Cocktail Hour: Meet the Webinar People of the World

So for everyone who is just tuning in for this session, hello and welcome so much to Webinar Days, the annual event for everyone doing webinars. My name is Amelia and I work here at 23 as part of the marketing team. But for the past two days, I have been acting as your webinar host. We have visited agencies from around the world. We have had some really interesting sneak peeks into webinar tools of the future. We have looked at data and analytics, talked about trends, and I'm so excited to check in with a bunch of webinar people from around the world. And they're going to be giving you guys some insights and different tips and tricks. So I'm very proud to announce, if you don't know already, that Webinar Days is hosted and brought to you by 23. Our video tool is used by marketers at both growth companies as well as enterprise companies to both do video and webinar. And we bring a tool that is integrated and all-in-one that you need if you want to get real with a video and webinars. It's a tool that is optimized to scale videos and to scale your efforts to hundreds of marketers or perhaps even hundreds of marketing teams. So the purpose with Webinar Days is to come together and to build a community. And we see it as part of our mission to drive this webinar field forward. We want to challenge the event format and speak about digital events. And we really strive to inspire our audience. And there's no better way to do that than to learn from one another. So for this session in particularly, let's try to give them some energy, right? So I want to introduce you quickly to our platform. You can see it's always a little bit of a trick here, but yes, you can see the chat to my left. And here I really want to encourage you guys to introduce yourself to each other. It's so interesting for the audience to know who is watching along with you, who are your peers, introduce yourself, and who knows, maybe get a chance to connect outside of this event afterwards. We also have a questions button. This is a great feature that allows us to bring your specific question on screen and have the speaker answer it directly. If you want to engage with us but you don't have a specific question in mind, please use our reactions feature. There is an emoji next to the chat. And here you can pick your favorite emoji and share your reaction. This is going to be particularly important for this session because I have been teasing that we have a little bit of a surprise for you for this session. And we are basically hosting a competition. So I'm going to put down my iPod and I'm going to show you guys what you are able to win. So in front of me here, I have our very own little cocktail kit that you are able to win and have sent to your address. The only rule of engagement in this competition is based on engagement. So if you have been with us for the two days, your engagement throughout these two days will count. But this is your last and final chance to influence your score. So if you want to win this delicious box of we have some potato chips in here. We have a locally brewed gin together with a Nordic classic O'Deart tonic as well as our very own company branded beer. This little goodie will be shipped to your address together with, hold on one minute, together with a 23 video toolkit. In this video toolkit, you have a box of physical tools that will help supplement your webinar software. You will receive a storyboard, a webinar planner, and a personal sketchbook together with some posters and perhaps a report that will give you the data you need to benchmark your video and webinar efforts. So if you feel like this prize has your name on it, remember to react in the chat, write some comments, ask the questions, and let's keep the energy going while we lean back. Enjoy the session today together with your mocktail. So I would encourage you all to take a minute, please join me, grab a mocktail or cocktail, a glass of wine, maybe a cup of hot tea if it's cold where you are, maybe even a cup of coffee if you're tuning in from America and on your way to the office right now. Together we're going to run through some great check ins. I'm very happy to announce the first speaker for this cocktail hour because he was supposed to be with us yesterday. His name is Nick Dillaforse. He is a very talented video producer and brand storyteller who has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world. And he is now rocking video content at his own video agency, VidZero, and he is tuning in all the way from the UK. And the reason it is extra special to have Nick on board with us today is because you became sick, right? So you, unfortunately, were not able to join us yesterday. How are you feeling, Nick? A little better. I'm not going cocktails at the moment, Amelia. I'm just playing it safe with tea today. But yeah, thank you. Feeling much better. My stomach was very upset yesterday and I was in a very precarious place at 1 p.m. CET yesterday when the event began. So you guys did a marvelous job. I watched it in my sickbed and enjoyed it a lot. Thank you very much. Of course, it wouldn't measure up to all of the great knowledge that you would have shared with us, but hopefully we can get some of that extracted today. So I really appreciate you coming on. And, of course, we fully understand that we live in the real world. We're all humans. And I mean, that's just what happens sometimes. However, I know you have worked with video and webinars for so long now and you are such excellent at what you do. So I wanted to rack your brain a little bit for this session and ask you about webinar trends because I think we're talking about so many things and video definitely feeds into the webinar category. I think video is looked at as a little bit of the umbrella term and then webinars kind of within that. Have you experienced any particular trends throughout