Webinars as an Education Option for PCCs
         Education through Communication

A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Successful Webinar

Objective:  Provide options for communication and education of Postal Customer Council (PCC) members by incorporating webinars to deliver a workshop and meet the requirements for earning a Professional Certificate (see special note below), meet PCC Premier Award program requirements, and PCC Leadership Award requirements. Additionally, this option will help to increase membership and participation of mailers at local PCC events.

Process:

1. Choose a topic or workshop to present

	A. Presentation can be a Workshop-in-a-Box, or supplemental information 
	B. Workshops typically last approximately 45 minutes, allowing for 15 minutes of  
    Questions & Answers (Q & A)

2. Choose a qualified presenter

A. Utilize industry or postal representatives, subject matter experts to deliver the presentation 

3. Date(s) and time(s) to present the webinar

A. Offer one webinar in the AM and one in the PM and more than one day for maximum attendance 

4. Appoint someone to “set-up” the webinar, maintain registration and send out
    reminder notices: 
 
	A.   Establish a separate e-mail account (i.e. webinar@anypcc.com)
	The separate email account should be set up as soon as the details 
(topic, speaker, session, etc.) have been determined.  This will prevent tying up work or personal email accounts with people requesting to attend
B. Announce the webinar with instructions on how to request a preferred day and
     time. 

1. Create a receipt response such as:  “Thank you for contacting us. This is an acknowledgement that we did receive your e-mail. You will be notified of your session date/time reservation soon”
 
2. If not provided, request information regarding participant’s company name, title, and PCC affiliation for capturing attendance data 

C.  Use an Excel spreadsheet for logging participant information. Create a
      separate tab for each day and time the webinar is being offered.
1. Each tab should have the following column headings:  
i.	Name
ii.	Email address
iii.	Company
iv.	Title
v.	City, State
vi.	PCC affiliation

2. Tracking example below
	The Power of Direct Mail Webinar	
	 	June 8, 2010	10:00 AM			 	
	Name	e-mail address	Company	City 	ST	PCC	
							
1	W. E. Binar	web@xxxx.net	Mailing Provider	Lansing	MI	Mid MI PCC	
2	M.E. Ting	met@xxxx.com	Mailing Services	E. Lansing	MI	Mid MI PCC	

 

D. Schedule the webinar sessions via “MeetingPlace” (Postal Service access
     only)

1.  If anticipating a large audience, contact the “MeetingPlace” Help Desk to set up the meeting for 40 - 200 attendees

2. For an audience larger than 200, a new program (WebEx) is in place.  Meeting facilitators should view the WebEx information at the following link for training information: https://meetingplace1.usps.gov/refcenter/start/webex/training/default.asp .

E.  Check the email account daily to obtain participant information 

1. After logging the participant’s preferred day and time, send an e-mail with the following:   “Thank you. Your time MM/DD @ X:XX am/pm has been reserved. You will receive “MeetingPlace” login information approximately 5-7 days prior to your scheduled webinar”

F. One week prior to session, send log-in information

1. Copy the email addresses from your tracking spreadsheet, enter them into an email message and send the login information to participants for their specified webinar session. (Copy yourself on the message)

2. Establish folders within your Outlook for the date/time of each webinar session.  This should help keep the session information organized and allow quick access

3. At this time you can also go into the webinar meeting information and set any of the sessions to record if desired
 
G. One day prior to schedule sessions

1.  Send a reminder to participants about their scheduled session along with the login information

H.  Day of session

1. Facilitator should log in ½ hour before the start of the webinar session and download the PowerPoint presentation for viewing by attendees 

2. At the end of the session you will be able to look at the invitees to see who attended your session.  This will also help to tabulate who attended day by day as well as assist you to see if others attended outside of the registered list of attendees

I . Feedback/survey 

1.  Include a survey with login instructions or set up an online survey (i.e. Survey Monkey) to obtain feedback on the session(s)

5. Advertise/inform PCC members:
	A. email blast (3 weeks prior)
	B. word of mouth (4 weeks prior)
	C. mailing (4 weeks prior)
	D. Business Mail Entry Unit and United States Postal Service displays (4 weeks prior)

Benefits of Webinar Sessions:
•	Provide access to PCC education especially for areas in the country where PCCs cannot meet face-to-face on a regular basis due to time/distance constraints
•	Often, members would like more than just one person from a business to attend – this will allow for multiple participants from one location
•	Overcoming schedule conflicts - webinars offered more than once on different days and times allows for wider participation
•	Presenter does not have to be in the same city as the PCC 

Results:
•	Strengthens the PCC Network
•	Allows more mailers to access PCC education thru additional options
•	Increases PCC membership thru remote access at various times/days
•	Allows more PCCs to meet the standards for Leadership Education Program Excellence Awards by offering additional channels for member education
•	Insures mailers have access to PCC education, no matter how small or far away
•	Allows more PCCs to meet the national standards for achieving PCC Premier Award for gold, silver or bronze recognition
•	Allows more PCC members to obtain a Professional Certificate 

Special Note Regarding Professional Certificate Program:
Leverage the webinar option to earn a Professional Certificate for attendee participation.  Contact the PCC Office at pcc@usps.gov for additional information.