WebConferencing - Collaboration Aspects

How to Enhance Collaborative Working in Online Meetings

Video & audio communications are at the basis of online and web meetings. However, it's the added-value to those basics that is currently pushing WebConferencing to the fore in the evolution of business communications. So it is that most WebConference applications feature capabilities to assist with workgroup collaboration when meeting online:

Desktop & Screen Sharing
A common feature of WebConference applications is the ability of participants to be able to share the contents of their desktop with meeting colleagues, whether screen-based or actual application-based. This can be done in full screen mode or limited to a portion of the presenters screen. This sharing role is not limited to the meeeting host and should be an option for all participants of an online meeting.

Multiple Presenters
It is anticpated that online meeting participants might be both passive & active. Indeed those active participants will have expertise to share with their colleagues and so the Desktop & Screen Sharing role should be available to all participants of an online meeting. Not all WebConference applications allow this so it needs to be a consideration when assessing your needs.

Breakout Meeting Rooms
In larger multi-participant WebMeetings, as in larger meetings generally, there may be the need for splits into smaller submeetings or breakout sessions. Again, when assessing your needs this needs to be a consideration at the outset to ensure the chosen application allows this capability.

Drawing & Annotation Tools
When taking the role of Presenter in a WebMeeting by presenting the likes of a document or web page to colleagues it can be helpful to underscore certain points or to note ideas raised. Many applications offer annotation tools that allow the presenter to share hand generated additions by simultaneously making them visible to colleagues. These iterations can be archived and shared with colleagues later as a visible reminder of important points noted.

Whiteboards & Notepads
When attending a presentation or in a meeting it is often the case that Interactive Whiteboards can be used to make a point and indeed attendees will often use notepads as aid-memoires. Online whiteboards and notepads allow online neeting participants a dedicated space for noting or outlining adeas as they arise - indeed combined too with the anotation tools to enhance effectiveness. This of course takes the capability of WebMeetings beyond the simple presentation of imformation.

Sharing of Specific Collaborative Applications
As a participant in a Webmeeting you might have the role of project manager and it might be particularly effective to share an application such as Microsoft Project or Visio as an extension to a project meeting and to, for example, effectively update a Gannt Chart online with the visible agreement of those other team members online.