The other day I found myself wondering - what's the difference between a webinar and a webcast. I realized that web event terminology is not always clearly defined and can be cause for some confusion.
To clarify, I went to one of our enhanced services gurus, JR Ormsby. Here are his answers to my questions.
What is a web meeting?
A web meeting is an easy, on-demand way to add a visual component to your conference calls and simply requires the Internet. Features include desktop sharing, chat, file presentation and more.
What is a webinar?
A webinar allows presenters to "push" out content to their viewers via slides. Visual components are available through the Internet and audio is heard over the phone. Registration services including an automated confirmation are included. Enhanced options such as archive features are available, if needed.
What is a webcast?
A webcast is typically used for formal presentations or those that will reach a large audience. Streaming media technology is used to distribute static and interactive content from one source to viewers. The Internet is used to broadcast live or pre-recorded audio and/or video and users do not have to download a plug-in. Interactive features like polling and Q&A are available and archives are included. Presenters are able to engage the audience and gather real-time feedback.
Web conferencing is often used as a general term in reference to any or all of the above.
I hope this helps! Let me know what you think.
Communicating Across The Globe: Part 1 Italians aren’t the only ones who talk with their hands. We all do. But one thing is certain – not all gestures share a universal meaning across the globe. Here are a few examples.
The “OK” sign: thumb and forefinger touch to form a circle, the other fingers go straight up.
Familiar and unobjectionable in the US, this sign can be confusing or deeply insulting in some regions.
While the “OK” sign means the same in Canada, the US, and most of Europe, it means “money” to the older generation in Japan. In Australia, it means “zero.” Using it will earn you blank looks in most of China and Russia, where it is seldom seen. Worse yet, it can be an obscene name in parts of Germany.
The V-sign: means “peace” or “victory” in most of the Western world, when the is palm forward. But watch out, it’s obscene in many areas to make this gesture with the back of your hand facing the viewer. To complicate things, doing it the opposite way is obscene in some regions of Germany. Japan has embraced this gesture: the V-sign - facing either way, is a common photo pose.
International body language is tricky. We are invisible in
audio conferences but
video conferences allow us to communicate on multiple levels. There are a number of benefits that come with video conferences – just be aware of what might be conveyed through certain gestures.
The business landscape is changing and more employees are working virtually. The benefits are easy to identify: money saved on facilities, flexibility, a 24/7 workforce and hiring based solely on talent - not location. This list goes on.
What about the challenges? Specifically, those associated with communication and collaboration? Dispersed workers still need to work as cohesive teams so what can be done to ensure success?
Changes in management along with technology offer the support that can allow remote employees to be as effective and productive as office-based colleagues.
Technology enables the virtual marketplace but management must also change to reflect, enable and support this new way of working. Trust and performance metrics are increasingly more important.
So where does social media fit in with this? Are timesheets still relevant? For more information on tools like IP Telephony, unified communications and management techniques strategies, download the free whitepaper:Best Practices for Managing a Virtual Team by Frost & Sullivan.
Almost everyone I know talks about time pressures and about finding ways to get
things done more quickly. In fact, I’ve noticed how many more people ‘rate’ the companies they do business with based on the availability of online tools. A few years ago I wouldn’t have pictured myself as do-it-yourselfer who views the Internet as a lifeline. But I’m there now. Can’t imagine life without the convenience of online banking, shopping and Googling.
Then there’s the ‘how to work more productively’ category of life. Thanks to online conferencing tools from
ACT Conferencing, you can save time related to business meetings. Now this is time well saved! Tools from ACT allow you to order and manage
reservationless audio conferencing and
web collaboration services online; use web-based tools to manage conferences real time; and schedule virtual meetings with the help of a time zone conversion tool. Check out the details at http://www.actconferencing.com/aboutus/press/conferencing-online-tools.aspx.
You will like the choices. For example, you can select unlimited monthly or per minute conferencing subscription plans. And pay and manage bills online. The
Conference Director tool lets hosts monitor participants, control Q&A sessions and chat online with the operator.
ReadyConnect® audio and web conferencing customers can use the
iPortal to create and manage reservationless audio accounts. If you’re like me, you want to save time AND money, which is where toll-free conferencing comes in. ACT offers toll-free access numbers in more than 60 countries. So talk amongst yourselves or with those clients, partners and associates in other countries. Meetings are better with online conferencing tools.
I’m working on a premise related to collaboration which goes something like this – unified collaboration is a process not a tool. No brainer, right. Still, most solutions today focus on functionality rather than a collaborative process.
Last blog, I proposed nuances between productivity and achievement, the latter being the true goal or a team. So, to help people achieve results, our goal is to
design solutions which place a customer experience of working together to achieve results at the center of our product development process, versus adding features to a “
conferencing service”.
To accomplish this, we’re chunking the collaborative process into phases. Here’s how I’ve broken it down so far, but this is a work in progress so I’m interested in your comments:
- Awareness - Recognized need to bring people & resources together to communicate and collaborate.
- Scheduling – Coordinating and reserving resources to create an environment and venue which facilitates achievement of objectives and productivity, “on-command” or at a pre-determined time.
- Initiation - Allow participants to conveniently join the event any time, from anywhere, from any device.
- Collaboration - Provide an environment, a venue, which promotes team work and getting things done.
- Achievement - Manage and track accomplishments against goal & objectives to ensure results.
- Assessment - Evaluate the effectiveness of the event, venue, tools, and collaborative effort and improve.
As I said, it’s a work in progress...
For some reason, “enterprise social networking” has collected some baggage, as it’s now often viewed as something which occurs within the bubble of a costly enterprise-wide software deployment. But think of it as nothing more than people working together in new and innovativeways. Any new wiz-bang tools should only help facilitate, not dictate, how people work together.
If you view meetings as an experience designed to achieve results, you’re more apt to get the engagement you want from your teams, and you’re more likely to create more innovative solutions to business or market problems.