Online Meeting and Seminar Software/Services
For non-profits and agencies, communicating over long distances might be necessary for projects and to stay on the same track in program development and fund-raising. From project reviews to board meetings to fundraising pitches, the human resources needed to achieve goals might be spread over multiple areas.
Online meeting and seminar software (sometimes called webinar software/services) can allow groups to meet across geographical boundaries. In most instances, a webinar is a live meeting/conference with one person as speaker/presenter with others as the audience. The speaker/presenter will either share their desktop/screen with the audience or lead the way through a slideshow. There is some audience interaction either through phone (which might be the main audio conductor) or polling/Q&A/chat.
When reviewing webinar software or services for your non-profit or agency, keep a few ideas in mind.
• What is your budget?: Prices can range from free to hundred of dollars a month.
• How many people will be part of the meeting?: Some “free” software/services have a # of participants restriction, so keep that in mind.
• Audio?: Some software/services use Skype or other VoIP solutions to transmit audio. Others will use phone conferencing solutions. In phone conference solutions, there is a toll-free option, where the participants call in for free, but the host of the webinar will pay a per person/per minute price. Others will have a toll number option where participants pay a long-distance charge, with the fixed cost for the host rolled into the subscription price.
• Polling/Q&A/Chat?: Does the software/services have these features? You might decide that you don’t need these features; review the types of meetings/webinars you might conduct and decide if any of these features would enhance the presentation.
• Download/Install Software?: To use the services, will participants have to download or install software? Remember: some offices do not allow users to install software on their own, so there must be enough time for an IT department to review and install the software.
• Mac/Linux Compatible?: Will the software/services work on platforms other than Windows/IE? If it does work, what features might be turned off for these platforms? Keep in mind your audience and the chance that a presenter might not be in your physical office.
• Share Presenter Role?: Will the role of presenter be shared with more than one person? Does the software/service allow this? Can multiple people control one desktop/screen? Can the screen/desktop shared be changed?
• Recording?: Can the webinar be recorded for later playback? Can both audio and video be recorded? Are they recorded separate? What format will the webinar be recorded in? Is this a platform-specific feature? Can you actually download the recording or is it only hosted?
• Whiteboard/Annotation?: Are there tools to create or modify content on the fly? Can anyone use these tools or only the presenter?
• Filesharing?: Is there a place to have files that have to be reviewed by participants? Can they download these files or would you rather just attach them when you send out the invite to the webinar?
Here are some of the services/software CTC VISTA has been reviewing for its own On-Going Professional Development (OGPD) webinar series.
https://www2.gotowebinar.com/en_US/webinar/entry/entry.tmpl
Here is a site with listing of screen sharing tools that could be combined with a telephone conferencing option:
http://www.kolabora.com/news/2006/10/05/screen_sharing_tools_and_technol...
