Years ago, ISSTD webinars were arranged in a very ad hoc manner and did not appear as a regular program. Webinars, compared with current arrangements, were relatively infrequent. There were no schedules of webinars which ISSTD members could access via annual passes. Around a decade ago, our Society, recognizing a near absence of webinars in 2015, decided to inaugurate a Webinar Committee to more formally organize and administer a webinar program. Marilyn Korzekwa accepted the nomination to be the inaugural chair of the Webinar Committee and did an excellent job in bringing structure, regularity and forward planning to the role, something that was very ably assisted by ISSTD Staff.
Regular webinars were on offer and the opportunity to purchase annual webinar passes particularly came into its own, in 2020, as our world went into Covid lockdowns and collegial connectivity and professional development, for a time, had to be largely based on online technology. Our 2020 Annual Conference in San Francisco was cancelled on March 14, 2020, as the pandemic was declared, leaving those in attendance to make their way home as best as they could. In subsequent months, attendances at ISSTD webinars substantially increased as they represented regular Society offerings for what for a time had become a largely online community incorporating virtual conferences, online training, and webinars.
When Marilyn stepped down from chairing the Webinar Committee in October 2021, I was invited to take on the role of Co-Chair, which a little while later became Chair, a role that, with the highly valued support of the other members of the Webinar Committee, I have occupied up to the end of 2025.
Since it came into existence, the Webinar Committee has met four times a year, and to the best of my recollections, I have attended every single meeting. In 2015, there was one webinar, and in 2016, there were four. In 2017, there were three webinars. By 2018, the offerings had grown to eight webinars. In 2019 there were again eight webinars, and for the first time, we offered full-year webinar passes. In 2020 there were 11 webinars, and in 2021, this number had grown to 13. In 2022, there were 12 webinars, in 2023, there were 10 and in 2024, there were 12 and in 2025, 14. Over a period of time, the number of offerings has increased, such that currently, on average there are twelve or more webinars offered annually. There are 13 webinars planned for 2026.
Predictably, our peak year for the sale of full-year webinar passes was 2021, when the world was deeply in the throes of the Covid pandemic. 2021 also recorded the highest annual webinar program revenue.
Since 2015, the three webinars that achieved the highest numbers of live participants were, How to Work with Persecutory and Malevolent Introject Alters (Colin Ross) in 2021, Building Internal Attachment Bonds: Overcoming Self-Alienation (Janina Fisher) in 2022, and, Organized Extreme Abuse: Terms, Complexities, and Creative Strategies (Rachel Sage), in 2025.
Your current Webinar Committee Chair (W.M.), six months ago notified the ISSTD Executive that he was hoping to finish his term as Committee chair on December 31, 2025, having served on the Webinar Committee since its inception, including the last four years as Chair. ISSTD President, Michael Coy informed the Webinar Committee at its last meeting that the Board has moved to combine the Virtual and Regional Conference Committee with the Webinar Committee, forming the Virtual Training Committee.
The Virtual Training Committee will be chaired by Julie Trana and Peter Maves. Going forward, the plan is that starting in 2027 there will be twelve webinars offered annually, with four of these being invited webinars – Living Legends etc. – and the remaining eight being selected via the submissions of abstracts, along the lines of how conference presentations are selected.
Sincere thanks to our high-quality presenters, our moderators, those who have made suggestions about possible presenters, and our ISSTD staff who have made the mechanisms work so smoothly and who have kept detailed data on the Webinar program, some of which I have shared here.
If you are interested in being a moderator for a future online program such as a webinar or virtual conference session, you can view the volunteer position here.
The early bird registration deadline for the 2026 Webinar Pass is January 31, 2026. View the full lineup of 2026 webinar and secure your full pass or the newly available four webinar pass here.