Web Conferecing General Information

Standard Services Offered by Web-Conferencing Providers

In today’s business world the exponentially increasing cost of travel is almost matched by that of business globalization and geographical expansion. The perplexing dilemma these two factors create for a company’s integration, training, hiring and daily communication needs is often solved by the innovative technology of Web Conferencing. Web Conferencing is a way for information to be shared in a virtual, real-time format without the individual participants ever leaving the office. In addition to drastically reducing travel expenses, Web Conferencing boasts a host of benefits that are making it one of the most rapidly expanding business support industries.

In an attempt to help educate the average consumer on what is offered by the average Web Conferencing provider, this article discusses the standard services that are most universally offered among the various providers of Web Conferencing. This is intended as a brief overview, so that the reader is educated to the possibilities available in the technology, and whether or not they are considered part of the general or specialized services of Web Conferencing vendors. However, it is very important to carefully research the specific information of what is included by the provider of your choice before signing a contract with them.

Features Used by the Presenter or Primary User of Online Meeting Tools

• Live Chat
• Available for all meeting participants to discuss questions with each other, asks clarifications of the presenter or moderator, or participate in assigned discussion or brainstorming groups.  Chat is often available in a variety of mediums, text, voice and video
• Q&A sessions
• This optional way to format the web conferencing capabilities allows the conference or meeting director to address questions from participants that are submitted before, during and after the meeting.  Questions can be answered directly and privately to the original person who made the query, or addressed to the group as a whole.
• Interactive polling
• By using this option, presenters can create a series of multiple choice questions to be answered by a conference or trainings participants to get immediate feedback about the effectiveness of the meeting or presentation.  The results of the polls can be compiled and shared, or simply archived for later research use.
• Virtual help
• Questions that occur within the conference that do no require the direct attention of the presenter, whether concerning software, informational clarification, or queries about how the current subject relates to a previous meeting can be directed to a designate conference assistant-who can answer in a way that is not disruptive to the rest of the meeting.
• Individual Messaging
• Meeting participants who need an opportunity to quickly discuss how a pertinent point relates to their specific responsibilities may initiate person-to-person communications.  In addition, the presenter may pause the meeting, and direct a certain highly specific portion of the presentation to select users.

Additional Features Available in Online Meeting Tools

The features listed above are generally available with most Web Conferencing providers. These next features are frequently part of the capability suite of Web Conferencing, but are not common to every vendor, and often come as part of a specialized plan, and/or with specific pricing packages.

• Audioconferencing via VoIP or a dial-in number:
• While sometimes listed as a special feature, it is becoming increasingly uncommon for this type of communication not to be offered as an essential part of the basic service package for Web Conferencing providers.
• Streaming web-based video, webinar functionality, and or web-cameras
• Multiplatform support
• For both the presenters or hosts of meetings and the intended participants (vs. one specific required common platform)
• Attendance Tracking:
• Monitors who is participating in the meeting.
• Backup systems
• in case of software or hardware failure
• Secure, encrypted connections
• for high-level or sensitive information
• Specific reporting
• of meetings and compilation of data
• Archiving capability: 
• Recording presentations, whiteboarding sessions, chats, webcasts etc.
• Type of Host:
• Some products will be purchased as software licenses and installed on the purchaser’s computers.  Others can be purchased on a usage basis, and hosted on the internet via the providers' servers. A compilation of both is also possible.  A very few, (Net Meeting from Microsoft Corp,  EZ 3.0 from Sigma Design) connect participants directly, without using Web servers, in a link called "peer-to-peer."