Are you looking for the latest information on online conferencing tools? There are a lot of options to choose from online. Recently I came across a webinar from TechSoup that discussed the options, cost, and features of several online conference tools. If you’d like to view the webinar you can watch it here. (It lasts 56 minutes.) Otherwise, you can read the rest of my blog to see which company will fit your needs and your budget.
Who Can Benefit From Online Conferencing?
The world really is flat with online conferencing. Online conferencing tools allow you to share your desktop, power points, and documents with another person or a group of people, wherever they may be located. Some tools allow you to chat, record or provide breakout rooms for your audience for smaller group discussions. If you’re training your volunteers, showcasing a new product, collaborating with a branch office in another city, brainstorming new fundraising ideas with colleagues, recording your latest interview to share with your website audience, sharing slide shows from your latest event, hosting a donor Q&A with chat, or if you‘re sharing your desktop with coworkers in another city, online conferencing is an important tool in today’s global economy.
I’ve outlined the key features of each service provider and listed the topics that were asked in the Q&A session. The webinar was produced by using ReadyTalk software, and they do provide discounts to TechSoup and NTEN members. Most of the providers have a free version of their product available to their customers, one drawback of this feature it that there is a limit to the number, usually a very small number, of people that can take advantage of their free tool. A helpful tip given during the webinar stated that if you have a larger group of people that you’d like to partake in the online conference, you could project the conference on a large screen instead of an individual computer screen, and use your phone on speaker. That way it would only count as one person in the conference session.
Webinars from TechSoup provide a great service to nonprofits. They research and actually use these products, and then they pass on their trusted opinions onto us.
Online Conferencing Providers
- $50 a month for unlimited use.
- Glance is a very simple product.
- A small step up from Glance. It allows you to desktop share with a chat feature.
- They offer a free version for up to three people total.
- Limited support for MAC.
- Cannot record
- Only allows desktop sharing for PC users.
- DimDim is an open-source software that needs to be installed on your own server.
- Free up to 20 people, but with Ad support.
- Inexpensive - $100/year for up to 20 people or $300/year for 60 people.
- New service
- Compatible with MAC
- A few less features then DimDim, but still useful
- Free up to 10 people, $200/year for 20 people, $700 for 100 people
- Ability to use audio over phone line or voice over IP (computer)
- Free for 3 people, $400/year for 15 people
- Cannot record
- $1000/year for 100 people
- Fancy service
- Ability to record
Ability to build online train
- Uses tier system, cost is per participant per minute, if you use it a lot you’ll get a price per month.
- Provide a toll free conference call line
- Doesn’t offer a free version of their service
- Very strong in audio conferencing – ability to record
- Discounts available through TechSoup.
- Microsoft products
- Difficult to connect if you’re not running a PC and Internet Explorer.
- Feature rich and expensive
- A step up from all the ones listed above
- elearning tools, virtual university classes
- More powerful
- Offer breakout rooms, for people to discuss topics in small group settings
Topics Discussed in the Q&A Session
What services offers the ability to capture and store sessions?
How does the Audio thru the PC work out with users?
- They feel that people aren’t ready to use this feature yet. They consulted Holly Ross from NTEN, and she stated that people don’t always have their speakers turned on or even plugged into their computers. They also feel that people are not ready to have voices come out of their computers, because it’s still feels weird to them.
- Audio thru the computer is offered by DimDim, Yugma, GoToMeeting and Adobe Connect
What is the easiest service to use?
- Use Flash only.
- No downloading required, once you download, there is an potential for problems
- Require a Flash player, but browsers installed in the last couple of years have a flash player embedded in them.
Are they any security issues to consider?
- Seminars are secured with a password and a URL. If you would need more security than that you would have to talk to the individual company.
What company provides the best video conferencing?
- Idealware hasn’t tested any video conferencing software yet. DimDim and Adobe Connect provide video service, but it may skip around.
Online conferencing is becoming a key format in communication. There are many products available and the list keeps on growing. Online conferencing cannot replace face-to-face meetings and conferences, but they provide an interactive service that is one step above an email and a conference call.
