free webinar – video audio meeting

Charles Cheow asked:




It is easy to think the benefits of video conference technology for large businesses, but it is fast becoming the most effective means of reaching out for small business owners and individuals as well. With the quick installation of appropriate software, anyone can turn their computer and web cam into a conferencing station. This form of communication opens up endless possibilities in our world today. It is utilized by large corporations and is spilling over into the political and personal arena. By turning what may have been a phone call into a face to face meeting, it lends a more personal touch to the business at hand.

For Deaf communities everywhere, it holds exciting possibilities. Business that once had to be conducted through the use of a Relay Operator can now be handled through the deaf person’s own language of signing. In the Deaf culture, facial expression and body language convey more than the actual sign does at times. The difference to a deaf person in seeing something signed instead of reading it as text is more crucial than hearing is over reading to a hearing person. Facial expression and emphasis of the sign gives the viewer more insight to the concept of what is being expressed, much in the same way tone and inflection in a voice does to the hearing. A personal video conference would obviously be very instrumental for deaf people in the home, but could ensure better understanding in the work place as well.

The video conference technology has certainly made it’s way into the lives of our military, enabling families separated for long periods of time to diminish the loneliness that occurs in these situations. On almost any given day, one can witness the profound impact of this readily available technology by watching news and talk shows highlighting a soldier and their family connecting across thousands of miles.

From both business and personal perspective of advancement, look at the potential of video conference in education. Through the use of this technology, furthering education is made possible that may not otherwise be so. As you can see, the uses are vast and offer great advantages to anyone.

Today, there are many companies providing video conferencing installation. To look for a list of companies, simply do a search on Google or browse through your local directory like Yellow Pages. Visit their websites and choose the best company for the job. It is never too late to implement the technology to your business or community now.

Rafael

Charles Cheow asked:




Business has become an international affair, so finding ways to connect with business located all over has become an important step in business dealings. It is not always convenient to fly off to another town, state or even country for a meeting, so other options have been put in place so the meetings can still take place. The most effective and well used option for having these meetings is through video conferencing. It has a great system in place to allow the transfer of video between each person in the meeting, as well as a wide range of systems for conferencing.

Video Conferencing, or VTC, is real time streams of audio and video. It can use either the telephone for video telephony or audio modems in the transmission line. Basically what happens is someone is on each end, through video they can see one another, and speak to one another as if they were in the same room. Things that are required for the system to run is a video camera, or a web cam which is the video input. Next, video output, or a computer, projector, or even computer monitor. Microphones or CD players can be used for the audio input, and speakers will be needed for the audio output. Last, for the data transfer, an analog or digital telephone network is needed.

Companies, large and small, can utilize the great convenience of having video conferencing for meetings. Having the system set up for meetings between people in different towns or even different countries is reason enough to always have it set up and ready. Being able to not worry about time and distance allows for a meeting with those that matter when it is needed. Business cannot wait on perfect distance and placement of each employee, which is where video conferencing comes into play.

Having the proper set up for video conferencing is important for any business wanting to work on putting together a meeting for those not able to attend all in one room. This saves time, money, and headaches running multiple meetings all over the country. Every business is a happy business when utilizing video conferencing.

Michael

Ken Marlborough asked:




Net Meeting video chat is a remarkable development in the software field, which facilitates sharing of ideas, information and applications with others in different locations in real time. Net Meeting video chat is of great utility value since it allows multi-party desktop video conferencing. Net Meeting video chat and conferencing has developed so much that the host can change video settings during the conference, within the bandwidth permitted.

Net Meeting video chat provides an experience of real time conversation. It is an excellent video chat facility that enables one to stay in touch with family, friends and co-workers even at great distances. Video chat software allows users to create or join public and private video chat rooms, and send and receive online video.

Chat rooms are the online forum where people can chat online. Net Meeting video chat finds application mainly in the business and educational Web sites. There are several chat systems such as IRC, Jabber, and several proprietary systems of various popularity.

Net Meeting’s video, audio and data conferencing are based on industry standards so that one can communicate with business associates using compatible products. Video teleconference is a new low cost group video conferencing service. There are two modes of operation provided, namely the web cam mode and super web cam mode. Web cam mode gives a video which anyone the host allows can view. Super web cam mode is the same as the Web cam mode, but with a higher frames rate so that the video is smoother and of higher quality. The only drawback is the higher quality video uses more bandwidth.

Ted

Sonja Mishek asked:




Is video web conferencing a necessary tool of every business? Can it make an impact on your bottom line?

With small and medium sized businesses struggling to contain costs and stay competitive in the global economy, it’s important to have every available tool to shorten your sales process and pad your bottom line. So you can stay ahead of your competitors.

