Dimdim myScreen 6 is here!

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!

Tweet your webinar

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

Promoting your free webinar

Last week, over on WebinarWire, Eugenia Cosinchi shared some thoughts on How to Promote Your Webinar or Webcast on a Budget.

Her suggestions include:

1. Publish your webinar on your blog or website
2. Optimize your webinar page for search engines (SEO)
3. Send a press release
4. Send a newsletter
5. Use social media to promote it
6. Publish it on website that promote webinars
7. Create partnerships
8. Notify your contacts
9. Publish a video teaser on YouTube
10. Start a contest
11. Paid advertising
    

In the comments, Rachel Levy of WebinarListings.com added a suggestion (similar to Eugenia's #6) that people add their webinars to listing services.  I agree, this can be a great way to reach new participants. 

Here are some webinar listing services:

• WebinarListings.com
• WebinarHero.com
• WebinarBase.com

If you're trying to keep costs down (as in free), #5 "Use Social Media to Promote it" has the potential to give you the best return for your time.  If you have good connections on Twitter and Facebook, they can be a good way to get the message out.  Using keywords potential attendees would be searching for in your tweets, messages, posts, will increase your chances of being found. 

If you're new on Twitter (or aren't on Twitter) or if you don't have many Facebook friends/fans, LinkedIn can be a great resource for you.  Targeting the communities that may have an interest in your topic area, will help you expose your event to many more people who may be receptive.

If you're offering an ongoing series of free webinars, you may want to setup a LinkedIn Group and/or Facebook Page.  This gives you another platform for promoting, and can give your attendees a place for follow-up discussions after your event.

How do you promote your free webinars?

Thanks,

-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter: @dimdim
facebook: dimdim.com/facebook

Win an Apple iPad with Dimdim!

UPDATE: April 12, 2009

Our first iPad winner is Dimdim ID lifeinparadise

We'll contact you via email.  In the meantime, we're ready to giveaway more iPads.  Just keep tweeting and signing up!

 

That's right, Dimdim can help you get a new Apple iPad!

Simply sign up for a 30-day Dimdim Pro trial via this URL or 30-day Dimdim Webinar trial via this URL and you instantly qualify to win the new Apple iPad!  It's that simple. 

You will fall in love with Dimdim, the easy, open, affordable web conferencing tool while you wait to get your iPad.  We'll pick a winner in the next week, so sign up now!  No credit card required.

And tell all your friends via this Twitter link about our contest - if we reach 5x our normal daily signups by Tuesday we'll give away 5 iPads! So tweet away to increase your chances of winning!

(And we'll determine if there is enough buzz & excitement to build Dimdim for iPad)  Stay tuned!

Retweet To Give: Help the American Cancer Society (#dimdimgives)

The nominations are in and the American Cancer Society (@americancancer) was the clear choice for our Retweet To Give charity.  Now for the fun part, raising $2,500 together.

Here's how it works.  Every time someone takes one of the actions below, I get to add more money to our donation. 

Tweet or Retweet the message below (each tweet = $0.10 donated by Dimdim):

This tweet=$0.10 for @americancancer. Plz retweet to raise more. http://bit.ly/dimdimgives #dimdimgives

Try Dimdim & Raise Money

Have everyone you know use our special Dimdim sign up link.  Whether they're signing up for Dimdim Free web conferencing, starting a free 30-day trial of Dimdim Pro or Dimdim Webinar, or purchasing an account, using the link means more money donated.  

• Sign Up for Dimdim Free = $0.10 donated by Dimdim
  
• Sign Up for Dimdim Pro or Dimdim Webinar Trial = $1 donated by Dimdim
• Buy Dimdim Pro Monthly = $15 donated by Dimdim
• Buy Dimdim Webinar Monthly = $25 donated by Dimdim
• Buy Dimdim Pro Annual = $60 donated by Dimdim
• Buy Dimdim Webinar Annual = $120 donated by Dimdim

Or you can give them this link:

http://bit.ly/dimdimcaresaboutcancer

That's it! We just need to get people to tweet/retweet or sign up using the special Dimdim sign up link.  Every time someone does, I get to donate more money to the American Cancer Society (@americancancer.)

Thanks!

-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
twitter: @dimdim

p.s. I know it's exciting to raise money for a good cause, but I won't be able to count scripted/automated tweets.  It's best if you tweet and just get your friends to retweet.

---

Money Raising Tweets!

 

Dimdim's Retweet To Give (#dimdimrtg) - Nominate Your Favorite Charity

Contests are fun. Giving makes us feel good.  Dimdim has other great things happening to help others, but let’s mix it up this year and earn some money for a charity together!

Nominations are closed.  Help us raise money for the American Cancer Society!

As we enter the holidays and bring 2009 to an end, join me in our Retweet To Give (#dimdimrtg) contest to help others.  I'm hoping to raise $2,500.00 for at least one charity.

1. To nominate your favorite charity, tweet this:

2. Get as many people as you can to retweet it! Family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, favorite celebrities -- anyone who will help you! 

