Web Conferencing – A Powerful Presentation Tool

In today’s responsible, cost cutting economy, companies looking to save money and time have turned to the Web for a new kind of solution: the Web conference.

Web Conferencing is an industry and eMarketing component which has thrived after the bursting of the Internet bubble.

Unlike its predecessor, the telephone conference call, the Web conference brings with it many of the same interactive benefits of a face-to-face meeting…without the face-to-face part.

Web Conferencing Features

Hosting a Web conference is relatively easy — participants need only a telephone and a computer with an Internet connection. The telephone acts as the audio component of the conference while the computer acts as the display board, with the Internet providing the conduit for the flow of information. Some more complex Web conferencing options utilize streaming audio instead of telephone conferencing.

Web conferencing provides multiple advantages over telephone conferencing:

• Complete control of the presentation – with a Web conference, the presenter completely controls the pace of the meeting and what slides are being shown at what time. In a telephone conference, if you were to have sent your presentation ahead of time, chances are the participants will have already previewed it before you even get a chance to present it and the impact of your presentation may be lessened. Web conferencing prevents this from happening.

   

• Instantaneous brainstorming – much like the infamous “white board” in a physical meeting room, Web conferencing tools provide a similar feature that allows all parties involved to post notes and ideas for all to see. These free flowing ideas can become the most productive part of the presentation, and even better, they can be downloaded and saved.

   

• Chat – for large group presentations or seminars where questions by phone can become unwieldy, chat can be an invaluable tool. Chat enables the audience to ask questions the presenter can then answer as time permits.

   

• Instant feedback – Web conferencing tools have polling features that provides instant feedback during or after a presentation. Attendees can be polled at strategic points in the presentation, and their feedback can be used to direct the subsequent course of the web conference.

   

• Sharing of documents – Web conferencing allows the presenter to incorporate and share emailed documents directly into the conference. This feature can improve the quality of your presentation by allowing for quick deployment of additional data to support your case.

   

• Archiving – after the presentation and polling is complete, simply save the transcript of the presentation for later study or distribution.

   

Why Web Conference

Web conferencing is most commonly used for sales presentations, product demonstrations, training, meetings between geographically dispersed team members and brainstorming sessions. Here’s why:

• Create virtual teams – no matter what the geographical distance, web conferencing can keep your team members linked together. Through web conference, you can set up team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and new product demos.

   

• Expedite the decision-making process – like telephone conferencing but with the added demonstration component, web conferencing is good for laying out an idea, building a quick consensus and making a decision.

   

• Expedite the close – prospects can live demo a product and ask questions, all in one sitting without ever leaving their desk. This convenience enables your sales team to immediately address concerns and move the sale along more quickly.

   

• Decrease costs – Web conferencing is considerably less expensive than traveling for face-to-face meetings. Many Web conferencing companies allow pay-per-view presentations (costs range from $0.45 – $0.50 cents/minute/user).

   

There are nearly a dozen Web conferencing (or “Webcasting”) companies to choose from, and they all have browser-based interfaces. Once you have engaged a Web conferencing company for your presentation, all you need to do to get started is to send your attendees your presentation URL (provided by the Webcasting company) along with their log-in, password, and telephone conference number. Upload your presentation to the Web, join the audio conference, and you’re in business!

Web conferencing companies:

Communicast

WebEx

Placeware

Raindance

WebCrossing

eGenda

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