Technology options for recording webinars for on-demand use?

January 23, 2017 9:39 AM

What are my technology options for recording webinars and making them available on-demand?

I want to record up to a half-dozen 20 to 30 minute webinars using PPT and audio voiceover and make them available on-demand (not live, because reasons). I will need sign-up and access/download capability from my website (WordPress), though the size of the webinar files will likely dictate their being stored elsewhere. Most of the webinar options I see (e.g., GoToWebinar) include live presentation capability which I do not need. What software options I should consider? For example, should I consider recording the webinars (with software designed for that purpose) and then making them available via a privately-accessible YouTube channel? Advice and opinions welcome.

posted by John Borrowman to Technology (3 answers total)

I love Camtasia for recording - it's easy to use and powerful enough for most uses. If you upload a video as Unlisted to YouTube, you can then embed it in a restricted post on your site. The caveat is that people could figure out the direct link to the video and view it later (only an issue if you are using an ongoing subscription model - they wouldn't lose access if they are clever enough to save the direct video link), and they could potentially share that link with others. However, if you're not overly worried about those scenarios, I think this would be an easy process.
posted by beyond_pink at 10:02 AM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Agree that will be super easy with Camtasia and YouTube. Just save the recording as MP4, upload to YouTube, copy the embed code and put it on a page on your site that you've gated with a form. Your audio and video quality will actually be way better than if you were recording a live GTW webinar. Yes, people can technically sneak around the private link and share it, but I really don't think that's a huge concern.

One trick is that there are some parameters that you can embed that give you a little more control. I particularly like to remove "related videos" because you don't want people jumping off to other videos (particularly ones that aren't yours) afterwards.
posted by radioamy at 10:37 AM on January 23, 2017

And if the unlisted video links start escaping your control because someone has shared them, with just a half dozen videos it wouldn't be too difficult to take down the videos a couple times a year and re-uploading to a new unlisted link and re-embedding on WP. A certain amount of leakage like that might actually be good for promoting the site.
posted by Gotanda at 3:58 PM on January 23, 2017