the year that have stood out to you? And just like in your own opinion, can you give us a little bit of insight into what you think has been characteristic for this year? I think at the beginning of the year, I felt there was like a little bit of a dip in webinars and I felt like people sort of almost shied away from them a little bit, thinking that perhaps they needed to go all in on live events. And as the year progressed, what I saw is more and more companies realizing that they were actually shooting themselves in the foot by dropping it and picking it back up. So the clients I was working with, what I tended to find was at the beginning of the year, they wouldn't touch webinars. And as the year progressed, sort of February, March, April, May, the more you progress, the more people were interested in webinars again. One of the dangerous trends I saw at the beginning of the year, which I'd sort of encourage people to stay away from, is people started trying to play it really safe with webinars and go all pre-recorded. So sort of no live interaction at all. And I've been so glad to see throughout webinar days, so many of the speakers kind of jump on and talk about how that is a bad idea. And you know, you've got to use the live features of webinars. I think a lot of organizations are in the state now where they're sort of feeling out different formats. It feels like a really exciting time. I think people, more than ever, there's an explosion of people trying different webinar formats and trying new things in this space. Whereas two or three years ago, it was all like just, it felt like video calls. It felt like endless zooms. I think now there's a trend for people trying chat shows. They're trying podcast style webinars, and it's quite fun. Yes, I agree. And I think there's so much to experiment with when it comes to video and webinars because video as a tool, as a medium, it is a creative platform. So it does really allow you to implement different types of perspectives and stuff like that. And I know you and I had a chat a little bit about the word webinars and how that has kind of maybe earned a little bit of a negative ring to it because companies were forced to do webinars because of COVID. Not everyone understood what it was. Can you maybe elaborate a little bit on that statement? Yeah, I think, Luke, for everybody at home, when coming into this, when I was speaking to Amelia preparing for this event, one of the things I wanted to sort of talk about and say, but I didn't want to sort of tarnish an event called Webinar Days, we'll sort of talk a little bit about the branding problem the word webinars has. I think webinars are such a wonderful platform and such an incredible space to sort of experiment and play in and engage with people. But in a lot of organizations, typically the ones who've done a worse job, some of the biggest companies in the world, webinars have gotten a bad name because people expect an hour and a half long Zoom call where someone very boring just talks at you for an hour and a half and people tend to sort of switch their cameras off or check their emails and kind of glance at it every now and again to see what's happening. And I think that's the kind of the branding that webinars have gotten in a lot of organizations. And I think for myself and maybe a lot of the agencies who you work with, who sort of work with these organizations with webinars, a lot of our job has been to sort of show people, hey, this is incredible. This is incredibly fun. This is just an incredible branded means to broadcast yourself with so many different formats. And it can be amazing. And the organizations that do dive in head first tend to be people who sort of then really benefit from this. So I think. Yes, definitely. And you said a word there that just sticks out like daylight. Boring, boring webinars. Can we please ask the chat, have you ever been to a boring webinar? If you've ever attended a boring webinar in your life, please give a emoji reaction because there is so much you can do now to shy away from this. I know that we had an amazing session yesterday where we talked about webinar formats. And back to your point, I think there are so many different creative ways that you can build your webinar now that you don't have to stick to that one keynote speaker, conveying a message to a dark room of off turned cameras. So if you missed out on that session yesterday, you can still catch it on demand. It was 20 different use cases for upping your webinar games using different types of format. Super interesting. Lots of inspiration to get. So yes, I can see in the chat that we have some emojis reactions. Oh, unfortunately, yes. Cheers to that, everyone. We've all been there. We've all wasted our time. Thank you, Nick, so much for some of your thoughts. I hope you enjoy your tea, that you feel a little bit better, and that, yeah, Christmas spirits are also coming to the UK and that soon we'll all be warm and healthy and ready for the new year. Thank you so much, Amelia. Thanks, everyone. Cheers. Cheers. Thank you, again, so much to Nick for joining. Even though you're feeling a little bit under the weather, we appreciate you taking part in the community. So now we've been talking a little bit about webinars, how to engage, how to not make them boring, which can be quite a challenge, right? Yesterday, we had an amazing agency panel with including Lisa Halskog, who's also joining us today. She's a business coach and the owner of Online High. Hi, Lisa. How are you doing? Hi, and thanks for bringing me back. Yes, thank you for being back. You spoke at our event yesterday, and we had a really in-depth panel discussion. So thank you so much for taking time to come back for our cocktail hour. No worries. Where is it that you're tuning in from? I'm tuning in from my office in Copenhagen. It's very dark and snowy outside, but it's actually pretty, so I'm not complaining. It