Last Thursday, we facilitated our webinar covering the ASUs effective in 2018. As we discussed in this post, GAAP Dynamics has now added live webinars to our service offerings. Since we have been approved by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) to grant CPE in the Group Internet Based (GIB) format, we were anxious to test it out!

We had 264 people register for the webinar and 142 actually attended. That’s a 54% attendance rate. At first, I was a bit disappointed, until I learned that the average attendance rate for customer training and onboarding webinars was 42.1% based on GoToWebinar’s The 2017 Big Book of Webinar Stats.

Of the 142 that attended, 90 actually took the time to complete the evaluation, which based on my experience is fairly good. The attendees must have had something to say!

Overall, the webinar rated 4.7 stars out of a possible 5. Not too shabby for our first one! The individual questions ranked as follows:

Were the stated learning objectives met?                                                                                                                           4.7

Were the program materials relevant and did they contribute to the achievement of the learning objectives?      4.7

Was the time allotted to the learning activity appropriate?                                                                                             4.4

Was the course a valuable investment of your time?                                                                                                        4.6

Would you recommend this course to others?                                                                                                                    4.6 

Were the facilitators effective?                                                                                                                                              4.8

Scale:

1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Somewhat agree / somewhat disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree

We also got a fair amount of qualitative feedback (as shown at the end of this post). In summary, it appears that people really liked the various delivery methods we employed, including live video feeds of the facilitators, interactive polling questions, and short microlearning videos such as this one that we prepared on the new guidance with ASU 2017-05 related to derecognition of nonfinancial assets:

Or this one related to the subsequent measurement of equity securities in accordance with ASC Topic 321, a brand-new Codification Topic created by ASU 2016-01:

On the improvement side, attendees let us know the importance of time management, as the webinar did run over about 5 minutes. We promise to do better in the future, but we just get so darn excited about U.S. GAAP (and IFRS, too in case you were wondering)!

All in all, we think the webinar went extremely well and would like to extend a big “THANK YOU” to all the attendees. If you were unable to attend, you can watch the replay here. Note that the first 5 minutes of the video contains the webinar instructions, which is not applicable for playback. The action starts at the 5:00 minute mark. We can’t give you CPE credits for watching the playback (yet), but we can get you up-to-speed on the latest in U.S. GAAP!

If your organization could benefit from a live, facilitated webinar tailored specifically for your needs, please contact us. We hope you join us for future webinars. Also, be on the lookout for the launch of the Revolution, our new online learning platform, scheduled for next month. Learn more about the Revolution here and here. Until we meet again!

See below for the actual qualitative comments made by participants.

What, if anything, did you specifically like about the webinar?

• Storytelling helps to induce learning.
• Excellent presenters managed to cover a lot of ground in a short period.
• I liked the format of the Webinar and the presenters are upbeat, so the presentation is not boring.
• Examples were great and expanded commentary on what the standard "really means" is very helpful.
• Topics were good.
• Upbeat and interesting.
• The videos.
• The change in modes of learning. From live speakers to videos, to interactive polling questions, to slides, it was constantly changing and therefore very engaging.
• Good explanations, good discussion.
• Seeing the presenters helped me stay engaged throughout.
• The format was great. I thought it was very engaging to split screen with the facilitators’ conversation and the slides. Very clear and clean presentation.
• Videos and availability of those videos on YouTube at a later date. Live camera felt like being in a live training room
• I liked the format; the slides were excellent.
• I really enjoyed the content and discussion. It wasn't dry like other CPE webinars I have attended.
• The presenters were dynamic and used relevant examples. I liked that there were different types of content (video outtakes).
• I liked the videos. The quality needed a little help, but it made it interesting. I have listened and attended your ASC 606 courses and I love the way you guys teach/inform/train! Something about it makes it not too dry!
• Interaction between the two presenters was great. A different approach than the typical webinar; made it more interesting.
• Interaction/live video feeds while going through the content.
• Great use of the technology. Well done.
• I just have a question: Do you provide also training in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)?
• Very informative and lively unlike the Big 4 webinars that are too serious in their presentation.
• LOVED the conversational, talk show format. Content was great. I'm a huge fan of yours and am beyond excited for the Revolution! I'm a controller in industry and have instructed the 3 other CPAs on my team to hold off on signing up for any CPE subscriptions in anticipation of your offering.
• I liked the videos, they made the topics less boring.
• Clips that explained a situation. Different and engaging.
• The videos.
• The videos were great.
• Presenters were well spoken and kept your attention throughout the course.
• Cool animations kept the webinar interesting. The pace was good, not too slow.
• Well organized and easy to follow.
• Very efficient way to learn about all the upcoming ASU's. Great content and good examples to understand the changes.
• Convenience, ease of use.
• Inclusion of micro-learning videos.

What, if anything, could be done to improve the webinar?

• Either reduce amount of information or increase time to pace more the presentation.
• Nothing, I enjoyed the webinar. My only comment is that I hope the questions above rated 1-5 that 5 is the best rating. Maybe add the rating scale above the questions. If 1 was supposed to be the best, then I apologize and would love to change my answers!!!
• Could have been timelier as many of the standards have been adopted or required to be thought about.
• Time management went too long.
• At times, the video and audio were off with the live feed.
• Sound on the videos was low.
• Everything was good.
• N/A Great Job!
• Felt like some parts were too detailed and other parts were skimmed over.
• None that I can readily think about.
• More examples.
• More anecdotal stuff, examples.
• End on time. Not show commercials for upcoming products when the program is already 5 minutes over the allotted time.
• Way to pause or break mid-way to use the facilities. Or being able to miss one polling question if you needed to step away from your computer.
• Confirm that ratings of 5 are excellent and ratings of 1 are poor. That is how I rated the webinar.
• End on time.
• It was really well done. Please clarify definition of 1 and 5 on the evaluation form (5 is theaffirmative answer in these responses).
• Eliminate the background music while playing the video so we can hear the instructions from the video more clearly.
• Ask some more "get acquainted questions". The things I wanted to spend time on were skipped over.
• Make sure the course ends on scheduled time, so people can leave to attend other calls/meetings.

Disclaimer  

This post is published to spread the love of GAAP and provided for informational purposes only. Although we are CPAs and have made every effort to ensure the factual accuracy of the post as of the date it was published, we are not responsible for your ultimate compliance with accounting or auditing standards and you agree not to hold us responsible for such. In addition, we take no responsibility for updating old posts, but may do so from time to time.