Desirable Features
In addition to those basic features and considerations, some other components
are widely considered to be must-haves. Probably the most basic and important
of those is the ability to present slides, typically through PowerPoint.
Document-sharing functionality lets meeting participants collaborate
in real time on documents, spreadsheets, and graphics. The most convenient method
for sharing documents is to have one copy in a secure, private online meeting
space and let meeting participants change and annotate that copy so you don't
have to deal with multiple uploaded versions.
Desktop sharing lets the meeting host show anything on his or her computer
to remote conference attendees. Most applications let presenters choose whether
to share their entire screen or only a portion of it to keep the audience focused
on key information. Desktop sharing is especially useful for interactive software
demos.
Application sharing lets the host share any application on his or her computer
desktop with participants. If this feature interests you, be aware that because
it places a high demand on users' PCs, it might not be feasible for all users.
A whiteboard feature can be very valuable, especially when people meet to collaborate
on a project. A whiteboard is a blank page that lets presenters draw diagrams
and write notes on the screen—a useful capability for brainstorming sessions
or for highlighting specific features of a presentation. Features that support
participant annotation let attendees mark up the whiteboard presentation, often
using a unique user-specific color.
Bells and Whistles
To get the most benefit from your conference solution, you might want even more
features. Depending on how you expect to use the product, the following capabilities
might be as essential as the basics, or they might simply be fluff that you'll
rarely use:
• Audience monitoring. Most Web-conferencing applications have
a window that lists attendees and their Web and audio status, and many let the
host monitor who enters the conference and bounce unwanted attendees.
• Co-browsing. A co-browsing feature lets members of a Web conference
simultaneously view the same Web page as the presenter or moderator. Co-browsing
can distract users from the presentation, so make sure you can disable this
feature if necessary.
• IM and chat. Chats allow real-time, private communication among
attendees and presenters. Some applications provide private virtual meeting
rooms in which two or more attendees can conduct a side-meeting via IM. IM and
chats can also be distracting, so you'll want to be able to turn off this feature
if necessary.
• Polls. Polls let presenters survey audience members for real-time
feedback. Some solutions can present the results to attendees as graphs and
charts.
• Ad hoc meetings. Many applications require you to set up and
schedule the conference and invite attendees in advance, but one trend is to
allow ad hoc meetings from within applications such as email, IM, or your phone
system. This capability lets you begin a meeting spontaneously and, if integrated
with presence information, invite the appropriate attendees.
• Ongoing meetings. With ongoing-meeting functionality, virtual
meeting rooms can retain all meeting documents, annotations, edits, whiteboard
content, and text brain-storming sessions, letting you reconvene an interrupted
meeting and providing a convenient way to store and reuse conference materials.
• Record and replay. The ability to record and archive
Web conferences lets people who couldn't attend the meeting access the session
later to see what they missed, making it easier and quicker for interested parties
to bring themselves up-to-date. Recorded meetings are also useful for future
reference.
• Branding. A branding feature lets companies customize the logon
page and other areas with logos, pictures, colors, and fonts.
• Video. Some applications let participants who have WebCams see
each other.
That high-level overview of the types of features and functionality in today's
Webconferencing tools should give you an idea of which ones are important to
your organization. Different solutions provide various combinations of these
features, either built in or for an added charge, and implement them with varying
degrees of usability and robustness. Most solutions offer a free trial version
or a free demo so you can try before you buy.
Sparking Ideas
The pricing or licensing model and how well the application integrates with
existing hardware and software might be more important to you than the specific
feature set, but understanding the range of functionality available can spark
ideas for leveraging a conferencing solution for maximum benefit and productivity.
Although use scenarios are beyond the scope of this article, activities such
as employee training, sales presentations, line-of-business collaboration, project
development, and brainstorming are among the most common. Organizations that
rely solely on traditional linear methods of communication—such as face-to-face,
phone, fax, voicemail, and email for such activities—fail to take advantage
of the rich media opportunities that Web conferencing can provide. As the technology
continues to evolve, it will become an indispensable tool for enhancing collaboration
and productivity and minimizing communication costs.
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