P.Mean >> Statistics webinar >>  How to sign up and connect to a web seminar (created 2010-02-17).

Registration for the webinar series: Statistical Literacy for Medical Librarians. Swimming in a Whirlpool of Conflicting Medical Claims is available at nnlm.gov/mcr/education/, but as of March 24, there is a waiting list only. The remainder of this page will discuss signing up for my webinars open to all.

This page will answer all of your questions about signing up and connecting to a webinar.

1. How do I sign up?
2. How do I connect?
3. Can I get the handout for the webinar ahead of time?
4. What do I need to know before taking this webinar?
5. How does the technology for a webinar work?
6. Can I view earlier webinars?

1. How do I sign up?

Send me an email to with the date of the webinar in the title line (e.g., April 1 webinar).

2. How do I connect?

No special hardware/software is needed (explain). After you sign up, you will get an email with instructions on where to go and how to connect. I will also post instructions on the main webinar page.

3. Can I get the handout for the webinar ahead of time?

Yes, if I am well organized. I try to place the handout on the main webinar page at least 24 hours prior to the webinar, but that is not always possible.

4. What do I need to know in order before taking this webinar?

Not a whole lot. No statistical experience is necessary (explain).

5. How does the technology for a webinar work?

I am using Webex, www.webex.com, to present these webinars. I'm not a computer geek, but the technology they use is fairly simple and very reliable. You log into a website and enter the webinar information and a password. If your computer has speakers, then you can probably listen to audio directly on your computer. If your computer does not have speakers, then you can dial into a telephone number (not a toll free number, unfortunately) and listen to the audio. During the webinar, you will see Powerpoint slides along with a webcam view of me.

You do not need a webcam or a microphone on your computer, and even if you have them, I will not be using those capabilities.  There is a chat window for making comments and asking questions. That will be the primary way that I will make this webinar interactive.

I do a lot of talks that rely on computer technologies and something always goes wrong. When it does, I laugh and blame Bill Gates. He and I are both about the same age, and for some terribly unfair reason he has a lot more money than I do. So it makes perfect sense to blame him anytime something goes wrong.

I do want to encourage active participation via the chat window. When the webinar starts, I will type "Hello from Leawood, Kansas" in the chat window and I want you to type "Hello from [[your location]]". If I tell a joke I want you to type "ha ha ha" or something like it if you think the joke is funny and "groan" or something like it if you think the joke stinks. Feel free to ask questions in the chat window at anytime, though I may wait a minute or two to a good break point before I reply.

You are allowed to have more than one person listening at your site. If you are doing this, please let me know by email, as a courtesy.

6. Can I view earlier webinars?

Although the handouts are free, I do not wish to give away recordings of the webinars for free. I am mostly concerned about the quality of a static recording. If you want to see a webinar topic that was covered earlier, contact me and ask if I can schedule that webinar again. The handouts for earlier webinars are available on the archive page.

Feedback from earlier webinars

Feedback from the first two webinars (October 14 and November 4) was mostly positive, though I appreciate the people who mentioned areas where I could improved. This feedback is summarized on the feedback page. Handouts for the previous two webinars are available on the webinar archive page.

Is there a mailing list to announce new webinars?

If you want notifications of upcoming webinars, the easiest way is to sign up for The Monthly Mean. You can also check this page regularly for updates.

Draft handouts

What do all these numbers mean?

• What do all these numbers mean? P-values
• What do all these numbers mean? Confidence intervals
• What do all these numbers mean? Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios
• What do all these numbers mean? Odds ratios, relative risks, and number needed to treat

The first three steps.

• The first three steps in choosing a research question
• The first three steps in developing a research hypothesis
• The first three steps in selecting a sample size
• The first three steps in data entry, with examples in PASW/SPSS
• The first three steps in data quality assurance, with examples in PASW/SPSS
• The first three steps in a descriptive data analysis, with examples in PASW/SPSS
• The first three steps in a linear regression analysis, with examples in PASW/SPSS
• The first three steps in a logistic regression analysis, with examples in PASW/SPSS
• The first three steps in a survival data analysis, with examples in PASW/SPSS
• The first three steps in analysis of variance, with examples in PASW/SPSS

Evidence-Based Medicine

• Critical appraisal of randomized studies
• Critical appraisal of observational studies
• Critical appraisal of inclusion/exclusion criteria, refusals, dropouts, and noncompliers
• Critical appraisal of systematic overviews

What now?

Go to the main page of the P.Mean website

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. This page was written by Steve Simon and was last modified on 2010-06-14.