WEBINAR
MEANING OF WEBINAR
The term webinar is short for Web-based Seminar, a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the Web. Web conferencing refers to a service that allows conferencing events to be shared with remote locations. The service allows information to be shared simultaneously, across geographically dispersed locations in nearly real-time.
Applications for web conferencing include meetings, training events, lectures, or short presentations from any computer. A participant can be either an individual person or a group. Depending upon the provider, webinars may provide hidden or anonymous participant functionality, making participants unaware of other participants in the same meeting.
HISTORY OF WEBINAR
A trademark for the term "webinar" was registered in 1998 by Eric R. Korb (Serial Number 75478683, USPTO). In the late 1990s, the first true web conferencing software was introduced. By using a telephone and the internet, a broad audience of attendees can participate in a seminar without having to leave their desks.
ADVANTAGES OF WEBINAR
Webinars are as effective as on-site presentations without the travel expense. Other major advantages of webinar are Ability to ask questions of the speaker, Ability of the speaker to ask questions of the audience to assure comprehension, Survey at the end of the presentation for feedback to improve your presentation. A key feature of a Webinar is its interactive elements -- the ability to give, receive and discuss information.
ROLE OF VENDOR IN WEBINAR
Web conferencing is often sold as a service, hosted on a web server controlled by the vendor. The method of controlling access to an event is provided by the vendor. Offerings vary per vendor but most hosted services provide a cost per user per minute model, a monthly flat fee model and a seat model. Some vendors also provide a server side solution which allows the customer to host their own web conferencing service on their own servers. Most vendors also provide either a recorded copy of an event, or a means for a subscriber to record an event. The service is made possible by Internet technologies, particularly on IP/TCP connections.
FEATURES OF A WEB CONFERENCE INCLUDE
Slide show presentations - where images are presented to the audience and markup tools and a remote mouse pointer are used to engage the audience while the presenter discusses slide content.
Live or Streaming video - where full motion webcam, digital video camera or multi-media files are pushed to the audience.
VoIP (Real time audio communication through the computer via use of headphones and speakers) There are web conferencing technologies on the market that have incorporated the use of VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) audio technology, to allow for a completely web-based communication.
Web tours - where URLs, data from forms, cookies, scripts and session data can be pushed to other participants enabling them to be pushed though web based logons, clicks, etc. This type of feature works well when demonstrating websites where users themselves can also participate.
Meeting Recording - where presentation activity is recorded on the client side or server side for later viewing and/or distribution.
Whiteboard with annotation (allowing the presenter and/or attendees to highlight or mark items on the slide presentation. Or, simply make notes on a blank whiteboard.)
Text chat - For live question and answer sessions, limited to the people connected to the meeting. Text chat may be public (echo'ed to all participants) or private (between 2 participants).
Polls and surveys (allows the presenter to conduct questions with multiple choice answers directed to the audience)
Screen sharing/desktop sharing/application sharing (where participants can view anything the presenter currently has shown on their screen. Some screen sharing applications allow for remote desktop control, allowing participants to manipulate the presenters screen, although this is not widely used.)
REFERENCES
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