Can Webinars and eLearning replace Face-To-Face?

My first web meeting date back to the late 1990. At that point the technology was expensive, but the cameras viewed an entire office. So it was possible to witness the interaction within a team. The offices were at opposite ends of the country. So travelling between offices was prohibitively expensive. Over this pandemic I have been able to attend conferences and webinars hosted from many locations of our old empire. This provides me with an opportunity to gain knowledge in my specialised area. As opposed to the broad spectrum of events that are available within my locality, that are less relevant to my interests. At best its simply a case of win some loose some. At worst its another march to the globally competitive employment market. Where we all follow ever more narrow career paths.

I'm hoping for a mixture of both.


I believe that face to face conferences have a lot to offer, as Andrew points out, though there are some virtual networking platforms out there that could help with the Q&A and after conference gatherings. 


Virtual webinars have enabled me to attend more events and learn more things than I would have been able to if I could only attend in person.


Also, I mentor entrepreneurs and the move to virtual has meant that often the meetings have been able to be held such that the entrepreneur has had two mentors on the call.  This has given the entrepreneur added benefits (and has helped me too).

As both a presenter and trainer i think there is room for both and I really hope we can get back to the mix we had started before the lockdown in the future,  The IET was already running a blend of online webinars, eclasses and face to face training and events but I think there is more appetite in lockdown for both contact and information as well as the opportunity for some to access this.  I think zoom has certainly opened up alternatives, and certainly make the opportunities more global but I still miss classroom based activity and networking opportunities that these bring.


I hope that the future brings the best of tech from 2020 and the opportunity to get back to what we used to do well as well in terms of the award winning events, conferences etc that the IET are known for.

Good question but in a word, no. Where the focus of the learning is perhaps theoretical application or topics that are software/programme-oriented, I would expect the answer to be probably yes. However for practical elements, hands-on, face-to-face will remain the method if even only from an efficiency point of view.


Part of my business is concerned with team-based training in our niche engineering software that has a practical application, in the design and manufacture of durable goods products.


Whilst the instruction of 'how to use' the software can be fairly-effectively delivered via webinars/elearning/online, the application to a physical, tangible product or prototype that requires physical hands-on assembly at a detailed level by multiple trainees cannot.


Imagine a team tasked with constructing a large product, say a jet engine or car, with the instructor giving direction from a remote location via a monitor. The mere thought gives me the dry-January shakes! (I am also painfully aware of the unreliability of Zoom, not to mention the dreaded Teams!).

The I.T. industry that I am working in is a Brutally fast moving subject. That is is somewhat fashion oriented. Attempting to keep up with this globally oriented subject. Is just to expensive to do on a face-to-face seminar. It is also to broad, A 'Just in Time' webinar approach works for me. Note also the demise of the Haynes manual for modern cars. If I want to know how to get the £1 my son poked into the CD player. I have to resort to a you Tube video on how to achieve it. No manual for the Toyota available.