One of the biggest problems when hiring new professors is to bring them to your own country. There are many reasons that the professor won’t move to your country but with the use of video conferencing tools the professor can give a lecture  just by using a computer and a webcam.

Imagine a medical school student to watch a doctor/professor to perform a operation live even though he/she is miles and miles away. The power of video and audio interaction is amazing for the human brain.

Video conferencing tools improved its capabilities to let more than one person to collaborate and share info. Gotomeeting will release in the first quarter of 2011 its new version of the software that will allow up to 6 people to interact with each other using HD Faces technology without the necessary to buy new hardware.

In 2010 online education became a powerful and affordable way for students to get a degree. Even though the student will lose the interaction with other students and professors, the possibility of getting a degree increased dramatically. Even the tuition is much more affordable than regular university’s tuition.

Some students are concerned about getting an online degree due to not get as same treatment as a student that got a 0n-campus degree. This myth has been debunked after many major companies spoke about hiring very smart people with online degrees.

Even though the most benefits of video conferencing in the classroom relies on how effectively the instructor manages it, successful stories of its incorporation can be seen everywhere.

Here is come of the universities that offer online degrees:

University of Phoenix	Kaplan University	Strayer University
Devry University	Ivy Bridge College	Ashford University

I believe 2010 was by far the most productive in the video conferencing industry. Lots of new features were added to the existing softwares and improvements were made to make the softwares run even in slow machines.

The leader in video conferencing Citrix was one the companies that made more announces regarding new features in its products, specially GoToMeeting.

The giant software maker Microsoft is trying to catch up in the video conferencing industry with its product Microsoft Live Meeting. It has many benefits such as interaction with other products from the Office family but still needs many improvements in order to compete with products such as GoToMeeting and Webex.

With the grow of the video conferencing industry, many video conferencing products were launched in 2010 plus small competitor are increase their share in the market.

Big companies like Cisco are investing heavily in infrastructure in order to keep with the demand of video conferencing in 2011.

Besides all the improvements in the video conferencing softwares, scientists found a way to bring holographic videoconferencing to live with images transmitted from anywhere in the world. No one expected to have this type of technology before 2020 but it seems that it will be much sooner.

Even though video conferencing is much cheaper than 5 years ago, it’s still not for everyone. There are plenty of people that would never start using video conferencing because they think it is not as reliable as a phone call.

In the latest Entrepreneur magazine they interview two business owner to know what they think about it. The results were amazing.

In one hand, Victor Cheng (CEO Coach and Author) can’t live with it. Here is what he thinks about it. “I find that it’s just not as reliable as the phone. It’s plain and simple: I’ve made literally tens of thousands of phone calls, particularly on the landline, and it works like 10,000 out of 10,000 times. On video it seems like someone somewhere always has a problem.”

On the other hand, Adrienne Graham (CEO of Hues Consulting and Management and founder of Empower Me!) can’t live without it. Here is what she thinks about video conferencing. “I started using videoconferencing to save money on travel, break into the international markets and as a way to compete with bigger recruiting firms with bigger budgets”.

As we see in both opinions, video conferencing is not for everyone but it is one of the fastest and convenient way to communicate with people around the globe.

In the beginning of this month it was announced that a team led by SPIE Fellow Nasser Peyghambarian at the University of Arizona has developed a new type of holographic telepresence that allows the projection of a three-dimensional moving image without the need for special eyewear such as 3D glasses or other auxiliary devices.

Holographic videoconferencing will enable people to communicate with each other separated by thousands of miles as if they were in the same room, literally.
The technology is not fully developed, it has to be perfected to make it work properly. So far the image is too small and the refresh rate is two seconds.

The next step is to make the refresh rate faster and produce bigger screens to compete with the current 3D technologies in the market.

Watch the holographic video here:

The technology will feature the innovative new Citrix Multistream HD™, which will let the attendants to participate in a video conferencing with up to six people.
The total maximum resolution allowed for the session is 1920p x 960p, making it the first in the market. The technology will also allow people to view video and the presenter’s shared desktop in the same screen.

The software featuring the new technology HD Faces™ was previewed at Citrix Synergy Berlin and will become commercial available for the first quarter of 2011.

“When customers say they want video capabilities combined with web conferencing, they don’t mean tiny choppy images – but that’s what they currently get with the products on the market today,” said Bernd Christiansen, vice president and chief technology office of Citrix. “What they actually want is to see the details in others’ facial expressions just like in a face-to-face meeting or training session. That’s why it was so important to us to incorporate high-resolution video into our collaboration products. I’m confident that we’re the first to combine web and video conferencing the right way and – most importantly – to make it delightful for customers to use.”

“We’ve made it so easy and natural to work on a shared document in a video conference that I can’t imagine why any businessperson would ever want to use a standalone desktop video conferencing solution again,” Christiansen added.

