“Webinar No Shows” was the headline in today’s Learning Trends newsletter from Elliott Masie of The Masie Center.  He called this a “dirty” secret of the learning world. According to Elliott, some organizations report no-show rates as high as 40 to 60% for a webinar.  The issue is so pervasive that many companies even book 40% fewer lines/licenses for an event.

Why the no shows? Elliott offered these factors:

•  Life Gets Busy
• People Watch Asynchronously
• No Consequences
• Value Against Time
• No Clear Outcomes
• Need Creative Designs

Is a no-show rate of 40%-60% typical in your organization? If so, do you know why? Any factors you’d like to share?

Prezi is being hailed (by some) as the next great app for creating meeting presentations (or prezis) live and on the web. For people who make their living in marketing communications and learning & development, it’s worth giving Prezi a test drive.

Unlike PowerPoint and its ilk, Prezi doesn’t involve creating discrete slides. Instead, it’s a Web-based “canvas.” Prezi users group their images, text, and video in various ways, and then zoom back and forth between topics during their talks. According to the website, once a presentation is downloaded, it works on any computer, even without Internet access. (I’ve not tested this claim.)

The Prezi Academy offers a step-by-step tutorial in using the product, as well as helpful hints on presenting and publishing. You can also browse popular prezis to see what others have created with the product.

Prezi offers free accounts, but a fee is required to work offline and to remove Prezi’s corporate branding. Prezi is also available for the iPad.

So, are marketing communications and learning & development professionals going to turn away from PowerPoint and flock to Prezi? Not likely in my opinion, but worthy of some exploration.