Many online meeting services (such as the one we use, GoToWebinar) allow you to record your presentation. It’s as easy as clicking a button before you start the webinar. But, the recording is saved to your local computer. Here’s how to share that video with others.

GoToWebinar seems to be the “industry standard” for conducting online presentations. However, the problem is that it forces you to save the recordings to your local computer. That’s not very helpful, is it? After all, the primary reason you recorded the webinar in the first place was to share it with others.

I happen to know that GoToWebinar is working on making this a lot easier in the future. However, for now, we need a workaround.

First things first

By default, GoToWebinar saves the recording in a special, proprietary format that’s only used by GoToWebinar. As a result, the person viewing the recording will need to have GoToWebinar installed on his/her computer. Not everyone does (or wants to). So, before you start recording, you need to change a setting.

1. Right-click on the GoToWebinar icon in your system tray (on Windows, this is where all of the little icons are on the bottom right of your screen)
2. Select “Preferences…” to open the settings window
3. On the left side, click “Recording” and select “Convert to Windows Media Player file”
4. Click “OK” to save your changes

Here’s what my settings look like:

You only need to do this once. From then on, all of your recordings will be saved in a widely accepted format that will make sharing easier. So, now what?

Vid.ly

This is a brand new service offered by encoding.com. We’re currently using it to share our webinar recordings with Inner Circle members. In fact, if you’ve watched one of our recordings, chances are the video was coming from Vid.ly.

Using Vid.ly is super easy. Here’s what to do:

1. Visit www.vid.ly
2. Click the “Start” button
3. Select “Upload” from the next screen and select the webinar recording from your computer
4. Then, enter your email address and click “Finish”

That’s it! Now, you just need to wait while your video is uploaded and converted into a bunch of formats for different computers and mobile devices. You need to keep your web browser open during this process. You can watch the progress on the screen if you’d like, or minimize the window to work on other stuff. When it’s finished, you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to share the video with others.

Vid.ly does a great job (did I mention it’s free?!), but does have some limitations. For example, the video sizes are pre-determined by Vid.ly and may be a bit smaller than you’d like. But, you can’t beat the price. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Viddler

Viddler is like YouTube for businesses. It’s easier to use than Vid.ly and offers higher quality HD videos and sharing controls (you can password protect videos, for example). However, it’s not free. The pricing plans are available here: http://www.viddler.com/signup/

If you’re looking for something with more polish and professionalism than Vid.ly, give Viddler a look.

YouTube, Vimeo and other options

There are other video sharing sites out there, but almost all of them (except for Viddler) are for “personal use” only.

Do it yourself hosting

This isn’t easy, but it’s worth mentioning. You can, if you know how, convert the recording on your local computer and upload it to your website manually. However, this is only for the hardcore geeks out there. There are MANY techie details that go into this, so I’d recommend you steer clear and use one of the services above.

Question submitted by Inner Circle member Steve. Thanks, Steve!

Post thumbnail courtesy of rinehart-video-productions.

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