Let’s take a look at how video web conferencing is a must-have tool:

1) Speed up the sales process

Instead of sales reps having to physically go to the customers’ location and interrupt their workday schedule, they can more easily make contact online in 20 minutes and quickly move into discussions about the customers needs and issues. The sales process becomes more flexible and personalized.

Also, more key decision makers can be included in the meeting…even if they are scattered across the globe. This ultimately results in quicker buying decisions being made. Not to mention sales professionals being able to handle more customers in less time.

2) Video web conferencing is a great asset for enhancing customer relationships and loyalty. Even after a sale is made, businesses can remain in contact and provide personalized service online. The more connected you are to your customers in helping them solve their problems and up-coming issues, the more likely they are to be repeat customers and spend more money with your company.

3) Sales managers can launch new products faster or nationwide sales incentive programs more effectively online. By doing so, everyone will get the same information at the same time. And customers won’t be confused or mislead by wrong information or pricing.

4) Boost your Bottom Line

Web conferencing increases your revenue by allowing your sales professionals to handle more sales calls in less time. A main reason for this is because online meetings are more accepted and easy to adopt, so it is often more effective than traditional face-to-face meetings. And much more collaborative and interactive than talking “at” your customers.

Video web conferencing is the wave of the future and more and more businesses are taking advantage of it’s ease of use and affordable cost. And that’s why it should be in every businesses’ tool box to stay profitable and competitive.

Jeremy

Ricardo Trinidad asked:




Video conferencing isn’t necessarily a new technology, but it has come a long way since it was first introduced and for the most part makes good use of the new technologies that have been introduced in recent years. By allowing people to communicate either with video and audio or video and text, video conferencing serves a number of purposes in business, as well as for personal use and even use by groups as diverse as the court system and NASA.

In order to understand how video conferencing works, however, it’s important to take a moment to learn how the technology first came about and how it has been adapted over time to meet the needs of businesses and consumers.

Origins of Video Conferencing

Early forms of video conferencing originated with the advent of television, using a pair of closed-circuit televisions which were connected by cable to allow the users at either end to communicate. Later advances on this theme were used by news reporters on location, who transmitted a signal back to the station from a truck filled with equipment, and also by NASA who used high-powered radio waves to transmit signals to and from space missions. Attempts were made by AT&T and other companies during the 60′s and 70′s to make video conferencing more accessible, but poor picture quality plagued these early systems and even when more powerful devices were made they still did not become popular.

Modern Video Conferencing

In the 80′s, new technologies such as ISDN networks made it possible to guarantee a minimum transfer rate and compression rate for video and audio which in turn made video conferencing much more feasible. Dedicated networks for video conferencing began to develop, and ISDN was soon accessible from most parts of the world. Video conferencing was originally prohibitively expensive for most, but as new advances in technology continued to be created the prices of video conferencing equipment soon dropped and it became much more common.

The advent of the internet did much to bring video conferencing where it is today; once the technology was developed to transmit live video and audio over internet protocols, much of the equipment previously needed to create video conferencing connections was no longer required. Many free programs and services soon began to include webcam video conferencing in their chat features, allowing computer users to communicate as never before.

Uses of Video Conferencing

Video conferencing has a number of uses, both at home and in business. When using a webcam or other form of video conferencing from home, you can use it to stay in touch with friends and family across the city or around the world. It can add a bit more of a “human touch” to conversations or chat sessions, as you can actually see the person that you’re talking to instead of them simply being words on a screen or a voice on the phone. In business, the applications are even more useful; business meetings can occur among several different offices or individuals in different parts of the world. Not only can this add a great deal of convenience, but it can also save money that would have to be spent on transportation and time that would have to be spent on organizing the meetings and getting all of the parties in the same place at the same time. Video conferencing can also be of great use to educators, science professionals, and a variety of other individuals who can see the advantage of being able to speak face-to-face with others without the need for actually meeting each other in a specific location.

Chester

Rangoo Srinivas asked:




Webinar is the short form for Web Seminar. Businesses are becoming more dynamic with the kind of latest technologies and software applications helping them to spread their wings across the globe. Webinars and web conferencing are today’s most effective multimedia business tools for global businesses for conducting business presentations, demonstrations or offering training to a worldwide audience.

Webinar software plays a vital role in the success of business meetings with the power of global reach. These systems work efficiently with unmodified the web browsers and servers as they are easily accessible to the millions of web and the intranet users. Created as a groupware in the initial stages the forum software focused mainly on group discussion, scheduling and for sharing documents.

Till recently online meetings and collaborations used to be expensive due to the expensive webinar tools and the bandwidth limitations and its complexities. Now the webinar software system has become versatile being able to integrate all the communication technologies and software that combine audio, video, text and other forms of live interaction.

