The results of a survey taken by organisations that conduct webinars were released this week, with findings that indicate simple practices can be implemented during a webinar to improve their effectiveness.

The survey, conducted by Osterman Research for Citrix Systems, also noted that these practices can mean a much greater return for very little extra effort.

The survey was completed by 60 respondents in North America, and found that organisations conduct webinars to provide information to event attendees and generate leads. Those attending webinars do so to get more information about specific products, understand issues in greater depth, to evaluate products before a planned purchase and to learn about industry trends.

Osterman identified top 10 webinar best practices, based on the survey's findings. Not all apply to every organisation, but Osterman aimed to provide some general guidelines to current or prospective webinar providers:

1.Use guest speakers 2.Plan a rehearsal of the webinar 3.Promote the webinar in advance 4.Obtain registrants' profile information 5.Send invitations at least one to two weeks in advance 6.Limit most webinars to one hour 7.Profide time for Q&A 8.Conduct polls during the event 9.Conduct product demonstrations 10.Conduct post-event surveys

The survey's findings can be viewed by filling out the form here.