What Is a Teleseminar?

The simple answer is: It's a seminar you do by telephone!

That might seem simplistic, but I do want to make the point that if you think of it as a "seminar that you do by telephone", it can be useful.

Telephone

The technology to do teleseminars is easy. You don't have to know about fancy technology like Wi-Fi or VoIP. Teleseminars use a technology called "POTS". That's an engineering term that stands for "Plain Old Telephone System" (I'm not kidding!)

That's about as advanced as it needs to get with the technology. Sure, there's a teleseminar company in the middle that connects everybody, but even that's easy to use. If you can use a telephone, you can do a teleseminar.

Seminar

There's nothing magical about the teleseminar format. You don't have to design it differently just because you're doing it as a teleseminar (Well, this is not strictly true. There are some things you can do to make best use of the teleseminar format. But they are minor details, not major structural design issues).

The fact is, whatever type of program you deliver now, you can probably adapt it to the teleseminar format. You can use it for keynote presentations, training, coaching, mentoring, interviewing, facilitation and the like.

Related terms

You'll hear the term "teleconference" and it's exactly the same thing. If there's any difference at all, it might be that the term "teleconference" is often used for telephone meetings, while "teleseminar" is for presentations.

You'll also hear the term "webinar", but it's a different thing altogether. A webinar uses slightly more complicated technology. Instead of just listening by telephone, your participants also visit a particular Web site at the same time. While they're listening, the presenter can show their PowerPoint presentation, which the participants all see. Some webinar companies also include a "whiteboard" for the presenter to use during the presentation.

Webinars are more sophisticated, but they also use more technology - which means more things that can go wrong! So start with teleseminars, and move on to webinars when you're comfortable with the technology.

---

Permission to Reprint: Yes, you may reprint this article in any of your publications - paid or free, electronic or physical, commercial or non-commercial - provided you do not edit it in any way (except for formatting changes to suit your publication style), and include this resource box with the article:

Gihan Perera is an Internet coach who helps business professionals with e-marketing and e-learning. He's the author of "Web Sites for Speakers, Trainers, Coaches and Consultants" and "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get your complimentary special reports.

I would also appreciate receiving a copy of the issue in which it appears, if that is convenient.