What to look for in webinar software

1. The software must be able to support operating systems like Windows or Unix. Macintosh servers offer limited choices. The software should be compatible with other environments.

2. Browser support is also an essential aspect of webinar software as they rely on Java script and HTML frames and sometimes some more special browser add-ons enabling all the users to access the web conferencing system.

3. Integration of applications is essential for web conferencing and the webinar software should be able to integrate seamlessly with the related applications for communication.

4. The administration capability is also of much importance when designated users are to be given limited administrative capabilities.

5. The system should allow the host of the webinar to have control over who can access the webinar and the level of access that each participant is allowed.

6. The important factor in selecting the webinar software that suits the requirements of the business. They are available for free to thousands of dollars. You can decide according to your specific needs as freeware product is sometimes more powerful than the paid product and the one that costs the most may not fulfill the specific needs of the host.

7. The webinar software products should be customizable and flexible. This is for enhancing the functionality of the system.

The webinar software field is vast and the wide range of products has their own strengths and weaknesses. A careful analysis of the business needs and the features of the webinar software are necessary for making the right choice.

Michelle

Frank McGuire asked:




Web Conference like the Fortune 500

With hundreds of web conferencing providers to choose from the task of choosing the right provider can be very confusing. What newcomers to web conferencing need to know is the web conference starts at the invitation that you send. For the most part, the largest companies in your industry are using one of three providers. Most of the other providers are reselling one of the three services and put themselves between you and the actual provider.

Your image starts when you send the invitation.

No matter which industry you are in, the leaders of your industry use one of the top three services and a standard has been set. When you send an invitation you’re letting your industry know whether you are in touch or out of touch with the industry standard. Since most of the smaller web conferencing providers are resellers, the platforms they provide often require software and system checks for the participants, this results in 15%-20% of participants unable to join because they do not have admin rights on the computer they are using. This adds frustration for your participants and can make your business look small and out of touch.

Top 5 tips for choosing the right web conference provider.

1. Make sure the provider has toll free audio for USA and Canada.
2. Make sure participants are not required to download software to join a meeting.
3. Provider must have operator assistance available 24/7 for each call.
4. Provider should offer monthly billing along with credit card billing.
5. Provider should offer scheduled live trainings.

Dean

Hope Dever asked:




Online conferencing was once associated with high profile businesses, who had to interact with people from various places. It was expensive to set up such an conferencing internet service. However, with time, internet has become more accessible so has the conferencing services. The facility is now no longer limited to multi-national companies but can be utilized by small and medium size businesses too. To convey about one’s business one does not need to hold meetings at various locations and in this way saving the money on travel as well as accommodation. Thus, you can reach out to more people. Thereby, online conferencing has become one of the most impressive tools in boosting small businesses.

The internet market is now full of conference call providers and everyone is competing with the other to grab more market share. This has benefited the clients as the cost of conferencing has come down like never before. So select the facilities that you would require for your business and then select the online conference service provider.

Audio or Video Conferencing:

Depending on your business, you got to decide the mode of conferencing that you would select. Though audio conferencing services are much cheaper than video conferencing ones, it does not possess the multiple features that video conferencing offers. Under the umbrella term “video conferencing”, webinar and various other web-based video conferencing are also there. Presentations with slide, power-points, application of white boards, sharing of desktop and screens among the attendees are possible. Even simultaneous online wiki-style editing is facilitated. Usage of pointer and the visuals makes it easier to explain or put across points to the others in video based conferencing.

Free Conferencing:

There are multiple online conferencing service providers that offer free conferencing. If you have few people to reach out to and do not require a prolific service regularly then it is alright to use free services in conferencing.

Reservation:

Online conferencing vendors offer two kinds of services, reservation and non-reservation. Once again if you want to conduct an online conference without any preparation then you can avail the non-reservation facility. In this case, you are free to select the people that you want in the conference and the service provider is in no way involved, apart from providing you with the conference facility. On the other hand, in case of conferencing reservation, you need to schedule and book the time. Then you have to inform the number of participants to become a part of the conference. In case of reservation conference, people without invitation cannot take part in it.

Time limit:

Decide on the time that you would require to talk on your business matters. Most of the time, a conference call is allowed to run for one hour, but larger audience would mean more duration. So, know the number of participants along with the time required by you. At the time of doing your reservation you can give an estimation of the time that you would require. This would also enable you to make an estimation of the cost required for the conference.

Online conferencing also lets you keep the record of the conference so that you can refer to it later.

