Dry Runs Eliminate Workers Comp Webinar Technical Difficulties

Unfortunately, Workers Comp webinar technical difficulties do happen now.  The statistics will catch up with the webinar community.  With so many workers comp webinars being presented, an organization cannot avoid having random technical difficulties.

Bill Gates Says Pandemic Provided Opportunities

On a side note, Bill Gates, the multi-billionaire tech icon posted last week that the pandemic enables the public to have a great opportunity to learn so much through webinars.

He was spot-on.  I know of five workers comp webinars that I could have signed up for just this week alone.  I have set through more webinars in the last three months than the last three to five years.

Workers Comp Panel Webinar – 10 Minutes and Counting

The one cautionary instance happened yesterday with a webinar that was offering a CEU for an hour-long webinar.  I decided to register and check it out.  I will not identify the company or the subject for anonymity.

I wanted to thank them for providing a free webinar on a timely topic.

The panel started the webinar with a 10-minute round of everyone on the panel and the host speaker saying, “can you hear me, can you hear me?”   The old Verizon commercial started ringing in my head.

The monotony dragged on until the host speaker called the main speaker to tell them to start their presentation.  This happened approximately 10+ minutes after the start of the webinar.

Some of the panelists could hear each and the host speaker.  Some were left adrift.

Now the panelists started late and were rushed and then some could not tell when the other started or stopped.

My Experiences With Preparation For Webinars

The Prepared Ones Went Smoothly

The smoothest webinar presentations I have ever done were with the Academy of Insurance approximately five years ago.  I covered four webinars in six months.    The person running the webinar called me the day before to do a dry run.   I was on the line 30 minutes before the webinar doing a preparation dry run.   We did a third dry run five minutes before the presentation.

I thought this was overkill.  Now I see that it was not as there was a technical difficulty in one of them that was corrected with me replacing my microphone due to loopback sounds.   The saved all the participants having to listen to an echo for an hour.

The two people that I worked with at the Academy of Insurance have moved on since then.  Their overkill made for great webinar experiences.

Statistics Caught Up With One Presentation – Painful Workers Comp Technical Problem

I have “jumped on the podium” often with webinars over the past five years with no hitches.   I usually request a dry run of some type before turning on the live mic.

The workers comp technical difficulty stats caught up with me.   I was using an older computer that had a slower modem.  I had used it before with no problems.   Tun, I would have realized this problem and would have hooked my laptop directly into my router.

If you happen to not know how to do this check out this article I wrote at the start of the pandemic.   Hooking a CAT-5 cable from your notebook directly into your router and WHAM! – lightning speeds.   You should have a pile of CAT-5 cables.  They have been around since the 1980s.

Yes, I do have a heavy IT background that has helped me greatly over the years.  I decided to write two articles after listening to presenters have technical difficulties presenting from home.

If you are hosting or presenting a webinar, another article I wrote that same week can be found here on how to speed up your connection.  During the pandemic, speed is power – even Google said so.

Bottom Line To Avoid Workers Comp Technical Difficulties

Presenting or listening from home causes many more difficulties during a webinar.   Be prepared and do dry runs to avoid a 10-minute delay of constantly hearing – “Can you hear me now?”

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