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Web conferencing—holding a meeting over the Internet—is gaining fast in the arsenal of weapons businesses have at their disposal for cost-effective communication. A web-conference gives you all the cost-efficiencies of a conference call (the savings in travel alone make it worthwhile) combined with the power to share information right on particpants’ desk tops. Marrying the web to conference calling has proven itself extremely effective for sales presentations, seminars, public relations, investor relations and even educational applications.
Is web conferencing for you? Providers of web conferencing services report usage for product announcements, sales demonstrations, employee orientation, customer training, and plain old brainstorming sessions.
Web conferencing services vary in both price and features offered. If you’re considering adding web conferencing to your business communications consider whether or not the provider offers the following:
- Desktop and Application Sharing. Most web conferencing
providers give you the ability to open all or part of your desktop
for viewing by participants
- Slide Shows. Does the provider support the uploading and
automatic conversion of PowerPoint presentations and the like?
- Live Web Page Viewing. Will you be able to lead viewers directly
to a live web page with live, active links?
- Viewer Interaction. Can you make notes directly on the screen hold Q & A sessions, IM with attendees, poll your audience in real time?
- Archive and Replay. Make sure they can record both the audio and
visual parts of the web conference to replay for people who couldn’t
attend
Most providers of web conferencing services will help you generate automatic invitation lists and will assist you in customizing passwords, capturing attendee email addresses and all of the other logistical details that can spell the difference between an effective web conference and one that doesn’t live up to the potential of the medium.
Web conference meetings are easy to set up. The company you choose will provide you with software enabling you to reserve a "room" for a specific date and time. If you want, invitations can be sent out automatically to as many as 500 people.
It’s a brave new world out there and web conferencing is helping to make it sleeker and more productive than ever before. If you’re in business and haven’t already attended one, it won’t belong before you show up at your next meeting by clicking your computer. For helpful information about web conferencing services visit our products page to learn more!
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