Using Online Meeting Software
Online Meetings – As Easy as ABC
In order for a business to run smoothly, collaboration is necessary. Without collaboration, the right hand will not know what the left hand is doing, the probabilities of people doing the same thing but differently (at times fundamentally opposed) is very high. In order to ensure collaboration, meetings are called regularly. It does not matter if you are running a one-man operation or work in a conglomerate, meetings with suppliers, colleagues, subordinates, and/or superiors are needed.
Traditionally, meetings are held face-to-face. This has worked over the years largely because there were no viable alternatives before. Now there is: Online Meetings. Thanks to the flexibility of Internet Protocol, availability of large capacities of IP backbone and the growing sophistication of online meeting software, all one needs is a computer and access to the Internet to conduct an online meeting. This medium of collaboration has several advantages over the traditional face-to-face meeting. It is more cost-effective, has features that emulate a traditional meeting’s collaborative activities, allows for stricter moderation, and has cost-effective recording features for future playback and broadcast.
How easy is it to use online meeting software? Quite easy, actually! Most major online meeting software providers have spent countless hours developing complex algorithms with one purpose in mind: To make their software so easy to use that it makes sense to use it. This objective is quite logical: If it took forever for the user to learn how to use the software, or if the participants had to go through voluminous instructions on how to participate, then it would defeat the purpose of having the software in the first place! They would rather meet face-to-face.
The procedure for using online meeting software is pretty standard:
- Be sure you have a PC with an Internet connection (preferably broadband).
- Go to the website of your preferred online meeting software provider.
- Register for your unique user name and password.
- Pay for the subscription (Note: Some software offer a limited time free use of the software before you are required to purchase, while others offer the basic functionalities for free for life!)
- Allow the provider to download the software to your system. You are advised as to the minimum system requirements for the software to work, and this is the only thing that you need to ensure. Having complied with these requirements, all you need to do is let the software get installed automatically, which takes just a few minutes depending on the speed of your Internet access.
- Once the software is installed, you can then start sending out invitations for your first online meeting!
Participating in an online meeting is also straightforward:
- Once you receive your invitation, just click on the link you were provided, and enter the authentication information indicated in the said invitation.
- Some software require you to register first before participating, some do not. Either way, the process is quite automatic.
- If this is the first time you are participating in the meeting using particular online meeting software, you will sometimes be prompted to allow the download of software, which is normally smaller than the software for the moderator of the meeting.
Once done, you are ready to participate. Online meeting software is so easy to use. All you need to know is how to operate a PC. If you do not know, then what are you doing working for your company? |