My first experience of a webinar: talking about a water company’s prices and performance
Ever heard of a webinar?
A webinar is an online event that is hosted by a company and broadcasts to individuals through their computers via the Internet. A webinar allows a presenter/speaker from the hosting company to share PowerPoint presentations (or other multimedia content) with audiences that can be located anywhere.
A webinar also allows the hosting company to interact with the audience. The audience can ask the presenter/speaker, who is leading the webinar, questions in real-time through an instant messaging tool.
This week, I took part in my first webinar in my capacity as the independent Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water which supplies drinking water to 2.1 million customers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.
The event was ably facilitated by Jane McLaughlin, a PR professional with a lovely Edinburgh accent, with me giving a PowerPoint presentation, commenting on polls of the participants, and answering questions from the participants. Jane and I sat in an office in the company”s head office in the delightfully-named town of Snodland, while the 14 customers who took part sat at home in front of their computers.
The audio was one way: from Jane and me to the customers. The text was one-way: questions from the customers to me. It only lasted three-quarters of an hour, but we covered a lot of ground and I found it intense but fun. Certainly I commend South East Water for trying a new approach to engage customers in an interactive way and hope that the company will develop this approach further.
You can check out how the webinar looked and sounded here.