We have now done 2 webinars for our client - the European Food Information Council (www.eufic.org).

A few months ago they asked us to help them with their communication outreach programmes. We have previously recorded a 2 day seminar for them and podcast that (almost 200 people attended the conference. Over 2k have listened to it since).

We have also podcast a number of round-table conferences and events for them. Over the last two years these podcasts have been listened to or watched by close on 50k people. That is big ROI in terms of numbers of people reached. Looking at all the project costs over that time the cost per listener is about £1 and of course is falling everytime a new person listens in. Now compare that to the costs of direct mail, newsletters or brochures or even a physical seminar!

What did we do?

We built them a customised webinar system so they could present to the world from their offices in Belgium (or anywhere with an VoIP or internet connection). They have a web based master control panel that they use to control the slides and talk into a microphone. Their 'desktop' and their audio line feed is fed into our studios in Southampton in real time and via us (we are recording it for later podcast) to a streaming server so anyone can listen and watch the slides at the same time via a web site. After it is over the recording is uploaded to a web site so that anyone who could not virtually attend live can listen whenever they want.

So what was the result of the last webinar?

We had a restricted invitation list and 48 people listened live. They were able to ask questions via an IM/e-mail button on the web site. The presenters read the questions to air and then answered them. We recorded the presentation and linked it to the PowerPoint slides. We also recorded the Q&A session. This was all then put on a microsite which we hosted but was linked through from the EUFIC site. (Check out the EUFIC link to listen to the webinar). The client notified a few e-mail lists but mainly it was left to 'word-of-mouth' marketing to promote the webinars availability.

The result? In just under three weeks a total of 889 people have listened in. That is an 18X multiple on the live audience.

Looking at the results of the Food In Action conference we did for EUFIC almost a year ago this result is very similar. For Food In Action we had just over 150 people physically attend the event. Over 2250 people have listeded to the podcast recordings of the 2 day event since. That is a 15x multiple.

Looking at all the webinar budgets the cost per 'listener' is just under £2.50. Everytime a new person listens this cost goes down! Compare that to the cost of organising a physical seminar or even doing direct mail or newsletters. Webinars are very cost effcetive.

So what does the client think?

They have just booked their next conference for November 5th!

They have also asked we look at creatively reducing the cost per person attending by another 20%. They do not want reduced budgets but more people listening!