Yes, it may be enough to cover the minimum speed, but remember it isn’t guaranteed.  The 1699 plan is workable.  We’ve had a few successful sessions under this plan, mostly on the hosting side.  Just a few tips before you go and subscribe.

If you are presenting and hosting, it’s better to do a speed test at certain times of the day.  It’s still not as reliable as you would expect.  Though you won’t get disconnected as much, the lag time is huge!

As an attendee, this plan is suffice to attend webinars.  Just don’t expect sessions that offer video streaming to work as well.  The host or speaker has to be ready for any unexpected lag times, so those who don’t rely too much on slides, this could work for you.

SKY BROADBAND

So far, we’ve managed to successfully host webinars through this service.  But, we subscribed to a plan that has a high download and upstream speed.

Their 1.5 mbps plan would be good for attendees and speakers, having an upload burst speed of 512 kbps.  I will recommend them for your webinar sessions.  If you could get a static IP address, which is an additional P200.00 then get it.  This will make sure your connection is stable.

PLDT DSL

This is a tricky one.  Their 999 plan is suffice and has worked well with our sessions.  Though they can’t promise the upload speed at this point.  They say it’s the same as the download speed, but based on experience, it isn’t as reliable.  Getting a static IP address is not recommended since they charge an arm and a leg to get one.

The trick here is to request for the installer to connect your line to the “new lines”.  It’s more stable and faster.

The last two would be my recommendation.  Just take note that there are different factors to consider to ensure a successful webinar session.  Bandwidth is just one of them.

Image courtesy of Mayank Austen Soofi

The numbers are increasing.  Facebook users log in to their accounts almost everyday.  The venue where they log in isn’t limited to their homes.  It has now crossed over to the workplace.  This has caused some concern amongst management (though, they too, access Twitter and LinkedIn).

Janette Toral, founder of Digital Filipino, will discuss the use of social media, blogs, and social networks within the workplace and how it poses as a challenge to Human Resources in a one-hour webinar session on November 5, 2009 from 4PM to 5PM, Philippine time.   This ProFora Lightbulb session will answer questions like:

• Should we allow employees access to social networking sites like Facebook and Friendster?
• How do we avoid situations like employees posting information about the company in their blog by sharing their angst about fellow employees?
• Does social media contribute to productivity of an employee in the workplace?
• What is an ideal social media usage policy that we can use for our company?

Join this webinar to know more and join in the discussion.

Image courtesy of Anne Helmond & kerryct

In partnership with ProFora Media, Digital Filipino is celebrating its 10th anniversary alongside with One Internet Day this year. As we empower more Filipinos globally with the Internet, it is fitting that webinars are introduced, not only to educate of the numerous opportunities that it can bring, but the benefits of how this platform can bring everyone together to collaborate.

The celebration will be a whole day event, starting from 9AM and ends at 8pm on September 17, 2009.  There will be 9 FREE webinars available from different industries.

This is not only a milestone for Digital Filipino, but for ProFora Media and the webinar industry within the country as well, as this is the ever first virtual conference to be done in the Philippines.  Be part of history and attend a Philippine webinar.  Share it to your friends and colleagues so they, too, can be part of this event.

To check on the list of webinars to be conducted live on September 17 and to register, you can visit ProFora’s events page.

The Philippine webinar scene is now being dominated by Janette Toral, founder of DigitalFilipino and known for being an e-commerce expert within the country.   In partnership with ProFora Media, a virtual events company, she will be conducting a series of webinars starting August 24, 2009.   From email marketing to e-commerce project planning, her webinar workshops will engage audiences and keep them asking for more.

Here is a list of her upcoming webinars.  All are going to be 2 hours in length and will start at 1000AM and end at noon Philippine time.

Email Marketing
August 24, 2009

Social Network & Advertising
August 25, 2009

Blog Marketing & Advertising
August 26, 2009

Generating Online Income through Google Adsense
August 27, 2009

E-Commerce Project Planning & Creating an eStore
August 31, 2009

Accepting Payments Online
September 1, 2009

Mobile Marketing
September 2, 2009

Blogging 101
September 3, 2009

Web Content & SEO Writing
September 7, 2009

SEO Tools & Techniques 101
September 8, 2009

Setting Up & Analyzing Blog Traffic Statistics
September 9, 2009

Marketing your Website through Google Adwords
September 10, 2009

As this is an online event, anyone can join from around the world.  Register now! Seats are limited.

