How To Select A Web Conferencing Software

By Author: Eugenia C
Total Articles: 1
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Here are the basic steps for determining which web conferencing software is right for your.

Step 1: Understanding the options.

Each webinar or webcast solution is different and, after looking into every one of them, you'll see they offer features you didn't even know existed and which would make your life a lot easier.

Here are a few options you can take into account when evaluating webmeeting software:

>> Maximum number of participants: subscription based services limit the maximum number of participants, so it helps to know how many attendees you expect: 50, 100, 100?

>> Audience management: invitation and registration management,email templates,automatic reminders andfollow-ups, all these might come in handy when organizing a webinar,taking a load off your mind.

>> Desktop sharing (allow participants to see what's on your computer screen), whiteboard sharing (draw or write something on a virtual whiteboard), file sharing (sharing additional files with the participants

>> Automatic recording - If you want to watch how your presentation went and see how you can improve it,you ...
... might want your webinar software to offer automatic recording. Otherwise, you'll have to install another piece of software for this task, not to mention remembering to start the recording before the webinar begins.

>> Multiple presenters - Are you planning on hosting the webinar yourself or do you have several presenters?

>> Text chat

>> Polls and surveys

>> Reports and statistics

>> Software requirements: what does the webinar software need in order to function: does it work on Windows only, does in need a certain browser or certain plugins installed?

Step 2: Understanding your needs.

This is similar to step 1, but I chose to put it in second place, as it's possible not to be aware of your needs until you know what a webinar service can do. So out of all those features and options,start selecting the ones that are important to you, as well as those "nice to have".

Step 3: Evaluation.

Start with the established solutions,they've already been tested by many others before you, there are plenty of reviews available and there is a lesser chance of running into an unreported bug.If price is a constraint, start filtering solutions based on this criterion.Then, see which of the services on your shortlist provide most of the options you need.

Eugenia is the owner of WebinarBase,a webinar and webcast listing service. For more information please click on to our website www.webinarbase.com