 Hello and welcome to today's webcast taking your CPD programs online tips for educational webinars. My name is Vesna I'm from Redback and I'll be your host for today's session Professional development is an important part of any membership organization But how can we innovate our programs and engage our members to stand out from the rest today? We're joined by Sarah Gonzalez and Michael Bunker. They hate to shed some light on everything related to digital CPD How are you both today? Great. Thank you. That's great. So let's get straight into it We know how webinars play a role in most organizations, but Michael, what role do they play in associations? In the association space CPD are an expected association function Whether it be a physical or digital event and from this we can see that seventy two point three percent of association members Rate on the education and webinars as valuable for it I think it's also important to note that you know for a long time We've been talking about digital and online and when it does come to use in webinars to facilitate Between associations and members it would never replace that face-to-face element So today is really about utilizing different ways on how we can improve the online experience for everyone But also remembering that there is a blended approach and we'll go into that a little bit later But yeah, I think it's great to see that from a lot of the Feedback we've got from people in terms of the function of an association They do actually say that online education and webinars are hugely important compared to everything else as well So that's I think that's reassuring for everyone very reassuring now They definitely go hand-in-hand. Yep, and we've recently looked at all our customers who ran online CPD in 2016 And we came up with a sacks and facts report which can be found in the resources folder Sarah when it comes to attendance, what did we find? The biggest thing was is and this this was really interesting because we had no research today when it did come to online CPD and no research within Australia as well So we've sort of taken a step back looked at every single one of our customers who have used online CPD In some form and then we've actually analysed all their events ran over 2016 so in 2016 at the beginning of the year we actually do the redback report so corporates product launches Government departments, you know different purposes 40 to 50 percent of those if sorry with those events They only had a 40 to 50 percent attendance rate on something So whether it's marketers using it like I said government departments or any other body when it comes to associations and CPD Applications, they actually had a much higher attendance rate So long story short if you're running CPD programs You're more likely to get more people joining online in that live environment and as you can see there You've got seventy nine point five percent attendance rate for people paying for your events So obviously if you're charging for something and you're paying that you want to actually join And then you have a fifty nine percent attendance rate for those joining a free environment Also interesting to note that when it came due to duration So this is the length of time that your attendees will spend on your webinars Most people in the paid side of things they actually spent 90% of that whole hour or two hours online Which is huge. So not only are you getting seventy nine point five percent of people actually attend at some stage They're also staying online. They're not getting preoccupied. They're actually enjoying the content They're not actually just logging off because they feel like it and I mean, that's quite a big expectation as well two hours I mean, I would have thought that maybe the 60-minute events would have a much higher Event duration for participants actually logging on but for two hours It's really fascinating to see that some really interesting findings in there And we'll go into that a little bit more and I think it is interesting because like you said a lot of people think Oh, no one's gonna sit online for that long But what you actually find is there are a lot of advantages of having longer webinars. Yeah most definitely and So for the length of events so we said that people that stay on for two hours actually stay on the longest But what other things did we find as well in regards to the duration of the events? Yeah, so I want to go through this quickly because we are going to discuss. Okay, so what what does this mean in a moment? But let's first look at 30-minute events. So here's people holding events that are going for 30 minutes for CPD programs as you can see only Only 1% of our customer base actually rent CPD events for 30 minutes So they aren't very popular and I think that's because people want education and people want to actually sit there and 30 minutes Isn't a long time to actually digest a lot of this information For some of the industries as well, you can't actually accumulate that many points doing a 30-minute session So the hour of lock-in above you can get more points for so that's why they're trying kind of points to that direction as well Yeah, however, what we did see is they did have a higher attendance rate So if you are charging for events and they're running for 30 minutes That's the average attendance rate there And 87% of attendees actually stayed online for the full 30 minutes going into 16 minute 60 minute webinars now So this is the most popular side a lot of people actually run events that go for 60 minutes 35% of our customers actually did this time duration in terms of their webinars they did have a lot of people staying online so you can see there the percentage of Attendees who actually did stay online, but if you are running a free event The attendance isn't actually that high as well. So more people are thinking, okay Maybe I'll just wait for the on-demand to come out Let's look at 90 minutes once again a really high attendance rate for those free events and paid people who actually Charging for these events that are running for 90 minutes 90% of those people stayed online Now I really want to just want everyone to keep that in mind because as we go into this little bit further into the So what who cares 90% is a long time for people to stay online Yeah, but what's happening with that other 10% so you do have people 90% online for 90% of the time But at the end of your event you've got 10% of people logging off So what's actually happening then your feedback your surveys your quizzes a whole range of things So we need to start thinking about how we can work that into our online events to enhance them And here we go 120 minutes. So this is the longest one So a two-hour webinar can actually be a long time for a lot of people But some of our customers actually have breaks in between. So what that means, okay? We've done 60 minutes go grab a coffee stretch your legs come back And these accounted for 33% of the events that were held in 2016 Funny enough, they were all paid. Oh, every single person who did run an event a webinar