is. No, exactly. The cold is better when it comes a little bit of snow, because then like the lights spark a little bit more and it's all a little bit prettier. Exactly. So a little bit of the stuff we talked about yesterday was in the panel and your role and how you act when working with companies. You usually come in as a consultant and then you help them either with more strategic stuff or more practical stuff, also sometimes with direction and formats and the creative aspect of things. I had a very specific question that I think could be super interesting, maybe just because it's relevant for me, but I would love to get your top tips on what you advise business professionals on when they have to be in front of camera for a webinar, because I think there are so many business professionals, especially that struggle with this balance of being professional, but still keeping true to their personality. So I would love to get some tips and tricks on what you advise on. I would love to. Great. And before you answer, I just want to another cheers. Thank you guys so much. Yes, I see some more engagement. I have to look over here to be able to see the chats. Amanda, Oscar. Yes, look there. Hi. We'll check in with you a little bit later. Great. And I just want to reach out to Oscar and say that, yes, you are still eligible to win, even though you participated as a speaker. So engage, engage, engage. Now, sorry, Lisa, back to you for the tips. That's perfect. Actually, you guys get a chance to up your engagement because I'm starting off with, I don't think you call it a fun fact, because it's actually a weird one. But I want you to guess along with me, because I was looking at what do you think is the biggest anxiety people have? So above the fear of heights, the fear of spiders, because that's a big one for a lot of people, even the fear of death. This is crazy. What do you think is the biggest anxiety people have? What's the biggest fear that a lot of us walk around with? So tell me in the comments what you think. Just to get a little bit of engagement in, you can pick your guess what you think. Yes, right on the nose, public speaking. Exactly. It's kind of crazy when you think about it. And you probably all know the feeling. You get sort of clammy hands. You get maybe a little bit uneasy, a little queasy in your stomach, and you don't feel good. And it's very normal. And you could think maybe that when you are in front of a camera, it would be better, right? Because, you know, it makes it less dangerous. But what in fact happens is it adds another fear on top of it. And that fear is, oh my God, am I going to look stupid? I don't work on camera. Look at me. Look at my hair. Something is sticking out. I don't like it. Is it? Is it sticking out? I don't know. You look amazing. So nothing wrong. So it's all about, you know, all these thoughts. We start to overcomplicate it. And what I'm usually saying is, if you look at there are some common denominators here. But when you look at it, what is it actually we're afraid of? We're afraid of looking stupid, basically. We're afraid of messing up. We're afraid of making a mistake, like not knowing the right words to say, we're afraid of people laughing at us. We're afraid that people think we're not good at what we do. And you know what the again quiz time you can you can guess in the comments, you know what the common denominator is in in what I've just mentioned? What is the common factor here that we need to take a look at when it comes down to it? So all these fears that we have in being in front of the camera, what do you think? That was a tougher one. It is a tough question. But it's interesting, because we all have these fears, right? When you were talking, asking the first question before, I was like, I'm terrified of spiders. That's my biggest fear. And I know colleagues who asked me, how can you be on camera? How can you just go off there? And you know, that's that's no problem for me. But if you if I have to walk past the spider to get here, I'm not coming. Exactly, exactly. Some really good suggestions, shame, preparation, not feeling prepared perfectionism. You're not you're not wrong. There's something in it. But but if I were to say the common denominator that I see is basically, and this is a bad one, it's vanity. It's our own vanity. It's actually because we make it all about us. We make it about, you know, what do I look like? What do what do people think about me? How do I stand out in the crowd? What me me me? And what we need to do basically, and this is a little bit of tough love in the afternoon, but it's basically we need to get over ourselves. And and figuratively, not not, you know, not directly, like, literally, but figuratively, turn the camera around, and make make it about the people you're talking to. Because that in itself helps a lot for most people, because and I have some more concrete tips in a minute. But the fact that you need to think about who can I help with my content? What is actually the problem that my target, my dream customer that they have that I can help them with? Because if you don't get out there, if you don't go out there, if it keeps you back, if it holds you back from from being online, or at a webinar in the video, because you're afraid how you're going to look like you're actually robbing your dream clients of the option of getting a solution to whatever problem they have. So I think it's humbling a little bit maybe also to like switch it around and say maybe, maybe I should tone down my own, like self absorbance here and look more about what is this for the people in the other end. Yeah, so you see, it makes doesn't make sense. Very much. And that's also something I had to practice a little bit myself, because my my full time job is not to be a host or to be on camera, I work as a marketer, my other marketing operations title. So this was not necessarily part of my