Webinars instead of face-to-face training
by Tim Kröss
Even in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, the further education opportunities have remained the same. The high risk of infection has made it much more difficult to hold in-person classes, which is why webinars are being offered as an alternative. The question is, are they as effective?
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As of today, I’ve taken part in two webinars myself.
In the first, we were a group of six sitting together in a room and communicating with our instructor using a speakerphone. We could also see their screen thanks to the use of a projector, so it was almost like the instructor was in the room with us. As this seminar had a “learning by doing” structure, it was easy to follow what was being explaining and to practise it on our own notebooks at the same time, and if we had any questions, we could ask using the speakerphone. Thanks to only being six people in the room, we were also able to help each other out, which meant that attention levels remained high throughout.
The second webinar had 7 participants. In this case, I was in a room with one other person and we communicated using headsets. As this seminar was about communicating on the phone, it was much better that we weren’t all sitting in one room with the instructor, because we could make the simulated call with a customer much more realistic as we couldn’t see the person we were talking to and, just as with the real thing, could only communicate through the headset.
After being able to experience these two webinars, I can say that they are just as effective as in-person classes. One disadvantage is that you are more likely to lose focus more quickly. For this reason, I recommend there is another person in the room with you during the webinar because you will remain more concentrated and can help each other out. Another benefit is that you can save travel time.
In a nut shell, webinars are good, effective and most definitely zukunftsstark.
Greetings AZUBIT Tim
