DIY Webinar vs Agency Webinar

A webinar is one of the most effective communication channels for businesses and large organisations – they help you connect with employees, generate leads and impress partners and clients. However, with more and more businesses adopting webinars, it’s important to make sure that your content genuinely engages with your audience. 

One of the questions that you might first ask yourself when planning your webinar or virtual event, is whether you should host it yourself or work with a specialised agency. Some businesses may opt to host their webinars using a dedicated internal team, whilst others opt to outsource their production to a professional agency. it’s important to consider several different factors. 

In this blog post, we’ll outline key factors to consider before hosting a webinar to help you decide whether outsourcing your planning and production is the right choice for your business.

Webinar Type 

The first thing that you should think about when considering working with an agency is the type of webinar you’re going to be hosting. Will you be hosting an informal internal meeting with your colleagues? Or will you be hosting a large-scale event to impress clients and prospects? 

If your event is aimed at casual audiences, DIY webinars are much simpler to set up and require minimal equipment – as long as you have a stable internet connection, a laptop with a webcam and a microphone, you’ll be able to host it yourself. However, if you’re trying to impress your audiences with a professionally-run event, a simple setup might not be enough to wow your attendees. In this case, it’s worth considering using an agency to help you elevate the production of your webinar. 

Webinar Production Quality 

Whether you want to invest in the production of your webinar will be entirely dependent on the purpose of your event. With production companies, you can invest in the production quality of your webinar. You’ll have a dedicated crew who can create a webinar that is visually appealing to your audience, with a variety of camera angles, branded graphics and animations. An agency can assist you with location and studio filming to create high-quality content that connects with your audiences. Even with remote webinars, the added appeal of graphics such as lower thirds and opening title sequences can make them much more engaging. 

Technical Expertise 

A significant benefit of working with a webinar agency is that you’ll have access to technical expertise throughout the entire pre-production, production and post-production process. 

Whether you’re hosting remotely, in a studio or on location, a production agency will provide you with all the necessary technical understanding to ensure that your webinar operates smoothly on the day. From testing camera quality and connectivity to tech rehearsals, experienced agencies will support you with technical know-how. If you’re hosting your first webinar and are new to hosting or presenting, your producers can provide presenter training. This, in particular, can be a tremendous time-saver, allowing you and your team to concentrate on what is most important to you. 

Attendee Support 

If you’re hosting an event with lots of viewers, the chances are that at least one of them will encounter technical difficulties. When hosting a small scale event, these technical issues can be easily managed by a member of your team. However, if you’re hosting a large scale event with thousands of attendees, you might want to consider outsourcing the technical queries to a specialised agency. Agencies will have dedicated teams that can quickly deal with audience queries, leaving your team to focus on the delivery and content. 

Time Management

How much time you have is a crucial factor to consider when deciding whether to host on your own or to seek out assistance from a production company. People often underestimate how much time is required to plan and produce a webinar on your own. This can be a time-consuming process, especially if you’re planning on hosting an event that is going to be streamed to a sizeable audience. When planning time, you’ll need to factor in time to plan the content, prepare the platform, market your event as well as rehearsals and technical management. 

If your event is on a smaller scale, or you have people on your team who can dedicate a considerable amount of time to planning, going down the DIY route is much easier to manage. However, if you are planning to host a large scale event, you should consider a managed webinar. Outsourcing many of the key responsibilities to a live streaming agency like Bombora will allow you to focus on what’s important – the content and presentation of your webinar – whilst they take care of the production side. 

Cost 

If you’re seeking to keep costs low, running your webinar yourself is the obvious choice. Whilst it costs more time, you’ll certainly be saving a lot more money if you opt to host your own webinar. However, if you’re looking to invest in production values and impress your audience, the return on investment for managed webinars can be worthwhile, especially if your webinar is used as sales or marketing material. 

Webinars: The Pros and Cons 

DIY Webinars

DIY webinars are ideal for smaller, more intimate audiences in a casual setting. They’re cost-efficient, easy to set up and there is a variety of platforms available to run your own webinar. However, if you want to host a professional event, the quality of a DIY webinar may not be enough to impress your audiences. Running your own event can also require a large investment of time and effort.

Agency-managed Webinars

Outsourcing your webinar production to a specialist agency will ensure that the production quality is elevated. With their expertise, agencies will take care of the entire production cycle, dealing with all the technical aspects before, during and after your event. Whilst managed webinars might cost you more, they can certainly be a worthy investment, especially if you’re expecting to generate leads and build brand awareness.

The Verdict: DIY Webinar vs Agency Webinar

Ultimately, whether you decide to host your webinar yourself or seek out an agency for webinar services is dependent on the type of webinar you’re looking to host. If you’re willing to invest more time and save on costs, a high-quality DIY webinar is certainly manageable. Conversely, if you feel like your team’s time could be better spent focusing on marketing your event, an agency-managed webinar is a perfect solution for you. Your audience size and the scale of your webinar are also important factors to consider; smaller audiences are easier to manage by yourself whereas large scale events might require more support. 

If you’re interested in professionally produced webinars, get in touch to arrange a call. We specialise in broadcast quality virtual events, webinars and live streaming.