I share the sentiments of my fellow tweeps like @patrickrevans and @terrijellman in saying that webinars are truly behind in terms of helpful content, and are therefore not even worth a “free” tout.
While I certainly do appreciate an organization’s desire to share an "expert" panel’s wealth of knowledge, most oftentimes, it’s stuff I already know. I already know about Twitter and how businesses can use it (how many Webinars are going to cover this?!) The culprits of over-examined social media content tend to be media software corporations – evidenced by topics such as ‘building your brand on Twitter’, or ‘how agencies can tap Twitter’s potential’. If you’re trying to get me to sign on for another year with your wealth of knowledge about Twitter, that’s not the way to do it.
Another pet peeve of mine in attending corporate webinars is the types of people on the call. Who hasn’t heard the one person on the line asking questions that don’t deserve speakers' response, such as “so how do I create a Twitter account?” when clearly the webinar is far beyond that. This person continues to hog the attention of the speaker, and pretty soon it’s time to wrap up. What this person should be doing is undergoing extensive self-operation on these different social media platforms. Because after all, that’s the only way any of us are going to learn anything.
Brian Solis-- Thank you for giving myself and the many others out there in Twitterspace something to chew on and digest appropriately. To the others: please refrain from sending salty, cured ham.
Update: I'm thinking of attending this webinar to see if redemption is possible. What do you think about webinars?