By Mike Agron

You should try to think of a webinar like a radio show with pictures. A good webinar can breathe life into existing content such as case studies, research reports, and whitepapers, etc.

A demand generation webinar is not about selling; rather, it’s about educating and making your audience more intelligent about a particular topic so they can make more informed decisions that ultimately influence the purchase of a sponsor’s products or services.

While there are many dos and don’ts for producing and delivering webinars, I’ve found that there are 3 webinar myths that need to be debunked for you to have successful outcomes that also delight your audiences.

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Memo to parents: Distracted driving by teenagers is riskier than previously thought, particularly when it comes to multitasking with a cellphone. This is one finding of research that provides sobering video evidence of the extent and nature of the problem.

The study entailed putting video cameras in the cars of drivers ages 16 to 19, allowing researchers to watch the excruciating moments before nearly 1,700 crashes. Time and time again, teenagers in the videos — which will be made available to the public — lose themselves in their devices and then are jarred back to reality when they slam into another car or careen off the road.

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Northwest Tank serves gasoline companies throughout the west with the highest quality petroleum systems testing and environmental compliance solutions available. They were already using a GPS system to deliver better customer service and drive more efficiency in the field. But Remy Cano, the President of Northwest Tank was looking for a solution that could provide accurate information directly off the engine computer especially with regard to idling, actual fuel used and driver behavior.

Remy’s research revealed that traditional black-box systems were not easily able to provide this level of detail without an expensive upgrade that involved taking vehicles out of service and waiting around for installers to show up. So he expanded his search to look for an affordable solution that could be installed quickly, was easy to move around between vehicles and was comprehensive in functionality.

Remy’s search led to a few providers that he then put through a comparative analysis. In the end, he chose the Azuga G2 solution based on overall functionality, customer support and willingness to partner on the product roadmap.

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Fleet sales are an important part of U.S. automakers’ bottom lines, and none have more cachet or higher visibility than a contract with a law enforcement agency.

In addition to producing a reliable source of revenue, being chosen by a high-profile police department is a badge of honor. Putting officers in their cars gives Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge an advertising boost.

“This is absolutely a good marketing opportunity for us,” said Jonathan Honeycutt, marketing manager for Ford’s police vehicles. “This is a division we want to be in.”

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Mark R. Rosekind has taken the helm of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at a critical juncture for the federal agency. Not only did he fill the role of NHTSA Administrator in the midst of the massive GM ignition-switch and Takata airbag recalls, but also at a time when technology is quickly transforming automotive.

The car industry is facing enormous changes due to innovations ranging from autonomous driving to vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and these will also have a profound influence on NHTSA’s main priority of ensuring vehicles are safe and reducing traffic deaths.

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Next-generation hybrid cars combining electric and gas power in new ways are emerging as a low-cost alternative for consumers as batteries get cheaper and more efficient.

Battery packs for electric vehicles, loaded with lithium-ion cells, now cost around $496 a kilowatt-hour, a 60 percent drop from 2010. That could plunge to $175 within five years, according to Sam Jaffe, an industry analyst with Navigant Consulting Inc.

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Toyota Safety Sense is designed to support the driver’s awareness, decision making and vehicle operation over a wide range of speeds.
When the next-generation Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Lexus RX models come to market later this year, they will offer new, low-cost automated braking packages that, the maker hopes, will bring this technology within reach of a mass audience.

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Pop quiz: What percentage of drivers have brushed or flossed their teeth behind the wheel? While it’s crazy to think that anyone would floss their teeth while cruising down the highway, it’s just one distraction that people admitted to in a new survey from Erie Insurance.

To discourage distracted driving in conjunction with National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April, Erie Insurance asked drivers what they do behind the wheel. Answers included PDAs, changing clothes, and going to the bathroom.

READ MORE and see highlights of the results shown in an info graphic on CNN Money.

By Kristofer Bush, Vice President, Marketing, LeasePlan USA

A global LeasePlan Monitor survey looks into driver preference of company vehicles.

When looking at driver preference, 80 percent of all fleet drivers see the size of the vehicle as the most important selection criteria. Size appears to be a universal reason for choosing a vehicle, but what else is influencing driver decisions? And what does this mean for the future of fleet?

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“But officer…” If you’ve ever tried to explain your way out of a speeding ticket, claiming you didn’t know how fast you were going, or what the local limit was, you might want to check out the new Intelligent Speed Limiter that Ford is launching this year.

A number of vehicles now display the local speed limit on their navigation screens, some using cameras to ensure that the limit hasn’t changed since the navi database was created. The system being introduced in the next-generation Ford S-Max people-mover goes the next step, and actually controls the speed of the vehicle itself.

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