Are Webinars a Practical Way to Communicate with Your Team or Students?

Started by icy__fog__985

icy__fog__985

So here's a situation I've been thinking about. With remote work and online learning becoming more common, a lot of people I know are switching to webinars as their main way of holding team meetings or delivering lessons. It sounds efficient on the surface—everyone joins at the same time, you can share your screen, show slides, answer questions in real time—but I’m wondering: do you actually find this an effective way to communicate with your staff or students? I’ve used webinars a few times for staff briefings and one guest lecture, and while it worked decently, I’m still not sure if it’s the most practical long-term option. Sometimes people are clearly just logged in but not engaged, and there's not much feedback unless you force interaction. Still, it’s convenient and easy to set up. Curious how others feel about using webinars regularly in a professional or educational setting.

nameless__wildflower__747

For university classes, I’ve been running weekly webinars as part of my hybrid course. At first, I tried to replicate the classroom dynamic, but that didn’t go well. Now, I think of webinars more like a bridge—they fill in the gap between reading assignments and in-person discussions. When I frame them as a chance to clarify ideas rather than lecture again, students seem more responsive

old__star__63

I use webinars pretty frequently for check-ins with remote team members. It’s not perfect, but for what it is, it helps establish some rhythm and visibility across projects. One thing I’ve noticed, though, is that unless you build in intentional pauses or invite people to unmute and speak, it ends up being a one-way street. You’re just talking into the void. I started adding polls and giving someone else the role of co-host to help manage chat and reactions—it made a big difference. Still, I treat webinars more like a structured info session, not a replacement for daily communication. It’s good for updates, presentations, or onboarding new folks, but not great for nuanced conversations or team bonding. It is important to find good webinar software and i know that beside Zoom, there also may be good soft with a lot of valuable functions and other things that might help you during the meeting