Webinar Providers, Organizing and Tips For Distant Learning Success

May 22nd, 2010

There are a lot of cheap or free conference calling plans on the web these days, with conference calling services being offered by high quality conference companies for as low as 2.5 cents per minute. There are also companies offering free conference calling , but the only way they can do that is by cheating the phone companies who are supplying the service. The cheating is done by sending the calls through a local telephone provider , called an incumbent local exchange carrier , that charges the long distance   company a high cost per minute to connect the call.

The reason that charging long distance carriers a high rate for connecting the call is unfair , is because, in most situations, the phone call is then routed back to a company that doesn’t even operate in that ILEC’s area. In most instances, the free conference calling companies are in Los Angeles . The incumbent local exchange carrier then shares the profits from charging more than what they should have for the telephone connection with the conference calling company that routed the calls through their business .

What’s crazy , is that this is   legal and that the FCC has shut down lawsuits by Ameritech , Verizon and other long distance telephone companies who have tried to stop this in the courts . Lots of the time, these fees aren’t paid for by the person who used the service , but by the long distance   provider instead. So, while you are making your FREE conference call, your phone company is getting charged ten to twenty cents per minute for your call. This is especially hurtful to providers that offer flat cost long distance phone service, as the user might run up hundreds of dollars worth of charges, while only paying the telephone carrier $ 24.95 or less a month.

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October 1st, 2009

Cisco was already aligned with Tandberg for their high-end video conferencing solutions.  Telepresence required an immersive experience for maximum impact, so this marriage of hardware inside and around a video conference seems like a good match.   There is speculation that other bidders will appear, so this is not a done deal…

If you don’t need a high-end product, look at this option:

Try Dimdim for the World's Easiest Onlline Meeting

Cisco Bids For Video Conference Supplier Tandberg

Official Press Release 

SAN JOSE, Calif., NEW YORK, and, OSLO, Norway, October 1, 2009 – Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to launch a recommended voluntary cash offer to acquire TANDBERG (OSLO: TAA.OL).  TANDBERG, based in Oslo, Norway, and New York, is a global leader in video communications, including a broad range of world-class video endpoint and network infrastructure solutions with intercompany and multi-vendor interoperability. With this proposed acquisition, Cisco will expand its collaboration portfolio to offer more solutions to a greater number of customers, further accelerating market adoption globally.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of TANDBERG for 153.5 Norwegian Kroner per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.0 billion.  This represents an 11.0% premium to the previous day closing price of TANDBERG’s stock, and a 25.2% premium to the 3-month volume weighted average closing price for TANDBERG’s stock.  The proposal was recommended unanimously by TANDBERG’s board of directors.

The acquisition is expected to close during the first half of calendar year 2010; however, the close date is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory review in the United States and elsewhere.  Cisco expects the acquisition to be accretive to Cisco’s non-GAAP earnings in fiscal year 2011.

Radvision Crushed As Cisco Buys Rival Tandberg – Tech Trader Daily

Radvision (RVSN) shares are getting crushed this morning on news that Cisco (CSCO), the company’s largest customer, is buying Tandberg, a key competitor.

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August 3rd, 2009

Webinar/Webcast Pet Peeves

 

Now that webinars are fairly common for either training, strategy or review purposes, I’ve noticed a growing list of irritants surrounding telepresence events.  I’ll admit that even I am guilty of falling into these traps, but know that there are basics to adhere to for a good conference.  With no particular order of importance, here are my peeves:

1) START ON TIME

The moderator and or host should be on the line, checking connections, changing screens and greeting attendees 10-15 minutes before start.  The last thing you want is to come on line and hear them asking for sound check, taking attendance and flipping through their screens to get to the right point.

2) SOUND CHECK

VOIP connections (skype, google voice, etc.) are common these days, but you can sound like you are in a tin can bouncing your voice off the walls.  Ask the teleseminar provider if they have an “800” number  dial in for moderator so your normal landline can be used.