job description. But it was something people had to, you know, tell me that you're not coming on camera as Amelia, you're coming on camera as a person from the marketing team at 23. So proud of webinar days and what we have to offer and like what we stand for. And when it was put that way, I was like, yes, but that's everything that you know, I stand for and I want to put out there. So of course, I can do this, but not in my role as Amelia, in the role as a marketer who works at 23 will wanting to convey this message. Exactly. So I do have some concrete tips that can help you, you know, be more comfortable because you're comfortable in front of the camera. That's obvious now. And you've done it several times, but it is. And I'm like, there's a there's a reason for that a little further down in my list. So we can we can pull that up. Let's get to it. Yeah, yeah. So the first thing I think is, is basically being well, this is maybe obvious, but but I think being prepared having rehearsed, like never scripted, I mean, that I would definitely advise against it. It's that's the recipe for boring, boring videos, boring webinars, if you are scripted, and you sort of read from it. I know very, very few people who can actually read from a script without it sounding like they're reading. And that turns it into something that it shouldn't be. But rehearse it, try it out. Because the thing is, if I sit in front of you and ask you about something you know a lot about, you don't have any problems telling me about it, you'll just start rolling because you know what you're talking about. So if you if you don't feel prepared, it's very, very difficult to feel relaxed and, and confident in front of the camera. So that's the basic rule number one, make sure you know what what you're going to say, have some outlines of it, have it rehearsed a couple of times, so you feel confident, even if something goes a little, you know, not wrong, but just a little different than you plan. You're not getting the same sense. I mean, you cannot do a live event without something going wrong. It's just a matter exactly like you say, you have to prepare for it. And then hope it's a matter. Yeah, it's it's just the nature of the beast sort of but that's also what makes it so much fun to be be like, not that we want to make mistakes, but the fact that it's it's not predictable in the same sense as because you also can can throw away the perfectionism. That's why I love webinars and live stuff, because there is a people are overbearing in the sense that's not the right word, I think, I think that's negative in English, but it's there, there are more, they tend to be more forgiving, when it's when you're live, because if you make a mistake, you're just correct and you move on. It's not that serious, you know, exactly. And we're humans, like, isn't this a little bit part of the fun and if you see other people making mistakes, maybe it also encourages you a little bit more that it's okay if you also do it. Yeah, exactly. It shows that you're human. Another tip that I think is really important is and that's again back to our vanity. When we're sitting right here, I can see myself on the screen, if I start looking at myself, which is, you know, what a lot of people do, because you want to check out, do I is my hair okay? Is everything fine? And what you actually do now, you can see it clearly on the screen, I'm not looking at you guys anymore. I need to look in the camera, my camera is a little up on my screen, because I think that's the best angle in in, in my case, I need to look in the in the lens. And it's the same thing when you use your, your camera on the phone, like it's up here, it's not looking at you, because you will have this weird side eye effect, kind of, where you're not really looking directly at the people you're talking to. And you don't need to be staring stiffly at it like this all the time, you're welcome to I have a piece of paper, so I can remember all the points, which is fine. You can look around and but you need to keep focus. It's almost like if you don't keep eye contact with somebody you're talking to, it's weird. Right? And isn't that so natural to say or to assume that in a physical setting, you would of course have eye contact with the people that you're talking to? Yeah, exactly. And what you can do if you think it's difficult, because it's a matter of habit, I'm used to it. So I don't have a problem with it. But I actually have clients who have just taken a tiny little photo and glued it like stuck it on the webcam or next to the lens, a little photo of somebody. It's such a simple little hack. But just so you remember, oh, it's up there, I don't need to sit and stare at myself, I need to look at the audience instead. I'm definitely going to get a little picture of my dog and like, put it next to my webcam just so I can do that. Yeah, you could definitely do that. Always make me smile, you know. Exactly. That's a very good idea. Also, actually drinking this is preparation way before drinking not a lot of water like the hour up to unit because you need to maybe run run to the toilet a little too many times. But actually a long period of time before you go live, it's actually a good idea to make sure that you're really well hydrated because something happens with your voice. When you're on on a webinar, you can probably attest to that. I mean, you get more like dry in your throat than if you were just having a meeting with people. There's something about the way we present ourselves. So if you're dehydrated, you you start to think, you know, feeling it's bad. So that's important. I have another tip that I want to add to that that actually my boss told me, because I love sparkling water. And before I'm hosting, she doesn't allow me to drink any sparkling water. And I think she's just being an overbearing manager. But she's she was like, you're going to be burping and I know, on