CPD related that didn't run for two hours only random as paid events They weren't free at all and this also had the highest duration even though it is the longest time to be online So just a few interesting stats there Yeah, and so speaking of duration with the 30 60 90 120 minutes. What does that all tell us about the CPD trends? What can we learn from that and how can we apply that to our events? I think the biggest thing is that we need to know our audience and understand that CPD is different to a lot of other applications So within one organization a lot of a lot of associations are actually running webinars for a variety of different things and CPD programs might only be a portion of those But we need to start treating them differently and people are willing to stay online and learn You know, it's not just about getting people online so they can do it through their lunch break They're paying for these events. They know they're going to get accredited So we need to start thinking about the fact that we need to make them a little bit longer at times But also understanding that we need to start using different tools and stuff to make it a bit more exciting Otherwise, you know after 12 months of running the same things. Yeah, it can get a bit boring And the other thing like I said that we're going to discuss later is really catering to those people who are dropping off Yes, so you've got those people staying online for 90% of the time However, what then happens for the rest of it and how can we make that part of our overall plan? I think a lot of that has to come down to with the market of who you're going to your audience What are the metrics that they actually get their CPD points for so if they only need to be online for that 90% of the time They don't need they don't have any reward for staying on for that Q&A part So by having clear metrics of how they're going to actually get their points Doesn't mean they have to be on there a hundred percent of the time if you would clearly outline the beginning You can keep your audience online, but it's all about how they engage with the platform We'll get into some features and functionalities a little later on to talk about how you can engage with the audience But each different industry out there for profession the way they're marked on this is different So you need to design your program around how you can actually credit the people for joining exactly Yeah, and speaking of features I think it's a really important thing to actually look into that and see how that plays a role in CPD and how it can actually enhance So before we get into tips and tricks and Michael is our webcasting expert So he will be all over that but what can you tell us about the platform features and what you can do with all the Different things that we have. Well, we'll get on to that in just a moment I really first just want to cover off and I know a lot of people online right now Really want to talk about the revenue benefits of doing this and again, this isn't something to replace your face-to-face events This isn't accompaniment This is something that you can run parallel with them to reach your database or your membership that can't attend those physical events So you do need to have two strategy for it But we've got a couple customers up here that have delivered events with Redback conferencing and we'll look at how they invest it What they invested to their return so we can see customer one they invested $4,515 their return was six thousand three hundred one which was a profit of one thousand seven hundred eighty six Which was a good profit after like a small series just dipping their toes in the water But we can see where the next couple of customers they invested a lot more money, but their return was a lot greater So customer number two invested twenty three thousand return was seventy three thousand It's a fifty thousand other profit for running these events now These are not some of these figures don't encounter the cost of speakers and stuff But we'll get into the speakers and what their benefits are doing for this But we can see here the big return on investment for these ones the last one They've invested a very substantial amount and their program was about online delivery of events So they were going to invest a lot into it and we can see here that they invested a hundred eighty seven thousand dollars Return was six hundred and seventy thousand which was a profit of four hundred and eighty three was almost half a million As a profit for return on investment I think it's the biggest thing here obviously people are making money as their events and it is a revenue generator But I think what we need to really Emphasizes the fact that if you go out there and you want to use this as a revenue generator for part of your organization Then you need to start thinking about programs and doing one webinar and having that to see how it goes and not you know Thinking of a long-term strategy over say 12 18 or 24 months can be quite dangerous And it is you know You can tip your toe in the water like you said and have a little term But don't expect to see a huge outcome No, it is more about you know the more you invest in it the more time you put in and the more I Guess aware and excited you make your members about it Well, they can then start to be part of your program and then before you know what you've built that community Yes, so I think that's also I think that's the biggest thing as well your community And how you're reaching an audience and using webinars a platform to do that is it's it's not a one-event solution You're not going to gain an audience from one event word of mouth has to travel You have to go around to your all your members or the people that you're providing this training to but you do Need to have a clear plan and you do need to have a full series booked in so you can see from first event to the Last event how you're able to grow that how you're going to get people in different channels using Social media and other methods for that, but you do need to commit to a chunk and not just a bite Yeah, most definitely and I think that applies to all webinar programs It's not just with CPD, but it's very important because if your members are logging on for face up or coming in for face-to-face events They want to know that those online resources are there as well And it's not just going to come in once and then it's gone and all the benefits as well Yeah, definitely, so now we'll jump on to the features features So what can you tell us about the platform features and what's useful? What works what doesn't work? Well, I think the biggest shock to this was people don't really use much of the features for CPD They're still very because I guess a lot of actual physical CPD events still are just persons standing up there and presenting a PowerPoint Not really that much and they kind of carry that same face-to-face mentality into web and forgetting you can do a lot more in a web-based environment So we can see here that only 33% 33% actually use the polling in surveys and none of