If organizers are talking during a live stage presentation, make sure the microphones at the podium and/or portables are loud, clear and have range.

 

3) ONLY ONE PERSON IN CHARGE

In rare circumstances, multiple people can run a webinar coherently as long as the material is clear and they have rehearsed the flow.  More often though is the “organizer” who wants to teach and the “teacher” that doesn’t know as much as the organizer.

-The teacher constantly fact checks or defers to the organizer

-The organizer interrupts the teacher to inject his/her own insights

-The organizer and teacher disagree on material or a point that is not relevant to anyone but themselves. 

-A corollary is that the organizer overrides the teacher’s point and discredits the rest of the presentation.  Then the teacher starts asking for verification as in above.

 

4) HAVE SUPPORT DOCUMENTS DISTRIBUTED PRIOR TO EVENT

This may seem obvious, but many people like paper in hand to make notes.  As much of a tech adopter as anyone, I haven’t gotten to the point where an electronic “sticky note” works yet.  It also makes the webcast move faster if participants have a chance to review information prior to starting.  I have asked and answered many questions well before a meeting this way.

Documents should also flow with the session.  That is also said for the multiple websites that may be cited – have them open and ready to click on the relevant topic at hand.

  Omnovia – top rated webinar provider!

Author:  Chuck Hugan, business owner, entrepreneur and former corporate junkie

InstantTeleseminar.Com

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July 29th, 2009

Teleseminars, aka webinars, have quickly become the preferred method to create and deploy training and sales efforts to a large audience without the travel expense.  Many businesses are so widely distributed, or have no central office at all, that a teleseminar or web conference is their only option. Here are seven tips to help you navigate and manage your web conference to its optimal state!

Teleseminars represent excellent low cost ways to attract qualified leads to generate more business. With these tips you can now leverage the technology and reap the benefits of teleseminars. Find out more and read on!

a.Telephone bridge line: There might be instances where you only wish to record the conversation in the teleseminar. You may choose not to edit it later before sending it to clients or attendees of the teleseminar. In such cases you can easily make do with a low cost bridge line which also records the conversation.

b.Web control: There are plenty of no cost alternatives in teleseminars where you can easily view the number of participants attending. Via a web control panel you can view how many people are participating in the teleseminar. You can also mute as well as un-mute their lines from the web. Usually these services are available free of cost as part of the teleconference service.

c.Audio Acrobat/Audio Generator: These are paid solutions used to directly record teleseminars. You can easily leverage any one of these for a minimal monthly fee. What’s great about the Audio Acrobat and the Audio Generator is that participants of the teleseminar can post their feedback and comments on the 24-hour open testimonial lines that come with these two solutions.

 Click Here To Set Up A Full Featured Teleseminar! 

d.Computer/digital recording: There maybe situations where you only wish to record your own voice instead of all the other participants. In such cases, it works out cheaper to record your voice directly onto your computer. In such instances you really don’t need to record on a teleconference bridge. Simply use a microphone or a digital recorder to record your voice into the computer.

e.Outsource: If your business doesn’t have core expertise in audio editing, it is best to outsource it to en external firm. Costs will work out much cheaper and you will also be assured of a better quality job. You could outsource the editing of the audio recording to a third party service provider. Maybe you could even get a discounted package from the service provider comprising recording, editing and even transcribing.

f.Hosting considerations: If there aren’t too many participants who will download the audio, your web hosting service provider should be able to meet your bandwidth requirements. However if you foresee plenty of downloads from users online, consider hiring the services of a third party service provider. This will work out less expensive.

g.Streaming or MP3 formats: The type of format you choose for your audio recordings will also determine the impact of your teleseminar. While a streaming audio file will necessarily mean the user has to be at the computer to listen, an MP3 format allows flexibility in transferring the file to a CD, an MP3 player and listening to your audio at leisure. There are many low cost MP3 recording options these days. Many even allow you to download free of cost which can prove to be beneficial if you happen to record audio files very often.