camera and you can't control that. So we don't want that to be like interrupting your speech. And I just realized, I hadn't even thought about that. Nothing. Never had it in my mind. It's a it's a solid. Exactly. So again, back to the same thing about, you know, the little person or the dog on next to your screen, make it personal. Think about that you're talking to one person because we tend to and it's not that it's a serious crime, we tend to talk about you guys. I've probably done it today also. But the thing is, most of us are sitting alone on the other side of the screen when we watch it. So so you can, you know, without being creepy, think about that you're talking to to to people individually. It doesn't mean that you can't say you guys and whatever. But think about it's a real person sitting on the other side of the screen. That's really important. So you can keep that in mind as well. I think that's a very interesting point. Yeah. Because like you said, they're in the room by themselves and you just get black screen. It's very rare that people sit in bigger groups and watch webinars. It's usually something you do on your own. So it's just worth thinking about each each and every one of you think about this and you can you can like intertwine it in your in your content. Also, the fact that you you want to take advantage of the fact if it's a live it, you know, this also works for video. But if you're live, take advantage of the fact that you can talk to people like I asked you guys, you guys, I've said it again, I asked you a question in the beginning, ask for engagement, let me hear what you guys think, let me let me hear what what is the opinion about that? What do you think? All this engagement you can create makes it so much more fun for you and you will be more relaxed when you realize real people are actually responding to you in the other end, because I think one of the things that make you feel like phony and strange in front of a camera is the fact that nobody is reacting. It feels like you're alone and just talking out in thin air. The fact that people actually engage back with you, it's just giving it will give you confidence to go on. That's usually the feedback I get from my clients. Oh my god, they were so amazing. They wrote all these great comments. They had all these great questions. It was so much fun. I forgot that I was live. And I was like, yes, this is what we like. Yes, but it's rewarding, right? Because you put yourself out there and you're making an effort and it's nice when people acknowledge that and, you know, react to the fact that you've put time and effort into presenting something. Exactly. And then it's about, you know, don't try to make yourself be different. Because I think sometimes there's an idea that we can't be ourselves when we're live. We need to sort of be a different person. And a lot of people sort of tone down themselves, kind of. And I would actually say, not that you should go completely overboard, but it's okay to show your personality because the camera tends to subtract a little bit of your energy and your way of doing things. So don't think about the fact. I mean, I use my hands a lot when I talk. And I could, I thought about it in the beginning and thought, should I like sit on my hands so I don't do it? But that's weird because I'll be sitting like this. I can't not do it. And I think it's just part of the package of who you are. And I think that's why I drive with it, I would think. Amiya, you're not a different person when you're in front of the camera as you would be personally, probably. No, exactly. Because I want to be comfortable. You know, I cannot be comfortable in another role than outside my personality, or at least it would require a lot more work. And actually yesterday, we ended the two days in the final session with Anne Handley stating that authentic was the year of the word. I know, I love that. Because it has, you know, it has roots into everything that you do. You have to stay authentic as a person, as a brand, and in your communication. And I want to thank you so much, Lisa, for sharing your tips and tricks with us. I think the audience are taking vivid notes. And that's why we've seen a little bit of a drop in engagement. So please, everyone give Lisa a digital applause with the emojis in the chat. And thank you so much for joining us for our cocktail session. Thank you. So next up, I have been talking to a lovely lady who is based in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam. She has been at the 23 headquarters before for the summit. She is none other than Lopke Erash. Hello. Thank you and welcome. It's great to be here. Thank you, Amelia. Thank you so much for coming and joining us. We love having you. How are you doing? I'm good. Sitting at home in Amsterdam, you may hear my husband talk in the background if he's on a meeting. So apologies for that. And I'm very excited to see you all. Yes, we're so happy to have you here. We've been talking, we've been covering a lot of different topics over the past two days. And one of the sessions that we had yesterday that had a lot of, what can I say, diversity in it was 20 use cases for webinars. Different formats, different types, different categories. And I know that you guys run a form of educational webinars. And I was hoping that you could talk a little bit about that today for the audience. And I'm curious, you know, if you take it back to the start, what were the initial thoughts that came into getting started with webinars that you always know that it wanted to be this educational format? Or, you know, did it start in a completely different place and then end up as this? Or can you just give us some insights into how you guys decided to even get started with these educational webinars? Great. Yeah, I'd love to elaborate on that. So educational webinars, my role is I'm the customer education manager. So education