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How to Spot the Difference Between Webinars and Online Meetings

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Webinars and Online Meetings|How to Spot the Difference Between Webinars and Online MeetingsIn 2020 the business landscape has experienced a wild ride. In a matter of months, the tried and tested analogue working world has shifted almost entirely to a digital way of life. Gone were the conference halls and meeting rooms, in came the online meetings and webinars.

But with so many new users starting with virtual conferencing from scratch, there has been a lot of confusion surrounding the jargon. It’s like learning entirely new vocabulary: webcasts, screen sharing, virtual conferencing, remote access and more.

One key point of confusion surrounds the difference between webinars and online meetings. At first glance, they might seem remarkably similar, with many mistakenly using the words interchangeably. However, after this article, you will hopefully see there is a world of difference, and it’s vital to know what they are and when to use them.

So, let’s begin!

How to Tell the Difference

At the most basic level, it revolves around size. Online or virtual meetings are most often employed when a small group of people want to get together to discuss and idea or project. These meetings are collaborative with everyone taking a role in the proceedings, and they usually shouldn’t include more than twenty-five people.

In contrast, a webinar is for the masses, with some platforms allowing the organiser to host five-hundred people or more. In these sessions, one person or group typically talks to the rest. Think of it less like a meeting and more as a conference. Or as the name suggests, a seminar.

When to Use an Online Meeting?

Such meetings are great on a number of occasions. Firstly, if you need to liaise with one person or a small team, they are the perfect way to exchange ideas quickly and in real-time. They’re much quicker than email. They can also be suitable for larger conferences; however, consider the aim of the meeting. Are you here to display a product to others, or is the meeting primarily a collaborative approach? Do you want everyone to contribute?

If the answer is yes, then an online meeting is the perfect medium. They’re all about discussion.

As such, the tools available during the meeting are designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas. Virtual whiteboards allow attendees to sketch out their ideas for all to see. If you’re struggling to explain a complicated topic or you want to make notes as you speak, use the whiteboard to draw diagrams and connect ideas. They’re also fantastic for a quick brainstorming session. Meanwhile, screen sharing enables each meeting participant to show their work or to switch slides in a presentation smoothly.

As you might imagine, such meetings are brilliant for connecting with a client half-way around the world (they also save on travel costs). However, the downside comes with the home backdrop, which can look unprofessional to a client. Choose a Zoom virtual background for your next interview with a client, selecting from stylish offices to swanky boardrooms. To give the meeting an exceptionally professional feel, have the entire team use the same backdrop, for a sense of continuity.

When to Use a Webinar?

As mentioned, webinars are designed for big crowds. They’re the virtual equivalent of a conference hall. If the meeting isn’t a discussion, but rather a large-scale presentation: pick a webinar. They prevent any interruptions, allowing a speaker to showcase their product or idea.

People have used webinars for lectures, training seminars, or for a companywide update on progress. However, one concern is often raised: audience participation. While the speaker doesn’t want to be interrupted every minute, they want to keep the audience engaged.
Thankfully, with polls and surveys, speakers can test the mood in the room. Or they can use a curated Q&A to answer questions in real-time, clarifying any confusions.

As promised, you now know the critical differences between online meetings and webinars. Are you planning a cosy collaboration with your team, or do you need to present your product to the world? Either way, you have the tools at your disposal.

Here’s What CEOs Say on Working From Home Without Compromising Productivity!

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Working from Home|Here's What CEOs Say on Working From Home Without Compromising Productivity!How many of us realize that we are experiencing history? This is the most unprecedented and unforgettable time of our lives. The outbreak of the pandemic has left for us nothing but experiments, challenges and learning opportunities. Mid May Twitter announced its employees can work indefinitely from home, being the first big tech company to come up with such a policy. For over a long time, a lot of employees who thought of #wfh as a luxury are now compelled to stick to it overnight for the time as long as eternal.

Amid this crisis, a lot of CEOs are coming up with various ideas and offers for their employees to not only ensure their productivity but also their mental well being.

1.Stay Organized: It Is Going to Help in the Long Run

Having a fixed schedule and creating boundaries between professional and personal life is the key to maintain productivity and be efficient when working from home. It is comprehensive that one needs to look after their home and work simultaneously in this tough situation. It is important that people identify when to work and where to work without being pulled into domestic chores or personal matters when working from home. If you start your day with a proper schedule and stick to it strictly, you would surely be comfortable with the new normal.

Do Not Just Work! Work! Work!

Plan your breaks too as you would at the office premises. But remember not to leeway and stretch these breaks.