Dale

Charles Cheow asked:




Video conferencing is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies that allow for two or more different locations to interact simultaneously. This type of groupware uses two way video and audio transmissions to interact and is known as a visual collaboration. It is a great alternative to live meetings and has many uses such as when visual information is a crucial part of the discussion, the parties involved in the meeting or conversation can’t physically be at the same place and when time and travel are of concern.

With the widespread availability of high speed Internet and the cost of video and display technology being reasonably affordable, many businesses and households are finding conferencing an affordable way to communicate. The availability of freeware has made software based conference communication accessible to many if not most.

With so many applications and uses for video conferencing more and more people are turning to the technology as a way to hold meetings and get together. With video conferencing, a grandmother that lives 1500 miles away can see her grandson take his first steps. With video conferencing a soldier overseas can talk to his friends and family and get a quick glimpse of home. Although, it does have uses outside of the business world, it is a popular tool for businesses all over the place.

With video conferencing, countless amounts of time and money spent on traveling can be saved. There is no longer a reason to catch a two hour flight for a half hour business meeting, only to turn around and take a two hour flight back home. No more missed appointments because of missed flights which can potentially mean no more missed business deals. Video conferencing can allow you to talk to someone halfway around the globe or half way down the hall.

Not only are the applications of video conference good on the wallet, they are good on the planet too. Less travel means less fuel, less emissions and less waste. As more and more people are looking for ways to cut costs, they are also looking for ways to cut greenhouse gases and video conferencing is a great way to do that. The list of uses for video conference seems to be endless, as does the list of the benefits. Whether your business lies with your family, the media, the military or law, video conferencing can do it.

Duane

Sonja Mishek asked:




Not all interactive web conferences are created equal. But with a little preparation and planning ahead of time, your video conference will be a huge success…every time.

1) Find an interactive web conferencing provider that’s Right for your needs

There are many different web conferencing providers, offering different services, features, prices, and extras.

Plan on at least eight weeks to choose and take a free trial of a potential provider. This will give you plenty of time to make a decision.

A good interactive web conferencing system should:

*Be easy to use

*Have the features you require and the ability to share presentations and documents

*Charge a flat monthly rate (so you won’t get dinged for running a trial test before your actual web conference or follow-up meetings)

2) Develop a really interesting, engaging agenda

This is probably the most important element to your interactive web conferencing success. If your material is boring, you’ll lose your guests – and potential sales.

Invite an industry expert, customer or partner to present or be interviewed at your web conference. This will stimulate more interest, drive participation and create synergy.

A well-known expert or guru can double or even triple your effectiveness.

Use pictures, diagrams, and live demonstrations from pre-loaded websites to keep the material fresh and entertaining.

Ask potential questions to encourage participation from your guests.

3) Be Careful When Choosing a date and time for your interactive web conference

Plan on hosting your web conference at least twice to accommodate different time zones and schedules.

Avoid Mondays or Fridays as these are peak conferencing days and attendance is also often lower.

Start at 15 minutes past the hour. Most meetings end on the hour and this gives your participants time to decompress before joining your meeting.

The best times are 10 am and 2 pm to make sure your guests are their desks and available before or after lunch.

Send a reminder of the contents and time of the webinar one week ahead of time. Send a “see you there” reminder the day before.

Choose an interactive web conferencing provider that allows you to send a private email invitation with an easy, direct link to your meeting.

4) Cap Your Participants at 10 to 25 So It’s Easier to Take Questions and Keep the Web conference More Interactive

An interactive web conference is a live video event and is supposed to be a back and forth communication between the presenter and audience. This is different from a Webcast, which broadcasts information in one direction only.

Your interactive web conference will be more successful if you keep the size small and more intimate. Participants will feel more at ease and comfortable about participating and asking questions if there isn’t hundreds of people watching.

5) Take Questions Via Chat During the Presentation

Some of your participants may be uncomfortable or unwilling to ask questions during the presentation.

A facilitator can take questions via live chat and then read them when the presenter stops to answer any questions.

6) Stick to your Agenda

If you are the moderator, be ready to start your interactive web conference 15 minutes ahead of time.

Start on time, and respect your participant’s schedules by ending on time as well.

It’s also a good idea to give more than one person a copy of the PowerPoint presentation, including a hard copy, in case of technical difficulties.

7) Run a Practice Interactive Web Conference before the actual presentation

Practice makes perfect. Web conferences aren’t difficult, but they are different from running a meeting or a conference call. Take a test run, especially if you’ve never run one before.

This gives you the opportunity to fine tune your material and catch any potential problems with the system.

Don’t forget to ask two people from sites that will be participating to help you by signing on and asking questions.

If you incorporate all seven of these traits, your interactive web conference will be a huge success. And your business will reap the rewards.

Marc