If there is one positive thing to take away from this whole lockdown and pandemic is the sheer amount of free webinars that you can attend these days! My inbox has been flooded over the past weeks with invitations to this, that or the other webinar and at first I was a bit hesitant and skeptical. But then I joined one and got completely hooked!
First of all, for the larger ones you don’t even have to switch on your webcam, just the audio and follow the presentation online. The questions are submitted via chat and there is always a time limit to the whole event so it doesn’t drag on unnecessarily or go around in circles. It makes the presentations more concise and address the main points, rather than dragging on for ages. I absolutely enjoy them, and have participated in sociological, psychological, photography and writing webinars over the past weeks, much to my delight.
There are some resource persons who will still charge for the webinar, but you can’t really blame them, especially if they have lost their source of income for the next months. Nevertheless, I am truly amazed at the generosity and kindness flooding the web at the moment. Yesterday, for example, I joined in on a food photography webinar and learned more in a single hour than I could have in an expensive workshop. The other day I joined in on cinematography portraits and was absolutely fascinated by the possibilities.
Make no mistake of confusing online courses with free webinars. One cannot replace the other, and if you want your certification for something you will have to put in the slave hours nevertheless. But to be able to interact with your peers during a webinar which you otherwise would be too busy to do so during ordinary work days is a gift.
FrogDiva Thoughts 