Webinars – Time Wasters or a Great Learning Tool?

How many webinars have you attended?  I have to admit that I haven’t attended many.  I have participated in one as the moderator but typically I have found that the majority are really trying to sell me something.

How do you know if the webinar that you are signing up for isn’t just a ploy to get you to purchase the next book, or a series of very pricey business coaching sessions.  Its hard to decipher what will be good and what won’t.

Consider following these suggestions;

If the webinar is being held during the typical “lunch” hour 12:00 – 1:00 or 1:00 – 2:00 then it could be good time spent.  At least you aren’t taking an hour or more out of your productive time during the day.

Is the webinar providing you with current and complete information that you or your company can use? When Pivotal’s temp staffing division hosts a webinar, we provide experts from the industry (eg; our WSIB Risk Management Consultant specifically answers your questions and offers up-to-date WSIB, NEER and Ministry of Labour (MOL) specific information.  This information allows you to update your current Health and Safety initiative, assisting your company with MOL/WSIB compliance and even offers complimentary one-on-one consultations.

Is the webinar being presented from a source that you trust?  Pivotal Staffing is a sponsor of NEW  – Network for Executive Women CPG and Retail and NEW provides a free yearly subscription for coaching sessions for their membership.  These coaching sessions are from a variety of executive women in many different corporations who offer their personal experience in business in a variety of subjects.  This would be a trusted source as Pivotal sponsors the Canadian Association and recognizes that they provide excellent information for their membership.  Perhaps you too belong to a variety of associations that also provide webinars that do not offer some information as a bait to get you to purchase more.

Either way, webinar’s can be a great way to learn more about a specific subject or they can be a waste of time.  Remember to ask yourself, does watching this webinar for an hour during my day ultimately make me more productive or is it giving me another reason to procrastinate.

And on that note, be sure to watch for our next webinar in early 2013 about WSIB Claims Management.  We will keep you posted as to where and when to tune in and we promise not to waste your time.