In our latest interview, Will and Danny discuss ways they are streamlining the webinar workflow with AI. Discover how integrating AI into your webinar processes enhances efficiency and engagement. Watch, listen, or read below.
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Can you provide an overview of webinar hosts' critical challenges in managing their workflows?
Time, the amount of moving parts, and the various types of pressure that come with running webinars. These are the three things I believe anyone running a webinar will resonate with.
There are many different stakeholders and departments involved in a webinar campaign. You've got your marketing and sales teams, then your design team to develop the promotional graphics and the dev team to integrate your webinar platform into your CRM. You have your event speakers, who may be internal, external, or a combination of both, each presenting different challenges. You might be moderating or hosting yourself and, most importantly, the audience.
There’s also pressure from hosting live events, pressure from upper management to prove ROI, and pressure from sales to generate the right type of leads from the events.
How do you envision AI revolutionizing the efficiency and effectiveness of webinar workflows?
I wouldn’t personally describe myself as an AI disciple. Currently, there are limitations and I still think there is some confusion with use cases. We’ve had the initial hype and now it’s about getting into the weeds of these tools and seeing how they can improve our workflows.
Having said that, I believe that AI will slowly but surely revolutionize how we work. At the moment, we are looking at it by analyzing our current workflows and identifying areas where AI can optimize our output. So far, we’ve found several tools that can do that.
Why are you exploring the intersection of AI technology and webinar management?
It’s hard to ignore something that is everywhere, especially when working in tech and B2B in general.
Our webinar platform provider has started introducing AI elements into its software—useful things like event setup chatbots, connecting speakers to the best servers, and assisting with optimal audio and camera setups. That already saves our project managers a certain amount of time. It might not be a huge amount of time, but when you are managing multiple campaigns, it all adds up.
At AZoNetwork, we all agree that AI will be implemented into existing software and that many enhancements will be made. Regarding webinar software, we are closely monitoring what some big players are doing in this space—Zoom, ON24, etc.
Could you delve deeper into how you streamline your webinar workflow with AI?
The first area where AI tools support workflows is ideation, specifically from a webinar management perspective when preparing your registration page. You typically need to decide on a series of things for your registration pages: event title, abstract, key learning objectives, and who would benefit from attending. LLMs like ChatGPT or AZoScience can assist you with brainstorming, content writing, and deciphering what data points you want to establish from your audience.
Many webinar platforms now have live captions as an option available in several languages. These have come a long way over the last few years in terms of accuracy. Although there is still some progress to be made - especially with technical writing, we see in the scientific and tech space - the fact that this can now be done in real-time during a live event can add real value to the audience experience. And the accuracy and quality will only get better.
Most of the AI use cases that streamline your webinar workflow currently come in post-event and on-demand periods. Here is a list of just a few.
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In terms of how things may develop, we are thinking about how audience members might be experiencing webinar content in the future. Some exciting developments with the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta/Rayban smart glasses have made us imagine when people are experiencing webinars and other video content through their glasses.
How will this impact the type of content we produce, and what opportunities will that give marketers? We’ll keep an eye on it.
In what ways do AI-driven features like chatbots and personalized recommendations enhance audience engagement during webinars?
With any personalization tool like chatbots, finding the right balance between the convenience for you as a marketer and the audience's experience is essential. Using chatbots to personalize experiences and customer journeys is another good AI use case. One example is that this person downloaded 'x handout' from their webinar room; maybe they’d also be interested in 'x whitepaper'.
What key considerations should webinar hosts consider when selecting and implementing AI technologies for their workflows, particularly regarding data privacy and ethical implications?
This isn't just specific to webinars; any company's use of AI should be done with caution. Amongst other things, hosts need to consider several things, particularly concerning data privacy and compliance, whether or not there are any ethical implications, and the impact on user experience. Having an AI use policy is a good starting point.