is in my title. And when I arrived at Folian, I worked for a company in Folian. We did already have 23 as a platform owned by the marketing team and the marketing team had been doing different webinars, but not very actively. So me coming on board to start educational programs to engage our customers, help them adopt our platform more so we're SaaS. Having that tool was a logical place for me to start, especially because I have an extensive webinar background. So it was very comfortable, easy start. And at the start, the only goal was for us to learn about what do our customers want to learn about? What kind of webinars do they show up to? Where do we see like the best engagement? And also, one, of course, we get that from our metrics, but two, we include a survey at the end of a webinar that the site immediately reloads to after we exit the 23 webinar with a short survey. And we got a lot of learnings out of that. And that was the foundation of learning and being able to come up with some hypothesis to then develop a more formal educational program in the format of courses. So I'm so amazed at your answer here, because you basically said that it almost didn't even start with you guys, like it starts with the customers and what could they potentially want? What could they gain from you? What? And I think it's very admirable that you're so focused on educating your customers. In fact, our CTO, Stefan, he presented a state of webinars report this morning. And a very interesting data point was that the objective behind doing webinars has actually shifted over the last year. It used to be people did webinars for the primary purpose of lead generation. And now that's actually shifted to being customer education as the number one focus. And I appreciate that so much, because what I'm hearing with this is just better content, better webinars. Yeah, me too. I love educational webinars. And of course, there's always a little bit of overlap between marketing, customer education webinars. It's never completely separate. But yeah, we do different webinar formats for our customers. And we name them different to really differentiate them when we communicate to our customers as well. And our educational webinars are called online classrooms. So that really works. Other than that, marketing does some webinars. And the webinars marketing does go really well for lead gen, but also some for branding comms or thought leadership. So that and then also product update webinars, where we on a quarterly basis inform our customers about the changes to our platform. That is so exciting to hear. I mean, Lopje, you're going to be joining the webinar format session next year, because you're already doing more webinar formats than most companies, I can promise you. Super exciting to hear. And I love the fact that in your situation, the webinar kind of ownership has expanded the marketing team a little bit, because I think there's a lot of people that still assume that a webinar only lives in the marketing team. But can you tell me a little bit more about who in the organization is involved with your webinars? And we said you had some different formats and different teams, but do they all work on their own projects? Is there a lot of cross team collaboration? And do you guys ever use external video producers or agencies or anything like that? Or is everything in house? Yes, everything is in house. But we are a small company. We have about 120 employees, of which 20 to 30 are in the US. The rest are mostly out of the Amsterdam office. So relatively small company. I'm more like the webinar owner. So I'm involved in all the webinars we do, even though I don't present all of them. But every webinar will have a host and a subject matter expert. And the host is often me, because I'm very comfortable hosting. I don't mind doing that, so that comes very easy. We always have someone responsible for the chat. If it's a product update webinar, we have our product owners in standby, just in case we have tricky questions, we want to pass things by them. But then in terms of just the process, of course, there is promotion, there is content creation, and also follow up. And I think follow up is an interesting one that we've become much better at throughout the one and a half year that I've been involved at the webinars. And that is, what do we do with the information we gather from customers? What do we do with their engagement, with their poll answers, with their survey answers, with the questions they've asked to also be able to follow up with them from a different perspective? So it could be their customer success manager or their account manager. But maybe we see an upsell potential where we see room for them to maybe move to another plan, then it could be an account executive reaching out. That is so interesting that you're involving more of your organization. We also had some input yesterday stating that you need to have three heroes in your company that believe in webinars and that can be part of driving it. Because one of the issues were that, I think if you're too centralized, there's only one team, only one format, only one purpose, it can become a little boring. I know that word, people fear that word. But by decentralizing it, you get different use cases and more teams input. Also, by having these three people driving it, it means that if it were only one and that person is out of office or working from home or working at other projects at the moment, then there's no one to pull the team. So having those three people who are really passionate about it, maybe a different skill set is really going to help you elevate and enable an entire organization. But thank you so much for coming with your inputs. I might be reaching out to you next year. Maybe we could do some co-hosting stuff. We could set up another studio for you here. I definitely think there's room for a second webinar day host. So we'll