Webcasting Sidebar 2

Before You Commit

Richard Rist, founder and CEO, Intellor Group, Gaithersburg, Md., cautions smaller independent publishers about jumping onto the webinar bandwagon. He says there are certain aspects of the business that must be in place before webinars will be effective:

n You must have e-mail accounts in existence or an alternative electronic way of reaching your audience.

n Make sure you have a large enough audience to sustain good webinar attendance.

n Make sure you have a healthy ad base and sales force to support webinars.

n Consult companies experienced with webinars.

n Don’t purchase software you think will help you start up a webcast program since the software may not meet your expectations of what can be done with webinars.

n If you cannot sustain a webinar program alone, consider partnering with a compatible publication until each publication can stand on its own.