them use the presence manager Which I think for anyone in the space where you have to do mandatory CPD points and actually prove that people are online That presence manager is the only clear definitive way you can prove someone was watching the screen and not turning around And just listening in the audio and maybe doing the emails, but they were actually present They were engaged and they were interacting with your system Although I think one good thing that we did see come out of this report that we're talking about is the fact that the average Number of polls is four and then the average numbers number people are using surveys within it So we're going to polling and what that is shortly However, just for everyone out there I think if you've used polling or maybe you haven't it is a way of receiving feedback from your online attendees And I think in the past people were going in using one poll because they thought to have they thought they had to Getting some feedback and then moving on and one thing we've always said if you are going to use polling Be consistent and use it often so maybe at the beginning maybe two in the middle to see if people are understanding the learning Objectives and then also at the end as well to wrap up So the fact that people I think have taken that on board and they are doing an average of four is really exciting And it gives us optimism I think for the future and plus people are using in-room surveys as well Which is another feature which we'll go into in a moment perfect. Yeah, definitely So it's obviously about education and knowing what's available and what works for different people So we've got the stats and facts from the new report that we've created. What does that all mean? What can we learn from the stats and facts? Okay, so there's a report Everything's been analyzed now. Let's talk about what it actually means for you everyone watching So we've got all the data there a few things that have come out of it Which is what we're going to into going to now is the fact that paid attendance have a higher attendance rate We all know that and we are you know looking at different ways to sort of enhance those and to Increase the functionality of these events We need to look at ways that we can obviously cater to those people who are staying online for 90% of the time And maybe incorporating some more interactive features beforehand And we really want to talk to people about how to get their program off the ground if you've never done CPD before or you Are looking to refresh your program next year and also let's go into the platform a little bit as well Because I think there's so much to cover when it actually comes to the features and functionality and stuff that people don't even know exists So yeah great when it comes to creating our events, where do we begin? Okay, so let's start right back at the beginning Because I understand that there may be different people at different levels online So first thing is to really think about what you're going to create so in order to do this I think a lot of people just assume they don't actually look outside of their Organization to listen to what their members are talking about what other events they're attending in the industry and also who's being talked about So within your industry, there's so many experts out there Subject matter experts who may be really really famous within your organization and your industry Or some unknown people who are saying and doing a lot of exciting things And this is your chance to actually get them in front of the camera and to get them talking to your members So really take a look outside of your organization looking your competitors. Yeah, definitely But also then listen to other people within your organization So I think the biggest mistake we do when we do talk about these CPD events is we go out and we are a CPD manager Or where someone actually assisting to deliver it with another department and we're not talking to anyone else So we're sort of letting the marketing team do their thing. We're letting your membership officers do their thing You know a lot of people out there are actually Still using telephone as a way to engage members and to even get feedback from them or call them up and find out About their membership. These are the people who are talking to your members on a regular basis So let's start asking everyone in the organization. What's happening? Go on to LinkedIn look at your discussion groups and then create your program So then think about the content you're going to create and build it around that Think of evergreen content. Um, so evergreen content is a way is really just content that lives on for a lot longer And that also plays into your on-demand strategy as well You need to also look at the times and when are people in your industry actually going to be more available to attend these events So if you are um, you know, maybe um, you know, doctors if they're your main target market or maybe People in professional services is during the day actually best for them Are they going to be able to take an hour or maybe two hours out to actually sit down and pay attention? And then you also need to start thinking about how you're going to collect this data And what you're going to do with the data as well as well as your on-demand strategy So there's a whole range of things we need to think about we're going to break it down now And creation in terms of the first steps This is where it all this is where it all happens and it's about planning and making sure that you get the planning right to begin With so we always say to create compelling content And that's the you know, the three C's whatever you want to call it If you look down in the resources folder, there's a guide which is just on creating compelling content And that actually goes a lot deeper But these are the rules that we basically say um, just from the programs that we've run in the past and also Organizations who have actually got it right keep it educational Look at what you've got a lot of organizations have so many Different ways of delivering content whether it's written content whether it's videos whether it's membership surveys Take all that information and start to think about how you can adapt it into the online world Also think about alternative content. So a lot of people think of stuff That's really specific to the people who they're talking to which is great But then we need to start thinking a bit wider. So in terms of expanding our reach, which is something else we'll go into as an as a Someone who's delivering education Are you just limiting yourself? So there's so many different topics out there that are really relevant and people want to hear about Think about mental health think about wellness in the workplace Think about anything that's got to do with maybe your finances or something like that that you can tie back to So think about stuff that isn't just industry specific Yeah, so you have personal professional development, which is one side and then you're the personal development of the members as