Posted by Steve Chazin on Sat, Aug 28, 2010 @ 11:27 PM
We just upgraded all existing accounts to the new Dimdim 6 and will roll this out officially on Tuesday at 8 am ET (so keep it quiet until then)
There are tons of new features including 4-way video chat, secure document sharing, polls, mashups and dozens of other improvements we'll tell you more about next week.
One of the coolest enhancements is the new myScreen plug-in: you can now share your entire desktop, a region of your screen or just a single application! We've redesigned the UI for both hosts and attendees to make screen sharing even easier.
I think the best way to celebrate the new myScreen is with this video I just finished last night. Enjoy!
Posted by Oren Ovung on Tue, Aug 10, 2010 @ 08:36 AM
Teleconferencing has become quite normal nowadays, and is an important part of online meetings. The built-in microphone is always an option, but as the number of attendees goes up and if people are on the road, using the telephone conference bridge may be your best option.
Just like meeting etiquette, though, teleconferencing etiquette is something important that does tend to get overlooked; which is why we have a few pointers here for you. The possibilities of mix-ups when there are a large number of people who can't see each other talking to each other are endless!
Introduce everybody at the teleconference - many people join quietly and stay on the line, then leave quietly. The only way the others at the meeting will know of their presence is if you introduce them.
Check who is present - you might have sent an agenda out with the names of attendees - in fact, you should do that - but know who all you're starting with.
State your name before speaking. Voices can all sound very similar! Starting with 'John here,...' can make a lot of difference. Ask that all participants say their name each time they speak.
Try not to be late, but if you are, even if apologizing is good, don't interrupt anybody who's speaking to do so. Wait for a pause in the speaking to introduce yourself.
Mute is your friend. You must have some friend who does the 'walrus breathing' technique on the phone, so be sure you don't do the same thing! Help keep background noise down by keeping your line on mute.
Check your phone and beeper - they should be on silent, if not turned off. Turned off is always better, to avoid static that can interrupt the meeting.
Unless you have no choice, avoid being on speaker phone - if you are on speaker, be on mute until it's your turn to speak.
As long as you keep these pointers in mind, teleconferencing should be a piece of cake! If there are any potential problems you've come across that I've missed here, be sure to leave a comment.
~Oren
Posted by Oren Ovung on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 @ 01:30 PM
There are people who are of the opinion that an online meeting can never replace a 'real' one, and that the personal touch is necessary. I don't agree with them, and here are the reasons why I prefer Dimdim meetings to the so-called 'real' ones.
- It's extremely simple. No installation of anything, all you need is a browser to be able to host and attend Dimdim meetings and webinars.
- https://www1.someotherwebservice.com/join/914793536/106168160, now try remembering that. Yes, it's difficult, which is why when you Dimdim, you've a smart URL which you can easily remember.
- No wasting time with 'Could you pass that sheet of paper along, please, thank you...' Sharing documents during a meeting has never been easier.
- Who really likes wearing a tie? And every woman complains about wearing heels. When you Dimdim, you can sign in from home and very well attend the meeting in your pajamas, if you so prefer.
- They say that nothing comes free, but the 'they' in question obviously have never tried Dimdim.
- I like knowing that I'm doing my bit for the earth while I have my online meeting - check out how Dimdim is green!
- Public and private chats are definite blessings. There are always moments during a meeting when you want to share a thought with a buddy that you don't really want the whole room to know.
- Dimdim lets you share your screen with others, which involves no hassle for whoever you want to share your screen with - all they need is to do is accept an invite and enter their name. Sometimes, others need to see what you see to get your point.
- The host is always in control - with one click, you can start sharing a collaborative white board everybody can contribute to. And if they get too rowdy, you can lock them out.
- Writing the minutes of a meeting is one of the most exasperating parts of a meeting - unless you're Dimdiming and have a recording of the meeting, as well as chat history.
Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to chip in with your thoughts and tell me why I'm right or why I'm wrong!
Posted by Oren Ovung on Thu, Aug 05, 2010 @ 08:54 AM
Here it is, we have an announcement to make – the new Moodle Dimdim Integration pack is available. Now you can do synchronized real time collaboration from inside Moodle (Open Source Learning Management System www.moodle.org) itself through Dimdim.
This means that you can create effective online learning sessions with Dimdim. You can use your Moodle account to start Dimdim classroom session directly. We've made sure that it's as smoothly integrated as possible, to make it easy for you.
