This article talks about the basics of web conferencing and what it is about. It briefly talks about why they can be beneficial. This articles best purpose is to just expain what web conferencing, webinars and webcasting is about. It really doesn’t go into what to do next or what resources you can use, but it does a good job of explaining what webcasts, and webinars are so it is a good definition article.

Now web conferencing is not brand new, but this was actually my
first personal experience with it, and it got me thinking about
how fast things have changed. Just a few years ago I was
travelling all over the world to accomplish similar things. The
travel was interesting, but I think the days of hopping planes
to install software are over…or soon to be. The ease with
which the task was accomplished with nobody leaving their desks
was amazing. I think once you experience this, you won’t be able
to imagine why anyone would do this any other way.

Of course, installing software is only one of the things that
such conferencing allows you to do. Meetings, training, sales
presentations, and collaborations of any sort fit right in, and
corporate workplaces are not the only venue in which such tools
can be used. Internet marketers are starting to realize the
power of the approach. Teleconferences have been a popular
marketing tool for sometime, and webcasts and webinars are
becoming more and more popular. A webcast usually refers to a
one-way broadcast from presenter to audience, while a webinar
usually involves two way communication – the audience can
respond – typically through a telephone, although many service
providers are starting to bundle in voice communication with
their web services.

Imagine you’re marketing an information product on the web. Want
to demonstrate it’s virtues to your leads? Well, it’s very easy
to do. Purchase a one-time meeting package from the vendor of
your choice, send the web address of the meeting page to your
leads, set up voice access either with the vendor, or through
another teleconferencing service, and off you go! Your leads can
ask questions and watch on their computer while you wax eloquent
about your product…think that might boost sales?

The web conferencing vendor I used for the software upgrade
provides a hosted solution, which means that there is no
software to install locally and no servers to maintain – all you
need is a web browser and a telephone. You can have a shared
screen meeting anytime you want to with virtually no local set
up work at all. In fact, during our software upgrade, a question
came up that required the knowledge of one of the programmers
that wrote the system, who happened to work in different state.
One phone call, and he joined the online meeting from his
computer, took a look at the problem, fixed it, and off we went.

Recall that I mentioned above that most services allow the
“presenter” to take control of the desktops of the “audience”.
Imagine how simple this makes it to show your audience how a
software product works – think of the travel and accommodation
expenses that can be eliminated. Some corporations report saving
literally millions of dollars each year by reducing travel
expenses with web conferencing.

If your company hasn’t taken the plunge yet, it’s time you took
a look. If you’re selling on the Internet, think about how these
tools can affect your bottom line.

About the author:
Peter Cullen runs http://www.Web-Conference-Info.com where web
conferencing software is reviewed and relevant articles are
posted.
[tag]web conferencing, webcast, teleconference[/tag]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Webinar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.