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The benefits of being able to have a meeting without having to get everyone together in the same place at the same time are obvious. It basically comes down to time, money, and convenience. Time is saved in trying to find a time when all attendees can be in the same place and then travelling to that place, money is saved in travel costs, and it is more convenient as attendees have all the resources available to them that they would normally have without having to transport them anywhere.

Wondering how to get started? Here are a couple of ways to do it.

Microsoft Live meeting

Microsoft Live meeting allows you to have a fully interactive collaboration with people anywhere in the world. All participants need is a net connected P.C. Here are its key features.

  • It allows you to have meetings with small or large groups of people.
  • It can display files from Word, Visio, Excel, PowerPoint, and many others. If you can see it on your screen to can show it in a live meeting. You can even show websites.
  • It allows you to make notes on the screen to help convey ideas better. Want to emphasize a certain figure? Why not draw a big red circle around it while you are talking about it.
  • It allows participants to print out the presentation as a handout.
  • It can give other users remote control of your machine so that they can making adjustments to things e.g fixing a wrong figure.
  • It can record the whole meeting as a Windows Media file so that you can send it to anyone that could not attend or anyone you think might find it useful.
  • It enables you to meet with people inside or outsider your organisation and participants pay nothing to connect.

Microsoft Live Meeting’s uses just to name a few are: Sales calls, training sessions, customer demonstrations, new product introductions and team meetings.

There are two versions of Microsoft live meeting the Standard edition and the Professional edition and you can chose from either a subscription or a per-minute pricing depending on how much you intend on using it. I will hopefully be trying out the free trial version of this in the next few weeks so stay tuned for a novices opinion on what its like to work with.

Instant messaging

With Windows Messenger, the free instant messaging program that comes with Windows XP Professional, you have a number of options for holding web conferences. You can:

  • Share applications - for example allowing someone to make changes to a PowerPoint presentation.
  • Open a white board and share information as if you were sharing a piece of paper.
  • Send and receive files and photos
  • Hold a video conference for you and another contact
  • Have voice communication.
  • Have a text communication.

More information on instant messaging features is available here.