Internet Video conferencing

Internet video conferencing has got  quite affordable now.  For private use, some suppliers  offer it for free. But for business purposes,  one has to pay some money.

There is quite a large range of prices, depending on the offered features and how many participants can take part in a meeting.

For 4 to 8 participants the price range is between 10 to 40 dollar per month.

Some guidelines should be used, to get a good result:

• A video conference should be prepared at least as carefully as a face to face meeting, otherwise time is wasted.
• All participants should follow some agreed rules, how to prepare for the video conference and how to behave during it.
• send an invitation to all participants of the video conference, with detailed meeting agenda.

• each participant should be well prepared for the meeting.
• the moderator must master the software and check with each participant some time before, that he also masters it.
• nobody should move around during the meeting.

• everybody should speak clearly and slowly. At each time only one person should speak.
• at the end of the meeting the moderator should give a short review and announce the next steps.
• a meeting report is sent to all participants and they should either send modifications back or accept it.

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Here are links to 2 companies, which offer internet video conferencing services with many features, which are useful, for a moderate price.

A:    ivisit

offers its service, which covers the most needed features, for quite a low price, but without encryption, for up to 8 participants for 46 dollar per year

http://www.ivisit.com/


B. gotomeeting
is focusing onto larger audiences, starting with up to 15 participants for 468 dollars per year.  Its most important advantage, compared with ivisit, is its strong encryption with 128 bit, which may be very important for business purposes and justify the 10 times higher price, compared to ivisit.

http://www.gotomeeting.com/