Archive for the ‘Web Conference’ Category
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
I think that everyone is intimidated by new technology a little bit, but depending on the technology and the known benefits we will tolerate the learning curve. Web Conferencing is no different. Web conferencing has been around as a service for about 15 years now and even though its use is now pretty widespread, many people are still afraid to take the plunge. But if you try a web conference once you will see that it is just not that hard to do.
Basically, anyone who can use a PC can do a web conference. When the web conferencing services first came out there were downloads and PC settings to worry about just to get the web conference off the ground. Today, however, starting a web conference is just a few clicks away. Many of the services, including Zip Conferencing’s, do not require any download as they simply use the software that is already on your computer. And the web conferencing service is usually integrated with an audio conferencing service, like Zip Conferencing does. This makes it very simple to hold a remote meeting with a web conference and a audio conference call.
To conduct a web conference as the Moderator all you have to do is open a browser, log into your web conferencing account, start a meeting by clicking on a start button and then click on Share your Desktop. The participants on the web conference now see whatever is on your PC. So to do a web conference presentation you simply need to be able to pull up your PowerPoint presentation, spreadsheet or whatever is part of your presentation and the audience will see it while you speak to them on the conference call. It really is that easy.
A presentation that has visual elements is more impactful than just a conference call where you only listen to the presenter. And in some cases you may need to share materials where without a web conference the only way to hold the meeting would be via a face to face meeting. A web conference saves time, money and increases your productivity. And it is REALLY easy to do! So what are you waiting for? Try a web conference today!
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Audio Conferencing Service, Browser Log, Computer Conferencing, Conference Call, Conference Presentation, Face To Face, Learning Curve, Little Bit, New Technology, Participants, Plunge, Powerpoint Presentation, Share Materials, Spreadsheet, Start Button, Time Money, Visual Elements, Web Conference, Web Conferencing Service, Web Conferencing Services
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Friday, October 16th, 2009
Being able to record a conference call has been around for a while. It is fairly simple to press a command on your phone and initiate a recording of a conference call and then allow people to dial into a system to listen to the recording or download a copy of the recording to share with others. A web conference, however, presents a different set of issues. The web conference is on one platform and the audio portion of your web conference may be on another platform. In fact, in the early days of web conferencing, the only way to record the web conference and the audio of that conference was to have a separate recording of the audio portion made using an adaptor that plugged into your PC and fed the audio portion back into the recording for the web conference. That was fun. Customers could not believe the gyrations they had to perform to record a web conference.
Today, recording a web conference is very simple and it provides a recording that is full audio and web and can easily be played back for participants. Zip Conferencing’s web conference service has a one click mechanism to start the recording of both the audio and web conference portion of the conference call. The recording of the web conference can be stored and viewed by you or your participants or you can download a copy of the web conference recording and distribute it as you see fit. Like many aspects of web conferencing, as the recording has been simplified there are not only more recordings of web conferences being done, but people are thinking of ways to use the service that we in the industry never thought of ourselves.
Why hold the same seminar over and over again for different audiences? If the subject matter for your web conference is not going to change you can just record the material once and then invite different people to observe the web conference to absorb the material. Maybe there is a web conference when the participants were especially intriguing. Record the meeting and you can share the insightful observations of one audience with another. If you cannot attend a meeting live, but you still need to present the material you can record the meeting ahead of time and then share with your audience later.
The ability to easily record a web conference with the audio portion of the call has opened up a world of possibilities.
Tags: Audiences, Audio Portion, Back Web, Call Recording, Conference Call, Conference Portion, Conference Service, Gyrations, Participants, Presents, Share With Others, Subject Matter, Web Audio, Web Conference, Web Conferences, Web Conferencing, Web Fun, Web Service
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Ever since a web conference has been available there have been a few features that have always been available.
Whiteboarding - One of them is the ability to white board with your participants. The concept is that if you could do it in a physical meeting room you would want to do it in a web conference since it is meant to simulate that meeting environment. The web conference version of whiteboarding allows participants and the host of the web conference to draw freestyle on the whiteboard in the meeting space and all participants are able to see the results of the drawing on the board and also to participate themselves. This particular feature has some uses but this web conference capability has not seen wide adoption I think because people are not as used to drawing with their mouse and it is not as easy to do as walking up to a whiteboard, grabbing a marker and drawing. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is pretty easy to use, but people are just not as apt to do it as they would be in a physical meeting room situation.
PowerPoint Sharing - The ability to share a PowerPoint slide show with your participants during a web conference is a key feature that has helped lead the way to web conferencing’s success. People have quickly become comfortable with doing a remote presentation using a web conference and sharing a PowerPoint slide show. I think that the sense of detachment is easier to comprehend for a host since in a presentation environment you are basically by yourself showing slide and sharing comments whether you are in a person to person meeting or not.
Application Sharing - When application sharing first came out the thought was that participants could truly collaborate on a web conference by sharing applications and letting others control the application to get tasks done on a web conference. I am not sure this has really happened yet, but people do find that simply sharing their desktop or an application on a web conference is easy to use and understand for the host and participants alike. All you have to do is click on the application and all the participants are seeing what is on your desktop. Its that simple.
