Alec Hogg: The webinar mania – and why corporates are blowing it. Again.

Webinars have become the new spam. There's invariably half a dozen invitations daily to attend "events" ranging from worthies pontificating on what the future holds. Most of them are puke-worthy. Yet someone must be reacting, because the unsolicited invitations keep coming..Read also: Alec Hogg: Beware the allure of the one-way bet.Worst are corporate webinars on supposedly critical issues. While a handful have indeed lived up to their billing, most are a waste of time. They appear to have been motivated by over-paid fools in under-monitored marketing departments who somehow convinced ignorant bosses webinars will transform the company's reputation. It won't..Such adventures are an awful misallocation of resources – just like the corporate must-have-website craze of the late 1990s and, of course, the Y2K scam. With most corporate-sponsored webinars it's even more obvious, because at the first whiff of authentic debate, "upstairs" is sure to pull the plug. Much as they may want to, corporate leopards cannot change their spots. Antibodies to controversy are just too powerful..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Read also: Alec Hogg: Cloudflare's 23% surge proves the value of homework.I was reminded of this in an interview yesterday with economist Chris Hart who was dispatched by his corporate employer in early 2016 after a Bell Pottinger-fuelled mob attacked him over an innocuous tweet. Hart says before accepting the job, he was told he'd been headhunted for his independent and forthright opinions. Quite a story. It is in Episode 11 of The Alec Hogg Show. To be published on Monday..For your attention today….FOR DOWNLOADING….* We've had an active week on BizNews with plenty of cracking stories and lots of community feedback. All of it summarised for you in our weekly BizNews Digest PDF. You won't want to miss out. Sign up and we'll email you an alert this and every Thursday evening when the Digest is available for download. Click here..WEBINAR ALERT….* Joining veteran broadcaster Tim Modise to unpack the details of CR's new economic rescue plan for SA at our Noontime Thursday webinar today are businessman and venture capitalist Vusi Thembekwayo and political analyst at University of KZN, Lukhanyo Mnguni. Register to attend, CLICK here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1324111475714234383..* Sign up on the link below for Finance Friday tomorrow at noon where Jackie Cameron's guests are Craig Gradidge of award-winning financial advice company Gradidge Mahura Investments and global financial markets specialist Fred Razak, of CM Trading. Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6646694434270030861.

Alec Hogg: The webinar mania – and why corporates are blowing it. Again.

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