Web Conferencing - What is it?

Web Conferencing is, very simply, a meeting, conference or
seminar that is held over the World Wide Web. Web conferencing
can refer to audio, video or text-based conversations and are
conducted in real-time.

Web conferencing is an incredibly useful resource for anyone who
trades within a global market place. It literally allows you to
be in two places at once - sitting at home or in your office
whilst conducting a meeting with someone one the other side of
the world.

In its simplest form web conferencing can take the form 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. Add a simple digital camera to this equation and
you have the beginnings of an elementary web conferencing
application.

At the other end of the scale, the most sophisticated
applications allow seminars and presentations to be made to
hundreds of delegates at the same time. Meetings can be fully
interactive, allowing question and answer sessions, the 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 than a web meeting, but is a very effective means of
presenting sales pitches, performance reviews and delivering
staff training.

A web meeting on the other hand, can be fully interactive not
only in terms of audio and video but also by allowing the
sharing of documents and files and viewing them online.

What is Online Collaboration?

Online collaboration is an excellent resource for project
management, especially when team members are located in
different geographical locations. Online collaboration provides
an advanced 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 are the associated costs of travel -
tickets, accommodation, subsistence, to name but a few.
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 face a few
times a year, for example, web conferencing allows them to meet
on a daily 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 sophisticated an
application 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 from
a web conferencing system can allow you to budget accordingly
and match a system to your needs. The chances are, if you are
spending money on travel then you will recoup the cost of your
web conferencing software over time.

About the author:
Diane Parker is a web content writer who specializes in internet
related topics. Her conferencing articles include: web conferencing software, choosing a web conferencing tool and internet conferencing.