What is the best platform for a conference webinar? How can I set up multiple video inputs for online training?

These and other questions were answered in an ABU Media Academy training session titled Delivering Quality Webinars and Online Events, on Thursday 4 February. The session was attended by 106 registrants from 36 member organisations in 26 countries.

The webinar revealed the technical and organisational secrets behind the ABU’s highly successful virtual General Assembly meetings in November and December last year, and was delivered in response to member requests about how to deliver quality webinars and online meetings using freely available software tools.

Amongst the tips were:

·       Do keep your camera lens clean with your glasses cleaning cloth

·      Do frame yourself in the middle of the screen, rather than at the bottom, very top or sides

·      Do use dual displays so that all controls and windows can show clearly

·      Try to use an external microphone, not your computer’s built in mic

·      Don’t have a strong light source behind you, it makes the contrast too extreme

·      Don’t use text that is too small, don’t crowd the screen with text

·      Choose the best platform for your purpose – if everyone should speak use the meeting setting, if it is a conference presentation use the webinar setting

The Director of ABU’s Technology & Innovation Department, Ahmed Nadeem and Manager of the ABU’s IT Department Siva Kumar explained details of the technology behind the success of the General Assembly, which was held virtually for the first time in the ABU’s history. They used an ATEM Mini Pro switcher to control inputs to the Zoom Webinar platform. The ABU Academy team, Steve Ahern and Ruchi Malhotra gave tips on producing and presenting quality webinars.