Boost Your Webinars: Create Dynamic, Community-Building Online Lectures

In this article, I outline why we host online lectures instead of webinars at HeatSpring and share information for ways that we can help you and your business (cleantech, high performance building, geothermal, and more) start hosting dynamic, community-building online lectures, too.

WEBINARS = DRAIN ON RESOURCES

How many hours and dollars have you invested to create webinars? Getting all of the presentation materials together, creating marketing content, sending email blasts and social media posts, hosting the actual webinar…think about it and jot down your estimate. Now, think about what you’ve learned while hosting webinars. Take a few seconds to write down 3 things you’ve learned. Keep that list close by you while you read the rest of this article.

We did a similar exercise here at HeatSpring which ultimately led to our decision to ditch webinars. Don’t get us wrong, we love the idea of webinars. Logistically, they’re just not our cup of tea.

4 Things We’ve Learned About Webinars at HeatSpring:  

1. Webinars are a smart way to share super specific content with an audience of learners
2. Webinars are much less valuable for all parties involved when they don’t have a solid post-webinar strategy that engages participants and encourages interesting, dynamic conversations and community building
3. Technical glitches almost ALWAYS happen – no matter how many safeguards we create
4. Webinars create stress for all parties involved – speaker, host, and listeners

For all of the reasons listed above, we don’t host live webinars anymore. Instead, we host online lectures.

What are online lectures? Pre-recorded 30-60 minute lectures on very specific topics hosted on our online learning platform.

ONLINE LECTURES = COMMUNITY-BUILDING, LEAD GENERATION MACHINES 

Here’s why we host online lectures:  

• No more stress! Creating pre-recorded lectures takes the stress off of our team, expert instructors, and community. There’s no more stress about technical glitches, getting the call-in details sent out, setup, etc.

• Community building and knowledge sharing. Online lectures are dynamic and create an opportunity for vibrant dialogue and knowledge sharing. We realized that we could upload existing content (past webinars) and new content (pre-recorded videos) to the HeatSpring platform and incorporate our online discussion board and space for additional links and resources.

• Lead generation machines. Once the online lecture is created, interested learners can continue to enroll and interact with other learners in the online lecture for as long as we keep the online lecture available. We are continuously generating new emails and interested community members. We’re also able to update online lecture content—adding new videos and new links and resources.

Here are a few of our most recent free online lectures: 

• Free Lecture: Battery Capacity – The Basis of Storage
  Christopher LaForge

• Free Lecture: Integrative Design Process
  Bill Reed

• Free Lecture: Life Centered Design
  Carol Venolia

• Free Lecture: Electrical Loads in High Performance Buildings 
  Chris Calwell

• Free Lecture: High Performance Building Assemblies 
  Peter Yost

• Free Lecture: Low Carbon Building: Getting to Real Zero
  Bruce King

• Free Lecture: Fundamentals of Green Roof Design, Installation and Maintenance
  Green Roofs for Healthy Cities

WE WILL HELP YOU MAKE THE SHIFT FROM WEBINAR TO ONLINE LECTURE AT NO COST: 

Are you a business in one of these industries creating a webinar series that you want to turn into an online lecture? Email me or comment below. We are more than happy to help you turn your static webinars into dynamic, community building online lectures at no cost. Yes, complimentary. We will help you turn your recorded webinars into online lectures so that you can cultivate community, share awesome knowledge, and make an impact.