Now there are a few more features that have been introduced on some web conference platforms that really enhance the experience. One of them is the ability to record the web conference. With a push of a button you can record the web conference and the audio portion of the call. This makes sharing the presentation with people who missed the live web conference simple. Another cool feature that is gaining momentum is the ability to provide files for the participants to download from the web conference. The equivalent of hand outs in a physical meeting, this web conference feature makes it easy to provide materials to your attendees as part of the meeting. And another feature people seem to like is the ability to send a meeting thank you and survey following the meeting as an integrated part of the web conference. This is especially liked by people who a re running seminars as they are trying to connect to a n audience that they are many times trying to sell something to.
The web conference feature list continues to grow because the use in web conferencing is on the rise and people want to better emulate the person to person meeting. Look for more web conference features in the future as more and more people continue to adopt this valuable service.
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Adoption, Application Sharing, Capability, Conference Features, Detachment, Drawing, Freestyle, Marker, Meeting Room, Participants, Person To Person, Powerpoint Slide Show, Presentation Environment, Success, Web Applications, Web Conference, Web Conferencing, Whiteboard
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Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
A Web Conference versus a Conference Call, is it a fair fight? It is hard in some respects to compare a web conference with a conference call. A conference call is held on a telephone and has no visual element to it unless everyone looks at the same document at the same time you sent to them previously. But then, you really don’t know if they are looking at that document do you? A web conference on the other hand allows you to show documents, web sites, applications, etc to all of the participants on your web conference at the same time. It even allows you to edit the document real time and can even allow the participants to edit the document on your computer. And a web conference generally has a conference call component to it unless you are meeting with a single participant. Then you can just call them on the phone. So, is it really a contest.
Well, no. It really isn’t, but most people are choosing to hold a conference call instead of a web conference so why is that. A conference call has certainly become easy to use and most people have been exposed to the practice of dialing an access number and putting in a pass codeto enter a conference all these days that we rarely have to explain the technology anymore. And no one is intimidated by using a telephone to access a system and provide commands to the system using a touch tone command like you do to control a conference call. People are just used to it. And a conference call provides the basic means needed to communicate with other people over long distance, a voice connection. Let’s face it, the telephone has been used to communicate over great distances and has been accepted by everyone as an essential means to communicate for business and personal reasons. On a conference call you can discuss anything and refer to documents if everyone has access to them or was distributed them prior to the meeting.
A web conference on the other hand is relatively new. It has really only been in existence less than 15 years and only in the last five or so become widely accepted by businesses. But web conferencing can do what a regular conference call just can’t do. A web conference can allow the host to share visuals with the participants on a conference call. And as the saying goes “A picture is worth a thousand words”. So adding a visual element to any meeting helps with the retention of the material and the engagement of the audience. I think the only reason that every conference call is a web conference is that people are just not that used to communicating using their computers as they are with their telephones. As people continue to integrate they way they use their computers with their telephones there will be a shift in the way we communicate and using visuals to help communicate will be the norm.
So, is it fair to compare a conference call and a web conference. Not really, a web conference wins hands down. But for now, the telephone has a 100 year head start in establishing itself as the de facto communication device and is winning the race. For more on Web conferencing visit www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Computer Conference, Conference Call, Control, Distances, Fair Fight, Long Distance, Participant, Participants, People, Personal Reasons, Real Time, Respects, Touch Tone, Visual Element, Voice Connection, Web Applications, Web Conference
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Friday, July 10th, 2009
Holding a free seminar ona subject of interest to your prospects in a hotel or other public space and inviting potential customers has always been a good method to attract these prospects to a place where you can meet them and begin to build a relationship. This strategy for sales has been around for a long time and can be pretty effective if you have a good speaker and a topic they will make the time for to attend. There are, however, several obstacles to overcome in making this an effective sales tool.
- The prospects need to make a large time and effort commitment
- The speaker and subject matter needs to be very compelling
- The cost of the space and refreshments
- Personnel on your part to coordinate and man the event
Today, with Web Conferencing, there is a new way to meet and greet your potential customers with what has been called the “webinar”. A webinare is simply a seminar you hold on the web using web conferencing services. There are a host of advantages to holding a virtual seminar instead of an in-person event.
- Prospects are more likely to attend since the commitment is much less on their part
- The cost to you and your prospects is much less
- No refreshments or hall rental necessary
- You can gather information on your customers when they register
And, even though your meeting is virtual, you will not give much up in the way of tools to make your seminar an effective way to introduce your prospects to your good or services. With Zip Conferencing’s web conference service you can craft an invitation and require your guests to provide information in the process about themselves to assist in your marketing efforts. Once they join the web conference you can better engage your audience through the use of multiple presenters, Polling questions, audience interaction and a Q&A session at the end of your presentation. When your guests leave the web conference you can also provide a thank you email and survey if you like so that the audience can provide feedback.
Zip Conferencing’s Web conferencing is so easy to use anyone can do it and it cost nothing to test drive your own webinar and see if this service can help you get to your prospects quicker, easier and less expensively. You can start a FREE TRIAL of web conferencing by going to https://www.zipconferencing.com/web-conference-demo.php
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Amp, Audience Interaction, Effective Sales, Email Survey, Free Seminar, Invitation, Large Time, Long Time, Marketing Efforts, Multiple Presenters, Obstacles, Prospects, Public Space, Refreshments, Sales Tool, Subject Matter, Virtual Seminar, Web Conference, Web Conferencing Services, Webinar
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