Understanding Web Conferencing

February 29, 2008

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Web conferencing is used to conduct live meetings or presentations over the Internet. Online meetings and webinars are an essential part of today’s business world. In the early years of the Internet, the term “web conferencing” was often used to refer to group discussions conducted within a message board (via posted text messages) therefore not live, but the term has evolved to refer specifically to “live” meetings; while the posted message variety of discussion is called a “forum“, “bulletin board“, or “message board“.

Video conferencing makes it easy to connect (communicate) with people anywhere in the world, so your interview company announcements, and meetings feels more personal. Distance meetings come to life when you meet over video.

Conferencing software offers desktop sharing, VoIP (void over IP), webcam support, interactive whiteboard, firewall compatibility. Fully integrated audio and web conferencing requires just an internet-connected browser and a microphone or a phone and a webcam for video conferencing. Integrated web, audio and video conferencing makes web meetings, webinars, audio conferencing, online training seminars and multi-point video conferencing easier and more productive. Now you can hold meetings with people around the world without leaving your office bringing people together for virtual meetings. This saves time and travel costs and gives your conferences more impact.

Solutions include audio conferences, web conferences, fully integrated audio and web meetings, interactive seminars, online training, video conferences, webinars, and 24 hour customer support. Web conferencing is often sold as a service, hosted on a web server controlled by the vendor, either on a usage basis (cost per user per minute) or for a fixed fee (cost per “seat”), or even a monthly fee.

Advantages

Personalize your sales meetings by including video with your desktop web camera. Web conferencing is great for small, collaborative meetings as well as for large business meetings, and international conferences. It is also great for meetings with distant family members.

Web conferencing allows you to have better meetings with less investment in time and travel and can be used as a cost-effective complement to travel and face-to-face meetings. Use online web meetings to present information, share applications, and collaborate on projects with customers, partners, and colleagues around the globe as easily as if you were side by side.
Non-technical business professionals can now easily record meetings and presentations and create interactive presentations from in-house conference rooms

Your meetings are private and your desktop privacy is under your control. Web conferencing services are perfectly suited for one-on-one, or one-to-many coaching sessions, business meetings, tele-seminars, and other business functions.

Presentations

The conferencing software must have some capacity for sharing Power Point presentations and real-time voice conversations, but primarily a one-to-many broadcast format is a must. Power Point presentations are critical in the virtual environment to provide visual stimulation and cues for the attendees. Choosing web conferencing service or software for your business requires a lot of consideration and a familiarity with the types of online collaboration software and resources for web meetings available.

Features

Some of the features you might look for in an online meeting tool include: presentation, desktop, and application sharing; text chat, voice (either via phone or Voice over IP), video, whiteboarding and annotations. Two-way screen sharing so that attendees can become presenters. This is a much cheaper way to bring individuals together for meetings, transactions, sales pitch, etc. A growing number of business people around the world are conducting internet meetings as an in-person meeting alternative.

Typical features of a web conference include: slide presentations (often created through PowerPoint), Live video (via webcam or digital video camera), VoIP (Real time audio communication through the computer via use of headphones and speakers). Few providers offer multi-user VoIP (voice activated full duplex headsets) for all participants, most have a limitation of a single microphone or must take turns talking.

In conclusion, video conferencing is more relevant than ever, and the benefits are significant. Users can quickly set up and manage virtual meetings from any telephone or computer microphone resulting in better communication and collaboration along with a significant cost savings advantage over traditional audio conferencing services. Make computer conferencing an integral part of your course or meetings.