Why Aren’t All Meetings Recorded?

At MassLandlords, we have several types of rental real estate networking and training events. In the world of zoom, there are two types: webinars are recorded, but virtual meetings are not. What’s the difference?

Webinars like this one on water submetering are recorded. Virtual meetings where everyone is talking are not recorded. CC BY-SA 4.0 MassLandlords, Inc.

Webinars are recorded for a couple of reasons:

• We have explicit, written permission from everyone who will be speaking,
• The material is likely to be correct and of enduring value, and
• The material is complete enough to work well without a lot of interactive Q&A.

Virtual meetings are not recorded because they serve a different set of goals:

Reasons Why Virtual Meetings are not Recorded

1.) We do not have explicit permission from every attendee to record.

Yes, we could put up a disclaimer advising attendees of recording. But actually, the permission to distribute a recording by disclaimer is not bulletproof and might be challenged or revoked. Someone might allege they didn't see the disclaimer. Or they might allege they didn’t realize their renter would see the recording and use their words against them in court. Which leads us to a discussion of today’s climate:

2a.) The things said on a virtual meeting might be wrong.

We are constantly trying to educate owners, managers and even ourselves. No one is perfect. We never advise anyone to break the law. But we might make a good faith error. And a landlord might make a good faith error, too. We don't want to create an environment where people feel unsafe to hazard a guess for fear it will come back to haunt them. And we don't want to create a huge record of conversations that can later be combed through by a renter advocate or other detractor for errors and soundbites. We feel recording serves detractors better than it serves our educational objectives for members who can attend. And by the way:

2b.) Live meetings teach better than webinars.

Educational objectives are better met when you have a chance to ask questions live. Even if you don’t ask the question, you will be actively grappling with the decision about whether to ask and with the content. We hope you can both attend and ask your question. Trust us when we say that you learn more from a live meeting than a recording.

3.) There are other ways to learn this material now:

If you cannot attend one time, then wait for the topic to reappear. We do rerun topics. If you are chronically unable to attend, tell us what time would work better for you. We are keeping a tally and can start a new event series at another time during the day. If you can never attend a live meeting, then either wait for the material to reach a state of maturity and be converted into a webinar, or ask us to point you to the article summary on our website.

Many Topics Have Already Been Recorded

We are always recording new webinars. Many past meetings have been recorded and are visible on our Past Meeting Videos page.