I spent an hour yesterday in a Go To Meeting Webinar. If you’re not familiar with the whole concept of a Webinar, it’s the equivalent of an online board meeting. Everyone invited to the meeting logs into a central website, and then the presenters lead the meeting via a slideshow presentation that appears on every one’s screens.
I’ve attended about three Webinars in my entire life, so I don’t really know the standard operating procedure, but in every one I’ve attended, the video appears onscreen, but you have to use your phone to dial in and get the audio. It’s more like drive-in theatre than a truly interactive experience.
To make it even more like a drive-in, attendees are usually instructed to mute their phones (the microphone, not the receiver), so any background noise (like my dog barking in the background) doesn’t interrupt the presentation. (If you have questions, you can type them in, and the presenter will presumably answer them at a convenient time.)
At any rate, about ten minutes into the presentation, some joker logs in and calls in. This is obviously his first Go To Meeting, because you can hear him rustling around in the background. He didn’t get the memo about muting his phone. After some indiscernible mumbling, he blurts out, “Well this is really stupid. I can watch the video on screen, but I have to dial in to get the audio? What a bunch of idiots!”
Good thing I had my phone muted, because I couldn’t hold back the laughter. What a goon!
The presenter handled it well and explained that all this was new to her. She said that if anyone could recommend a better system for handling online meetings, she was open to suggestions, and then she went on with the meeting.
The clueless caller hung up, found the mute button on his phone, or just decided to clam up. I’m not sure. I was just glad it wasn’t me.
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I was on a Go To Webinar presentation yesterday morning–it was all about using Facebook to create buzz for your business–and the presenters neglected to hang up their phone once the presentation was over. For my part, I did the same, opting to run to the bathroom immediately after the presentation ended. When I returned to my office I noticed my cell was transmitting incoming sound via the speaker phone set up. Turns out the presenters were debriefing their presentation (a lot of self-congratulatory bull-hockey) and while doing so, used some choice and nasty words regarding some of the questions logged from participants. Not the type of buzz you want to create while presenting a webinar on creating business buzz via Facebook!
I remember President Reagan and his open mic August 11,1984
“My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”