Archive for June, 2008

Yugma: Start Your Own Web Conferences for free!

Why use web conferencing?

Web conferencing is now becoming an invaluable aspect of how people do business through the intenet. Today’s online collaborative software enables you to transmit the contents of your computer screen to a number of connected users around the globe in real time — a process known as screen sharing. Screen sharing allows a person to show PowerPoint presentations, images/design work, documents, spreadsheets and just about any application running on your computer to your clients and colleagues on their own computer screens.

Yugma’s web conferencing software is an ideal place to start. With its basic service, you can hold an unlimited number of meetings of up to 10 people free of charge.

Will Yugma work on my computer?

Yugma runs on Java, so you can be assured that it will run on both Windows machines and Macs (and support for computers running Linux is already in development). Being able to operate on just about any system means your attendees will have no problem using Yugma no matter what kind of computer they have.

Installing Yugma is a breeze. Yugma’s website can tell you whether you have everything you need, and if not, where to get it. All you need to provide is some user information and a valid email address on signup. Once you’ve accepted the user agreement, Yugma automatically installs on your computer and puts an icon on your desktop. Clicking on that will take you to Yugma’s login page, and once you log in, you can begin hosting your very own web conference.

Using Yugma

Using Yugma is just about as easy as installing it. Its user interface appears as a control panel outside your browser. Your web conference has a session ID which appears on top of the panel, which you have to send to your attendees to enter on the login screen when they join your session. You can also use Yugma’s function to invite your attendees using your email, in which case your attendees will just simply click on the link generated on your email message to join in the session. Yugma also provides customizable widget buttons to put on an email invite, or even on your company website to making joining your session more seamless. Your attendees will now just click on the Yugma button to join your conference.

Once you start sharing your screen you can start presenting information to all your attendees. Because they will see everything on your desktop, it would be prudent to close any files or applications that your attendees shouldn’t see during the session. All attendees will be listed on the Yugma applet where you can also chat both publicly and privately during your presentation. Yugma also supports teleconferencing during the session, in which you would have to call to the US number listed just below the session ID of the Yugma control panel (standard toll charges apply, which are billed directly by your long distance telephone provider). You can also choose to use VOIP applications such as Skype or Google Talk.

Yugma also has annotation and whiteboarding tools which help you stress out various portions of your presentation. You can also chose to have any of your attendees to show their presentations by allowing them to share their own screens as well. These make the sessions essential for a total collaborative working environment.

Other features

More features are available for premium accounts, which can hold sessions with up to 50 attendees. These features include the ability to share mouse and keyboard controls, 100 MB of shared file space, session scheduling and session recording. Yugma charges a flat monthly or a prepaid annual fee for these accounts.

With only a handful of other web conferencing appliacations currently available, Yugma’s free service offers just about the same functionality as with the other paid subscription based web conferencing products. If you’re a newcomer to the world of web conferencing, or if you’re looking an alternative to your existing application, Yugma is hard to pass on.

Click here to visit the Yugma website to view the demo and for more information.

Successful businesses have been using teleconferencing since the technology became available in the 1980s. When people need to conduct business meetings with a number of people situated in widely distributed areas, teleconferencing is still a staple in today’s business landscape. Some big companies have their own teleconferencing facilities, while others rely on their long-distance carriers to provide teleconferencing services- both of which entail steep but necessary costs.

FreeConference.com’s teleconferencing services offers the same reliability but without the exorbitant rates, making it perfect for big and small businesses.

What you can do with FreeConference

Reservationless Standard – 24-hour instant teleconferencing that can be used anytime, anywhere.

• No need to sign-up for an account.
• Choose available numbers on their website and decide on a 5 to 10 digit access code.
• Accommodates up to 50 attendees.
• Conference duration of up to 3 hours.
• Ideal for those quick emergency conference calls.

Web-Scheduled Standard – Requiring a quick sign-up. Have your teleconferences on a reserved schedule for guaranteed access.

• Schedule and manage teleconferences via their website.
• Send automated e-mail invitations/RSVPs- attendees are informed of the teleconference schedule in their own timezones.
• Accommodates up to 100 attendees.
• Conference duration of up to 4 hours.

Web-Scheduled Premium 800 – Has all the features of the Web-Scheduled Standard service plus the following extra features:

• Hold teleconferences on a toll-free 800 number for convenience.
• Full conference recording, playback and transcription for later use.
• Accommodates up to 150 attendees.
• Conference duration of up to 5 hours.

FreeConference.com’s teleconference web-scheduling in an easy, step-by-step process. The very informative website has more information about their services, as well as tips on how to make the most of your teleconferencing experience.