Webinar FAQ

With the price of gas, airline tickets and other travel related items on the rise, more and more companies are looking for cost effective alternatives to sending their people around the country to attend meetings. For many smart companies, the answer is a web conference, and there are many advantages to having employees meet one another from the comfort of their own offices. Some of the many benefits Continue reading…

PowerPoint Show format (PPS) is a presentation document format, used to create a PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint, supplied by Microsoft, is a presentation program. PowerPoint is also part of the Microsoft Office Suite.

As in the case of other software in the Office Suite, PowerPoint is Continue reading…

Here’s a snapshot comparison of various web-conferencing solutions.

Free to $20/month

sightspeed
Free Trial?: Yes (15 days)
Price: $19.95/month - $695/month
Recording: Yes, video and voice.
Features: WebCam based. Multi-Party Video Conferencing, text messaging, unlimited PC-to-PC calling, and more.
Support: Live video or phone support 6am-6pm. Online knowledge base.

vyew
Free Trial?: Yes
Price: Ranges from $0 (ad supported) up to $19.95/month.
Recording: No
Features: Unlimited meetings up to 45 ppl. No special software required, desktop sharing, white-boards and more.
Support: Online user guide.

$20-$50/month

webex MeetMeNow
Free Trial? Yes (14 days)
Price: $49/month Save 20% on yearly purchase.
Recording: No
Features: Unlimited conferences up to 10 ppl. Private chat and more.
Support: Unlimited instructor led and self-paced training. Online ‘help’ section.

gotomeeting
Free Trial?: Yes (30 days)
Price: $49/month Save 20% on yearly purchase.
Recording: Audio recording.
Features: Unlimited conferences up to 15 ppl. Desktop sharing, white-boards, text chat, and more.
Support: Online and phone customer care. Unlimited software and service upgrades.

$50-$100/month

webex Meeting Center
Free Trial? Yes (14 days)
Price: $75/month per host. Also available as pay-per-use.
Recording: Yes
Features: Unlimited meetings up to 15 ppl. File transfer, text chat, share documents and more.
Support: Online user guide, free 24/7 phone support.

gotowebinar
Free Trial? Yes (30 days)
Price: $99/month Save 20% on yearly purchase.
Recording: Audio Recording.
Features: Unlimited webinars up to 1000 ppl. All the features of gotomeeting plus tracking of registrations, polling, surveys and more.
Support: Online support and 24/7 phone technical assistance.

Over $100/month

webex Event Center
Free Trial? Yes
Price: Request quote.
Recording: Yes, audio/video using flash or windows media file.
Features: Unlimited meetings up to 3000 ppl. Automated email management, streaming audio/video, powerpoint presentations, share documents, applications and more.
Support: Free training, online user guide, free 24/7 phone support.

More and more businesses are incorporating conference calling technology into their business models. Conference calling technology enables multiple users in different locations to carry on real-time voice conversations. Using conference calls as a tool for workforce and customer communication can result in significant financial and time savings by significantly reducing the need for business travel. Continue reading…

1. Reduced Costs - Individuals who wish to communicate with friends or family worldwide can easily accomplish this by conducting an online meeting with them. Face-to-face company meetings cost much in terms of accommodations. Continue reading…

When choosing a webinar or webconferencing vendor, it makes sense to pick the simplest solution for your needs, and this includes the needs of your attendees.

Many people are not really computer-savvy and if you ask your audience to install or download software, they may be either unsure of what they should do, or suspicious of the software for security reasons. Picking a web-conferencing solution such as gotomeeting that doesn’t require your participants to download any special software will improve the response to your event.

Several days before your webinar, try to find a person who is not especially experienced (computer-wise) and do a trial run of your conference with him/her as the audience. Ask how well the webinar worked and if there is anything that might be made easier.

One of the most important factors driving the increased popularity of web conferencing among companies is the fact that it can easily facilitate training and online education programs for employees. Although the best setting for instruction remains an offline, face to face situation, there’s still a lot that an online training program can accomplish. Since the turn of the century, companies that create web conferencing software have incorporated features which allow not only for small meetings, but large training sessions as well. Continue reading…

One measure of a successful webinar is how many people actually attended. Scheduling your event for the best day possible can positively influence the percentage of people who attend your event.

Weekends are usually a bad choice because most chose to spend that time with their families, pursuing their hobbies, shopping, or just relaxing.

Mondays are often a stressful and busy day at work, so are usually best avoided for that reason. Plus football fans don’t want to miss the big game Mon. night.

Fridays are usually another poor choice because people just want to get through the day at work and start their weekend.

Wednesdays are possible, however some people attend church or other activities on Wed. night.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually a good choice for holding a webinar, at least without specific factors or evidence to the contrary.

To actually find the best date to schedule your webinar, why not ask the people you invite? Consider adding a ‘best day?’ survey question to your webinar registration form.

Valuable Web Conferencing Features

The type and size of your online event determines the necessary capabilities of your web conferencing software. If you are giving a training seminar for a handful of employees, obviously you need a less robust solution than if you are conducting a multimedia presentation for hundreds of attendees.

Here are some features commonly included in Webinar Software.

Email Reminders: This feature lets you send emails reminding participants of upcoming meetings, track responses, and also attendance and details from follow ups after the event.

Flash Demos: These are useful as a teaching tool or tutorial. They can be used to showcase the important parts of previous webinars.

Surveys and Polls: Surveys and polls provide useful feedback from previous webinars. Use them during your webinar to steer it in the right direction according to the responses and needs of your audience.

Adequate Bandwidth: Bandwidth is usually tied to the maximum number of participants. The type of webinar you are giving figures into the bandwidth equation too. Basic PowerPoint presentations require less than live video or webinars using flash animations.

Ability to Record and Playback: This is an important feature for most businesses. Non-Attendees will be able to view the webinar at a later date. Also, keeping a record of the meeting is useful for research and archiving purposes. Look for the ability to save meetings in a standard format, such as Windows media files or .wmv.

Conference Calling and Web Surfing: When enabled, these features can improve communication between the presenter and the audience.

Annotation Tools: Tools such as a highlighter and pointer help to give your presentation a professional look and feel.