well Which is a great lead generating exercise, which we will talk about a bit And then also the why so why are you delivering delivering this and what are your goals and how are you going to measure this success? So I think for a lot of people they go out there It's like, well, I want to help reach my members and that's great But so does everyone at the end of the day So you need to start really taking a step back and talk to other people within your organization Like I said and start figuring out what your purpose is as a membership organization What your strategy is and then how are webinars going to contribute to this in terms of the grand scheme of things Because then you'll be able to see your investment go a lot further And then break it down as well So really start to think about the online platform with the tools we're going to go into And then think about presenters and who you can get online to help you achieve this And I think um you will say before you know a great thing is to work with your presenters and perfect them Well, that's it Well, everyone's got some great presenters and you have their physical event presenters who are very engaging and they can walk Up, down the room and they could be on a lapel and they can see people interacting But these might not be the presenters best for online delivery And we've seen it a thousand times before where they are very charismatic and energetic But you put them behind a camera or a laptop and they just freeze So you need to try and test your presenters before you actually get them involved So it's finding out have they done it before if so see if you can find some footage of them or a recording of a previous one They've done inspect before you buy if you are having to purchase your presenters, but as we can see here We'll get to it in just a moment, but like I'll take a step back So make sure that they're on board they're passionate about doing it You want to find people that are really enthusiastic about the topics That's the number one thing people rate a presenter on enthusiasm and passion Over anything else and that's what we found in the red back report And that's going to carry through to your cpd delivery as well If you have someone that is larger than life effervescent and not Hindered by the fact that they are using technology you'll have a winner there The next thing is educate and inspire so you need to just make sure that they're not just reading off of the slides But they maybe have dot points. It's not just a bunch of text on the screen They need to actually be inspiring and educating Have it that the slides are kind of broken down a little bit more and maybe have a white paper attached to it Which has the more detailed information for you want to have people that are intrigued and have follow-up steps for it Location location location so depending on where your presenters are Great thing about digital technology is you can have presenters from anywhere in the world But you do want to try and test their platforms and make sure there's not going to be any Pitfalls or downfalls with them presenting remotely or look for a presenter that has facilities where they can come in And utilize studios for the delivery So again, think about the technology It really does heart when you've got presenters out in rural Australia who are amazing people But the technology here isn't the best. Maybe use phone lines Tied into the web conferencing platform to be able to deliver your event for it and alignment It's probably the biggest thing that's talking about with the organizer of the marketing team and the presenter They all have to be on the same page There's nothing worse than you joining a webinar or a digital event and the presenter starts talking about a different A cpd program or a different topic that's similar to the title But they're not 100% aligned people if they're buying it Want to know exactly what they're coming into and you need to make sure that your presenter organizer marketing team Are all on the same page for that And then what's their investment? Some some organizations provide cpd points to the presenters for actually presenting So they get them that way if they're inside that space some people actually charge for it as well It really depends on how much you're willing to invest But what you can offer them for them taking their time out to present on your cpd program And I think in terms of you know when when it's all happening So obviously we need to understand the time and date we get feedback from members and stuff that we've been told For a long time now obviously we need to try and test and make sure that we're constantly evolving in terms of our webinar programs However, I think the two biggest things that have come out in the last 12 months that we've actually seen that has been great for so many Organizations in terms of innovating their programs the bundling and also the pre and post marketing So this really comes down to um if you are charging for an event consider bundling and a lot of people can be against this I think there's a lot of this whole sleazy sales thing that a lot of people assume You know buy to get one freeze sort of steak knives However, it can actually work in your favor if you start to think about it. So Let me um as an example I'm out there and I'm going to market to my members and say this event will cost you $65 and you'll get 10 cpd points out there However, if you purchase the next six months and you get this many cpd points It may only cost you say $500 and you might get a bit of a discount However, if you go out there and now start thinking about organizations and thinking within one organization You could potentially have 10 different members in there or other people who are interested in your content Start thinking about what we call organizational tickets. So this is where you actually go out there and you say, okay $65 for one person to view However, if you buy 10 tickets and that gives you 10 an organizational ticket where 10 people can view this That is only going to cost you $500 Now obviously all those people can get onto the webinar No matter what because all it is an email address for a lot of people and they might have a secure code But it is the mentality of a lot of people out there thinking. Oh, well, I'm actually buying this as one member I'm not going to share it with anyone else because I've invested out of my pocket to actually attend these So I'm not going to share it But if you do start thinking of an organization and how you can leverage off that and perhaps Times your you know in revenue by 10 and that's a different way And that's when you also start to embed yourself in an organization with your members And I think the last thing is utilizing pre and post. So When you are promoting your webinars and you do send an invitation and we do actually say try and keep it dedicated So if you have an event coming up next week, send a dedicated email invitation for that But also think about, you know, once people register and it says, okay, thank you for submitting What can you put on