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. 

About The Author


Dan Richmond is CEO & Co-founder of http://MegaMeeting.com. MegaMeeting
provides Web Conferencing & Video Conferencing services for individuals,
businesses and educational institutions. For more information, or for a free
live demonstration, please visit http://www.MegaMeeting.com/.