Behind the Scenes: How Web Conferencing Works

Web conferencing programs are readily available in the market nowadays. Web conferencing offers instant messaging and hosting of group discussions. It is a great way for conducting meetings, seminars, even presentations or product roll-outs.

Conferencing technology has already achieved immense improvement. Teleconferencing is a product of the conferencing technology. With teleconferencing, it is mainly about conference calls where small to very large groups of people can participate to or listen to the phone conversation. With video conferencing, the presenter can appear on the screens of all the attendees or for small groups, all the attendees can appear on the screen in separate webcam windows.

Web conferencing is often confused with web seminars. There is just a thin line separating or differentiating each other, it is mainly about the number of the attendees or participants and the amount of interactivity in the meeting or presentation.

Web seminars are usually more than ten people and only the organizer and a small number of panelists would have the control over the discussion. With web conferencing, it is normally limited to ten people, where the attendees or participants would have the opportunity to present and take control of the flow of the discussion.

Web conferencing programs use internet communication to transfer and share files and applications. These programs combine HTML, Java scripts, flash animation, instant messaging and even audio and video streaming.

Through the combination of these, web conferencing can offer several features. These features are application and file sharing, desktop sharing, co-browsing the internet, white boards, polling/surveying, text messaging, PowerPoint presentations and even private meeting rooms.

There are two options to choose from if a company or any institution is interested in using web conferencing. There are conferencing software that can be installed in computers and host the meeting themselves. Another way is by using a hosting service that provides the software and server space to conduct the web-based meetings.

How web conferences run depend on the software, hosting and how the moderator or organizer runs the meeting. Prior to the meeting the moderator or organizer often compiles the documents and files for the meeting and have them distributed. The organizer then sends out e-mails or text messages inviting the guests and participants citing the certain day and time the web conference will start.

Attendees may accept or reject the invitation and their calendar program will add the meeting to their schedule. The invitation sent out includes a link to the conference and a password or access code to join the conference. The attendee just have to click the URL and enter the password or access code.

Once the attendees have already logged on to the conference, the organizer or presenter controls the meeting. The presenter has the ability to share the desktop and other documents and applications. Control of the flow of the discussion can be handed over to other attendees letting them to present. Participants can communicate to each other by audio or video, voice chat, instant messaging or desktop sharing.

Images from the presenter’s computer are constantly being uploaded to the server and sent to attendees, it is much like video streaming. Participants can share documents and applications because the files are temporarily available on the server where anyone with the right link and password can access. To end the conference or to log out of the meeting, participants just simply close their conferencing programs.

Web conferences are easy to set up and can forge strong working relationships among employees. Collaborations and cooperation made through web conferencing can play a very important role in improving the business and the operations of certain institutions.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Sneek Peek: The Phases of Podcasting

Over the next few weeks, we will be discussing a new Podcasting 101 Series called “The Phases of Podcasting”. There are 6 phases we will go over during our training beginning with Phase 1 (I think that’s a great place to start, don’t you? ) labeled “The Basics”.

We will begin at the front of podcasting with the very basic equipment and software you will need to get started with this hobby. This phase may take two episodes to complete, we will have to see how it goes for time, as I will be going into depth on each phase to insure that the maximum amount of information can be given to the listeners.

Phase 2 is labeled “Prepping for your Podcast”. During this training, we will discuss the various prep that should be performed in order to have the best, most professional sounding, podcasts. Most novice podcasters think that prepping for their podcast consists of just turning on the PC and doing it. This is not always the case as you will see during this phase of training.

Phase 3 is labeled “Going Live the First Time”. Since podcasting can be pre-recorded in most cases, many podcasters and would be podcasters, aren’t sure about this new arena of Live, Interactive podcasting. We will discuss what you need to do to Go Live with your podcasting.

Phase 4 is labeled “What Happens After The Show Is Over?”. Do you just turn off the mic and wait until your next show or podcast or do you try and build community by taking a few extra minutes to be with your listeners. We will discuss what happens between show/podcast times and what you may want to do to help build your listener audience.

Phase 5 is labeled “Taking Note”. In this phase of training, we will discuss the importance of having show notes and publishing these notes after the show. Blogging plays a big role here, however, there are a few ways that you can use your show notes and we will discuss this further during this phase of training.

Phase 6 is labeled “What Happens Next?”. During this last phase of training in this series, we will discuss how your podcast can evolve and what you need to do to “take it to the next level” and help it to grow. This phase may take a couple of episodes to complete as there is a lot of important information that will be covered during this training.

So there you have it, a sneek peek at the Phases of Podcasting coming to Podcaster Training over the next few weeks. I put out a blog post several days ago asking for your storieds as to how and why you started podcasting. Please take a minute to leave a comment on that post or here and let me know if I can use your stories along with my training. Make sure to leave links in your comments as this is a great way to promote your shows, podcasts, blogs or web sites!

Related articles by Zemanta

• A Voice For Your Vision: How to Make Podcasting Work for Your Business

Popularity: 68% [?]

Making Your Podcast Go Viral

Access Your PC from Anywhere with GoToMyPC. Try it FREE for 30 days! www.GoToMyPC.com/techpodcasts

We all know what a virus is, whether a biological virus or a computer virus, it can spread like wildfire when introduced the proper way or method. These types of viruses can be harmful and sometimes devastating. However, when you want your podcast, web site or blog to go viral, then you really want this “virus” to spread to as many people as you possibly can.

In this episode, we discuss different ways to make your podcast go viral. Many of the methods discussed here are also applied to Internet Marketing as well.

Jeff gave his Wordpress Weekly News via a pre-recorded segment and did call in later in the show.

Patti and I talked more on the Business 101 Segment about podcast promotion and then I had to shutdown the show and not do an After Show as I had an early day the next day.

I found out later that Josh Budde ran his own version of the After Show and had several join him.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Using Videos in Viral Marketing

More and more advertisers are adopting video as broadband continues to rise and ad-serving technologies become more sophisticated. Online video advertising is really taking off. Users’ attention can be captured and ads stand out from the crowd in an increasingly ad-cluttered online environment. It is true that video formats cost five to ten times more to serve than standard banners and they involve a lot more production and implementation work but they may well be worth all of that if they achieve greater response rates.

Where to use online video if wishing to maximize its effect, is what advertisers must carefully consider. Video to be used on the Internet should be information and communication focused while video to be used on television should be focused on entertainment.

Like everything else, there are good ways and bad ways to use video advertising. Right now most marketers are incorporating their audio-visual content into existing embedded ad formats like banners or over-content formats like pop-ups. Though this could reach a potentially large audience, viewers are likely to be less captivated and more annoyed by these disruptive and distracting placements.

Cached or streaming video on a specific destination site offers the best chance of interesting consumers in brand messages, but it is not likely to reach a large audience unless it generates a viral outcome.

Whatever you come up with, don’t forget to make it easy to open and distribute. File size is important, as is the media format. If your viral video has been created for a particular type of software that not many people use, how will you get people to spread it like wildfire?

Also, if you’ve made a video the impact will be better if you send the clip as an attachment rather than stream it. It’s cheaper and, if you’re not hosting it, it’s more viral, too.

Popularity: 21% [?]