IMAGETITLEBehind the Scenes For An ARC Webinar Learning and discovering new ideas is one of the key benefits of being an ARC member. One of the ways ARC is delivering on that promise is through the ARC webinar series. Over the last year we have brought you five webinars that covered social media, awards programs, and understanding shared values. Also in the archives are webinars on dealing with media critics, influencing water policy, and social media monitoring.

See http://www.agrelationscouncil.org/category/member-benefit/ [link] for the full list of the webinars available. Each presentation does require a password, which can be obtained by contacting ARC at email arc@gandgcomm.com or call 952.758.5811.

Many people have asked how the ARC webinars are developed and produced. The topic ideas themselves are organized from feedback from the ARC membership, conversation at the annual conference, and from other events people have attended.

Once the possible webinar topic ideas are listed, then next step is identifying people who are great at presenting the information. Many times we have a topic that fits well for the membership but people are not available to present the topic. When this happens, we have to find an alternative topic or keep looking for the right combination of topic, speaker, and availability.

What about the production process? The process of a well run webinar starts with an outline script to identify who is doing what and when. The script helps the process flow smoothly and can be changed to reflect any technical or information issues. An example webinar script can be found here: http://agtoday.us/example-webinar-script [link].

Some of the tools we use include Join.Me (the webinar delivery service), Eventbrite (for webinar registration and promotion), Google Docs (for sharing the webinar script), and QuestionPro (for follow-up post webinar feedback). Besides the tools, we always have a practice session several days before the live webinar to make sure the technology and process works for all the presenters.

The 2016 – 2017 ARC webinar series is currently in development after conversations at the annual meeting. If you have a topic or a presenter you feel is well suited for ARC then please send a note to John Blue at arc@gandgcomm.com and he can get the idea into the queue for conversation with the ARC webinar team (Kristy Mach, Kellie Wostrel, and John Blue).