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Web Conferencing - What is it?
by: Diane Parker
Web Conferencing is, very simply,meeting, conference or seminar that is held overWorld Wide Web. Web conferencing can refer to audio, video or text-based conversations and are conducted in real-time.

Web conferencing isincredibly useful resource for anyone who trades withinglobal market place. It literally allows you to be in two places at once - sitting at home or in your office whilst conductingmeeting with someone oneother side ofworld.

In its simplest form web conferencing can takeform of free downloads such as Microsoft NetMeeting or Yahoo Messenger. Subscribers can participate in text-based 'chats', inviting others into their conversations and being able to communication in real-time. Addsimple digital camera to this equation and you havebeginnings ofelementary web conferencing application.

Atother end ofscale,most sophisticated applications allow seminars and presentations to be made to hundreds of delegates atsame time. Meetings can be fully interactive, allowing question and answer sessions,sharing of files and documents and slide show presentations to be broadcast.

What Can I Do With Web Conferencing?

How you choose to use web conferencing will very much depend upon your line of work. A webinar (an online seminar) is less interactive thanweb meeting, but isvery effective means of presenting sales pitches, performance reviews and delivering staff training.

A web meeting onother hand, can be fully interactive not only in terms of audio and video but also by allowingsharing of documents and files and viewing them online.

What is Online Collaboration?

Online collaboration isexcellent resource for project management, especially when team members are located in different geographical locations. Online collaboration providesadvanced level of document management and file sharing. Documents and files can be viewed, modified and updated online and in real time.

What Are The Benefits Of Web Conferencing?

The main benefits of web conferencing are to be found in terms of time and money savings. The need for travel is greatly reduced, and therefore so areassociated costs of travel - tickets, accommodation, subsistence, to name butfew. Employees spend less time waiting for flights, travel or just generally being away from their desk and therefore have more time to spend productively.

Enhanced communication is another benefit of web conferencing. Where colleagues could perhaps only meet face to facefew timesyear, for example, web conferencing allows them to meet ondaily basis, if required. With people talking more, work gets done more efficiently and more accurately.

How Much Does It Cost?

The cost of web conferencing depends on how sophisticatedapplication you need. Low-level, one-to-one systems can be set up these days for virtually nothing. The most advanced systems, unsurprisingly, can run into thousands of dollars. Careful research, however, and thoughtful analysis of what you need fromweb conferencing system can allow you to budget accordingly and matchsystem to your needs. The chances are, if you are spending money on travel then you will recoupcost of your web conferencing software over time.

Aboutauthor:
Diane Parker isweb content writer who specializes in internet related topics. Her conferencing articles include: web conferencing software, choosingweb conferencing tool and internet conferencing.


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