ProFora Media is accepting registrations for an upcoming webinar on the State of E-Commerce in the Philippines by Janette Toral.

Janette will be discussing the latest updates on the latest statistics, industry developments, policy updates and trends in E-Commerce within the Philippines during this complimentary one-hour webinar.

This live session will be held on July 16, 2009 at 11:00 AM Philippine time.

Expert speaker Janette co-founded the Philippine Internet Commerce Society in 1997 and lobbied for the passage of the Y2K Law and E-Commerce Law.  She published her e-commerce book in year 2000 that gave birth to DigitalFilipino.com.  She is the first Filipino author published by McGraw-Hill Education Asia.

She is a recipient of the DTI / CITEM E-Services Philippines E-Champion Award 2008 for Policy Development following Senators Magsaysay and Roxas.

For registration inquiries, you can contact ProFora at 63.2.3767040 or info @ proforamedia.com.

Your life, your business, your blog. Learn how to make them work together, effectively and efficiently.

Web-logs or blogs are fast becoming more than just a chronicle of one’s life. With today’s technologies, it has made it even easier for anyone to start one and businesses have also taken advantage.

Whether you just started a blog or have been maintaining several at a time, getting the word out to your audience can be daunting. Let this webinar show you how it can be an effective tool whether for business or personal use.

This webinar will show you how to:

• Start your blog the right way with the right content.
• Improve your blog using the Visionary Blogging Method
• Evaluate your blog and what you should improve
• Know the deciding factors whether it fits your business
• Leverage your blog to create income
• Create a winning social media strategy

Expert Speaker Easton Ellsworth is a blogging and new media strategy consultant who advises companies and individuals on how to use blogs and social media more effectively. From 2005 to 2008, Easton worked as an editor for the Know More Media blog network.

He is the creator of the Visionary Blogging method for blog and blogging skills improvement and the author of an e-book on passive income generation. He served as the assistant event coordinator for Blog Action Day 2008 – Poverty and currently works as a community leader at BlogCatalog.  Easton also writes blogging news and advice for The Blog Herald.

If you are interested in attending, you can post a comment here.  Include your preferred time as well.

Do you know what a webinar is?  How does it work?  What are the benefits?

You can now attend live seminars without leaving your home or office! Save on travel.  Save time.  Save money.

Online seminars—or webinars– is the new way to learn or share knowledge. If you have a high-speed internet connection and a PC headset, attending a webinar can be a more economical and practical alternative to traditional seminars.

One of its benefits would be savings on travel costs.
If you live in Metro Manila, you know how stressful it can get during the rush hours.  Traffic is terrible!  Yes, the coding scheme might help a bit but because of the sheer number of vehicles being bought is increasing, you know it’s only a short term solution.  Because of traffic congestion, most people are late for meetings and are just not productive.  Not only do you waste time, you use up more gas and spend more on maintaining your vehicle due to wear and tear.

A classic example would be a salesman trying to meet as many clients as possible on a given day.  If you were to market and do your presentation through a webinar, you can schedule an hour a day (or week) to meet your potential clients, without having to travel.  This saves you a lot of money!  Your potential leads then increase because you can invite several at a time.

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Did you know that a minimum wage earner can retire as a multi-millionaire? Do you want to be wealthy but aren’t sure where to start? This webinar will show you how!

It’s not true that a high salary or rich relatives are the only sure ways to achieve wealth.  If you dream of reaching a point in your life when you wouldn’t have to worry about money, then this is for you!

This webinar aims to:

• Simplify the complex world of finance.
• Reveal investment strategies you can take to jump start your journey to wealth.
• Break “Money Myths” such as having a high salary to achieve your desired wealth.

Expert Speaker Hoover Uy de Baron is a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC) and specializes in managing the hard-earned money of Filipinos.  He has been investing for the last 13 years and specializes in real estate and stock analysis. Hoover has experienced most of the financial pitfalls that all investors normally go through and his wish is for others to learn from his mistakes.  He currently is a director and officer in various finance, real estate and insurance companies.  He finished his MBA in the University of Western Australia.

Hoover is currently writing articles in his blog, How to Make Everyday a Sunday.

He regularly speaks at his own webinar, hosted by ProFora Media twice a month.  Included in his webinar is a free consultation with his attendees after the session.  If you’ve attended his session, tell us about your experience.