that page? How can you promote your series? How can you promote your next event and then start thinking about when people receive the confirmation email? What can you also put down the bottom something, you know Want to know more about joining members being a member? Sorry, if you are currently not a member and you are charging non-members Or maybe start thinking about how you can then encourage people to sign up to more that you have And that also goes hand in hand for once you close down your webinar And maybe the last slide is up and the presenter is talking Advertise your next webinar when people close out use your exit URLs to push out to your events page or maybe Actually get people to register for a face-to-face event And that's where the whole blended thing comes in and then also even when you send out the recording Which is a whole another level then you can that's a perfect opportunity out of every single Email that's sent out throughout the email marketing phase for online events That's your invitation your confirmation your reminder and your recording email By far the recording email will have the highest open rate. That's what we've found And so within that there's such an opportunity to actually start putting additional information in there That can then help your members find out more about you find out more about your programs And that's when we can actually start to see these programs evolve and people just start starting on and on and on And it's like this just always be promoting. Yes, many opportunities Don't think of it as a sleazy sales pitch idea start thinking of it as a as a value And it's your job to actually help people get onto these events most definitely and it doesn't always have to be a really Kind of sales. We watch this you can think of banners. You can think of lower thirds on your emails There's all sorts of things where you can just kind of embed little pictures And all sorts of different things with it So you can really get you can get really creative with your content and when you exit an event There are banners on the top. There's yeah videos. Exactly So when it comes to marketing cpd events, is that any different to marketing other events? Well, you know, I love talking about marketing. So I'll take this one Some of it we just touched on so that's a promotion I've been able to cross promote as much as possible That also ties into any content that you'll send or send it out not just online content But essentially cpd events. Yes, they are very similar. However, you may have a smaller market to actually market to But I really really encourage and Michael touched on this just a few moments ago Is that alignment with everyone else? So a lot of people who are promoting cpd events within organizations aren't responsible for the rest of the marketing And I think we're making a huge mistake out there if we're just keeping separate And we're just doing our own thing and we're not talking to one another And it's easier said than done because we're like, oh, well, of course we communicate in our organization That's what we do. We're great at it But if you don't have the same same plans and if you as an organizer of your cpd programs Don't know what your marketing department has planned for the next 12 months There's no way that you're going to be able to create a seamless marketing plan for your cpd programs So think about what's already happening. Sit down with your marketing team. Look at their content plan for the next 12 months Try and see how you can leverage in that if possible So think about how it's happening as well if your marketing team Uses social media and they've got over a hundred thousand followers on their LinkedIn page And you're not tapping into that to advertise your events then there's something missing You're doing that yet But you know what we don't we get so busy and we sit in front of our computer and we all have objectives And we have stuff to do and so we don't talk to other people or it's like, hi, bye We're not actually talking about the finer things And then consider lead generation. So of course this is for educational purposes when we do talk about cpd But think about lead generation which can automatically happen So a lot of associations that have been doing this for about two years now We've just done some case studies on them with some of our partners They've been running membership cpd programs and they're free. They're not charging for them However, they are going out and they're charging for people who aren't currently members So what that does is that's huge brand exposure for people out there It's huge revenue generation. But then for that organization, those non-members are now in their database and they're part of their community So that's lead gen because they can constantly nurture them and try and get them to become a member If they're showing them value, of course So that's another thing that a lot of people don't even realize That is true and we're yet looking at the features and functionalities, especially That end marketing URL dropping people back off the member benefit page If you know that you have 29 of your users the year are non-members That's a pool of people that you could be going to sales guys saying, hey guys, these are the contact details of this Go for it like try to get them on board show them the true value It's only got to get them a better rate when they're attending your actual webinars But it's also getting someone back into that other area of your business Or you do have marketing webinars sales. Everything actually is all kind of working together But unless they're all on the same page that you said, you don't know that they are Yeah And I think the biggest thing is to create a plan and everyone knows this But actually sometimes, you know, you want to do a webinar I've got four weeks to go the presenters got back to you need to get everything together You just go out and you just get it done because sometimes we just have to But as much as possible, even if it's just a time and date That's going to be consistent for the next 12 months Have it down in writing and make sure that you let your organiser know All the company that you're dealing with who's running your webinars that these are dates that we're having them You know, things get booked up Anything can happen as these events become more popular. So start thinking about planning something As much as possible, but obviously if time permits, yeah Yeah, most definitely So we looked at it before the platform not many people are around 30% of people are using the polls surveys and presence manager Can we just break that down a little bit and actually look at what the features are and how they can be used Sure can So the first thing we're going to look at right now is the polling and so we can see a lot of people are using this And they're using it a couple of times in there But a lot of people use it as just icebreakers at the beginning and it's like, okay Tell me what state you're coming from or tell me about this So they get to find out where the audience is