It seems like webcasts at conferences are popping up all over the place.  I believe that webcasts are going to become an important virtual component of face 2 face meetings in the future. 

Why? Webcasts open a "window" to your event and allow people who could not attend your event to join the experience. In some webcasts, the experience is only listening and watching event content.  In others, participants can join a backchannel and discuss the content together.  In all cases, they allow you to share the experience - with potential new members (if you are an association) or with members that have never attended your "World" education conference.

Standards and best practices are still emerging in this area. So, I assembled 26 tips and resources that contain a wealth of information to help you get started with webcasts at your event. 

(1) 18 Tips to Make Your Event Webcast Rock!:  This article and discussion contain 18 tips to help you plan, design and build great webcasts. Plus, there are links to more than 9 other web resources  - including an e-book - that contain other valuable tips, feedback, lessons learned and suggestions as well. (Disclosure: I assembled this article and resources)

(2) 8 Design Principles for Effective Webinars:  This PDF document outlines 8 design principles to consider when designing a webinar. These are excellent tips that will help you set your strategy.

Over the next months and years, we are going to continue to learn more about building the "best" webcast experience for Face2face events.  If you would like to share your own experience - or add other resources that you think would be valuable - please feel free to do so in the comments section of this post!

Good Luck with your next event!