Online Meeting and Web Conferencing Instruments – Best Of

In a world where we now communicate and collaborate mainly via the Internet, it’s significant to have the right device available. Not only do you need something that is dependable and works decently, but you also want a contraption that is effortless for all of your collaborators to use. Having a lot of features is nice, but if the people you’re attempting to communicate with can’t figure out how to join you, more than likely you’ll end up alone!

This list will got over some of the best online implements for meetings, group collaborations, and screen sharing. These kind of implements come in handy for many things like webinars, training, projects, technical support, or just to have a group talk for joy.

All of these contraptions are easy-to-use and, for the most part, are even lighter for your collaborators to join in as well. Let’s take a look.

MeetingBurner

MeetingBurner is not just a fine place to hold online meetings (right in the browser – no downloads required), it’s also good for hosting webinars, and sharing your screen. It includes Skype integration, conference lines, and one click recording and sharing. You’ll also get analytics for your meetings so that you can see how your guests interact with your content. Due to it’s swift blast times and easy-to-use interface, it’s one of the most popular services for online meetings; best of all, the service is free.

Meetin.gs

Meetin.gs lets you get began in less than sixty seconds and gives you the convenience of creating fresh meetings via a bookmarklet, in addition to using the website. Not only can you create meetings yourself and participate from any device, but you can create and edit them together with participants. It’s also a fine place to edit documents together with a group and anyone can mail-in notes and other materials via email.

Pricing: Meetin.gs has both a free and PRO account ($Nineteen/month or $190/year).

Jabbster

Jabbster is aimed at people who want to privately keep in touch with the family and friends; yet the platform is well suited to hold online meetings as well. While it doesn’t suggest real-time meetings via movie (like MeetingBurner), it does let you create private groups where you can share photos, events, and contact info. You’ll be able to have threaded discussions; it’s pretty much like having your own private social networking, with a few added benefits.

If you love this service, you may also like Micromobs, which is very similar.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a desktop alternative to MeetingBurner and is used for meetings (in HD) and web conferences. There are three different products that are suggested: GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, and GoToTraining. All products permit desktop and application sharing, one-click recording, drawing instruments, voice conferencing abilities, and more. You can commence meetings from Microsoft Office, email, or instant messaging instruments. Best of all, meetings can be accessed from a Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone, or Android device.

Pricing: GoToMeeting is not free, however it does come with a free 30-day trial. After the trial it’s $49/month.

Yugma

Yugma is a free service for hosting online meetings and web conferences, and is also good for sharing your screen and collaborating with others. Yugma offers five other plans along with the free version. “Yugma Free gives you free web conferencing with up to two attendees [and one hour meeting limitations].” It also comes with audio conferencing, public and private talk, Skype integration, annotations and whiteboarding implements, quick polls, and much more.

Pricing: P2 – $24.50/year; P20 – $9.95/month or $99.50/year; P50 – $34.95/month or $349.50/year; P100 – $79.95/month or $799.50/year; P500 – $159.95/month or $1599.50/year.

Note: For some of Yugma’s services you will need to install their software.

WebEx

WebEx is an excellent service that gives you unlimited online meetings. With this you get high-quality movies, phone conferencing, and mobile access (including the iPad), so that you can host and attend meetings while on-the-go. You can have up to twenty five people in a meeting and see up to six webcams on screen at a time. Their online collaboration devices, like whiteboarding, note-taking, and annotations, make it good for working with groups.

Pricing: There is a free 14-day trial, after which the service is $Nineteen/month.

Sync.in

Sync.in is “a web based processor for people to collaborate in real-time” and refers to itself as “real-time document conferencing.” It’s kind of like Google Docs since it lets numerous people work on the same document and instantly shows any switches that are made. Sync.in is excellent for working on documents and notes, brainstorming, planning, training, and much more.

Pricing: While it is totally free and requires no sign-up, you can get Sync.in PRO for $Two per user/month (after a 30-day trial).

Note: If you want to create fresh notes from your desktop, you’ll need to install a puny lump of software.

Twiddla

Twiddla is a very popular web based meeting place for explore groups, since it permits you to markup websites, graphics, pics, and more via a whiteboard. Not only can you collaborate with others, but you can also browse the web together and hold conference calls. The free account only offers meetings, document and picture sharing, screen captures, and voice talk. There are no downloads, plugins, or sign-up required.

Pricing: While Twiddla does suggest a very limited free account, there are three other plans: Professional ($14/month), Enterprise ($49/month), and Universal ($189/month).

Vyew is excellent for meeting and sharing content in real-time. You can collaborate on photos, files, documents and movies. It includes whiteboarding implements, screen sharing, VoIP, forums, voice notes, activity tracking, text talk, and more. There are no installations required and the free version gives you unlimited use with up to ten people, but it is ad supported. A unique feature of Vyew is that it offers fairly a few plug-ins that can add extra functionality to the service like adding MP3’s, YouTube movies, and polls.

Pricing: There are two other plans: plus ($9.95/month) and professional ($Nineteen.95/month).

Huddle

Huddle is a cloud platform that lets you collaborate, share files, and manage projects. It offers a yam-sized list of features, plus fairly a few unique features that you won’t find on other similar services. For example, their versioning feature permits for collaboration on the same documents, yet it keep tracks of different version of that document so that you can revert back if needed. Documents can be accessed from anywhere including mobile devices like the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and iPad. The Huddle developer API is also available for anyone wanting to build an application or mash-up.

Pricing: Huddle comes with a 14-day free trial, after which you’ll have to contact them for a quote based on your needs.

ShowDocument

ShowDocument offers online meetings, screen sharing, and real-time collaboration – all with a single click. Integrated features include: whiteboarding devices, talk translator, talk (voice, movie, text), and the sharing of web pages, YouTube movies, and Google maps. You can customize ShowDocument and add functionality via the App Center. If you plan on using it frequently, you can also install the Chrome extension or Firefox Add-on. There is also an Android app for those who want to use the service on their mobile device.

321Meet

312Meet, presently in public beta Two, provides unlimited online meetings and share your screen without any limitations. All you need to get began is to come in your email address and either join or host a meeting using the widget on their website. While the site is free, you can upgrade to a PRO, Business, or Enterprise account in order to get rid of ads and commercials. Unluckily, all upgraded accounts are not available in the beta phase; so you’ll have to wait until the service is out of beta.

Honorable Mentions

In case the above twelve aren’t enough or just aren’t what you’re looking for, here are five other suggestions.

Fuze Meeting

“A cloud-based visual collaboration and individual telepresence service that enables the mobile enterprise to share any content, from any device, any where in the world.” You can collaborate in real-time with high-resolution content.

ZOHO Meeting

“Zoho empowers you to meet and collaborate with your online remote audience.” It’s good for sharing your desktop and collaborating in real-time. It also supports voice conferencing via telephone or VoIP.

Skype

Skype of course supports group movie calling so that you can talk to and see more than one person at a time. However, this is not an online implement (as most know), you will need to download Skype Five.0 or higher to make group movie calls.

Facebook

Facebook presently supports online movie calling (in partnership with Skype), however you presently cannot do group movie calls. You can, however, have group text talks. It’s worth looking into since almost everyone has a Facebook account now-a-days.

Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangouts is another social network that supports movie talking and with a group. You’ll need to install the Google voice and movie plugins to get embarked. Once you do, you can also use movie in Gmail, iGoogle, and Orkut. It’s now one of the easiest ways to see a group of friends at one time.

So which on is the best for online meetings? You be the judge! Let us know in the comments below.

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