coming from But again, you're losing out on a huge opportunity of what that functionality can actually do So polling functionality what it does is you're Asking a question to your general audience and you're finding out that information But if you're running a series of events and you're utilizing the same polls each time You're starting to build audience data and this can be really powerful Especially when you're starting to split it up for education pieces So you're doing an education session with four topics And you rate the level of understanding of each of the topics by using a poll at the beginning of it If you do that for every single one at the beginning in the end at the end of your series You can go out to your market saying hey 80 percent of our online attendance for our cpd programs Say they have a greater level of understanding coming out of a webinar that we deliver Instantly you use that in your social media campaigns click here to register for upcoming events It's a new marketing tool for you But it's also an interactive and engaging tool to make sure people are looking at your screen As well when you're asking people questions, they'll pay attention The chat box people use this generally as just for presenters Our participants to ask questions to the presenters But the presenters can use this as well to ask questions to their audience And I think they forget to do that. It's like at the very beginning. It's like hey guys On this topic, I'm going to ask a question out first first person in let me know Say what is the value of something they first person in you get to go say oh Mary Ann? You're correct. The answer was x again That's just going to break down the wall of the technology You're calling people by their name you're pulling people through But you can use that chat box for other than just getting questions A lot of the times people um because people are still quite a lot of people are still quite new to online events They'll get in maybe 15 10 minutes early before it actually starts because there's this whole perception of oh I need to get my seat. I need to hop in the webinar. It's actually really I think it's great that people do that But while they're sitting there get your presenter a facilitator and we've done this sometimes to start engaging and having a chat And potentially even other members talking to each other, which is always good And that's it. I think also look at the functionality of do you want to open or do you want to privatize? Both have benefits to it So if you don't want to have everyone seeing other questions coming through and you want to moderate especially the chat box And for the educational stuff, I would never recommend it because you kind of want to build that community atmosphere This is the people who are signing up for a series So they're going to start to get to know each other and even some of your regular presenters So why not make that an engagement engaging area of it where at the very beginning you can have people in there You can post questions to them before the the session even starts and just get them talking with each other And people will get a lot more comfortable when they do know each other and they'll be asking a lot more questions I would just be a little friendlier and you find that when you get along with the people that you're speaking with The idea is just kind of flow It's exactly that you want to make it an engaging fun user experience Otherwise people aren't going to be coming back for a second one Now this is my favorite tool and I was horrified. I was horrified looking at the report that no one uses it We do have I know of some customers that do but they're Uh not in this report and that's because they do a very small program that doesn't classify as cpd Because there's not a proper cb points for that but it's internal communications one that they do to make sure their staff are looking at it But okay, this is gets called the big brother tool and it's really not this and anyone who has a netflix and gets that message That are you still watching same principle? So during your actual event or in the setup phase you can choose to have a message pop up at any random time interval So we can see on the screen here in the box. It says please click okay to confirm your presence This is set between every 10 to 17 minutes and we want to pop up audio sound as well You can change all this to say, okay, you know what between every four and six minutes I want that message to display And it's going to come up on the screen and if that person doesn't hit that okay button Their score starts to drop and if their score gets below a certain point like 80 percent They now don't qualify for their cpd points because they weren't watching the screen They could have just pressed play muted their computer walked away and done other work There's no metrics for you to tell that they were actually there This gives you definitive proof that someone was online They were paying attention and if they have a score above 80 percent that were extremely engaged So that's how they qualify for their points. I think it's great that tool I love it. I just I'm people organizers every time we bring it up with them They're just like, oh, no, no, I don't want to it's too big brotherish But how else do you know especially for when people are paying for points and accredited for learning objectives? That's the only true I mean that was my first question when we talked about online cpd events It's like, okay, I can just put it on and play it and walk away So with things like this and especially when it's more important topics than for different industries You definitely want to make sure that people are paying attention So it's it's a very important tool to use indeed But I think a lot of it also comes down to um as someone who's delivering this cpd Do you as long as people some people just think okay as long as they're online as long as they're paying That's that's what I care about whereas some other organizations might be okay It really is about that user experience And if I was someone paying for cpd and I was online and I was paying attention and I was writing everything down And I was making sure I got the most out of it. I would be thankful that something like that came up because then I'd be like Oh, well, I'm pressing yes and I'm a bit of a nerd sometimes So I'd be like, oh, everyone else out there who's not putting as much effort into this as I am They're going to get busted and this is great because you know, I feel quite good about myself now It's a cool accountability thing as well. It's like, yep. I'm following it. I'm doing it. It's like I'm I'm meeting the objectives of why I want this Um, another thing as well. Um, is that in room surveys? So I think um, no matter what type of webinar you run I think no matter what type of platform you use gaining feedback is always hugely important I think it's great for the members to be able to give their feedback to someone and feel like they're doing something I feel it's great for us to actually go back and analyze that