Below is the demo presentation of Gotomeeting with HD faces. Just click in the video to watch it.

Frost & Sullivan also mentioned that web conferencing companies that explore and integrate their technologies with IM, VoIP, and video conferencing will take advantage of the explosive growth over the next 5 years.
Companies like Cisco WebEx has started integrating some of those technologies to their product. For example, WebEx AIM Pro Business Edition for enterprise instant messaging, built-in VoIP and video built on the H.264 video codec.

Another news from Frost & Sullivan is that Citrix Online was recognized in September as the number two in revenue market share as a web conferencing provider.  Citrix online family of products count of GotoMeeting, GotoWebinar, GotoTraining has helped them gain significant growth in the last few years due to easy-to-use and low cost products.

“We were pleased to learn that we were the only major provider that grew market share in 2009,” said Brett Caine, general manager of Citrix Online. “This tangible validation of our leadership in web conferencing derives from our vision of combining just the right features with ease of use and affordability. We’ll continue to lead in this space as we innovate with new products and capabilities that help our customers succeed.”

Webinars prove to be a very effective marketing tool in today’s commercial world. Different ways of promotion and advertising can now easily be feed to the public with the employment of a webinar. In addition, a webinar can also be used as a training tool for your marketing team.

If you’re planning to do a webinar to market your product or service, try these simple webinar marketing ideas to effectively conduct a successful webinar for your business:

• Plan in advance. Make sure to gather all the information and resources you would need for your webinar. To ensure a smooth flow of the process, draw out a schedule for the whole webinar preparation. If you plan to hire a speaker for your webinar, contact several potential speakers and clearly discuss your marketing plan.
• Pick the best time when you can reach the highest possible viewers. Normally, weekdays starting from Tuesday to Thursday at around 2 to 3 in the afternoon would be peak for national viewers’ attendance.
• Prepare for the webinar. Ensure that you or your speakers (if you’ve hired someone to speak in behalf of you) create a concrete process of the webinar. Equip yourself with very important technical information that would enlighten your audience about your product or service. For possible technical mishaps, always make sure to have a contingency plan. Run through the slideshows as well as the visuals that you incorporate in your webinar and thoroughly check for errors as well as irrelevant information.
• Study your niche. Take time to learn about your chosen target market and analyze patterns on how they respond to different marketing approaches. Understand the ways on how to reach them. Stitch possible different marketing strategies that may apply in the promotion of your product or service through your webinar. Your audience should easily respond and build connection to you through your webinar.
• Since webinars are naturally one-way, which has a limited interaction with viewers, it’s also important to keep your webinar engaging and dynamic. Make sure your viewers are captivated and focused on what you try to convey to them. An interesting webinar and an exciting talk would definitely help keep your viewers eyes on your presentation.
• Encourage registration and invite your audience to your surveys. If one of your audiences registers then it’s an avenue to really get to know him or her. Tailor your registration according to what particular information you need to capture while also including questions that would be relevant to the webinar. In addition, surveys and polls make your audience engage with you. This is another avenue for you to obtain feedback about you and your presentation. Take this chance to learn what you need to improve or know what your audience liked in the webinar.

Conferences can now be generated with the use of shared software like virtual whiteboards and polling, real-time VoIP (Voice over IP), visual slides, integrated presentations and spreadsheets from office applications like Power Point, MS Word, Excel, etc. On top of that, web conferencing is recordable which makes it easier for review later on.

On the business outlook, web conferencing increases productivity among staff and employees. It can mobilize anyone anywhere as access to this technology is already easily available today. This vital tool for communication is utilized to disseminate critical information to staff and employees as fast as possible. Further, trainings can already be facilitated through web conferencing procedures without the need to spend on several training equipments and personnel.

Web conferencing is also a preferred method for major advertising companies nowadays. Since recorded web conferencing clips can now be uploaded over the net or incorporated with banners for direct view by online visitors, the cost to create vibrant and convincing videos is no longer that significant to the company’s budget.

For this reason, there’s no need for very expensive outside consultants to conduct focus groups on the development of new products and services and marketing them. Department heads and technically oriented personnel can now collaborate and hold company specific brainstorming sessions.

The benefits of web conferencing don’t stop there as professionals, students, and families from all over the globe are also utilizing it.

Teachers and online educators are already using this major technology in order to continuously share knowledge to students. Web conferencing is one avenue for them to reach distant students as well as those who want to catch up with the lessons. Some college professors even provide extra educational counseling to their students while they’re hanging out in the nearby café or at the comfort of their homes.

The government, as well as politicians, also benefit from web conferencing. Important government initiatives, agendas, programs, etc. can now easily be fed to the public for awareness. In turn, the public can provide reactions and other feedback to whatever program the government is undertaking. This interactive communication between government and the public is definitely helpful for a country’s development. Moreover, politicians can readily communicate their messages and platform in order for the public to be more oriented with them and their intentions.

