Difference Between Webinar and Meeting Zoom

Gone are the days when meetings were held face to face with all the participants present in the same room. Electronic meetings took over the workspace and have gained prominence as a means of saving time and improving collaboration among the employees, and at the same time reducing significant travel costs. This works best when clients or employees are not present at the same location. Technology has revolutionized the way we conduct meetings and conferences, and held seminars, thanks to the modern age tools such as webinars.

A webinar is specific type of web conferencing tool that allows you to conduct meetings and held lectures, presentations, or seminars over the web. Today, webinars are one of the most effective ways to connect and collaborate with people without being physically present in the same room or same location for that matter. Zoom is the undisputed leader in modern enterprise video communications and collaboration. That being said, Zoom Meeting and the Webinar platform offer similar features and functionality but they do have their fair share of differences.

What is Webinar?

A webinar, short for web-based seminar, is a blend of ‘web’ and ‘seminar’. Webinar is a specific type of web conference that refers to a presentation, seminar, lecture, workshop, or meeting transmitted over the web. It is a term used to describe the online delivery of a seminar normally consisting of both audio and video content. It is an event attended exclusively by participants from all over the world and is held via the internet using a video conferencing software in real-time. A key feature of a webinar is its collaborative or interactive elements. Unlike web conferences or electronic meetings which are held as small group meetings, webinars are usually conducted by a lead presenter who distributes presentation materials electronically to the attendees, regardless of the location of the attendees, even globally. The platform behaves the same even when the languages and cultures may be different.

What is Zoom Meeting?

Zoom is a one-stop software-based video conferencing and collaboration solution used around the world to handle all types of communication. Zoom is a cloud-based web conferencing tool and collaboration software with a mobile app and a desktop client that allows people to meet online, with or without video. In Zoom, the host schedules the meeting using his/her Zoom account and sends a link to the participants, who click on the link to join the meeting room. While the participants need to download the Zoom application to join the meeting, they do not need a Zoom account to participate in the meeting. Zoom offers other features including live chat, easy recording and download, screen sharing, file transfer, video sharing, all in one easy-to-use platform.

Difference between Webinar and Zoom Meeting

Tool

– Webinar is a term used to describe the online delivery of a seminar normally consisting of both audio and video content. Webinar, as the name suggests, is a web-based seminar attended exclusively by participants from all over the world and is held via the internet using a video conferencing software in real-time. Zoom is a cloud-based web conferencing tool and collaboration software with a mobile app and a desktop client that allows people to meet online, with or without video. Zoom is a one-stop video conferencing solution to handle all types of communication.

Features

– Zoom Meeting is fully interactive in nature which allows participants from all over the world to see, speak, hear and share screen with each other. Zoom offers a ton of other features including live chat, easy recording and download, screen sharing, file transfer, video sharing, all in one easy-to-use cloud-based platform. Unfortunately, the webinar platform does not offer exactly the same list of features, so you’ll have to make trade-offs. However, webinars have reporting, registration, and in-meeting chat support for participants.

Collaboration

– Meetings are probably more collaborative in nature with all the participants being able to turn the audio or video on, share screen and see who else is attending. The host has the ability to conduct polls to collect data from participants and mange the participants list, from which the host can mute/unmute participants’ mice or webcams, and see if anyone has initiated a “raise hand” feature. In addition, the Zoom’s breakout room feature allows participants to meet in smaller groups, separate from the main Zoom meeting. Webinars, on the other hand, allow view-only participants.

Webinar vs. Zoom Meeting: Comparison Chart

Summary of Webinar vs. Zoom Meeting

Meetings are probably more collaborative in nature with all the participants being able to turn the audio or video on, share screen and see who else is attending. Webinars, on the other hand, do not offer exactly the same features as Zoom, but they do have reporting, registration, and in-meeting chat support for participants. Zoom is a one-stop video conferencing and collaboration solution that allows users to meet online with an easy-to-use cloud-based platform. If you’re looking for a more interactive and collaborative web conferencing solution to connect to people from all over the world, then Zoom is you thing.

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