feedback Like you said, keep it consistent and maybe do some comparisons at the end of the year But I think if you're going to collect this feedback, you need to do something with it So I think that's the number one rule But one of the things a lot of organizations do when it does come to these events is they run their session It's great. They close down the platform and then people get redirected to a survey Now that's all great because you are, you know, uh, putting some some effort in to actually collect that feedback However, as we saw earlier, what about people who aren't staying for longer than 90 of the webinars? They're not then able to capture their feedback because they've got all they need They don't really want to stay for the q&a session and they're gone That's one way people do it and that's the issue with that The other thing is a lot of people have their event. They close it down afterwards within 24 hours They may send another email saying thank you for attending. By the way, click here to complete a survey Once again, you're doing great. You're going out there. You're trying to capture feedback However, by then it's not really fresh in someone's mind So you will actually find the conversion rates drop and by then it's like, okay Well, 20 other things have happened to me since that webinar happened You know, even last night when I got home and I was doing this this and this that webinar is so far beyond me right now The last thing I feel like doing is to sit there and try and think back, you know 24 hours ago to see what I enjoyed or what I didn't enjoy The solution and in room service So this is a great way to capture it and you will actually say we've seen a 60 increase in our own Personal events that we run when we have in room surveys So you'll notice um today in the platform and if you could click on the tab the survey tab That would be great and complete the survey so we can have some feedback What you can actually do is as an a webinar organizer You can actually even split the screen within this automatically within a platform sometimes So that actually means that I can have the power point up or I can have a webcam up And I can have the survey up at the same time and then as a facilitator. I'm saying to people Hi, everyone. Just making sure that you're we're getting your feedback from this This is going to help us improve our programs moving forward Perhaps you can put a little opt-in or call to action there as well And that gives you that feedback. It's instantaneous. It's in there Maybe you can give some people an incentive to actually complete it But then what it also allows you to do Use that exit page. So when you close down and you send people somewhere else Use that for something else use that to promote your upcoming events Use it for something else that is going to give you another added benefit in the recording email as well You now have that extra space where there is no survey So then you can start to use that to your marketing potential as well. So a few reasons to use in-room surveys I'm a huge fan of them. I think they're great And like I said, if if nothing else just use them to increase your conversion rates because you will see an increase in conversions Just with that one as well I think people forget that you don't have to just have one. Yeah You can have multiple in-room surveys and it's a good opportunity at the very beginning of it as an organizer You can launch one at the very beginning of your session to find out more information about the actual Um the the program that you're running. It doesn't have to be about it. You've got your audience online there So maybe at the beginning it's like halfway through your program. Hey guys We're launching a survey right now about how you're finding the webinar experience the journey the sessions that we're running And then you can do the one at the very end about the actual topic You can have multiple ones of these to engage with right Yeah, it's definitely a good idea to do that and just to remind us of the audience as well If you have any questions about any of the features or anything that we've mentioned today Please do ask us in the chat box. We are more than happy to answer any of those questions So what about people that are already running cpd events? How do we blend all of this so there is no confusions? People still want face-to-face, right? But online is just an extra resource So can we just talk about that a little bit as well? Oh god They're like we just never got to replace face-to-face and like this isn't meant to replace face-to-face You want to have both of these but you want both of them to be aligned I know we keep saying aligned a lot in this but you do you need to have both strategies because they both Feed doing to each other at your physical events and I get let's get you really to talk more about the graph that you created Yeah, so within here. This is just um Quick summary of what we're talking about. So within the middle. You've got your cpd You've got the benefits inside, which I think we all know but it's good to be reminded of because the benefits for each organization Running cpd are going to be different to each other. So maybe it's for cost savings and efficiency Maybe it's for that global reach and you want to reach those members in areas where you can't usually reach them With these face-to-face events. Maybe it's access and delivery. So you have you have the ability to access speakers To deliver these events who can be anywhere in the world or maybe it is because you want that on-demand content So I think it's important that we always remember what the benefits are and what that how they're different to those Are in a face-to-face environment or your physical events So one of the um great things about this blended approach and how we can work with it is the ability to remark it So we touched on this earlier and what this means is we're cross promoting through different channels So as an organizer of cpd, I have my physical events which are face-to-face events What I can then do is promote my online events at these events and vice versa One of the things I will recommend is when you are getting people to register for online events Keep it online. So for example, if I'm at a physical event and I get down on my chair And there's a piece of paper there and it says go to this link Oh, that links to way too long. I'm not going to be able to type that in really can't be bothered. I've got to get back to work Have a qr code or something or maybe when people are actually registering for that face-to-face event Let people know by the way, did you know we also do um online events as well? So if you can't attend maybe you know next time take a look at these events the other thing um Like we're talking about now is that blended approach as well So maybe you are having face-to-face events You can actually get a videographer and stream them live as well So it's not just about having to present our Sit behind a computer screen and being able to talk It is a little bit more of an investment to actually do