How to Choose the Right Webinar Vendor

They are not created equal

Fifth of a series (part one click here , part two click here,
part three click here, part four click here)

by Todd Davison, President, Bulldog Solutions

You’re planning your Webinar. You know the goals and select an appealing topic.

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You need to line up presenters, think about visuals and content, the proper technology, dates, times, follow-up plans and more.

It’ll be great — but, wait a minute, which vendor will you use? Also, do you use more than one to get the desired technologies? Aren’t all vendors just about the same?

Webinar vendors are not equal in cost, services provided or technologies offered. Some hold your hand and design custom events that match your needs. Others use a “broad brush” approach that is good for certain events but not all. Your task is to select the vendor that helps deliver the best and smoothest event. This article will help you in that selection process.

Initial consultation is important.

If this is your first Webinar, or if you’ve only done one or two, select a provider that offers free consultation in the early stages of development. Share your goals and strategies. Then, they can suggest the best, most cost-effective technologies for your presentation. After all, why pay for a Ferrari, if you only need a mini-van?

There are over 50 technologies available. It’s important that your Webinar provider offers a selection of the best—the ones that provide the performance you need at a fair cost. At Bulldog, we partner with PlaceWare, WebEx, m-show, ON24 and Raindance. These, in my opinion, are the crème de la crème.

In addition, a consultation with an expert vendor helps you get good advice on pre-event promotion, attendee notifications, follow up, polls and surveys. You want the biggest and most qualified audience. A knowledgeable vendor, that has facilitated Webinar after Webinar, often knows what works and what doesn’t. This consultative approach will help you maximize results.

Event management services are critical.

Most Webinar providers don’t offer this service, and that’s amazing. Especially for your first few Webinars, an event manager can “save the day.” After you’ve done a number of events, this need will lessen because your experience builds a pattern and a successful recipe for future events.

If you’re light on Webinar experience, don’t make the mistake of selecting a vendor that can’t guide and manage the event. A Webinar has many moving parts. They need to flow seamlessly and flawlessly. Event management handles that flow.

Training, rehearsals and event-day coordination of audio, Web, IP stream, live event support, and post-show reporting setup—these are just some of the many details and in-show services that event managers perform. The cost of this service varies from $500-1700 depending upon the amount needed. This is money well spent to achieve the best possible Webinar experience.

“Surround-the-event” features should be available.

Some technology and Webinar providers only offer one-fits-all services on essential items like event registration, surveys and Web archiving. If you want to offer a white paper on registration, or put speaker bio’s on the registration page — some of these and others won’t be available if your vendor uses a cookie-cutter approach.

Pick a supplier that enables the registration page(s) with your logo, your newsletter sign-up or whatever else you want there.

If you want things above the cusp, select a supplier that can deliver them. Your surveys should be unique, and your Webinar archives should be easily available. It’s your Webinar; make sure your supplier can customize these services.

Pricing is always important.

Webinar providers are not created equal. Nor are their prices. How much should you shop around? Should you look for one supplier or many providers of individual components?

By all means, shop around. You’ll soon find that pricing is varied, technology is varied, and services are not the same. The level of truly good advice is limited.

Perhaps a comparison grid, listing various suppliers, types and costs per technology, customization possibilities, cost per minute per attendee, event management, pre-event training and consultation may work for you.

Unless you’re a very experienced Webinar event producer, I don’t recommend trying to line up a number of different vendors for the various components of your event. It’s a headache even for the experienced. I suggest looking for one provider that can do it all. This approach saves loads of time, prevents logistical snafus and often reduces the costs.

Watch out for these!

Suppose your Webinar registration is not yet what you want. Can you cancel the event or move it to a future date? Is there a cancellation fee?

On the positive side, suppose your registration is much more than you expected. Is there an underbooking fee? Conversely, is there an overbooking fee?

Negotiate these in advance. Don’t wait until it happens.