Video Conferencing Guide - Learn About Video Conferencing

Video conferencing allows people at two or more locations to interact through two-way transmission at the same time. Video conferencing is also known as video teleconferencing or visual collaboration. Users require a computer, web cam, microphone, and a broadband connection to participate in videoconference. They can generate natural conversations by seeing and hearing each other. Videoconference of two persons is known as point-to-point while the conference of more than two people is called multipoint conference.

Videoconferencing is very useful way of communication because it saves money as well as time. People can do several business activities or meetings with two or more persons while sitting at office table. They donรขโ�ฌโ�ขt need to go anywhere to meet someone. Basic requirements for video conferencing are guaranteed latency, synchronization and broadcast. It enables people to have face-to-face meetings from a wide distance. Prices of teleconferencing are generally less than costs of travel. Itรขโ�ฌโ�ขs an easy way to hold meetings, conduct interviews, give lectures and address employees.

Video conferencing is the best way of communication in medical, legal and educational fields. Normally there are three ways such as computer-based system, desktop system and studio-based system to set up a videoconference. There is a limited field of vision in Computer-based system that is why it is the cheapest way of video conferencing. Desktop system improves the quality of audio and video transmission due to dedicated hardware installed on the computer. Most expensive method of video conferencing is studio-based system that offers best quality conferencing. It is mostly used in large-scale companies and universities. Studio-based system is just like a room that is fully equipped with control systems, document viewers, overhead cameras, vision switchers and slide viewers.

An organization, company, educational facility or individual requires some basic components to take complete advantages of video conferencing. Necessary equipment for videoconferencing is camera that lets user to capture video information at his or her site and transmit to someone on the other site. Video display is used to display video at their site and a microphone to hear the audio material.

Videoconferencing terminals require a compressor/decompressor interface that helps in compressing the information while passing from audio to video to make transmission of materials sufficient over net. It is useful in sending the large files from one computer to another. Codec machine also works for decoding and encoding the useful information. A computer and high-speed Internet connection are essential for a successful video conferencing. High-speed Internet connection makes your video conferencing effective and interesting.

Video conferencing is reliable and an excellent method of communication. Videoconference can easily connect you with other companies. You can generate your business from one place and give instructions to your subordinates. It makes bright future for your business and institution. This pioneering technology keeps your company up to date.

Video conferencing is currently an affordable way of communication. A large range of videoconference units is available in the market. Buyers should check company expansion and system compatibility while choosing the best video conferencing unit.

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Tips On Planning A Successful Video Conference

Planning a successful video conference can actually be harder then it sounds. There are several key factors you want to make sure and get right or your conference could become a total nightmare. This short article gives several tips on making sure you succeed with your next video conference.

Nobody likes long-winded meetings and video conferences are no different. Always plan your conferences to last no longer then 1 or 2 hours long. Longer sessions will leave participants tired and bored.

Make sure you prepare an agenda before the event. Double check to make sure you have all of your graphic aids, teaching materials and any other important or relevant materials on hand. Prepare a suitable seating arrangement and ensure that nameplates or tags (if you use them) are clearly legible and nothing is misspelled.

Try to plan your video conference as far in advance as possible. Make sure you do the necessary coordination with your companyรขโ�ฌโ�ขs IT department for any support you may need in order for your conference to be a success. If your dealing with an overseas location early preparation and coordination is vital to your success.

Attend all test sessions to make sure that your video link is clearly working properly. Use this time to also familiarize yourself with the equipment that will be used during the session. Hand any and all materials for transmission to the video conferencing site technician at least two days in advance so that he/she can get familiar with it. For optimum readability, use large and clear fonts. Use a wide margin, as the sides will be slightly cut off on screen. Keep to the landscape format, with simple pictures and few words.

Prepare a list of questions and answers prior to the conference in order to keep the session flowing in a smooth, quick manner. Arrange for participants to assemble at the video conferencing venue 10 minutes before the session begins so that you will have time to hand out all materials.

Some final tips include:

ร�ยท Dress appropriately

ร�ยท Arrive 15 minutes early to spot any last minute glitches

ร�ยท Avoid wearing intense colored cloths to include all-light or all-dark clothing

ร�ยท Avoid distracting gestures during the conference to include finger tapping and facial expression

ร�ยท Test the microphones to be used during the conference in order to find any that may have flaws.