a live stream But then think about you're only having to you're killing two birds with one stone You've got that event happening. However, you've then got the ability to take it online And that are the benefit of world demand content also comes into it Um the customer experience as well the customer x like this is always so important And I feel like people are asking for something give it to them or at least try to give it to them as best as you can And you know what it might not work for everyone. Maybe your um members out there Who are your customers are just like would you know what this isn't really working for us? It's not the sort of environment that we want to learn in but we've tried it Maybe face-to-face to events much more better for us Or maybe you're not getting that live attendance So maybe what you do is just do on-demand content and then push it out afterwards And then the registration process as well. So that really goes into that remarketing piece So that's really about using your registration process to collect that data The people at your face-to-face events, maybe you registered they didn't turn up Maybe use that data to actually promote your online events because maybe that might be why they didn't show up in the first place So just a bit of a an overview of how that blended approach works Most definitely and to speaking of registration How would you recommend going about registration? What kind of fields would we use and Is that the same as normal events? That is a really good question because I did say this was um years ago when webinars first came into um Even vocabulary, I guess it was um an organization who started to run their own webinars and they had their fields So it was like you know first name surname organization dietary requirement I was like I'm attending a webinar but because you just you're on autopilot so much and if you're running events on a regular basis And this goes into that creating a plan at the beginning Start thinking about these little things and these little tweaks and you know that's something so simple But as a member as someone who's registering i'm just like well I'm just disengaged and that's the only thing i'm going to be thinking of like you obviously didn't think this through It just comes across as a little bit not professional But with your members as well I still get calls from customers who tell us that they've they change the registration process They're going to try a digital event and people show up their office thinking that they're doing a physical face-to-face It still happens today people just They go on autopilot they vote like their their organization has always been doing physical events So they register for this digital one not realizing that they want to be behind their computer and they show up at the office For the actual event just never assume Yeah, never And I think always remember that you may have a lot of organizations We've had customers who have been running webinars for six years and have won global awards for them However, some of those people who are joining their events now It's their first time joining a webinar and they're not used to technology So it doesn't matter how long you've been running them for always assume that the person who's least tech savvy Who has no idea what a webinar is or can't even say it is the person joining and I think then you'll be safe Yeah, most definitely And I think it can really be smart about the registration fields that you use as you mentioned earlier as well So say if you're talking about cpd, maybe it's really easy to fix this and you can sort of say Have you ever done a cpd event before and just have a yes or no So you get an idea of who your audience is and why they're joining and then you can really Create your content to what your audience is saying to you. So it's just all about creating more engaging things and things that work with your audience Definitely Um, one of the things we just want to touch on before we end. Um, yeah, I think this is important because we did talk about making money Yes, um, however, it's not just about making money through charging people for these events And I think um, a lot of associations out there have a lot of opportunities to gain sponsors for their physical events Bring them online Well, that's it And I think it's a it's such a big missed opportunity because you look at the physical events that you're running for your face-to-face Programs on your face face cpd and you get sponsors for that A lot of organizations do associations because they're expensive events to run Your sponsors benefit for doing one of those cpd days is one days of exposure and maybe a handout on the seat Banner up on the back of the room You have a potential sponsor who sponsors a webinar or a webcast or just your cpd program That on-demand exposure lives for the life of the content. So it's all they're branding there You can create call to actions You're giving them a lot more value For that investment because that exposure goes a lot further and it also gives them exposure to your entire Membership database which might be extremely relevant to them or what they're trying to tap into So you've got a lot of leverage there that you can play around with Yeah, most definitely and they're just some examples of how they can be done online platform There's also in the resources folder There's some links to some other pieces of content that you can take a look at and one of them is a sponsorship guide So it's actually step by step how you can gain sponsorship for your webinars and your sort of programs You're running as well. So that might be useful for some of you out there So I was going to just say um, yeah some of our customers They don't charge for their cpd programs at all because they have a sponsor who picks up the bill for the entire thing So the the member of value is that they don't get charged for their training But the organization isn't paying anything for it either. They're having this external party pay for it So it's a neutral cost for them. Yeah most definitely at the beginning of the webcast as well We touched on how sourcing presenters you can do that through sponsorship as well And there's just so many benefits from working with another organization get new ideas. You get more content more presenters It's just a really good way of mixing it up a little bit and just yeah providing more value for your members Great. Um, so if there's any questions from the audience Please do feel free to send them through and as Sarah mentioned before as well Please fill out the in-room survey as well. It's just a really good source of feedback for us Um, and if yeah, if we don't have any more questions, we might just wrap it up here Thank you and thank you Sarah and Michael. There was so much valuable information and insights into running effective cpd programs If you would like any other informations on how you can take your programs online Please feel free to visit our website on contact us directly. Thank you very much for attending today Thanks everyone. Thank you so much