A step-by-step guide to training webinars

immanuel vinikas headshot
Immanuel Vinikas
Updated May 14 2023
virtual onboarding
immanuel vinikas headshot
Immanuel Vinikas
Updated May 14 2023

Looking for a safe way to facilitate knowledge sharing within your company that’s both practical and cost-effective? Smart choice. At a time when digital communication has become essential in promoting efficient collaboration within hybrid and fully-remote work teams, a significant part of a company’s success depends on its ability to share information via the right communication channel. Training webinars are valuable tools that help companies practice safe knowledge transfer sessions at scale.

 

This article delves into the components of a thriving training webinar and the techniques and resources that businesses can adopt to guarantee seamless execution from beginning to end. Let’s dive right in.

 

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What is a training webinar?

A training webinar is a web-based seminar in which employees receive training on a work-related topic, via video broadcast.

 

Webinars can be streamed live to an audience or pre-recorded and delivered on demand whenever it is convenient.

 

Since training webinars are tools used to share knowledge, companies can use them to achieve two primary objectives:

1. Internal training of your teams: Companies can use webinars to teach team members about matters critical to their success as employees. This includes providing onboarding on products used in the workplace, key information on the products or services offered by the company, or internal HR training.

 

2. External training of customers: A company can also use a training webinar as a means to provide instructions to a customer or prospect on key information related to the use of the company’s product (aka customer education or onboarding).

 

 

 

Are webinars effective for training?

A webinar is one of the best channels to provide training to your employees and customers on a given topic. Here’s how:

 

Trust

Providing training in a webinar is a way to build trust with your audience. Pre-recorded on-demand webinars give employees a feeling of reassurance and safety knowing that they can always access important information at a moment’s notice. With Forbes citing poor communication practices as the main culprit of a 42% decrease in leadership trust within companies, training webinars help bridge that gap by ensuring employees can access important information on-demand whenever convenient.

 

Safety

When done with the right software, training webinars provide security to you and your company by ensuring that only those who need to access those training sessions can do so. This is because the best training webinar software allows you the flexibility to provide access to the material using encrypted links where you and only you can determine who has the right to view, edit, or share the information discussed in the seminar.

 

Engagement

Webinars designed for training purposes offer an engaging and enjoyable format for delivering instruction to your audience. Oberlo reports video consumption is on the rise, with as many as 91% of consumers clamoring for more videos from their favorite brands. Webinars afford hosts the flexibility to layer engaging graphics to reel their audience in and keep them hooked from start to finish.

 

Affordability

Hosting training sessions in person can be expensive. Companies with a geographically dispersed workforce or customer base have to factor in the costs of facilitating attendee travel and training delivery. In such cases, training webinars are solid alternatives that reduce those expenses and allow companies to scale their operations long-term.

 

 

 

Creating a training webinar session for your audience – a step-by-step guide

 

Crafting a training webinar session for your audience isn’t complicated when you know what to do. Here’s a scalable, flexible process to help you create your next training webinar and ensure it’s a success:

 

1. Know your audience

A crucial factor in conducting a successful training webinar is to possess a comprehensive understanding of the requirements, preferences, and aspirations of your intended audience.

 

If you are doing internal training within your team, try to figure out the objectives of the exercise as well as what your employees hope to gain from this seminar. Likewise, when conducting customer training webinars, endeavor to delve into their minds and ascertain what they expect to gain from the session.

 

By focusing on the needs of your audience, you root your webinar in an audience-centered approach that helps you streamline your content, graphics, and message to help meet your audience’s goals.

 

2. Choose the right training format

Depending on the type of information you’d like to share as well as the audience you’re targeting, some training webinars are best conducted live while others are best suited for on-demand viewing.

For example, if you frequently onboard new team members on the use of collaborative tools used in your company, having on-demand training webinars might be a solid way to save time by prerecording key information and making it accessible to employees with just the click of a button.

 

3. Choose the right training webinar tool

Choosing the right software tool plays a big role in the success of your training webinar.

Not all software tools are made equally. You must choose the right one that matches your needs and allows you the flexibility to scale your communicative operations as your company grows and the demand for tight, effective communication becomes even more necessary.

 

 

Differences between a webinar, seminar, and online courses

Webinars, seminars, and online courses are similar, but they aren’t the same thing.

 

Webinars are sessions held online. They require an internet connection and software tools to facilitate the execution of the event.

Seminars are also a type of instructional session, but they are held in person.

 

In contrast to webinars, online courses offer a comprehensive exploration of a specific subject matter, and upon completion, the participant is typically awarded recognition or certification for their involvement in the course. Online courses, by their very nature, mimic a regular classroom setting virtually, where viewers go through modules, units, or lessons in much the same way as they would in a regular class.

 

 

 

How can Kaltura help with your webinar training experience

Once you’ve figured out the right training format for your audience’s needs, you must pick a webinar training software tool that helps you communicate seamlessly with your audience.

 

Kaltura’s webinar solutions help you create training webinars that keep your audience coming back for more by creating brand-powered experiences that drive engagement.

 

Discover how you can start using Kaltura today for free to start building training webinars that make you and your brand stick out.

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