keep you in mind for that. Before I let our amazing panelists go, I would like to bring you guys all on stage one last time. Also, Lisa and Nick, just so we can officially thank you all, give them all a virtual applause, please. Nick, Lisa and Lopke, thank you so much for joining this cocktail session. It's been a pleasure having you and so exciting that we get so much input from all around the world. Before I... I have a couple of videos to show you, but I am hoping that I get the chance to check in with my colleague, Nilo. He is currently at SLUSH, this big event for startups and investors in Finland. And I think he has prepared some... a little check-in for us. Let's see if we can get a hold of him. Hi, I'm Lillia. Thank you for the introduction. Like said, my name is Nilo Poutala. I'm an account executive for 23. I'm actually physically right now in Helsinki at SLUSH. And I've met a new friend. Could you please introduce yourself? Yeah, sure. Hi, guys. My name is Mateo Flores from Trust Anchor Group. I'm the head of the Atlassians there. Amazing. What brings you to SLUSH? I mean, meeting new people, connections, just meeting people. Yeah. Okay, amazing. What are you hoping to get out of SLUSH? I'm getting to money, basically. Money and connections. That's very direct, very cool. That's how we like it. So how many events have you been to this year? Physical or virtual? Actually, this year I wanted to go to as many physical events as possible. That's what I mean as well. So many physical events. I mean, I would say 20 plus. Okay. Okay. And what would you say is the difference? What makes you show up into a virtual event or a physical event? I mean, I would say the virtual one, it depends on the convenience. So if it's something that I just only need to listen to, take it virtual, right? But if it's something that I need to interact with people, talk to people, I like to see the body language. I like to talk to people face to face. I think it's a whole new experience besides from virtual that you cannot take away, right? Seeing the people, seeing the body language and some other things. Right. Right. I totally get that. And lastly, what would you say is the best thing about virtual events and physical events? I mean, virtual is that you can do other things surrounding that, right? So I can be listening to them, doing the dishes and being at home, right? And the physical events, I would say the interaction with people. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Mateo. Enjoy the rest of your session. Thank you. That's great to hear. I'm glad they were still motivated to show up to digital events. And yes, one of the benefits is that you can attend them from the comfort of your own house. So cheers for that, people. Again, remember to give the guy some love. So show them some hearts in the chat, give them some reactions. We will be announcing the winner of, give me one minute, this amazing cocktail kit, as well as our famous video tool kits. I have one more video that I have one more video that I would like to show you guys because I want to stick with this trend. And we found a highlight video from webinar days last year, 2022, where we have a content expert, Ross Simmons. And he is talking about having the loudest voice at a cocktail party, which I think you guys would really benefit from now that we live in such a noisy digital world with so many distractions. So the winner will be announced right after this video. That this is something that all of us have. It's called the cocktail party effect. The cocktail party effect is something that scientists have been studying for years. And it's actually a somewhat of a human superpower, if you will, that all of us have the ability to do. When you ever go to a cocktail party, you ever go to a networking event, we have the ability as humans to isolate sound and voices and noise that is relevant to us and make the volume and decibels higher for what we care about and lower for the things that we don't. It's why when you're talking to your kids, sometimes it sounds like they can just like completely ignore you. They're leveraging this superpower, so to speak. This is something that we all have. But here's the thing. This is how it connects back to marketing. When you're thinking about your webinar strategy, when you're thinking about your inbound strategy, it's important that you know that the internet is the loudest cocktail party ever. It is so loud. It is so noisy. There are more blog posts, more tweets, more webinars, more blog posts, more articles, more essays, more videos, more TikToks. There's more stories being created every single day than ever before. And it's all our fault. Some of you are marketers and I'm blaming you. I'm blaming us as creators, as marketers, because for years we've been telling our partners, our teens, that content is king. We have to create more content and the world has listened, right? The world has listened. This is good. It's okay that the world has finally caught on, that content can move the needle. We've started to fully embrace this idea of cream, where content rules everything around me. You just need to create content. You just need to create a webinar and the world will be yours. When in reality, you have to recognize that the things that you do after creating that webinar is just as important as what went into creating it. Google is making our lives harder. So great. You've recorded an amazing webinar. You're going to rank in Google. I believe in the future, Google is going to start taking that content and placing it directly in the SERP, the same way that they're doing with comparison sites. When you look at Google and the things that they're doing, they're taking blog posts and they're taking all of that content and they're placing it directly in the search engine. This is happening time and time again, right? And what you have to do is understand that when you press