Web conferencing is a convenient way of getting in touch with a client or with your team, not only for closing business or having a conversation, but also for presentations and working collaboratively. However, if you don’t plan on web conferencing often, it doesn’t make sense to pay for a monthly subscription fee for a web conferencing tool. Unfortunately, this is how most online meeting providers work, as they either charge on a month-to-month or yearly basis or sometimes require even longer commitments from customers.
If you want to web conference, but don't want the monthly commitment, you have two options--either choose one of the many free web conferencing tools available, or purchase a web conferencing day pass.
While there are a number of great free web conferencing tools available, many times they lack some of the more advanced features such as polling and surveys that are useful for a successful web conference. In addition, they often don't allow for video conferencing, which can be useful depending on the purposes of your meeting.
Here are the top web conferencing providers that offer day passes. ~ July 1, 2011
- My WebEvent - This web conferencing provider sells day passes for as little as $19.95. For that price, users get both audio and video broadcasting, application sharing, screen sharing, chat, video playback and more. It’s browser-based for guests, so they don’t have to download absolutely anything to participate in meetings. Hosts can also require attendees to register to participate in the web conference, so they know exactly who’ll be coming, allowing them to tailor the web conference for the attendees.
- Glance - If you want to have a larger web conferencing session, then this is the tool for you. For $9.99 you can buy a day pass, which lets you meet with up to 100 people. One of the best things about Glance is that it has a beautiful user interface. In addition, it loads very fast. It’s also possible for hosts to share their keyboard and mouse, so they can work collaboratively with their attendees. Screen-sharing works very well, and has little to no lag for participants, even when playing video.
- Banckle - This web conferencing tool has two options of day passes, one which costs $9 for one host and up to 25 attendees, or the $15 option that allows up to 50 attendees. It uses a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, so it works on all browsers and operating systems. This also means that the meeting room will look the same to every participant, ensuring a uniform meeting experience. In addition, users can choose to have either a web conference or a video conference, and can record their session for future viewing.
- Skype Premium - For $4.99, it's possible to get a video conferencing day pass from Skype. Skype already allows two people to video chat for free. However, the day pass increases the possible number of participants to 10. Skype is known worldwide and reknowned for it's reliability, so it won't disappoint. For video conferencing to be possible, only the meeting host needs to have purchased the Skype Premium day pass; however, attendees must be Skype users--a minor inconvenience for a very cost-effective solution.