Web and video conferencing technology is becoming more sophisticated
with each passing day. A few years ago it was a novelty just to talk
with someone online, and view his or her image at the same time. Today
web conferences bring together entire companies in complex interaction
that rivals live face-to-face meetings. How you might benefit from the
latest developments in web conferencing depends on your particular
needs. Here are a few points that you should consider.
1. Do you need to make a Powerpoint or other presentation during your conference?
If you answered “yes” to this question, then you will be glad to know
that current web and video conferencing services allow the host of a
conference to present a slide show or power point demonstration that
will be visible on the screens of all the participants of a conference.
Similarly, hosts can also open and show other document formats to their
attendees. If you need this kind of capability, make sure that your
conference provider can give this to you.
2. Do you require telephone conferencing integrated with your web/video conference?
Many organizations have found telephone conferencing to be an effective
way to get work done. If you are already connecting with your members
and staff via telephone conferences you can expand on this by choosing
a web conferencing system that integrates telephone conferencing along
with the online conference. The combined service will give you the ease
of phone conferencing along with the enhanced visual and presentation
features of online conferencing.
Some services allow the host to pay the long distance bill of all the
participants (toll free conferencing), while others require each
participant to cover their long distance fees.
3. Do all of your conference participants use the same type of computer?
If your participants are going to be using a variety of computers (PC,
Mac, Linux) then you will benefit most by choosing a web conferencing
system that works on any platform. While earlier conferencing systems
required the downloading of complex software that would work only on
specified operating systems, newer conferencing formats are delivered
online and are browser based. They work on any operating system and if
yours in an eclectic audience, then you will get best results with this
type of conferencing.
4. Will it be necessary for one of your technicians to “take-over” and operate the computers of any of your participants?
If you wish to use conferencing as a service tool and want to avoid
having to send out your service team on physical visits to clients, you
can save a lot of travel time and cost by selecting a web and video
conferencing system that allows the host of the conference to go online
and actually take control of the computer of the client or conference
participant. If you are looking at web conferencing as an after-sales
service tool, then this particular feature will probably give you one
of the most important benefits that you could wish for.
5. Do you want to conduct an online poll or survey during the conference?
If you have a large organization and want to make a quick and accurate
poll of opinion or vote on a particular issue then the new polling
capabilities of the most advanced web conferencing services will be an
important feature for you.
Similarly, if you need to gather demographic information about your
meeting participants, obtain valuable input, or quiz and test your
participants, then the new online survey capabilities of current web
conferencing systems will be an important feature to look for when
choosing your conference format. Data from these types of online
“surveys” can typically be saved and used for future use.
6. Do you want to brainstorm online, using a “whiteboard”?
Brainstorming is a great way to tap the ideas of a group and to come up
with and select new ideas. If this is what you like to do when holding
physical meetings, then you will probably want to be able to do the
same thing in your virtual meetings as well. This is now possible in
some of the more advanced web conferencing systems by using a “group
notepad” that enables meeting participants to utilize a shared
workspace. The results of these brainstorming sessions can typically be
saved in a storage area.
Which of these features will benefit you the most? It all depends on
your particular needs. However, one thing is sure: once you experience
the convenience of online meetings, you will not want to go back to the
era when every meeting required you to pack up your bags and get on an
airplane.
