Online Meeting Rooms Are Everywhere

Online meeting rooms are popping up all over the internet.  A quick search shows about 152,000,000 results!  Some of these are irrelevant, like booking a room at the public library online, but most are actual sites of businesses offering software and services to allow you to meet online with whomever you need to talk to for business, education, and more.

Once, the arena of videoconferencing was out of reach for all but the largest corporations.  Now, there are myriad opportunities for the small business owner or entrepreneur to utilize this essential tool of modern business.  There even are free trials available so you can explore the world of web conferencing services and see what fits your unique enterprise.

An online meeting room is essentially a dedicated spot on the internet that allows two or more people to simultaneously share information at the same time.   There can be standard or high definition video, sound, split screens to see other participants, whiteboard demonstrations, document sharing, and more.  You can have a small, simple discussion or a webinar with up to 1,000 attendees.  Some services offer multiple plans to fit your needs and the ability to record meetings, file sharing, annotation tools, scheduling, privacy control, and the ability to assign roles to participants.

A private room, leased for a monthly fee, often allows your branding with your own logos and colors.  You can provide on-demand presentations and courses, online training, and customize the program to match your organization.  You can customize your webinar sign-up form to your preference and send thank you notes when the webinar is over.  Some programs allow you to save the files you share on your site and send the attendees an URL instead of a problematic attachment.

Imagine easily using surveys, quizzes and polls to get feedback from your attendees.  Some services allow feedback during the meeting with integrated emoticons!  That feature could be helpful with a large audience.  The flexibility to interact with hundreds of people or a few without the expense of travel and accommodations makes even a pricier service a wise bargain.

If all you need to do is share your desktop for team meetings, sales demos, training, tutoring, or brainstorming, you can find free services that allow you to share your desktop with up to 20 attendees.  A monthly fee based on number of attendees will allow real-time collaboration with a whiteboard and other tools.  All the adaptability you need for your enterprise is found with a little research.

The advantages of using online meeting rooms are many.  You have flexibility to plan for scheduled meetings or spontaneously call an emergency brainstorming session.  You don’t have to spend time and money on travel expenses and sacrifice family or work time in airports and hotels.  Your carbon footprint is smaller because you are conserving energy but your relational impact with colleagues in increased because you still are meeting face to face.  Your work is more effective because you can get back to it after the session without travel time or jet lag.  Employees can work from home, flexing their schedule around family obligations and giving you quality time when on the job.

Explore the world of online meeting rooms and find the solution that solves your enterprise problems.