Public Webinars: Technology, Strategies, and Evaluation

eOrganic and other eXtension Communities of Practice are coordinating webinar series as a new means of engaging stakeholders. We will discuss:

• Technology: lessons learned about selecting webinar software as well as hardware such as headsets and microphones.
• Organizational strategies that contribute to the success of a presentation: communication with presenters, scheduling practice sessions, coordinating multiple speakers, handling audience questions, technical support, and referencing additional resources.
• Evaluation: methods for and results of evaluating the impact of webinars on stakeholders including in-webinar polls, immediate post-webinar surveys, and post-webinar surveys to evaluate changes in practices.
• Interactions with social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
• Webinar variations: broadcasting to a live audience, recorded meetings, and remixing and repurposing recorded presentations for other purposes such as educational modules for classroom instruction.