Webcasting is a video conference meeting tool that allows users to stream high-quality video and audio and share screens, documents and content with hundreds or even thousands of participants. Webcasting is generally used for larger scale meetings, since the production value is much higher than with standards webinars or video conferencing apps.
However, organizations of all shapes and sizes across the world use webcasting to deliver plans, projects and information to wide audiences, whether those audiences include employees, board members, partners, customers or clients. It’s a much more cost effective and less time consuming method of communicating with a large number of people in a face to face meeting.
What Can Webcasting Be Used for in the Business World?
So what exactly can you use webcasting for when it comes to helping your company? Webcasts are a great way to lead high-resolution meetings or conferences online. Attendees are able to interact with meeting organizers and the rest of the conference and ask questions.
You can use webcasts to simply meet with your colleagues and collaborate on projects. You can also use webcasts to present large scale presentations or demonstrations about new products or services to customers, clients and partners. Consider using a webcast to present your company’s fourth quarter figures to your employees or partners. You can also use webcasts to train new employees or colleagues on what their position entails and particular duties and responsibilities.
How are Webcasts and Webinars Different?
So what’s the difference between a webcast and a webinar? Webinars usually have one clear meeting organizer or host presenting or helping the presenter. While webinars can be interactive, they are usually only used for chats or polls rather than live interactions like questions from the audience. Webinars often include video, but they don’t have to be live. They’re great for training or communicating information to marketers and sales personnel.
Webcasts, on the other hand are usually for much larger audiences than webinars. These webcasts may have a host who never presents, but they usually include large presentations to vast audiences with some questions and answers involved throughout or towards the end. While webcasts don’t have to be live, they usually are. There are general groups of people watching the webcast live from the same room. Webcasts are best for HR and communications professionals.
How Can Webcasts Help My Business?
Webcasts can help empower your business and boost your company’s bottom line in a myriad of ways.
- Webcasts can help your business save money.
According to Ready Talk, if you have a large company and your business hosts multiple conference meetings every single year, you’re wasting a lot of money and time when it comes to renting space, flying in necessary employees and associated travel expenses like hotels and food. With webcasting, you can easily connect and engage with your employees while saving all the costs associated with travel and renting space for large conference meetings. Webcasting allows you to broadcast live events to your remote offices, so your remote employees can attend the conferences without wasting time and money on travel. You’ll increase productivity and profits!
- Webcasts help increase convenience for you and your company.
Webcasts are much more convenient and innovative due to technological advances. While webcasts used to be a one-way flow of information, you can now hold two-way collaborative webcast events with your colleagues and partners. Your participants can ask questions and you can collecting polling info from your attendees. If you are interested in using interactive online webcasting, check out a service like BlueJeans.
- Webcasts allow you and your company to reach a wider audience.
Reach a wider audience and find potential customers and clients through large-scale interactive webcast events, according to Small Biz Technology. You can also use webcasts to reach your remote employees, which is very helpful if you have a substantial remote workforce. You are able to incorporate your remote employees’ information and feedback into everyday business processes.
- Webcasts give your company more consistency of message.
When you use webcasts, you are not only able to reach a wider audience, but you are also able to relay a consistent message to everyone in your company, from upper management to interns to sub-contractors. All of these employees will receive the same training and information at the exact same time. For example, if you are announcing plans to promote someone to a managerial position or to move to a different office building, you can announce these plans to everyone face-to-face in an interactive webcast, rather than sending a less personal email with the news. Communicating with everyone at the same time across the board makes everyone feel important and included.
So there you have it! Webcasts are a great way to help your company and boost your business’ bottom line. Happy webcasting!