If you have never attended a live training presentation or a webinar and if you have never hosted a webinar, you might be wondering what do people need to install on their computers to view this presentation. And I hope it's not the one thing holding you back from webinars because nowadays, people don't have to install anything to attend a webinar.
That's right, it's a zero-install process but there are a few difficulties you should know about. When I say there is zero installation when someone attends their webinar, that means that when their browser comes to the webinar join page, a Flash or Java applet appears depending on which service you used. Then the webinar client installs in the background while the webinar is loading up.
The first time you join a webinar, it might take a few extra seconds to install the software and you might be prompted to run something, but other than that there is no program to install. It installs on its own.
Most webinar services, including GoToWebinar, will install their software easily on a Mac just as well as a PC. But because these technologies are Flash and Java based, these will not install on any phone including smart phones like an iPhone, Droid, or BlackBerry, but it will install on a desktop or laptop computer.
One thing that you should be aware of is with GoToWebinar, the technology is not 100% Mac compatible. As a presenter, the screen sharing doesn't always work properly and the USB headset you will be using does not always sound properly. They might fix these issues in the future but for now I definitely recommend that if you want to present on a webinar, you run a PC or at least a Mac running Parallels. However, if you are joining a webinar or if your users are joining your webinar and they are not going to be showing their screen or speaking, a Mac will do just fine.
I hope that opened your eyes and made you realize that your end users do not have to install any special software to attend your webinar. The software installs itself as long as they are on a desktop or laptop computer, meaning not a cell phone. They need to be running a browser that can run Flash or Java, and if they are presenting, to not use a Mac.
Now that you're ready to become a star and run your own webinars, go right now to www.webinarcrusher.com.