If the word ‘Teleseminar’ seems complicated, now you have 7 great methods that you can use to your advantage. Begin today. Why wait? You have everything to gain!

(c) 2007, Doug and Claudia Brown of www.whatisyourplan.com All rights reserved. Reprint rights granted so long as article and by-line are published intact and with all links made live.

Author: Douglas C. Brown

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Douglas_C._BrownSix Figure Income or More" at http://www.whatisyourplan.com

Deadly Sins of Hosting a Seminar – Niche Teleseminars

Niche ways to host and record your teleseminars and sales calls without spending a fortune.  

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July 9th, 2009

Innovative Web Conferencing System Integrates With Salesforce Software

Choosing a web conferencing provider for your small business web meetings or corporate web conferences is not only a critical decision, but also a challenging one. After all, when most providers offer essentially the same web conferencing services, such as, sending email invites, reminders, delivery of the event, the recording of the event, and email follow-ups so how do you choose? Well, iLinc makes that choice much easier by going one big step further with integrative webinar solutions.

One example is iLinc’s integration with Salesforce.com, the worldwide leader in customer relationship management software. Any information gathered through most web conferencing providers needs to be manually updated into the Salesforce system. This is not the case with iLinc, as this integrative solution automatically updates and uploads all lead information gathered before, during and after a web conferencing event.


Schedule Webinars with Salesforce Contacts
With iLinc’s integrative solutions, inviting one of your Salesforce contacts to a webinar is as simple as selecting their name. You need only to provide the date, time, and topic of the web event. Then the system does the rest automatically by sending the selected contact a personalized iLinc webinar email invite.

The email your contacts receive includes a button for them to click on to accept the invitation, at which time the system automatically records them as an expected webinar attendee. Plus, it will prompt them to enter their contact information so that anything in Salesforce that was previously missing or inaccurate will automatically be updated and uploaded.

Generate New Leads
Every iLinc web conferencing email invite that is delivered through Salesforce includes an option to forward that invite on to a business colleague or a friend. As in the original invites, these forwarded messages include a button for these new potential participants to accept the invitation. Best of all, the new invitee is prompted to enter their contact information which is then automatically logged into your Salesforce database!


Track Web Conference Participant Activity
It is one thing for Salesforce contacts and new leads to accept a webinar invite, and it’s quite another for them to actually be an attendee. Either way, you need to know about it, as it will change the way you follow-up. Immediately after a webinar, iLinc’s system generates an Activity History for each invitee. Details include who actually attended, and how long they stayed. This type of information is essential for streamlining your marketing efforts.

Follow-Up After Webinars
Timely follow-up with your Salesforce contacts after a webinar is crucial. iLinc makes follow-up both quick and easy from surveys, to promotions, to simple thank you’s relevant to the webinar.

By: JonathanBonghi

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

We are built on a foundation of proven technology and an obsession with enabling customer success, iLinc is 100% focused on building the world’s greatest, most useful web and video conferencing software. Through its online meeting software and services, iLinc liberates people by enabling them to get more done, travel less, and achieve work-life balance while preserving the environment.

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July 9th, 2009

Save Your Company Time And Money With Web Conferencing

Time is money, and travel is both. And in today’s economic climate, your business cannot afford to lose either. That’s why so many companies are foregoing the traditional business trip for a virtual one instead through web conferencing services.

Web conferencing makes it possible for an unlimited number of people to participate in online meetings from anywhere in the world. From small business web meetings to corporate web conferences, innovative webinar solutions through a web conferencing provider represent the kind of corporate responsibility that consumers are increasingly expecting and responding favorably too.

Save Time
As unlikely as it may seem planning a business trip can consume just as much of someone’s time as the travel itself. Just ask anyone in the office whose task it is to arrange the logistics of the meeting. First you need to touch base with all involved to pick the date when everyone can afford take the time to travel. Then there’s the choice of venue hotel and rental car arrangements, and any number of back-and-forth communications among everyone pre- and post-meeting date.

