Are you Confused – What is the Difference between a Webinar & a Meeting?

Once upon a time, B.C. meant “before Christ”. And now is the time when B.C. means “before Corona.”

Isn’t it?

Life has changed so drastically that so many things, lives, and people are no longer the same.

And one of the most common changes you and I both would have seen is how technology has been welcomed with wide and open arms.

Do you agree with me?

And a Digital Marketer or not, 99.99% of us have ended up on at least one Webinar, specially in the lockdown.

Haha!

And if not you, definitely at least one person in your house would have attended at least one Webinar, I am sure.

It is not an uncommon sight to even see people take their skills online with the power of these same Webinars.

And why not? If you have a skill or a passion, why not share it with the world? Create an impact as wide as you can, because that is the power all of us have.

That’s right!

It doesn’t necessarily have to be something which you are selling that you should take online.

Even if you love something, you sure can share it online.

Now, if you are someone who has never organized a Webinar or a Video Conference online, I will start with the basics so you can get started just alright. 🙂

I want to introduce you to 2 basic types of Video Conferences which are really famous and commonly used.

They are:

  1. Webinars
  2. Meetings

    As the name suggests, it is pretty simple. However, let’s understand how they are different from each other.

    Webinars
    To understand the best use case of Webinars, think of it like a Seminar. In fact, a seminar on the web is a Webinar.

    And hence, the occasion wherein a speaker wants to present his ideas to a group of people, on the Internet, using the power of Video Conferencing is a Webinar.

    Ideally, Webinars are useful for presentations, coaching, teaching, sharing information and so on. You get the idea, right?

    Essentially, those situations, wherein the major communication needs to be done from the speaker’s side is when a Webinar is chosen.

    What happens is that, on a Webinar, all that is visible to the participants is the speaker (or speakers) and the screen that is shared. This also makes it like a distraction-free zone.

    And the focus remains on the content or information that is being shared.

    However, this does not mean that the participants do not communicate at all.

    They definitely do.

    And in fact, communicating with the participants is a crucial part of any Webinar. Because though the Webinar Screen may be distraction-free. The distractions at home, work and on all other screens and notifications are always there, you see.

    Now you may be like – Hey, Kamna! What do you really mean, then?

    Well, what I mean is, that on a Webinar – the idea is to make a presentation, teach skills and share facts or information. And in this process, to find out time and again the feedback of the information being shared, 2 way communicaton comes into the picture.

    And there is a chat feature on every Webinar, right? That is exactly what is used as the Feedback Mechanism.

    This is what a Webinar is used and useful for.


    Meetings
    Now coming to the second type, Meetings – what are they used for?

    As the name suggests, Meetings are the online platform for “Meetings.”

    To understand this better, do not viualise it as a Meeting in a Conference Room – because sometimes those meetings are presentation based too.

    When you think of using Meetings for Video Conferencing, think of it as the online version of Gatherings, Brain Storming Sessions, Panel and Group Discussions.

    This is ideally what a Meeting is used for.

    In those situations, where the opinions of multiple people are required, where people’s thoughts and ideas need to be shared, which also allows scope for further discussions to take place based on the ideas and opinions shared.

    That is what a Meeting is about.

    So basically, anytime you want to have a “highly interactive” session – where you need people to put forward their thoughts – that is when a Meeting is the right option.

    In Short
    When you want to conduct Workshops, Presentations, etc – where you want to share information and have a bit of a controlled environment, then Webinars are your go-to option.

    If you want to have a Collaborative, Brainstorming kind of Session – where you don’t just want to share information, but even allow people to share their opinions (in Team Meetings, Group Discussions, Ideations, etc.), then Meetings are your go-to option.

    And oh! It is not that you do not have any kind of control in Meetings. You definitely have moderation settings. But the idea is to have those features so that they allow you to conduct the Meeting in an organized way.

    Otherwise it is going to drive everyone crazy with the background noises from every participant.

    I hope you are now well-equipped to choose – whether a Meeting or a Webinar is going to be the most suitable option for your needs.

Post author name

This author bio section can be dynamically pulled by enabling its Dynamic data option in the right toolbar, selecting author meta as the content source, add description into the Author meta field.

2 thoughts on “Are you Confused – What is the Difference between a Webinar & a Meeting?”

  1. Nice information about Meeting and Webinar. Very strategically explained the terms meeting and webinar. It is a very important tool if we talk about digital work in this era. Without meeting or webinar, we can’t reach our prospect to convert into our customer.
    Once again many thanks for providing such valuable inputs for everyone who so ever wanted to go meeting and webinar.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Stay Up To Date

Subscribe To Get Free Updates

Learn about Digital Marketing & Personal Development for Free

Get Free Step by Step Actionable Insights.

Small changes will give you Big Results.