2. Have a Plan Before You Begin

Well moving your workstations overnight to your home was surely a big thing to do. It is important for the organizations to gather a cross-functional team that includes business-line leaders, IT, HR, communications, and facilities, to plan for the worst and the good to come. It is important that the business is least affected by the employees working remotely. A lot of software development firms that had been providing remote services had an experience of handling clients remotely, but handling the teams remotely is a completely different chapter. Also, it is vital to ensure that employees have a good infrastructure back home to support their tasks and meet the business process.

Lack of communication is going to be a major drawback here. It is important that your team bridges the gap between them and doesn’t let its productivity be affected. Trusting the team in such times is very important. Provide your team members guard rails with the flexibility to deliver their defined targets in the defined time.

3. Short Breaks and One at a Time Approach

It is crucial to take care of your mental well being when working from home. Taking short breaks while staying connected to your colleagues always helps in remote working culture. This is not the time to take it all together. Understand this is not a productivity competition. This is pandemic and not regular work from home exercise. With no domestic help and lots of things being messed it is always difficult to find the right schedule, In the initial days experimenting a little is cool. No one knows how long we are going to stay out of the office, so making temporary adjustments won’t help. Employees and even the managers and leads need to have a plan where they can easily connect and enjoy their work. Enjoying your work is the priority here. Push yourselves and enjoy your work, maintain your productivity and keep calm.

4. Millennial Workforce Are the Key Drivers

The on-the-go technology helps the millennials be more productive and available all the time. They have better ideas to stay connected and hold meetings. With various apps put to function, we can easily predict their productivity. Working from home is quite beneficial for employees as it eliminates their daily commutes. It also helps them to lead a better and healthier life with their family around all the while. A lot of employees relish the model for the flexibility it has to offer. It is always a great choice to work when you are comfortable. This adds to productivity and better results.

A lot of millennials are making the best of the opportunity by joining e-learning classes and certification courses. They are making the most of their time and coming up with some great ideas to hone their skills and contribute to the organizations.

5. Discipline and Dedication Drive the Results

When at home, many of the employees go lethargic with their work. It is important to put your laziness in the backseat and work in a disciplined manner. It is always important to have a balance between work and personal life. Remote developers and other employees often struggle with a stringent deadline. It is important to deliver your customers a world-class service you are available as per their ease and strictly stick to the deadline that you have asked them. This not only makes you look professional but reflects your sincerity for your work too. To make sure you stick to this, the magic trick is to have a well-designed work set up and be dressed smartly. If you take things seriously and work dedicatedly the work hours at work from home won’t be as long as at the office because of the cozy set up and support of being at home. Initial work from home is going to be all kinds of a mess, taking more time than ever, but once you adjust to it, you will realize how easily you can be through your day.

6. A Separate Work Station Gets You Halfway Through

This advice actually works wonders. Get a separate work corner for yourself. This makes it easier for you to realize what and where you need to focus. Keep all your work-related documents, notes, and other accessories together so that you don’t waste hours looking for them each time you want to use them. Add some beautiful quirky elements in the place to ensure that you like the place and it helps you stay concentrated. A cool workstation is always an inspiration to work well and work hard. It becomes a little corner that you would always want to be at. Be at your office on time, take short coffee breaks, and don’t let the pandemic affect your productivity.

7. Trust Your Team

A lot of organizations that have experience in providing remote IT consultation service and development services understand how important it is for them to trust their team in the situation. The head of mobile app development team at A3logics quotes,

“We have been providing remote services for over two decades now, and we never had complaints from our clients’ end. We thought working from home would be the same, but it wasn’t. When in office the team was available on the go and discussed ideas and we knew we were all working. Being home made things a little uneasy initially. But gradually we realized it is almost similar to working remotely where our clients trusted us to deliver their projects. When working from home we need to trust each other that they are dedicatedly working on their parts and things would be in line. This small shift in thought process has actually made working from home quite easy.”

The Final Words

With the outbreak of the pandemic, we have experienced the world’s largest Work From Home experiment. Maybe the organizations won’t go 100% work from home forever but they will certainly enjoy much support from the virtual environments. With so much good and bad going around the business leaders are expected to support their employees and show some empathy towards them. Surely, this is the first time most of your employees are working from home and are connected virtually, but if this works then you are surely going to appreciate the way the results turn out to be with a happier workforce.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Scarlett BrownScarlett Brown is associated with the Content Writing team at A3logics for over a couple of years. She has been working on projects related to mobile app development and closely follows the trends in the field. She loves to read about the technical advancements and incorporate them into her work. She has been publishing a few articles on employee well being and work from home productivity hacks lately. When not at her writing desk she is often found enjoying her coffee in the nearby cafe and enjoying some storytelling shows.

