Posts Tagged ‘Web Conferences’

No Web Conference Software Necessary

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Web conference software has been around since the beginning of web conferencing. In fact in the beginning everyone needed the same web conference software on their PCs in order to have a web conference. Not really practical when you think about inviting people who are new participants to a web conference. What are you supposed to do send them the software ahead of time? It is easy to see how a service provider that made it easy could gain so much ground in the providing of web conferencing. But even service providers of web conferencing require that you download web conference software in order to use their service. Zip Conferencing has a web conferencing service that requires no web conference software for the participants which makes it easier on everyone. Here are some of the advantages of using a service provider and not using web conference software.

  • No Up Front Cost – If you buy web conference software there is going to be the up front cost associated with buying the software.  You then need to spend valuable time installing the software on the PCs you intend to conduct your web conferences with as well.
  • No Maintenance Cost – In order to keep your web conference software up to date you will need to buy regular maintenance updates on the software. 
  • Any Participants can Join – If you use a service provider instead of web conference software the participants can join a web conference without having to install software.  Participants generally are going to join your web conference last minute and you don’t want any delays while your participants are downloading software.
  • Full Support – If you purchase web conference software you are not going to get the kind of support you get with a service provider.  With Zip Conferencing you get support 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.  You can even get support while in your conference call by simply pressing the star key followed by zero on your telephone.

These days with any number of web conferencing service providers out there that provide services at very reasonable rates you really have no reason to go out and purchase web conference software.  And the way that the service works with Zip Conferencing you and your participants don’t even have to download any software.  Since our service was built on a Flash platform you just need to have Flash on your PC.  These days anyone that surfs the Internet has Flash on their PC.  So anyone can join our web conferencing service without having to download any web conference software.

Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off

A Conference Call Service Provider should be Your Partner

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

I think that everyone is aware that conference calls can save you time and money.  It is easy to figure that holding a conference call is going to save you money if the alternative is flying to someone’s location to hold a meeting.  But what I think a lot of people miss are all of the options available with a good conference call service provider.  I know when I started in the teleconferencing industry in 1995 I had been on conference calls and just assumed that it was just a simple matter of getting a dial in access number and a pass code and holding your conference call.  Boy, was I wrong.  Most people have no idea of all of the options available for audio conferences and web conferences.  And that is why a good conference call service company should act as your partner and help you discover all of the options available so that you can customize the conference calls you hold to fit the needs of your company.

Even just a plain automated conference call can be customized with a number options.  For instance you can vary how and whether you are notified when a participant enters or exits your conference call.   With Zip Conferencing you can have a tone play, play the participants name or have no sound at all when they enter or exit the conference call.  And all three options can be enabled when entering, exiting or both.  Some people want to make sure that the conference call can not be used when the Moderator of the conference call is not present.  You can set the option to have the participants listen to music while they wait for the moderator to join the conference call.  This prevents participants from being able to use the conference call information to hold their own conference call.  Another measure to ensure that participants are only able to use the conference call when the participants are present is the ability to close the conference call when the Moderator exits the call.

There are also tracking features that some people like to keep tabs on what the call was about.  For instance, an attorney want to track the calls so that they can charge back their clients for the cost of the conference call.  You can enable a feature on the conference call that requires a Moderator to enter an accounting code at the start of the conference call.  An attorney would enter a Client Matter # and then they could track this back to the client at the end of the month.

All of these options and more are available, but most people don’t use them.  It is most likely because their conference call service provider has not taken the time to describe these option, listen to their business needs and suggest ways to best use the conference call service to fit their business needs.  That is where the conference call service provider can be an invaluable partner for your business.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off

Our Conference Call Service offers Service Beyond the Call

Monday, November 16th, 2009

I am sure there are several conference call service companies that offer a good conference call from a technical point of view.  What I mean is that you can call into the conference call without too many problems and the conference call quality once connected is decent and so forth.  But what happens if you need help?  Is the conference call service company there for you when you need them to be?

At Zip Conferencing we pride ourselves on not just providing the highest quality audio conferencing and web conferencing services available, but we also want to make sure that your needs are taken care of as well.  That is why we provide customer service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  And, because we know that people like to communicate in different ways we have supplied many different ways to communicate with us.  You can call us on the phone to speak to a representative or if you prefer, you can also chat with one of our representatives 24 hours a day as well.  The representatives that are available by chat are the same representatives that answer the phones and are well schooled in all of services and features of Zip Conferencing.  Or you can send us a Support Request Form via the web site to get an answer to your conference call question if you do not need an immediate answer.

