Video conferencing has become a great way of keeping up with work-related things when working from home. When talking about video conferencing, you'll often hear two terms: webinar and online meeting. A webinar may seem like a typical online meeting, but it isn't.
If you've found yourself using the two terms interchangeably, this article is for you. Read on to learn what a webinar is, the difference between webinars and online meetings, and how webinar features on popular video conferencing platforms stack against each other.
What Is a Webinar?
A webinar, or web seminar in full, is an online lecture, workshop, or presentation. Typically, a webinar consists of a single speaker or a small group of speakers/panelists presenting to an audience.
A webinar has two critical aspects: a speaker or small group of speakers and an audience. The audience can interact with the hosts differently, which boils down to the available interactive tools. Essential webinar interactive features include polls, chats, and Q&A sessions, among others.
A webinar can be free or paid, depending on the host and organization. Typically, webinars last between half an hour to an hour, but again, this depends on the host, topic, and so on. Finally, you can host webinars in real-time, but you can also pre-record and share on-demand.
How Do Webinars Work?
Webinars mainly involve the presentation of content to an audience. They are primarily handy in different scenarios, including online lecturers, product showcases, user onboarding, training, and conducting meetings for large teams. You can present different content types from video, PowerPoint slides, whiteboards, and screen sharing in a webinar.
Webinar vs. Online Meetings: What's the Difference?
Up until this point, you might still be wondering what differentiates a webinar from an online meeting. The main difference between a webinar and an online meeting is the interactive aspect. Online meetings involve the collaboration of all participants. In an online meeting, anyone could present by screen sharing and talking. Participants also see other users in the meeting.
Webinars work slightly differently because only the host and panelists can talk and present. Other attendees in the meeting can only view what's happening. Attendees interact with the host or panelists via interactive features like chats and polls. Another differentiating factor between meetings and webinars is the number of participants.
Webinars are more appropriate if you plan on hosting lots of attendees, while online meetings are ideal for small teams. For instance, Google Meet's webinar feature can accommodate up to 100,000 participants. In contrast, a typical Google Meet meeting only supports up to 250 participants.
Webinars on Popular Video Conference Platforms
Webinar features are currently available on the most popular video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet. Depending on which platform you choose, however, you will have different features at your disposal.
Also, webinar features are mainly exclusive to paying subscribers as well.
Webinars on Zoom
Zoom's video webinar feature supports up to 50,000 view-only attendees and unlimited webinar sessions for up to 30 hours each. The minimum number of users supported is 500, but you have an option to scale up to 50,000. The maximum number of attendees depends on your Zoom webinar license.
On Zoom, a host can screen share and present via audio or video. Attendees interact with the host via the chat feature and the built-in question and answer feature. It also includes polling and surveys.
As a host, you have the option to require pre-registration or let attendees join instantly at the time of hosting by clicking the webinar link. If you require attendees to pre-register, you can manually approve them or allow the system to approve everyone automatically.
One thing to note about Zoom's webinar feature is you can choose to unmute attendees.
Zoom's webinar feature is available in its dedicated Zoom Events & Webinar plan. Zoom Events & Webinar starts at $79/month/license for up to 500 attendees.
Additional pricing options include $340/month/license (up to 1,000 attendees), $990/month/license (up to 3,000), $2,490/month/license (up to 5,000), and $6,490/month/license (up to 10,000). However, an annual subscription will save you some good cash.
If you're interested in plans that can accommodate over 10,000 participants, be sure to contact Zoom.
Webinars on Google Meet
In Google Meet, a webinar can include a maximum of 100,000 attendees. Like Zoom, the maximum number of attendees will depend on your Google Workspace edition. If you're unfamiliar with Google Workspace, our guide on what Google Workspace is and how to use it should come in handy.
To create a webinar in Google Meet, you'll have to create a live stream event for presenters first. After that, you'll then have to create a second, view-only event for guests. Google Meet's webinar feature, which the company calls "Live Streaming," is only available on select Google Workspace plans.
These select Google Workspace editions include Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade.
For all of these editions, Google isn't open about the pricing, so you'll have to contact the company for that.
Webinars on Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams has a more conservative cap on the maximum number of attendees. Currently, it only allows up to 10,000 view-only attendees but plans to double that number in the future. However, you can host up to 1000 attendees, with each accessing different interactive features inside Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams allows you to create an optional registration form as well, like Zoom. And unlike Zoom and Google Meet, Microsoft Teams allows you to enable attendee audio and video after creating a webinar.
In Teams, your attendees can interact with you via chat, polls, live reactions, and they can also raise their hands to get your attention.
Webinar features are available in Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Business Premium plans (up to 300 attendees) which cost $12.50 and $20 per user a month, respectively, billed annually. If you're an enterprise user, you can select between Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, which cost $32 and $57 for each user per month on an annual commitment. Microsoft 365 Government G3 and G5 plans also include Teams' webinar support as well.
In the meantime, for the rest of 2021, any Microsoft 365 subscription plan has access to Teams' webinar features.
Host a Webinar Yourself!
Webinars are a great way to host large online meetings. However, you should only use webinars if you mainly plan to present something. If you want to host interactive meetings, you're better off using the typical online meetings. The biggest thing to know about webinars on popular video conferencing platforms is that you must pay for a subscription.
In contrast, you can host an online meeting without paying a dime, as long as you don't have many participants. So if you plan to host a webinar, shop around and see what features are available on the different platforms.