On Tuesday, I had the privilege of participating in a webinar titled Demographics and Sub-Demographics - Web Analytics Demystified, which was sponsored by the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN) and led by Jordan Dossett of Antharia. This is a topic close to my heart, since I'm test-driving Site Meter, and have plenty of web traffic data to play with.

Jordan is an excellent presenter - a real jargon-buster!  She knows how to explain web analytics in plain language.  Her presentation had something for everyone:  the artists who do the graphic design, the geeks who are responsible for the back end of the web site, the wordsmiths who create the content, and the strategists who keep an eye on the big picture. 

The message came through very clearly: in the nonprofit sector, we need to understand who uses our web sites and how they use them.  Moreover, we need to embrace that group, and design web sites tailored to their needs rather than to our own convenience.  No more solipsism!

I applaud N-TEN for taking the lead to offering online education to nonprofit techies who can't attend face-to-face conferences.  N-TEN is many things to many people, and in its role as a trade association, it is very serious about providing opportunities for professional development.

But I just don't love the webinar format.  Basically, it's a big conference call, plus a web-based PowerPoint presentation that we all watched simultaneously.  The only cool thing about it was that there was a "raise hand" button on the screen that we could click if we had questions, and a chat box so that we could send instant messages to Jordan.

Jordan's lively presentation style was a wonderful counter-balance - but I seem to be convinced that PowerPoint is just not compatible with my learning style.  I also found it difficult to benefit from a group learning experience without visual cues from the other participants.

The N-TEN webinars should be a tremendous resource for nonprofit techies who enjoy online learning or who find it impossible to attend conferences.  I also foresee that the archives of the webinar sessions will be extremely useful to those who learn best by reviewing a presentation  more than once.  But I don't think I'll ever prefer the webinars to the various face-to-face gatherings that N-TEN sponsors.


Next scheduled N-TEN Webinar:

 Blogging: Getting Started
 30 August 2005
Presented by Marnie Webb of CompuMentor


Full disclosure:  N-TEN offered me a complimentary seat in the webinar, without any restrictions on what I chose to write about the experience.