Your Mini-Guide For Workers Comp Webinars – Be Prepared

This Mini-Guide For Workers Comp Webinars Will Save You Headaches Later

My IT background made me think of creating a Mini -Guide to Workers Comp Webinars.  You can use this as preparation for attending any webinar.

 If you are using a work computer, check with your IT department before instituting anything on this Mini-Guide For Workers Comp webinars list.  Many work-based computers have sets of software that may cause problems for a very small % of users.

If you are not familiar with the following suggestions – do not do them, or look at your online manual for your modem and ISP (Internet Service Provider).

OK, so many of the conferences have now turned into webinar-type symposiums such as the recently posted NCCI Conference on May 12th.   With a large number of participants, you are going to need all the bandwidth your home system can muster.

This guide assumes you have to access the webinar from home.

1. Before the webinar starts, turn off all devices accessing your home modem (Roku, phones, other computers, etc.).   You will increase your bandwidth quickly.
2. Four hours before the webinar starts, turn off your modem and wireless router and restart them.   This method will allow your modems to kind of do a self-clean.
3. Just before the webinar, move as close as possible to your wireless router.   2.4 GHz travels farther.  If you are on 5 GHz (much faster), the signal does not go through walls, etc. very well.
4. If you want the fastest possible bandwidth, use a CAT5 cable and hook it directly into the back of your modem.  Now, you have big-time bandwidth.
5. Run this test to see how fast your system is feeding your computer data.    Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc. require minimum bandwidth to operate.  My results can be found here.  I am OK, but I have to remember that the presenter’s bandwidth plays into the equation.  I had to upgrade my modem a few months ago.  More on that later.

   

6. If your numbers from the test in #5 are too low for Zoom, and GoToMeeting, then your webinar experience will be significantly diminished.
7. If you are a presenter, you are going to need more bandwidth than you expect to use for your presentation.   I went through a webinar where my modem kept disconnecting.  I had to use my cellphone to finish the audio portion.  I upgraded my wireless router the next day.
8. Chat with or call your ISP if your numbers are low.  I switched to Earthlink to get my bandwidth up a few years back.  They added an extreme service for an extra $5 per month.  No more problems popped up after that upgrade.
9. Two hours before the webinar, test your system with the webinar provider, if possible  Skype Testing.   Zoom Testing Page   GoToWebinar Testing 
10. If you are going to video chat with your fellow employees, you will need quite a bit of bandwidth if there are more than two participants.   Check with your employer’s IT department for any specifications or tips.
11. Malware and Virus checkers used to interfere with webinars, but now, not so much.  The malware, spam, and virus checkers have realized that their software cannot block or hinder webinar participation.
12. My VPN (Virtual Private Network) does slow down my data rates.  If you are sitting at home and then tunneling to a server in another part of the country, then your bandwidth will suffer if that remote server is slow.   Run the #5  test through your VPN to see if it is fast enough for an excellent webinar experience.
13.  Do not turn off your virus, malware, or VPN services due to #11 and #12 – especially your virus/malware software.

    

14. Only have the tab for your webinar open, other tabs can affect your webinar.  I have not tested all the browsers for speed.
15. If you are thinking of hosting a webinar, then this page will help.
16. All the above applies if you are going to access the webinars with a phone or tablet.  Just make sure that you can access the webinar through a modem.   I paid an extra $22 to my phone service provider for data due to a 1.5-hour webinar that my service switched from my work modem to my phone’s data service.  (ouch!)  I have since learned to turn off my data to keep the webinar going through the modem.
17. Finally, is your phone, tablet, or desktop/laptop fast enough to handle a webinar?  I had to jettison a 3-year-old notebook as it was not fast enough even after a RAM and SSD update.
18. Bonus – if the webinar has problems, give them a few minutes before dropping the webinar.   Webinar providers can usually recover in less than 10 minutes.
19. Choose your webinars well.  There are going to be tons to choose from until the coronavirus situation is resolved.   You can be picky.
20. Check to make sure the webinar is still scheduled on the expected date and time.  I found out the hard way that current webinars may be moved to May or June.   I had one this week and one last week where the webinar was understandably delayed to June.   I tried to sign on when I should have paid attention to their emails canceling the webinars.

If you feel the above list is too complicated or you do not feel comfortable adjusting your computer, modem, etc., then do not do it.  Sometimes, leaving well enough alone provides a good webinar experience.

August 2022 Update –

The platform that works the best for meetings during the pandemic and up until today is Microsoft Teams.  You may already have Teams on your laptop or phone if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription.  If not, download the Teams App here.  

April 2023 Update –

In #5 above, do not use your own ISP service to test your ISP service.  If you have a university or school on the list use them.  I have Spectrum Internet.  If I use Spectrum Internet to test my Spectrum Internet connection, the numbers may not be that accurate.   I used the University of North Carolina as the server to test my connection.

I hope this mini-guide to workers comp webinars was helpful to you – good luck.

April 2024 Update –

Always test the platform (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToWebinar) to make sure that the video and sound work.  If you have not ever used the platform before, or have not used it for a long time, you will need time to download and update/install the webinar platform.  This can take a few minutes.

Make sure that your internet security, malware, or antivirus apps do not block your access.  Malware apps used to cause problems for me, but now they all work in unison.

©J&L Risk Management Inc Copyright Notice