Can We Make Remote Work Work Long-Term?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Remote Work|Can We Make Remote Work Work Long-Term?Lots of people who are newly working at home would like to keep it that way. In fact, a worldwide survey of 500 employees conducted by OTRS Group revealed that the vast majority of those surveyed (80 percent) enjoy working from home, even though 68 percent said working from home was new to them.

Companies are interested too. Leaders are seeing an uptick in productivity. And, in some parts of the world, new laws are even being proposed that could establish home office options as an employee right.

If this work style continues, what do leaders need to focus on to ensure long-term success? Tools and culture.

Remote IT Solutions

One tricky thing is that employees in their own home do not have onsite IT support. So if technical problems occur, a loss of productivity can quickly result without a remote help desk option.

The following will offer employees the best possible remote help desk solution:

  1. Analyze employee needs. How quickly do they need support? When can they help themselves?
  2. Define support processes and procedures. Design these in accordance with ITIL®.
  3. Evaluate help desk solutions. Find a cloud-based solution that includes notifications, multiple channels, SLAs, a self-service portal and an API for integrating with other systems.
  4. Consider security. Help desk security functions and processes should always play a major role in the selection of your system.
  5. Customize the selected solution. Now, take time to align your new system with user requirements and the previously defined processes.
  6. Provide training. When ready, have extensive communication and training for the help desk team and end users.

The ideal help desk should not only ensure that problems are solved quickly, but should also support employees in the home office so that they can efficiently use their time.

Remote Teamwork Solutions

With general technical problems handled, tools must also be implemented to support teams in communicating, planning and moving tasks between one another. The lack of this type of tool is a key concern expressed by those who have recently shifted to the home office environment.

In fact, in the referenced study, of those who had been struggling to work from home:

  • 15 percent were challenged by not knowing what their teammates were working on,
  • 14 percent had a hard time measuring team results, and
  • 13 percent had difficulty keeping track of their own tasks.

For nearly half the people, facilitating work is difficult when people aren’t routinely chatting about it in an office setting. Remote work software can be used to help add structure to communication and tasks in order to avoid these difficulties. Remote work solutions should bring together all information that teams need to get their jobs done, such as tasks, calendars, contact information, business process automation and reporting.

By using one tool to centrally manage all of these, both employees and leaders have an up-to-date, clear understanding of what the current work is, how to get it done, and when issues are creeping up.

Corporate Culture Supports Remote Employees

However, tools can’t solve all of the problems. While there are many advantages to working from home, those making the change may long for the benefits of working in a traditional office. Respondents shared that they missed seeing their colleagues and that they feel “stuck” in one place for too long.

In order for the positives of working remotely to last long-term, management teams need to think about how to counteract these losses by:

  • Encouraging conversation about change. Change is hard, so provide outlets for employees to discuss this and share what has been working well.
  • Hosting virtual offsites. Plan time for employees to come together and talk about key topics, much like you would do in a traditional offsite. Be sure to have an agenda, include breaks, keep sessions to 90 minutes and have options for socializing.
  • Creating a virtual coffee break. Give people a chance to chat about non-work topics or play games together. What could bring people together for a reason other than talking about tasks?
  • Deploying a chat tool. Offer a tool that lets people ask quick questions, share fun information or talk about personal topics. It helps promote that “around the water cooler” feeling. There are plenty of programs like Microsoft Teams that are perfect for this. It’s also a good idea to get PBX integration for Microsoft Team for more means of communication.
  • Hosting a non-work contest. For instance, give people a reason to break free of their homes by holding a fitness contest. Or, try a virtual company-wide 5k. Contests give people an outlet for being engaged socially with colleagues.
  • Defining and following processes. Processes help people know what is expected when, and reduces worry about doing the right thing. Plus, they keep work flowing smoothly when time zones make it hard for everyone to be online at the same time.

While the Corona crisis has been a challenge for businesses and employees alike, it has also opened the door to expanding remote work opportunities. The study shows significant benefits to working from home, from saving commute time to spending more time with loved ones. But to maintain the current situation, leaders should be investing in tools and creating shifts in their corporate culture to keep productivity and employee satisfaction high long-term.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Sabine RiedelSabine Riedel is a member of the Management Board of OTRS AG. With her expertise in the areas of corporate development and leadership communication, she is responsible for the development and expansion of international HR strategy and the conception and implementation of measures to implement the company-wide corporate culture.