I was all ready. I had signed up, gone out and purchased the book, gone back online to fill out forms after reading the first two chapters, gathered my notebook and pen, made dinner – early, took the dogs out – early, got into the class – early…and I was SO there when Oprah and Eckhart Tolle began their highly touted online webinar. I’ll even admit to being excited about it. For the first half hour, it all cooked along beautifully. Eckhart telling about himself, each antidote speaking to my self-perceived stalled life. Oprah being that perfect personality bringing out the right amount of TV anchor combined with wished-for best friend.
Then it all slowed down. Not my enthusiasm, Oprah’s questions or Eckhart’s sharing. No, what slowed down was the webinar itself. From fluid communication to jerky, fitful bad video, the webinar kicking off the new planetary awareness became so aggravating, I finally clicked it off. I don’t have a lot of patience to hear every third word and have it make sense. It’s amazing I put up with that for another half hour. Call me an optimist.
Of course, I had gotten a text from the smartest friend I have (she’s in a tie with another, but that’s not the point) who shared she, too, was having the same problem on the other coast. I wanted to hear what they were saying, but it was NOT working out in the least.
Now, I’ll admit right now, I hate webinars. Not once, ever, have I been on a successful one that was worth the extra time it took. People, either go on TV, or call. But don’t think that by putting yourself on video on the web that you’re making a huge leap of some technological kind. Nosiree. You’re just complicating life. Either there’s too much Internet traffic for the webinar to work, or there’s technical problems so bad that if we were on TV, they’d throw up that old black and white slide of the monkey throwing out the tubes of a vidicon camera.
There are ALWAYS technical problems with webinars. And tonight’s is most disappointing. Did a bunch of techno geeks lie to Oprah and tell her that they would make it work? Did the popularity of the event draw so many last minute folks it collapsed under its own success? Did a goat chew a cable outside Reno and throw it all to pieces?
Pity the poor folks who were struggling with poor self-esteem and then got shut out of this. Or the depressive who was reaching out for some kind of glimmer that things are going to get better. Not getting the Oprah webinar to work when the subject is “finding your life’s purpose” is like being put on hold when you call the suicide hotline.
Sure, I can download the podcast. Or go to Oprah’s excellent website and watch what I missed there. But, to quote that brilliant friend, ‘how much time do I have to give up for this book club?”
I’m from Missouri. The Show Me State. I am not going to waste my time or effort on any further webinars until someone SHOWS me they work. And that, as they say, is going to be a very tough sale.
