The Webinar Blog

Webinar News Roundup

Sorry for the delay since my last post, but I moved to a new computer, new operating system, new version of Microsoft Office, new disk drives, new monitor, and new computer furniture. Oy. Everything seems to be up and running again, so let’s see what’s been happening in the web conferencing world lately.

1) Adobe released the first service pack for their newish Adobe Connect 8. Enhancements include: Seeing how many hosts, presenters, participants you have at a glance; A new graphical layout chooser; An option to make questions visible for presenters only; Configuring applications that should never be shown in a screen share; Higher capacity breakout rooms; H.264 video at larger display resolutions; More control over meeting audio from the host’s console; and some usability changes.

Strangely enough, my hosted account with Adobe Connect has still not been updated from the old version 7. I figured they would want to move all their hosted customers to the most current version if only to simplify their own technical support operations. In all honesty, I’m not bothered. I like version 7 more than version 8.

2) Another webinar directory service has joined the throng. FindaSeminar.com gets points for a cute name. The site is primarily focused on helping people find local in-room training seminars based on location, date, and topic, but the directory does include online training as well. I found it challenging to find webinars until I used “webinar” as a keyword in my search criteria. This also brought up Audio Conferences.

3) PixelGigs launched SmartSuite and SmartSuite Plus, which seem to include quite a few online services in a bundled package. Of interest to us is the included “PixelMeeting” web conferencing application. I have not had a chance to try it out, so I’m just reading off their online description. $49/month gets you a 100-person meeting capacity and $99/month gets you a capacity of 1,250 participants per meeting. It includes chat, desktop and application sharing, video, VoIP, recording, and other features. If it works and is reliable, this might fill the niche for low cost, high capacity webinar software created by the demise of Dimdim and the jump in pricing for GoToWebinar. If you try it, please write and share your opinions/experiences.

4) Web Conferencing press release of the week honors go to this beauty: http://bit.ly/fgqv5h

It is a classic example of automated translation services allowed to run wild without human supervision or double-checking. Improper subject-verb agreement, duplicated words, incorrect choice of synonyms, sentences that don’t finish… They are all in there. Read and enjoy!

 

Thanks for staying with me during the switchover. I should be back now to the usual regularly updated stream of webinar news, reviews, and best practices.

Technorati Tags: Adobe Connect,PixelGigs,SmartSuite,PixelMeeting,FindaSeminar.com,automated translation,webinar,web seminar,web conference,web conferencing,webcast,webcasting,web meeting,online conferencing,online meeting

Let’s Spam Some Web Conferencing Users

Yesterday I received a non-personalized email solicitation asking if I would like to acquire email and contact info for users of WebEx products to use in my marketing. The note said that the list is newly built from opt-in, permission based data “compiled from various technology tradeshows, magazines, B2B portals, marketing research, etc.”

If I didn’t want the WebEx users list, I could also ask for lists of users associated with “Adobe Acrobat Connect, Citrix Online, Genesys Meeting Center, IBM Lotus Same time (sic), IBM Lotus Live, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, etc.”

I’m afraid they are out of luck getting me as a customer. The ONLY list I maintain is people who personally subscribe to my blog or my webinar news feed. And I don’t ever use those for marketing or other emails… They only get what they signed up for.

While I am not a big fan of rented lists (they rarely produce results justifying their cost), I find myself strangely encouraged by the fact that this list exists at all. When I started in the business, all our time was spent explaining what a webinar is and why it offers business benefits. Getting people to attend a webinar was usually done through the sheer novelty value of seeing/hearing a live presentation online. Now the technology is ubiquitous enough to deserve a category on demographic questionnaires so that marketers can target users of specific webinar products!

We’ve come a long way, baby.

Technorati Tags: marketing,email lists,webinar,web conferencing,webcast,webcasting,web conference

Webconferencing-test.com Compiles Mobile Conferencing Solutions

Webconferencing-test.com just posted a web page listing the compatibility of web conferencing solutions with mobile devices. According to a post on their news page, the information came from a market survey, but there aren’t details about the methodology. From the looks of the chart, I would guess that the information was supplied by each vendor, which means you should be cautious… Vendors will sometimes put a quick checkmark in a column without disclosing restrictions and limitations that could be significant in actual use.

Webconferencing-test.com is paying more attention to mobile compatibility and performance these days, and there is more detailed information about these aspects in their individual reviews of various products. But older reviews don’t all contain this information. They added a new category to their Online Meeting Tools Review Blog over on the right-hand side of the page, so you can look for reviews that deal with mobile apps.

I started off very cynical and disparaging when I first came across webconferencing-test.com, as I doubted their objectivity and independence from vendor influence. But over the years, I have changed my opinion. They provide a useful resource for reviews of many different web conferencing solutions, and it is a valuable tool for people wanting information and comparisons on many products at a glance.

Readers of my blog should note that webconferencing-test.com focuses mainly on suitability for web collaboration and teamwork, rather than on suitability and features for handling large public web events. So the criteria used in their rankings and ratings might not match your priorities and needs if you are primarily concerned about things such as lead tracking, lead scoring, payment processing, registrant management, reporting, integration with CRM systems, moderator/guest speaker controls, or other functionality that gets used in big structured webinars.

The mobile compatibility information is a great addition to the growing storehouse of information about web conferencing available on the web, and I commend webconferencing-test.com for putting it together.

Technorati Tags: webconferencing-test.com,web conferencing,web conference,web collaboration,online conference,online collaboration,web meeting,online meeting,mobile apps,mobile collaboration,webinar,webcast,webcasting

Video Review Of CVI STUDIO Backdrop

Here's a special treat… A chance to see my smiling face! CVI Gear just released a portable backdrop screen that is perfect for webcasting from an office or any location where you don't want the audience distracted by your background. It creates a neutral solid color background that can be set up and taken down in less than a minute. It's also light enough to carry with you for location work.

If the embedded video doesn't work for you (or if you want to see the video in its native portrait format at a larger size), you can watch it by clicking the following link or copying the address into your favorite browser. The video is in WMV format and is 11MB, so I wouldn't try watching it on a dial-up connection. Enjoy!

http://video.wsuccess.com.s3.amazonaws.com/studioreview.wmv

You can check the CVI STUDIO product page to find the latest information on pricing, available colors, and options. By the way, the size of the backdrop in my video is their standard 54" x 54" size. They will make larger screens as custom orders.

Technorati Tags: CVI Gear,CVI STUDIO,backdrop,portable backdrop,webcast,webcasting,video backdrop