publish on this content, whether it's a webinar, it's an article, an essay, whatever it may be, that it's going to be more and more difficult to win because it is more noisy than ever. And then you think, okay, but I shared it on Twitter. I shared it on Facebook. Great. But you have to understand that in addition to that, while the volume of social content continues to rise, the algorithms are making the interaction rates decline. So this is why I say maybe content isn't actually king. Maybe we need to embrace distribution. Maybe when we're thinking about our inbound strategies, we need to be thinking about how we can embrace the idea of distributing our content, distributing those webinars, and reaping the benefits that come from investing in a webinar that is actually valuable to our customers. We all know that great webinars will drive results for your business. Over the last couple of days, you've learned this, you've seen this. Some of the sessions have been amazing in talking about how to develop them, the power of them, the rise of them, and the influence that webinars can have on your content. So I'm going to keep this very straightforward. When it comes to creating great webinars, keep a simple idea in your mind. If it doesn't accomplish one of the three E's, it is probably not a webinar that you should be creating. Is this webinar going to be educational to my audience? Is it going to be engaging? Is it going to be entertaining? And if the answer to all three of these questions is no, then you probably need to go back to the drawing board. But if you have created a webinar that is educational, that is engaging, that is entertaining, then the next step is to understand the places in which your audience is spending time and then to ensure that you're distributing your content on the channels where they are. Hello everyone. So I hope you guys could get some insights from Ross on content versus distribution. So if your content is the best, then maybe stick with that and focus a little bit on getting into the right people, as well as, you know, distributing through your, the right channels, want to be the right places. Super interesting. I'm so excited for this, and I have just gotten the information on who our lucky winner is. So please drum roll. The lucky winner of our home toolkit and cocktail set is Amanda. Amanda, you are our lucky cocktail kit winner. If you can hear me, please let me know in the chat that you know that you have won, because I will try to reach out to you after webinar day so I can get your information, so I can have this little goodie box sent to you together with your video toolkit that you can use to help structure your video content and your webinars. If you're not the person who works directly with your webinars, it's a great tool to have for your office and for your colleagues. So, Amanda, if you are still with us, you are the lucky winner, and I will be contacting you right after this session so we can work out the logistics. Yay! I can see you, Amanda! This is so exciting. Thank you so much for being with us for these days and giving us some love. We could really feel it, and we appreciate all your reactions. I think part of the reason this event is so special to me, and I think it's so fun to do every year, is because we're really bringing together people who share values and interests in marketing and videos and especially webinars. And there's no better way to grow as a business professional than when learning from each other and sparring with your peers. And that is some of the things that we at 23 value so much and why we are so motivated to create these communities. So I do want to show you one last clip from our 23 video summits last year. We also host video marketing meetups all around the world. So if you are interested in bringing a video community to you, please reach out to me. Email at Amelia at 23.com. That is my email, Amelia at 23.com. If you're interested in hosting a video marketing meetup, I'm sure we can work something out. And if you are going to be looking for the next digital event to attend in 2024, we are hosting the 23 Summit, which is the first video oriented physical event in Europe. So please sign up for that. And I'm going to show you now a little sneak peek from how the 23 Summit went down last year. So so without further ado, I would love to present to you co-founder and CEO of 23, Thomas Mattson-Migdell. So that's the new 23 video library transcription spots for most adaptable video play in the world, personal video analytics, video attribution, video sections. That's the new 23. And we're so excited about bringing it all out to all of you. Thank you. So so so so there you can get a little bit of a feeling for what went down at the 23 Summit, not last year, but actually June of 2023. On behalf of 23, I would just like to thank everyone who participated. I think it's been so exciting to have been here with you over the last two days. Even though we didn't sit in the same room together, I do feel like we came together and we got to know each other a little bit. I do want to give a special thanks to all our amazing speakers who have shared your knowledge and helped marketers improve their webinar game. If you like this video, if you think the video marketing meetups sound interested and you want to participate more in our community, please go to the event page at 23.com to learn more about how you can interact with us and become part of the community. I will also make sure to reach out to Amanda H about the cocktail gift and figure out the logistics. Remember that all the sessions from today will be sent to your email and be available for your on-demand. I cannot believe that that was it for webinar days 2023. I'm so excited to see you again next year and we'll learn even more, we'll grow together, and I cannot wait to see what the next year will bring. Until then, I will see you guys soon. Cheers.