Coming to Terms: Webinar vs. Web conference vs. Webcast
By Sarah Schmelling
In recent years, terminology for internet-based meetings and presentations has expanded to the point of confusion.
Can you explain the difference between a “webinar” and a “webcast”?
And, if your company’s CEO just instructed you to look into conducting a “Web conference,” is that something altogether different?
Some of the definitions for these terms may vary depending on who you ask, but most analysts and Web service providers can come to agreement on the fundamentals.
Stephanie Downs, founder of ConferZone.com, an e-conferencing resource site covering Web, video, audio and collaborative conferencing services, says part of the confusion stems from high-tech firms being the “masters” of inventing new words.
“It’s all about branding and being first to use the hot new term,” she explains.
But all of these new phrases can make things complicated for companies trying to find the Web service that’s right for them.
Finding the Common Ground
Perhaps the best way to start understanding these different meeting types is to look at what they all have in common. Webinars, webcasts and Web conferences are clearly all meetings conducted over the Internet.
According to Keith Maddox, president of Infinite Conferencing, all three can be considered “virtual meetings, presentations or training sessions that utilize the Internet and Web browser technology to enable two or more people to simultaneously view, and sometimes hear, the same content in real-time on disparate computers.”
Maddox explains Web conferences as smaller, more interactive meetings. For him, Web conferences generally include one or more of the following features: slideshows, application/desktop sharing, text messaging, control passing, and polling.
Additional features may include remote control, record /playback function, one-way audio/video streaming, two-way audio/video conferencing, file sharing, and Outlook integration and scheduling.
According to Online-Business-Service-Tips.com, Web conferencing is a service that “enables you to instantly share your desktop with multiple guests over the Internet.” This type of call should allow business professionals to communicate more effectively through interactive meetings.
Downs sees webinars as a form of Web conference. Webinars, she says, are the most common type of e-conference. Here, a moderator “presents content over the Internet using a form of slide show presentation,” she says.
“Attendees view the presentation by logging on…and communicate with the moderator either through the telephone or Web-based chat,” Down says. “The moderator can interact with participants, view attendee lists, and manage the communication during the event.”
Interactivity a Defining Factor
According to Webopedia.com, a site that defines common Web terms, the key to a webinar is its interactive capability—allowing users to give, receive and discuss information.
In business settings, Maddox says, webinars are often used for “lead generation” in sales and marketing, and for training. “Webinar invitees are generally required to register in advance online, and some require a registration fee,” he says. “Webinar features are identical to those of a Web conference; however, a webinar is not likely to have control passing, remote control, or video conferencing.”
Finally, as its name implies, a webcast is a broadcast of information over the Internet. Webopedia defines “webcasting” as using the Internet to broadcast live or delayed audio and or video transmissions, much like traditional television or radio broadcasts.
“For example, a university may webcast a press conference in lieu of or in addition to a conference call,” the site explains.
In its definition, webcasts differ from webinars because they are primarily one-way transmissions, not providing interaction between the presenter and the audience.
Maddox says that like webinars, webcasts tend to be larger meetings in which the audience can hear (and/or see) a presenter through their computers.
Come to Terms
In short, conferencing experts seem to agree on several key factors for each of these terms:
Web conferences can be seen as “collaborative,” or a way of sharing information.
Webinars also allow people to communicate with one another, but concentrate more on one or several individuals presenting information to the audience.
And webcasts—like other types of broadcasts—are primarily one-way presentations in which information is shown or played through video and audio streaming to an audience that does not communicate back.
As Downs says, being familiar with these terms can enable better buying decisions, speed up the buying process, and decrease “much of the pain during the evaluation phase” of e-conferencing services. And as Web conferencing continues to evolve—and high-tech gurus continue to create their own new terms—it’s a great help to know, at the very least, the name for the type of Internet meeting your company wants to conduct right now.
About the Author
Sarah Schmelling is a Los Angeles-based correspondent for ConferencingNews. She can be reached via email at journalists@BeTuitive.com.
