I’ve been running a series of webinars for CyberNorth, highlighting the varied nature of the cybersecurity industry across the region. I have really enjoyed them, finding them very interesting though attendance has been patchy. They are all recorded though and so can be viewed at a later time.
I’ve also attended a few and they have followed a similar format, a presentation with slides followed by a Q&A. It’s a formula that has worked well though interaction with the audience has always felt a bit stifled.
The latest CyberNorth webinar was different however. Due to time constraints and work pressures one of the speakers was unable to do a presentation and so we agreed to have a discussion about his experiences of the cybersecurity market around the country to make a comparison with what is going on in the North East. It sounded like a plan and so I duly drafted some questions and agreed them in advance.
In the warm up to the webinar, when we test that the technology is working, the other speaker told me that he hadn’t produced any slides either and that he’d prepared a short talk about the business instead. For a brief second a chasm opened up in front of me but then I thought why not. Let’s go for it.
Matthew gave his talk, I jotted down some notes and, when he was finished we had a ten minute or so conversation about his time at university and his new business venture. We then followed this up with David’s introduction and both of the speakers were woven into the question and answer section.
In the end it worked very well, at least from my perspective and what could have been a very difficult session turned out to have been one of the best webinars I have been involved in. It was a format that I may never have tried without being pushed into it.
The experience has taught me that it is good sometimes to break from the norm.
The recorded webinars can be found here:
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 