Item: Zoom Events & Webinars
Rating: 9
Author: Phil Krouse

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have used Zoom Video Webinar in a couple different formats, but in general, it has been a reliable software for my company to host webinars for prospecting clients. Most recently we partnered with another technology company to offer up a great giveaway package to one merchant that joined our webinar introducing our joint solution. The Zoom Video Webinar platform was great for setting up this sort of mass call where thousands of merchants were invited, and hundreds in attendance on the call. Having used Zoom for many years, I am quite confident in their technology and will certainly look to them again for future webinar management.

Pros and Cons

Invitations and RSVP management prior to call
Attendees Visibility & other in-call functionality
Post-call documentation and follow up support

Webinar functionality is additional cost to general business Zoom account
Guidance with pre-call practice/run-through
Nothing else really, great platform overall!

Return on Investment

Great resource for partner engagement since we co-hosted a webinar with another tech company using Zoom Video Webinar
Lead generation since we were able to gain a couple dozen solid leads from the webinar we most recently hosted
Professional brand image as our webinar received great feedback in terms of the professionalism we gave off before, during and after our webinar

Alternatives Considered

Google Hangouts, Skype for Business and Skype

We have come to the conclusion that Zoom Video Webinar is the best in the market in terms of what's out their for hosting virtual webinars. One thing that is a requirement for us, which we often find an issue with other platforms similar to Zoom Video Webinar, is the ability to share our iPad screen on the call. It's usually pretty easy to share "your computer screen" or whatever device you're using to dial into the call, however, sharing an additional device (like an iPad in our case) is often not possible on other webinar services. For this reason, among other great functionalities that are included, our company strictly uses Zoom Video Webinar for hosting such webinars.

Other Software Used

Pipedrive, Skype, Slack, MailChimp, Trustpilot, Trello, Google Drive, Podio, Skype for Business, LastPass

Likelihood to Recommend

Zoom Video Webinar is well suited if you intend to surpass more than a dozen or so attendees for a normal Zoom call. Depending on the scenario, Zoom's normal conference calling software would probably be sufficient. However, if you're planning on hosting a call with a larger amount of people, I would definitely recommend checking out their Webinar software. It's particularly suited to handle the pre-call invites/RSVP management that can be quite cumbersome, as well as managing the attendees during the call (ie, who can ask questions, raise hand, see responses, etc.) and following the conclusion of the call. In short, if you want the professional functionalities that come with handling a proper webinar (not just a large group on a call), than Zoom Video Webinar is needed.

Great platform to easily & professionally host large webinars

Overall Satisfaction with Zoom Video Webinar