If you don’t have a Dimdim account, no problem, you can sign up for a free account from right inside your Moodle account. There are quite a few things you can do within your Moodle setup: start, schedule and join your Dimdim meetings, use Dimdim audio and video, share documents and presentations and use the whiteboard, to mention a few.
So you get all the features of Moodle and of Dimdim, to make sure your e-learning sessions go as smoothly as possible. You can download the integration pack and the documentation here.
Posted by Oren Ovung on Tue, Aug 03, 2010 @ 08:56 AM
Let's say you are the moderator of a webinar. You have your agenda, you have lined up presenters who will chip in with their two cents, and you know the ins and outs of the Dimdim software you'll be using. Think you're prepared? Let's take a look at everything you'll have to do:
- Ensure webinar goal and objectives are met
- Monitor public chat
- Monitor private chat
- Handle comments
- Handle questions
- Make sure each presenter gets off the mark on time and wraps up on time
- Handle any technical issues, for yourself, presenters and attendees
Those are quite a few things you will have to juggle - and it would be very easy to drop a ball.
For instance, while you're trying to make sure each presenter has their agenda ready and are all set to make their presentations, you may have a multitude of private chat messages ranging from "Who is presenting right now?" to "How do I switch the audio to come out of my speakers instead of my headset" to "I think my microphone is off, how do I turn it back on?"
The most sensible way to deal with this would be to have a co-pilot - a “buddy” who will take care of managing discussions while you take care of the webinar itself. Just be sure to divide responsibilities clearly beforehand - who takes care of what? This will make sure that you keep your sanity, and achieve the objectives of the webinar, while it runs smoothly. After all, if you drop a ball, your buddy will be there to catch it!
Posted by Oren Ovung on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 @ 09:05 AM
It could be Utopian to picture a meeting with no distractions whatsoever, but knowing what distractions to expect can help you minimize their impact. What draws your attention away during meetings? It could be the meeting environment, technology, or the presenters themselves.
If meetings are conducted for the sake of having weekly meetings, of course, it's too much to expect attendees to be on the edge of their seats. But here are a few things that could be frequent troublemakers:
Ambient noise: It could be anything - the air-conditioning or heating, conversations, people around you, traffic, static from phones around... So be mindful where you decide to sign in to the meeting from.
The Presenter: If you are the presenter, make sure that you stick to the agenda and know your presentation well. Also ensure that you speak slowly and clearly, and leave room for interjections, if that's how you've planned your presentation. Whatever objects you display,make sure they are easily viewed and explained.
The Presentation: The whole point of using slides during a presentation is to reinforce what you're saying - your audience hears you, and what you say is reinforced through what they read or see. So make the slides easy to read, in a large font, and not too text heavy.
Make them interesting - boredom is a powerful distraction. And NEVER read out from the slides themselves. Give the gist, give examples - your attendees know how to read for themselves.
Technology: Remember that Murphy knew what he was talking about. What can go wrong, will go wrong. So check, recheck and then check again - once your audience's attention has wandered, luring it back will be difficult.
Late arrivals: Just like the old days in the classroom! Late arrivals drew so much ire because of the distraction they caused. The same goes for meetings. A few minutes to settle down is reasonable, but make it clear in the agenda that beyond a particular time, while they are welcome to have the presentation mailed to them, they're not quite as welcome to participate.
Mind the clock: Start on time, stop on time. If you don't, expect clock-watching.
Troublemakers: Again, a throwback to the classrooms - as the number of attendees increase, so do the chances of troublemakers. Make sure you have a game plan to handle those who want to be heard and have nothing to contribute.
Turn ‘em off: It's elementary, but we say it again - turn those cell phones off, those beepers off, and sign out of your mail and any IM.
All of these rank very high as far as distractions are concerned.
I'm sure you must have come across more memorable, though not pleasant, distractions during your meetings - do leave a comment and let everyone know how you handled it.
~Oren
Posted by Oren Ovung on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 @ 09:09 AM
A meeting or a presentation is never supposed to be one person talking at a whole bunch of people. It's supposed to be one person talking to each individual present at the meeting. To achieve this rather lofty goal - it's not very easy - you have to get to know your audience. Here are some of the things you have to pay attentions to.
- Names: If it's practically possible, make sure you know every member by name and sight (or by voice), so that you don't have to resort to saying, "Er…Um…Patri…Wend… erm Ted" or address the wrong question to the wrong person because you don’t know the person’s name. This is also an excellent way to keep your audience interested and involved.