A successful video conference can be done all it requires is an attention to detail prior to and leading up to the minute the conference actually starts. Spend the necessary time needed to do the things this article outlines and youรขโ�ฌโ�ขll have everyone talking about how professional you are when it comes to setting up a video conference.

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Web Conferencing: A Boon to Businesss

It is Sunday evening and you are preparing again to go on a business trip. Monday morning the alarm goes off at 4:00 am, you drag your body and your briefcase to your car, drive to the airport, wait in a long line, get on a plane, get off a plane, and find your way to your clientรขโ�ฌโ�ขs office. When you finally get home Monday night, you have spent more time traveling than meeting and you have dozens of emails and several important phone calls to return.

According to leading web conferencing service providers, the typical sales cycle can be cut two to three weeks with web conferencing. Providing a virtual conference room environment, web conferencing eliminates the need to travel, linking geographically disperse workgroups and telecommuters. The return on investment for web conferencing can be measured not only in dollars and cents, but also in personnel efficiency, knowledge distribution and increased sales opportunities.

The ability to virtually link workgroups and project teams enables real-time collaboration, a task that once required lengthy email threads or face-to-face meetings.

Web conferencing enables businesses to:

• Reduce operating costs

• Minimize unnecessary travel

• Close sales and negotiate contracts faster

• Enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of communication

• Deliver clear, concise and consistent training

• Encourage real-time collaboration between distant and local co-workers

• Engage in greater levels of communication with clients and business partners

Since its inception, web conferencing usage has expanded to a number of business applications such as daily sales and marketing efforts, interaction with co-workers and customers, corporate presentations and training initiatives. Financial corporations use web conferencing for internal meetings, customer briefings, employee training, client consultations and investment workshops. Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies use Web conferencing for product promotion and marketing, sales presentations and demonstrations, and product training and development. Educational institutions use web conferencing for project teams and student workshops. And, government agencies rely on web conferencing for training and inter-agency communication.

Most organizations use outsourced web conferencing. Why? Because of the quickly changing technology, businesses opt not to invest in what could soon be obsolete. In addition, on a day-to-day basis, it is more cost effective to have web conferencing outsourced. Additional reasons include:

• Leading edge functionality provides greater levels of security, moderator control, and participant options.

• Your people can now focus on your core business, not support systems.

• The external company makes the investment in new features so that your fixed costs are reduced and your overall expenditures are lowered.

• With no capital expense, new technology can be implemented with minimal impact to the bottom line.

When beginning the search for a web conferencing solution, start with setting your objectives and determining the features you require. Here are a few basic questions that should be answered:

• How many participants do you anticipate attending your online meetings or events?

• Will the number of participants remain consistent from meeting to meeting or will the number change?

• How many meetings will be conducted each week, month, quarter? Will usage fluctuate depending on the time of the year?

• What type of content will be presented (Power Point slides, software applications, web-based applications, documents, or spreadsheets)?

• What degree of interactivity do you require (Q&A, polling/voting, application sharing, text chatting, live video, file sharing, etc.)?

• Do you want your own software or a hosted solution?

• How much technical support or event management support do you require?

• What is your monthly budget?

• Are there any special security requirements?

Once you have determined your requirements, screen a number of vendors. Visit their web site, review live demos, and seek client testimonials. Here are few suggestions for choosing a vendor:

Select a pricing model. Determine whether you want to pay-per-use (you pay only for the time you and your attendees spend in web conferences) or pay-per-seat (you pay a flat monthly fee for a certain number of "seats"). Pay-per-use pricing is the better conservative choice for most companies learning to how to use web conferencing for their business. You avoid set up charges and you donรขโ�ฌโ�ขt have to monitor the number of concurrent users in order to avoid overage charges. You can always start with a pay-per-use plan and switch to a pay-per-seat plan once there is a clear, long-term financial advantage.

Get the features you need. Some web conferencing solutions only support online presentations while others offer full-featured packages that include polling, chatting, application-sharing, white boarding and group web surfing. Make sure that the product meets your needs.

