Webinar ethics is not a sexy topic, but sometimes the basics are critical to our success.
It was less than a year ago when the bad news was delivered in the dental surgery. We would need a tooth extraction and five fillings. Unfortunately, “we” was not me. It was our then 6 year old son. I could not understand how every 6 months our family dentist had routinely proclaimed that our son’s teeth looked gorgeous and that he was doing a great job brushing his teeth. And now the truth was revealed. His brushing had not been effective. His teeth were in bad shape. I had failed our son by deciding to allow him to brush his teeth by himself at too young an age.
I made the mistake of kidding myself that everything was OK when we abandoned a basic habit. In this article, I urge you to remember a critical basic regarding webinar ethics – To use the power of webinars for good not evil. I do not believe that “the ends justifies the means”. Resist the dark side of rationalising that mistruths and short cuts are OK. Instead, be unfailingly honest. Be transparent. And always be 100% truthful to our webinar participants. The video highlights 5 ways to avoid the dark side of webinar ethics.
Webinar Ethics: 5 Ways to avoid the Dark Side – https://youtu.be/QEUFxF4uE04
During the video I reference the amazing George Kao. You can find his website at http://georgekao.com. I also mention Jon Schumacher who you can find at http://jonschumacher.com.
1. Be honest about our webinar purpose
This sounds simple at face value, but I have seen many webinars that had a clear sales purpose that was not declared before the webinar or during the introduction to the webinar. I don’t like that approach. If you are going to have a call to action for your participants to make a purchase or alternative significant decision at the end of the webinar then please tell them that is going to happen in advance. Otherwise, you run the risk of the participants becoming cynical about your intentions and wary of attending future webinars with you.
2. Never pretend that a webinar is “live”
Recent webinar software releases have created the opportunity for webinar presenters to appear that they are presenting “live” when in fact the attendee is only watching a replay. If you are going to give people the chance to watch a replica replay or a recording of your webinar then I encourage you to declare that to your attendees. More importantly, do not attempt to deceive your attendees even if you don’t expressly state that the webinar is a live event.
3. Only use authentic testimonials and real comments
Only authentic testimonials sourced from a real person or organisation should be used to promote webinars or during the online presentation content. Also, some of the same types of software identified in the previous paragraph provide opportunity for webinar presenters to modify the viewer chat comments shown to the attendees of the replay or recording. Please do not do this as it is not honest. The ends does not justify the means. Powerful software, like all tools, should be used for good not evil.
4. Declare when our product will be available
Clearly identify when any product you sell during a webinar will be delivered to the participants. If you product is not yet completed be honest and tell your participants. They will respect you for it. This approach substantially reduces the potential for angst and frustration between you and your product purchasers.
5. Keep our promises
Let our word be our bond. By keeping our promises we will maintain the faith and trust of our supporters.
Reflect and Refocus Challenge
Here is my challenge for you. Tonight before you head to bed please take 60 seconds to reflect upon your webinar ethics and how you might make some tweaks to avoid the dark side. I promise to do that too just after I brush my son’s teeth. May the force be with us all.
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