Web conferencing is certainly one of those important revolutionary technologies invented for communication. As development of web conferencing and other communications technology continue, so as the increase of their benefits to everybody else. There’s no doubt that in the soonest time, majority of the people around the world will have immediate access to web conferencing equipments and tools as part of their everyday lives.

Hosting a web meeting conference is perhaps one of the best solutions there is when you need to run an urgent meeting with participants in different locations, provide cost-effective means to train your employees off-site, or just launching a new service or product.

It is a known fact that most companies already have sites across the globe. Traditional communication between sites, as a result, become more costly, time-consuming and gradually ineffective. Web meeting conferencing create a faster and cheaper communication approach that is more effective than traditional communication. It is now a necessary tool in interacting with staff and employees, holding meetings and reviews, real-time training, company forums, and direct information cascade.

We’ll be giving you the following web meeting conferencing tips in order for you to host a very effective meeting with your participants:

• Invest on a good technology. Make sure to setup the most top-of-the-line web meeting conferencing equipments for a seamless flow of communication. Technical-wise, it’s considered to be the primary advice of communication consultants as well as providers. A good technology is required for your most demanding needs.
• Learn to know the technology involved with web meeting conferencing. For starters, a PC or a laptop should have an Internet link, digital video camera or a webcam for the live video, VoIP (Voice over IP) for the real-time audio, a software or application to coordinate the conference, and most of all, adequate space on the server as well as bandwidth in order to accommodate the meeting.
• Check the web meeting conferencing software if they can be fully integrated with your office applications. If so, it would already be easier to quick-launch the program and send invitations to your participants through messaging, e-mail or calendar.
• Now that you’re done scrutinizing the technology, proceed with your own planning for the web meeting. First of all, always keep in mind to draw an outline of what you want to accomplish. Don’t forget to limit yourself to what can only be covered in the time allotted for the web meeting.
• Though most web meeting conferencing occurrences are urgent in nature, it’s still best to pick whom you would want to attend. Don’t forget to invite them using the web meeting conferencing software. Provide them the complete information like links, access codes, time, etc that they’ll need in order to participate.
• Send out a complete agenda of the meeting and list down brief contents and highlights so the participants will have an idea of what the meeting is all about.
• Before starting your meeting, make sure to gather expectations from your participants and enumerate your expectations to them as well. Web meeting conferencing is a great opportunity for you to collate raw reactions from your participants.
• Record the whole meeting, so those who are not able to participate in the conference will also have the opportunity to review it. It’s a good strategic advantage that you can employ for your business.
• After the meeting is done, it’s best to send thank messages to acknowledge their participation. Leave them some survey to answer in order for you to have a reference in the future on what to improve and how to engage your participants more.

Video conferencing may be commonly used in the business world, as its use is totally immense. However, video conferencing is slowly being applied for personal uses outside commerce. A number of regular people are gradually coming across the immeasurable features of video conferencing.

The technology is not entirely unfamiliar to private individuals since it’s been around for decades now. Take for example the videophone. Two parties are required to configure the same setup as a result; the callers’ faces are displayed on a small screen to which they look at. Another example is the revolutionary webcams, which allowed people to communicate at the convenience of their computers.

Video conferencing has become a very beneficial tool especially for families nowadays. As globalization has opened a lot of doors for all walks of life so as the number of people leaving their families for a jobs somewhere on the other side of the globe. This holds true to the growing number of immigrants to and fro nations. Video conferencing technology serves as a very important tool for communication – live communication with a human touch.

The possibility of families and loved ones from across the globe meeting real-time in the convenience of their own homes and interacting at real-time events is simply magical. This bridges the worldwide gap and brings families and loved ones together. This more than what commonly slow webcam messaging can offer.

Video conferencing also touches on a certain segment of education – that is distance education. Some people may opt to utilize the ability of video conferencing technology as a tool for education. Personal uses extend from the one receiving lessons to the one giving lessons. A willing student may use video conferencing in order to learn from a teacher who’s located on some part of the globe. A teacher also shares knowledge to his or her student through the means of video conferencing technology. This is a good opportunity for the common educator to earn money aside from the regular eight to five teaching job at school.

In today’s technology driven world where electronic gadgets crash and go, the use of video conferencing is a perfect solution for troubleshooting needs. You don’t need to carry your heavy electronic gadgets, and all the wires that come with them, just to get it fix in an electronic shop. You don’t need to drive miles and spend a lot of time in traffic just to get to your technician’s place. All you need is a complete setup of video conferencing equipments in order to communicate with your technician. You can do the troubleshooting and fixing while you and your technician are at your respective homes.

The convenience of video conferencing technology today hasn’t only been exclusive to business use. It has now spread its influence even in the regular activities of private individuals.