Check into customer support levels. Is training and ongoing support available? What hours? Is there an extra fee? Is there a telephone number available so that you can contact a support person or is only email support offered? What are their support hours? Call each vendorรขโ�ฌโ�ขs customer service number and see if you get a live person vs. a menu or voice mail. You donรขโ�ฌโ�ขt want to be in a situation where an attendee has technical problems joining a critical meeting and not be able to contact a live person immediately.

Consider security requirements. Depending on the audience and the information being sharing, security may be a concern. Most solutions are secure enough and do not store meeting data any place except on the presenterรขโ�ฌโ�ขs PC. Participants only see a graphical representation of the data through a standard web browser. Some services provide pass code authorization, basic encryption, and the ability to lock and unlock the meeting.

So, the next time Sunday night comes around and you are faced with another week of travel, email trails, difficulty in scheduling training and long lead times in closing sales and negotiating contracts, do yourself a favor and look into web conferencing for your business.

About The Author

Denise Bridgens has more than 20 years experience in product marketing and product management for communications and is the founder of Argo Navis IT. Argo Navis IT is a value added reseller of Premiere Conferencing services and is their exclusive Minority Women Business Enterprise partner. Premiere Conferencing has consistently led the industry in developing the most advanced conferencing solutions, fulfilling todayรขโ�ฌโ�ขs business-critical communications needs and delivering the highest levels of security and reliability. Argo Navis IT is headquartered in Morristown, NJ and is opening an office in a HUB zone shortly. The company contributes 10% of profits annually to battered womenรขโ�ฌโ�ขs shelters. To learn more about Argo Navis IT, visit their web site at www.argonavisit.com

How to Use a Web Conference Call as a Selling Tool

Holding a web conference call has long been recognized as a valuable technique for online collaborations; however, the potential for using a web conference call as a sales tool is often overlooked. A web conference call, also known as teleconferencing, has many uses and benefits. In order to understand how to effectively use a web conference call as a sales tool, it is beneficial to gain an understanding of the traditional uses of teleconferencing and how a web conference call works.

Common uses for a web conference call include conducting training seminars and continuing education sessions, conducting market research, holding press conferences, and coordinating meetings including operational meetings, board meetings, and investor relation meetings. From a sales perspective, a web conference call can be used to hold sales meetings, to make sales presentations, to provide potential retailers or affiliates with information on new products or services, to provide press releases, or even to conduct a live, online auction.

There are many advantages to using a web conference call for such activities. A web conference call enables the sharing of real time data and web conference call tools make it possible to provide access to information used in the web conference call before, during and after the call. Web conference calls are easy to use and generally interface with other applications without the need for any special hardware. A web conference call can be held by either using a web conferencing service, or using web conferencing software that can be installed on your server.

When using web conferencing services or web conferencing software to conduct a web conference call, you generally schedule the web conference call setting the time, date and duration of the web conference call. Sometimes there is an option to reserve audio telephone conferencing so that the web conference call can also be accessed via telephone although with telephone access the sharing of files is not possible. Once the web conference call is scheduled and set up, you can choose which guests you want to invite to the web conference call and send invitations via email. Most web conference call solutions automate these steps.

When it is time for the web conference call, you present, collaborate and share information via the internet using tools provided through your web conference call solution. Most web conference call solutions use a voice-over-IP technology that enables conference attendees to talk back and forth if they have microphones and speakers. Some even have web cam features so the web conference call is "face-to-face" so to speak. During a web conference call, attendees can see what you are doing on your computer. They can view slides used in your presentation and so forth as well opening files or documents that you share throughout the web conference call.

Holding a web conference call for the purpose of conducting sales meetings, sales presentations and press conferences saves time and money because the attendees can attend the meeting from remote locations. The web conference call eliminates travel time and the expenses of travel. Furthermore, through a web conference call, hand-outs can be provided electronically rather than being printed resulting in even more cost savings. A web conference call enables real-time communications between attendees.

One of the greatest benefits of using a web conference call as a sales tool is that a web conference call makes it possible to make sales presentations to multiple decision makers in an organization first hand, rather than them relying upon the translation of the information from the presentation that may be necessary if they are physically unable to attend a sales presentation due to geographic barriers.

