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In previous posts (1 and 2) I talked about how much I value webinars as an efficient way of communicating with sales / marketing teams and partners in a large geographically distributed company and also some of the main “Dos” I have learnt through trial and error over the past 5 years both in Marketing and Education roles.

In this post I wanted to touch on the point of using VoIP (+ chat) or teleconference, which should you use and when?

VoIP + Chat it’s cheap but there’s more to it than that

In this case I am referring to a 1 way audio communication where attendees use chat to communicate with the presenter. First of all it’s cheaper and, in a lot of cases it is free depending on the service provider. VoIP is a much more manageable option when you are dealing with large groups of people as you can reduce the incoming communication to chat. By doing so your stride is not broken and you can deal with the question when you are ready.

If you are dealing with a large group using VoIP it is particularly useful to have somebody with you who can manage the chat so you can focus on your voice. If you can imagine a phone call with over 50 people talking at once you can automatically understand the benefits of keeping inbound communication to chat

The trust factor

VoIP + Chat is an excellent solution for a first time contact with a new team / client etc as it means they are not under pressure to say the right thing. This is especially true if the session is in a language which is not their native language (generally) English. So in the first contact webinar the presenter takes all the pressure and this creates trust, from which you can build and maybe in the 3rd session you could use teleconferencing

Teleconferencing: You must justify the investment

It is more costly so you want to be sure you are getting ROI and that it has additional value over VoIP otherwise it does not make sense so ask yourself first, what can I get out of using teleconferencing that I cannot get out of using VoIP.

The answer for me is that you are interested more in what the other party has to say. There are times when the objective is to talk (transmit information) and other times when the objective is to listen (receive information). In that sense I would recommend teleconference if you want to get to understand the other party better, a customer experience etc. A problem with the conf call is that you may have some people only using the telephone and not the PC which means they cannot follow your presentation.

That’s my take, what about yours?

So deciding on which technology to use all depends on costs, your target audience and your objectives if you have these 3 clear the decision should be an easy one. Which type of communication do you prefer using and when? Are there any other options technologies you have used that add more value that the standard webinar?

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