Of course then there is the obvious time-consuming travel itself from home to the airport to the hotel to the venue to the restaurant back to the hotel back to the airport and back home again. What’s worse is that going from point A to B is rarely so simple instead involving any number of airport delays, flight cancellations, and traffic jams.

With web conferencing, all this time is saved by a system that sends invites reminders and follow-ups automatically to all involved. And instead of spending hours in the air and on road, participants "arrive" at the meeting in an instant simply by signing onto their computers from their home or office.

Best of all, saving time on travel frees employees to focus more fully on meeting preparation further ensuring that the web conference is a success.

Save Money
This one is a no-brainer. Opting for a virtual meeting among a dozen people from all over the country instead of traveling hundreds of miles to one destination will inevitably save your company thousands (or more) of dollars. And that’s for just one web conference. Imagine the impact if you did the same for your meetings all year long.

By: JonathanBonghi

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

We are built on a foundation of proven technology and an obsession with enabling customer success, iLinc is 100% focused on building the world’s greatest, most useful web and video conferencing software. Through its online meeting software and services, iLinc liberates people by enabling them to get more done, travel less, and achieve work-life balance while preserving the environment.

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July 9th, 2009

Reading About Delightful Video Conferencing Services

Meeting participants do not need special audio conferencing equipment and may not even require the assistance of an operator. The K-State Accord bridge allows for multipoint conferencing (multiple sites convening for one conference) Noninteractive video experiences such as satellite programs, video streaming, web casting, etc. Video conferencing allows participants to meet face-to-face and enjoy both audio and video communications in real-time. Web Conferencing is, very simply, a meeting, conference or seminar that is held over the World Wide Web. Teleconferencing and webcast services differ in terms of capabilities and costs.

Long distance providers usually use sophisticated call connection "bridges" to join many different phone calls into a single conversation. There is similar usage for phrases associated with teleconferencing. Once all this information is entered, the processor in the audio conferencing bridge compiles a list of all conference attendees including their IP addresses. At the time a conference attendee calls into the conferencing bridge, he or she also provides the IP address either to a live person who enters this information manually, or through touch-tone into an email processor. The phrases are both used to describe a meeting between parties in different locations wherein the meeting participants use communications equipment to both see and hear one another as they interact. Teleconferences are called both audio conferences and teleconferences.

He or she will give you the information you need to make your next Webinar or teleclass smooth and easy. In many cases, Web conferencing can even enable remote control of a participant’s computer. Web conferencing is a little more costly depending on how much interaction the software allows. Web conferencing with audio provides an appropriate medium for incorporating certain visual elements into the flow of verbal communication, enabling participants to view a PowerPoint presentation, take a guided Web tour or collaborate on documents with others. The level of involvement in a web conference can range from viewing simple text via a central server, or even with the addition of audio provider real time voice as well. An object model of the service is proposed together with the resulting architecture.

Such a password to access the service can be either permanent, with a limited usage (number of calls, time period, etc.), or created only for a single teleconference session. Of course, this is typically less expensive than toll-free conference calling. Free audio conferencing is when everyone on the conference call dials a regular long distance number. So you are not paying any per-minute rate to the conferencing company (which is great), but you are paying your long distance provider whatever they charge you for long distance.

While web conferencing is usually more expensive, the fact that infinite amounts of data can be transferred and immediately reviewed easily outweighs this factor. During the time that the audio connection is established, the conference attendees may also be connected to the Internet using a web browser with an HTML converter plug in. Also with web conferencing every participant will need to be online, which means everyone would need a computer and access to the Internet. The project work can be presented by video, audio, and computer conference depending upon the content.

By: Dwayne Hall

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

To find out even more about audio conferencing services visit www.Conferencing-Services.Info where you can find tons of articles and information about conference services and much more.

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