Imagine having the ability to host a meeting with participants from all over the world without anyone having to travel. Now, picture that meeting actually having the desired impacts. When e-mails and telephone calls just won't do and travel is prohibitive, webinar vendors enable their clients to tap into and harness the full power of the Internet.

The advantages of webinars when they are hosted by full-service vendors are extensive. Some of the benefits of going this route for internal and external business and even personal communications include:

The expediency factor - The Internet never closes. This means webinars can be established to take place at any time of the day or night. When a meeting absolutely has to take place right away or at a certain time, the webinar format is an excellent choice for facilitating it.

The communications tools - When a webinar vendor does offer a full line of services, the available communications tools will be extensive. These will include not only the ability to enjoy voice communication, but also visual. In many cases, webinars are set up to enable full visual contact between participants. Presentations can, for example, be shown on one desktop and seen on computer screens all over the world. Some vendors even offer blast faxing ability for easier accommodation of information sharing, document review and collaboration.

The security - Webinar vendors tend to take security very seriously. To this end, they offer features that help their clients ensure that private meetings stay that way. Password protected meeting rooms, entry chimes and more can all go along with webinars.
Webinar vendors that provide a large package of tools essentially enable their clients to harness the full power of the Internet. Meetings that take place in this type of virtual setting are as good - and often better - than face to face encounters.




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Signing up to play host to a webinar is not enough to make this online technology work in your favor. To pull off a presentation that's effective and doesn't fail to dazzle does require some planning. Fortunately, learning how to create a webinar is not as difficult as many believe. This format is very easy to use and personalize to one's advantage.

So, how can you create a webinar that meets your needs? Follow these basic steps to put yourself on the right path:

•Select the right facilitator - There are a variety of webinar vendors offering services on the Internet. Look for a company with a reputation that speaks for itself and you will be on the right track. Pay attention to the potential features of a webinar package, too. The best companies will offer such things as visual and audio communications, transcription services, faxing ability, security and even voting options.

•Plan your meeting - Making certain that a webinar is an effective means of communication goes beyond selecting a good facilitator. To pull off your purpose, you will need to plan out your meeting, seminar or exchange of information. For example, you might want to create a presentation using a program like PowerPoint, set an agenda and even enable group discussion functions. When you select the right facilitator, the infrastructure will be in place for you to use your imagination to its fullest extent.

•Invite participants - Learning how to create a webinar is not enough to pull off an event that's a success. You will need to also make sure your desired participants have the information they need to find the right site and get into the "meeting room."

It is possible for just about anyone to create a webinar that dazzles participants. When planning goes into the proposition, meetings, seminars and even inter-company collaborative efforts can all be pulled off with ease.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Cruz

A few years ago, people having conversations and meetings while they are in different locations means having the conversation over the phone. But today, people can communicate, even conduct live meetings and presentation even if they are half a world away. All you need is a computer, internet access and a downloaded web-based application to communicate effectively over the internet. This technology is called web conferencing.

So, what exactly is web conferencing?

With web conferencing, participants can share audio, video, content or combination of these in real time. This enables people to attend meetings or presentations when they can't attend them physically. Attendees or participants of web conferencing can have a downloaded application on their computer or they can just access a website or URL to join the group having the meeting or presentation.

Web conferencing enables us to share presentations, documents, videos and multimedia applications. Is also enables us to save money on the costs associated with high bandwidth. You can meet whenever from wherever, as long as you have a personal computer/ laptop and internet access.

Since web conferencing allows users to have business meetings, trainings and conduct presentations and demonstration, it is a requirement that attendees have high-speed internet connection in all user and web sites. Presiding over a session can be passed among the users or the attendees, so that another user can act as the presenter or demonstrator.

Some web conferencing systems or providers include several features in their systems like texting, VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and full- motion video. Audio streaming was also added as an additional feature since web conferencing started in the early 1990s. With audio streaming, attendees can listen to the audio as they view the presentations.

Messaging or sending messages also became more efficient. The leaders can entertain live questions or conduct answer sessions. Attendees can send private messages to the leader, who can answer trough private messages or may publish the message so the entire team or attendees can view the message.

There are attendance rosters which allow the leader and the attendees to view who is currently involved in the conference. There is also a tool for recording. Recording allows for the synching voice and visuals into a permanent record which can be shared with others on a later date.

Whiteboard also allows the leader or the attendees to highlight items in the presentation or can be used to make notes. There are also tools for polls and surveys, allowing the leader to ask questions with multiple choices addressed to the attendees.

Screen sharing is also another feature of web conferencing. With screen sharing or desktop sharing participants can view the screen or whatever is on the screen of the leader. Some screen sharing applications also allow remote desktop control which means participants can take control or manipulate the leader's desktop or screen. This feature is seldom used.

Of course, there are web conferencing vendors or providers that provide these services of different basis. Some web conferencing providers charge a nominal monthly fee while others may charge for every time the software was used.

Readying up your computer or your personal stuff to be used with web conferencing is really not that complicated. New computers normally would have installed software in them that is necessary for web conferencing, if none, the installation process is relatively easy to accomplish.

Web conferencing provides a great way and venue for short and straightforward business related exchanges like meetings, demonstrations, orientation or even product roll-outs. Web conferencing made it possible for us to have non- physical communication for business meetings and affairs. Technology certainly makes life easier.



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