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Phone Conferencing

Phone Conferencing is the best way to bridge the gap between two or more people who are geographically separated. Being the most widely available service, it makes it easy for you to set up a meeting and have a conversation. Nowadays, most of the corporate houses make use of this service, as this gives them a chance to be in constant touch with their existing as well as potential clients. It is a way for two people to talk to each other across vast distances. Realizing the benefits that accrue from Phone Conferencing, many of the small as well as medium-sized companies have also opted to have Phone Conferencing services in place.

The main reason behind the popularity of Phone Conferencing is that it cuts down on traveling costs and also helps you save valuable time. As technology is taking a leap, there have been new products and advancements in Phone Conferencing. Thus, it is possible to have both video Phone Conferencing and web Phone Conferencing. These new features have made Phone Conferencing an even better deal. Phone Conferencing can be done in two ways. The first one is the normal telephone conversation done in the traditional manner, albeit with a greater number of people conversing. The second way involves computer telephones with the help of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). While using this method, the user generally dons a microphone and the headset is plugged into a computer. The userรขโ�ฌโ�ขs voice is transferred via the Internet to the destination.

Phone Conferencing promotes regular yet effective communication. These days, not only big corporate houses but also many NGOs and small firms are utilizing these services, thanks to their low cost and effectiveness. These days, Phone Conferencing comes with some additional features, like operator assistance, greeting calls and recording.

So if youรขโ�ฌโ�ขre looking to make your presence felt amongst the colossal corporate world this service is a boon for you. And it wonรขโ�ฌโ�ขt be wrong to state that with evolving technology Phone Conferencing is becoming all the more customizable and user-friendly.

Phone Conferencing provides detailed information about phone conferencing, audio conferencing, free phone conferencing, phone conference services and more. Phone Conferencing is the sister site of Telephone Headsets.

Teleconferencing is a Telecommuters Best Friend

Millions of workers, now called telecommuters, are finding that working at home provides tons of benefits relative to working in a traditional full time 9-5 corporate setting. However as many who remain within their home based business or telecommuting situation for at least a year or more will realize, is that working from home does NOT mean you stop making contact with people. As if!

If you are working from your garage or from your bedroom, then you probably do not want or need to have a videoconferencing solution, unless you wear a suit to your garage on a daily basis. This is just a small little detail. Of course, you can manipulate what the video shows. For instance, you can probably put props in the background while wearing a nicely pressed or rented tuxedo, so that you can present yourself to potential investors and clients as well as to show off to all your friends and neighbors. Or you can slap on a tie and shirt right before that big video conferencing call. OK now I am just being silly.

The bottom line is, as a telecommuter, and especially if you own your own business, it is absolutely essential to have a simple plan to keep those spiritual ties with your clients and customers. People make the world go round, and technologies such as teleconference are a boon to those who use these tools correctly and in a timely fashion.

Learning how to setup teleconferencing calls is extremely simple, yet can literally explode your brand name onto the scene in the minds of your clients and friends. Visit http://www.totalteleconference.com for more.

Teleconferencing - The Borderless Classroom

Teleconferencing has become so uncomplicated and so pervasive in daily society that it does not call for a great level of skill to operate. On the contrary, you can be a junior high school student or even medical student or beyond, and it would work just as easily for you.

In fact, students from all over the country and around the universe are hosting their own video teleconferencing academic session* as we speak, whether it's for a school related project or if it is to discuss a business project, etc. These teleconferencing sessions and especially the telecommunications technology itself has been an enabler of fundamental interaction of the global community on an unprecedented scale.

For instance, there's a company called See You See Me, which helps individuals acquire greater insights into what makes another person click. Traditionally if you wanted to work with someone remotely, you would rely mostly on textual communications tempered with some phone interactions.

However more often than not, especially in these kinds of mediums, misunderstandings and all out flame wars in the worst case scenarios have erupted all over the internet. It's very important to have a moderator in these cases to ameliorate and avoid irreparable damage to valuable relationships via these informal communication systems.

Schools are now reaching out beyond the schoolroom, and even beyond the school system where students can now "meet" other students from other territories as well as around the world in every single words and civilisation. It truly is a very dynamic experience that is sure to break down barriers and misconceptions people may have of one another due to lack of social interaction.

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