When I teach the Website Creation Workshop, I do so using a combination of Teleseminars and Webinars. Well this blog post is to help explain the difference between a teleseminar and a webinar. Teleseminars are very popular for biz owners on the internet. You invite people to a conference call , and you give them a phone number and pin code. You can decide to have a handout for your audience with a teleseminar, to give them some visuals, but there is no live moving video with it. See a screen shot of the Instant Teleseminar Event system (the one I use) below 
But the main point of a teleseminar is that there is no live moving video to watch. Teleseminars are great because it does not require a lot of skill on the part of the attendee. If you use the Instant Teleseminar Event system, then you can give your audience the ability to listen on their computer, and save money on long distance charges. Great for overseas folks! You can find out more about this at www.InstantTeleseminarEvent.com(my link for that) But Webinars are becoming more and more popular for people because it adds the visuals of a live video during your presentations. They take a bit more skill on the part of the attendee, because they need to download software on their computer, and it’s not as easy to talk to the moderator on the call. (an extra audio pin is required, or a telephone headset is required if you are using your computer to speak). And it often happens that people don’t know how to get on a webinar, or how they work. I love webinars, because the ability to show moving video is VERY beneficial to people when learning WordPress. The system I use is Gotowebinar (GotoMeeting) (my link for them) I created a video to explain HOW to get on a webinar.
Just Click the Video Below….It’s quick. 3 min 42 seconds.
Thanks to Lorrie Morgan Ferraro for being my case study in this video (If you’d like to get a trial account of Gotowebinar(GotoMeeting), then just click here)
I kind of figured from the names this was the case. “Tele” like telephone is just audio. Whereas webinar is like a full blown seminar, but on the web. Thanks for the further clarification Christina.
Joe,
I like that distinction! “TELEseminar” vs “WEBinar”!
My bottom line is: if you do NOT need to show visuals that are live moving images, stick with doing teleseminars as it’s MUCH easier for your audience to connect to a teleseminar
🙂
You produce a very good webinar. Could your next product be “How To Build An Awesome Webinar”?
Janny,
I am getting ready to survey my audience and ask what other training programs you would want. I’m getting ready to start working on a new training series.
What would be your top pick? How to do a webinar? or something else too?
Hmm I didn’t realise that with webinars the listener has to download software. Is it possible to record them in advance and then issue them – like the ones you have on your 1 Shopping Cart course for example ?
Gill,
The downloading of software happens automatically in the background. There is not file saving.
So it takes a bit longer for the first time webinar goer to get onto your webinar, and sometimes that can trip the person up.
Yes, you can record webinars and have them as online videos. That is what I do in the Website Creation Workshop and in my Shopping Cart Secrets program
GoToWebinar is an excellent choice: widespread use, lots of resources to rely on, reasonable pricing. So Christina is 100% right to have chosen it.
I always like to have or at least be aware of alternatives, so here is another one: Adobe’s Acrobat ConnectNOW. One great advantage is its reliance on Flash, which is likely installed in 99% of all browsers around. So no background downloading, even for the first time. Another advantage is its elegant interface (I love esthetically pleasing GUIs, so that’s a great attractor for me). Another is the ability to have video feeds from all participants.
The drawbacks is higher pricing, especially for larger audiences. But if you conduct a, say, 20-person workshop (say, a higher-end one), it’s really something to consider.
There are several other alternatives out there, each with their pluses & minuses, so the choice of the platform/tool should be based on the specific requirements of your program. In fact, if you produce a diversity of programs, you may want to use various platforms, each chosen for the right reasons. In fact, this is exactly what Christina is advocating when she’s talking about teleseminars vs webinars … which brings us all the way back to the beginning.
To your best tool form your best success!
Sergiu
very well put!
🙂
Hey Christina,
You don’t always have to download software for a webinar to work. We produce 2 week online events of 16 – 18 webinars per event and we use inexpensive software that is entirely flash based and works on any browser and any platform.
Attendees don’t have anything to download and that leads to better engagement with the webinar, as if folks aren’t able to view the first 2 – 5 minutes of the presentation they often don’t grasp the concepts presented and check out after 20 – 30 minutes.
I’ve done thousands of webinars, and presenting webinar content is very different than doing a teleseminar or presenting live. Many presenters fail to take that into consideration when designing their content.
Cheers, Mary
Mary,
I should clarify that with gotowebinar it downloads software in the background. The user does not have to do anything, but the process takes a bit longer
Hi Mary,
So what specifically is the “mystery” software you use? 😀 Can you please share? Thank you!
Sergiu
P.S. And yes, you’re so right: STRUCTURING content|form in a way that matches medium|format is an art|science that is not at most people’s fingertips…