Jason Smith
BuyerZone.com Editorial Staff

Wouldn't it be great to be able to deliver a powerful sales message or demonstrate a new product to a worldwide audience without having to leave your office? With a webcast, you can. By using the Internet to deliver video and audio, webcasts allow you to save money on travel and provide a level of convenience that a live presentation can't match.

In addition to planned presentations, you can take questions beforehand or even conduct real-time polling. To view a webcast, visitors simply need a media player - typically Windows Media Player or RealPlayer - and a link you provide on your web site or in an email.

All you need to deliver a webcast is a computer and input devices - a sound card and microphone, plus a video card or camera. You'll also need encoding software to convert your presentation to a streaming media format and a high-speed Internet connection.

Of course, not everyone can view a webcast as it happens. That's where the power of archiving comes in. You can record your webcast and allow visitors to your web site to view the program whenever they want. Since it's no longer live, viewers can jump ahead in the presentation to view only the material of interest to them.

Here are some helpful tips to get the most of your webcast services:

Know before you go. Before you even plan your first webcast, make sure you understand how it works, where to get support if you need help, and how to use the applications. Whether you are a novice or an expert, find a webcast service that is easy to use and that you'll be comfortable with.

Get it right the first time. You don't have a lot of time to correct mistakes during a live webcast. Practice frequently before you go live and make sure you have support to iron out difficulties.

Promote it. What good is a webcast if nobody knows you're running one? Be sure to clearly present when the webcast will take place and how it can be viewed later.

Record to backup. Even if you don't intend to archive your webcasts, make sure you're recording the presentation anyway. This way, if anything goes wrong, the viewer can access the material later on.

Get to the point. You certainly don't want to overwhelm viewers with information. Make sure to present webcasts in segments so users can pick and choose the topics they're interested in.

Knock down the barriers. A network firewall or a pop-up blocker might not let viewers access the browser needed to view the webcast. Alert users to disable these features to experience the presentation.

Pick the right connection. In order to avoid a slow or choppy connection, give visitors an option to select low or high quality video based on their Internet connection speed.