Web Conferencing
Basics
Web conferencing
is a feature that is often free and at most, a minor up-charge to conference
calling. During
web conferencing, your visitor calls into the conference as usual
but also has the option of going online (obviously requires a
second line or a high-speed connection) and viewing a presentation
that you have prepared and which is exclusive to your group.
Web conferencing
is a great idea when you have visual information that must be
delivered or to help you follow an agenda in a meeting.
Use the whiteboard much like you
would use a chalkboard and it too can help you get your message
across. Use chat
features to help communicate with the host instead of opening up
an open microphone. In
other words, if you keep the microphone closed, they can hear but
not talk.
When you have a large number of
people, having an open microphone can cause much confusion because
you can have multiple people trying to communicate at the same
time. By opening up
chat, you can allow those people with a closed mic to type their
questions in an orderly fashion, they are identified, and the host
can access the questions in any order that he chooses.
Some web conferencing vendors
have additional features that go far beyond the basics of chat,
whiteboard, and online presentations.
Companies such as Webex have some incredible feature sets
that allow users to integrate these with video conferencing,
sharing files, and even the ability to allow any party to take
over the file that is in use or even take over another person’s
computer to demonstrate certain functions.
So for instance, if you wanted to
present an Excel document to the group, it can be loaded and
visible to everyone, even if they don’t have Excel on their
machine. If you as
the host want to give another participant the ability to modify
the document online and live, that power can be transferred to
them and then the modified document may be downloaded to
everyone’s machine.
Another
example would be if you as the host were demonstrating an
application or giving training and someone was having a problem,
they can relinquish the control of their computer to the host who
would actually take over the user’s computer anywhere in the
world, just as if you were sitting in front of it.
End
- Web Conferencing