In addition to the people behind the scenes at Zip Conferencing that are ready to assist you, you will find a helpful knowledge base of important conference call and web conferencing information.  The information is organized between conference call FAQs, How Tos and Billing questions.  You can even search the plentiful knowledge base or ask a question. 

We believe that just providing a conference call is not enough.  Standing behind the audio and web conferences that we provide with service is one of the important differentiators between us and other conference call service companies.  And if you ever have a questions about your conference call service I am sure you will agree.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off

Web Conference Recording

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.

Posted in Web Conference | Comments Off

An Introduction to Web Conferencing

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

It may be hard to imagine, but there are still a good amount of potential customers that don’t understand the basics of holding a conference call.  We frequently get questions about how it works, how many people can you have on a call at once and what they need to do to host a conference call.  So, it is no wonder that many people out here have not have not been on a web conference and in fact don’t even know what it means to hold a web conference.  Today, I would like to talk about the general principles of web conferencing and what it means to hold a web conference.

When the industry first invented the web conference it struggled with what to call it.  Is it an online meeting, a web conference, a webinar or just a conference call?  Well, you will still hear it called a variety of things but a web conference has kind of stuck as a term to refer to any conference call that has a visual element you view over the internet.  Web conferencing has also become somewhat standardized in the functions that you can perform on a web conference no matter what brand you choose to use.  Basically, a web conference allows you to share what is on your computer with the participants on the conference call in addition to being able to speak to them.  And, just like any in person presentation, the ability to share images during your web conference has a positive impact in engaging your audience and improving their retention of the materials.

The web conferencing services have gotten pretty sophisticated in their feature set, but most people are still just using about 10% – 20% of the software’s ability.  This is not unlike any piece of “software” and you can still hold successful web conferences jus tusing the basics.  In fact, I know many users that have always simply used the application sharing abilities of the web conference alone no matter what they are doing.  This feature simply shows everyone what is on your computer screen as you see it.  Since the concept is simple and the web conferencing service does this with a single button it is understandable why people have gravitated to using this function.

A couple of the other standard features available are the ability to share a whiteboard on your computer with your participants while on a web conference, and the other feature used by most people is the ability to share a Powerpoint presentation.  Again, this functionality is familiar to anyone who does a presentation and once you start the web conference, showing your Powerpoint slides is as easy as doing it in person.  It is no wonder that web conferencing is expected to grow dramatically over the next five years.   www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Conference Call Applications – Training/HR

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Training sessions and and communication of HR policies are essential to any business.  New employees especially are in need of training and HR policy education and you can deliver effective training and communication from a distance with conference call services and web conference services.

Training Programs

Combining Audio and Web Conferencing services provides an effective way to deliver Training and Communication from a distance without the need to incur travel costs or spend the time necessary to go to remote locations. The features included in our conference calls and web conferences make your presentations powerful and yet easy to use.

  • Increase productivity – deliver more training in less time without the need to travel
  • Reduce Costs – eliminate travel costs 
  • Deliver Training and Communication more frequently –  conduct more training sessions more frequently and reach a wider audience

 

 

Conference Call Services to Help You Deliver Effective Training

  • Audio Conference Calls – A conference call allows you to deliver a consistent message to a large audience.  Host controls allow you to be in charge of the meeting and deliver your training in an effective way without audience interruption.  
  • Web Conferencing - Web Conferencing allows you to deliver your message in pictures as well as words improving audience interaction and retention of the information.  Our easy to use Web Conferencing tool enables anyone to be an effective presenter in minutes. 

 

 

Key Features

  • Host Audio Controls
    Control your audio conference using Host Controls through your telephone that allow you to mute all participants, take a roll call, conduct sub-conferences and more.
  • Distribute Information
    Allow participants to download files of your presentation at the end of your presentation.
  • Audience Participation
    Engage your participants throughout the presentation with the use of Q&A and Polling questions to keep them engaged in your presentation.
  • Branded Interface
    You can brand your online interface and the Web Conferencing tool itself with your logo to personalize your interface and put onn a more professional appearance to your online meetings.
  • Multimedia Content
    Your presentationscan include visual elements to egage your audience.
  • Polls and Surveys
    Conduct Q&A, Polling and surveys using Web Conferencing’s tools.
  • Invite Participants 
    You can invite your participants through the web conferencing interface or simply invite your participants to your online conferencing Hub where they can join web conferences.
  • Record and Playback
    You can record the audio and visual portion of your conference call and allow participants to view or listen to your presentation after the completion of the conference call.

 www.zipconferencing.com

 

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off