- Background: Cultural backgrounds are important, for two reasons: gestures can mean different things in different cultures. Knowing your audience will ensure that you don’t offend without intending to. Jokes are the other reason - they can lighten up a meeting and can be invaluable, but you have to know your audience's background before you make any - some are offensive to certain communities, obviously, and you need to know which they are and steer clear of them.
- Personal experiences: As meetings get longer, your audience can get distracted. Personalizing your presentation is a great way - using imagery can help to draw a response from certain members of your audience, so that you can keep them involved.
- Age: The age of your audience is important, too. If they all fall into the same approximate age group, you're in luck - you can decide the tone of your presentation according to that. If the range is too wide, you might have to keep your tone as close to neutral as possible.
- Attitude: Also consider whether your attendees are there because they want to be or because they have no choice - this will affect their interest in the meeting, and tactics you'll have to adopt to keep them interested and engaged.
- Timing: Know what time zones they're from, so that you don't stretch the meeting to inconvenient times. Nothing productive will come out of a meeting with attendees glancing at their watch every ten seconds, wondering when they can just leave.
So you can see how easy it is to make mistakes and stumble, if you don't know your audience! Even if you do make the effort to get to know them, you might end up making mistakes - if you do, remember that admitting it and apologizing is an excellent way to smooth ruffled feathers.
Oren
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Fri, Jul 23, 2010 @ 09:28 AM
If you're offering free webinars, you may find getting people to sign up is the biggest challenge. I recently shared some free services for promoting your webinar, but it's important to also share your events with your followers and network. Sharing your webinar is easy using the Dimdim registration widget.
Every scheduled event in Dimdim automatically has a registration widget created. You can use the sharing buttons at the top of the widget to let everyone know about it through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other services. Click the button at the top of your widget for the service you want.
For example if you click Twitter, it will automatically take you to the Twitter web site with a tweet ready to go.
You'll probably want to customize the message to say a little more about your event, but the link will take people directly to your widget to sign up. If you're posting to Twitter, using keywords and hashtags your attendees might be searching for will give you better exposure. Twitter offers some hashtag advice including:
- only use hashtags on tweets relevant to the topic
- don't over-tag a single tweet
So it's easy enough to tweet your registration link -- it's up to you what you do with it.
If you have any great approaches you use for getting more attendees to register for your webinars, let me know in the comments below, via Twitter, or on our Facebook page.
Thanks!
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter: @dimdim
facebook: dimdim.com/facebook
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Wed, Jul 21, 2010 @ 11:00 AM
The Small Business News posted this great little clip about Dimdim.
I've never met in a home and garden business--mostly coffee shops for me. From what I understand, people have held meetings in cool and exciting places.
What is the coolest place you've been able to work with Dimdim?
(Let me know in the comments below, on Twitter, or our Facebook page).
Thanks!
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter: @dimdim
facebook: dimdim.com/facebook
Posted by Oren Ovung on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 @ 10:11 AM
So you have your Dimdim Webinar account, you have your username and have chosen your password, you rub your hands together and get down to scheduling your first... Wait, what should you schedule, a web meeting or a webinar? What's the big difference, anyway? Good questions and I’m here to answer them.
The first factor you have to consider is - how many people do you want to invite for the meeting? If you want to invite a larger number, a Webinar is your best friend. If you want to invite over a hundred people and make the most of it, scheduling a Webinar would be your best option.
The next thing you have to consider is, what features are you likely to use during the meeting or webinar? Familiarize yourself with the features that are not available in webinars - for instance, the whiteboard and private chats are only available for web meetings. Then, take stock - how likely are you to need those tools? Are these features important for your meeting? If you're uncertain, rethink your options.Now let's say you decided to schedule a webinar and sent out over a hundred invitations. Sadly, not all of them can make it - the final count is much lower than you anticipated. You begin to wish you could have a web meeting instead! You can! Even after scheduling the meeting, it's easy to change it from webinar to web meeting, or the other way round. (On the schedule page, just set to Meeting or Webinar on the right of the meeting details.)
So now that you have made up your mind about just what kind of web meeting to schedule, you're a step closer to your first Dimdim experience. If you run into any trouble whatsoever, you have all the help you could ask for at hand through the online help and through experts who can guide you through the process. Good luck with your first Dimdim meeting!
Oren