Listening with Intent

Okay, I’ll admit it.  I’ll admit what everyone else is doing.  Yes, I do other work while attending webinars. 

I know it’s heresy to say it.  After all, the webinar ‘how to’ white papers will give you tips on keeping the audience completely engaged.  Webinar hosting vendors have tools to show you how many attendees have left your presentation to do other things.  Taking polls during the webinar is supposed to keep your audience glued to the screen.

And yet… the truth is that we are all so busy that having the opportunity to listen to an interesting webinar while we try to get other work done is simply too appealing.  I believe it’s one of the reasons that webinars work so well as a marketing vehicle.  Being able to garner nuggets of good information and still make the deadline for that press release?  Now that’s a winning combination.

One could argue that Webcasts are the answer and I would agree that the flexibility of choosing the date/time I receive information is the ultimate new consumption method.  However, there is something intriguing about a live event, if nothing other than I get to ask my question and receive a live, human response.

Recently while attending a webinar, I drifted back to my email, when I discovered that the speaker at this particular event was so compelling, I found myself switching back again and again to see his fantastic slides and to hear more.  It occurred to me that this was the secret to keeping audience attention:  keep it relevant and persuasive and you’ll keep ‘em coming back for more.

Does that mean I’m giving up my mult-tasking ways?  No way!  But a webinar’s ability to pull me back in will be a true measure of its success.