Thursday, April 11, 2013

Webinars gone wild


On April 10th Photonics Media ran a webcast called “Industrial Imaging and Vision.” On the 17th the AIA is hosting one on “Machine Vision Technology in High Precision Online Inspection and Metrology.” On the 18th Laser Focus World has “Fast and Sensitive Camera Technologies – Choosing the Best Solution.” A week later the RIA is running “Advanced Vision Guided Robotics”.

See what I mean? What’s with all the webcasts?

I get that marketing folks want to tell me about their great products and services, and going back in time, the webinar was an interesting and convenient medium. But as the number of such events has increased their value seems to have declined.

Time was, I’d take notes and broaden my knowledge but now I just check email and, to be honest, zone out while the presenter drones on. I still pick up the occasional nugget of information, but frankly I don’t have the time to listen to what has become nothing more than a sales pitch.

So, dear machine vision webinar organizers, if you want me to listen, give me some meat to sink my teeth into. If that means fewer webinars but greater value, so be it. It will leave me more time to actually get my job done.

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