See nominations at the bottom of this post.

The charity with the most tweets before midnight EST on Friday, December 19, 2009 will benefit from the contest.  (Could be up to $2,500.)

Starting this weekend, you’ll see @dimdim kick off the giving side of this contest.  There’ll be a number of ways to help increase how much the charity gets. 

Get your charity selected, good luck!

Thanks!

-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
twitter: @dimdim

---

Charity	Count	Tweets
American Cancer Society	29
Caring for Carcinoid Foundation	1
Doctors Without Borders	1
@OneDaysWages	1
@DanaFarber	2
Granite State Independent Living	3
Autism Speaks!	2
USA Cares	1

Dimdim web conferencing, giving thanks to you

With the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, I can't help but think about all the things I'm personally thankful for, like family and friends.  From a Dimdim perspective I'm thankful for the most important part of our business, you.

Whether you're one of the hundreds of thousands of Dimdim customers who have referred friends, the thousands following @dimdim on Twitter, or the millions who have met using Dimdim -- Thank You!

Building a collaboration platform and company to challenge an industry is incredibly exciting, but seeing how Dimdim is being used and shared makes it worth the effort!  We are taking steps to give back to you: from Dimdim Free referrals letting you increase your room size; to Dimdim Pro & Webinar referrals now letting you make money -- but it's always worth stopping to explicitly say thanks!

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

Thanks!

-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter: @dimdim

Learn the secret to a great web meeting

What is the secret to a great web meeting?

Wayne Turmel, the president of www.greatwebmeetings.com, offers his suggestions for a great web meeting.

Any meeting is great if it does three things:

1. Accomplishes what it set out to do
2. Doesn’t take longer than necessary
3. Doesn’t bore everyone to tears
   

First, you have to decide what it is you want the meeting to do and why a web meeting is the best way to accomplish it. Take the time to plan your meeting:

• Who will participate? Do you want everyone to be able to speak at once or do you want them to use the Chat feature to comment and ask questions?  Most importantly… do the people you invited need to be there? Nothing drives an audience crazier than being forced to attend a web meeting they have no opinion about, input into or stake in. 
• What information needs to be shared and how will you share it? (Think collaboration tools, PowerPoint files, application sharing, documents). Pick the best way to make your point quickly.
• How long is your meeting? Anything over 40 minutes and you’re on borrowed time. Remember, two short meetings are much more productive than one long one. If you can share some information or get people thinking about topics before the meeting it can speed things up considerably. Preparation is key.
• Have you told them what to expect? Always let the audience know what the expected outcome is and how long you expect it to take. If they know it will be an hour, and at the end of it you’ll have a decision on the Johnson project, they’re more willing to hang in there than if they have no idea how long the pain will last or what the meeting is about.
• Are you building in chances for people to participate? The more you actively engage them, the longer they’ll stay interested. If it’s a one way data dump, you’ll lose them shortly. Think about asking questions that require written input, you can have them vote agree/disagree with their response buttons, if their microphones are live, let them talk and ask questions as you go instead of holding them til the end. RULE OF THUMB… you should never go more than 3-4 PowerPoint slides without some kind of interaction with your audience, even if it’s just checking in to see who’s still awake.
• Have you practiced? Nothing kills a presentation like lots of ummm, errrs, looking for lost notes or sounding like you’re reading off the page. Practice the important pieces of your presentation, make notes to yourself, and don’t be afraid to move your arms, talk loudly and look up from your script. These things all add colour to your voice. And reading your slides or notes over to yourself is not practicing. Practice out loud… in real time….. a lot.

Wayne Turmel is the president of www.greatwebmeetings.com, a company that specializes in helping people use web-based presentation tools to do more than simply present, but to communicate and connect. He is also the host of the Cranky Middle Manager Show podcast, and doesn’t suffer bad meetings well. He can be reached at +1 630 347-8369 or wturmel@greatwebmeetings.com

Draft Your Fantasy Football Team Online & WIN PRIZES!

I was talking to my cousin Mike this week and he gave me a great idea. Then I heard from my friend at FanDraft, a fantasy football live draft tool. Because so many people draft their Fantasy Football teams in person or via the phone, Dimdim is a great solution to save them time, money and travel. After all, fantasy football is about making some money and winning...so let Dimdim save you some money and help you win!

Here is how to use Dimdim to draft your team:

1. Sign up for Dimdim for free. You'll be able to host draft sessions with up to 20 people on your fantasy football team. (if you need bigger rooms you can easily upgrade at any time.)

2. Schedule a Dimdim meeting for draft day and enter the email addresses of your draft partners - an invitation will be sent automatically. Or grab our instant Webinar Widget and post it on your site or blog or tweet it to your partners & teammates.

3. Start your Dimdim meeting on draft day and share your desktop or web browser. Your partners all join via the link in the email and instantly see your computer screen while everyone talks to each other via the telephone conference bridge that comes with Dimdim for free.

4. Now collaborate in real time and pick that great team together! And don't worry, none of your draft partners need to install anything to help you pick the best players.

Ready... Set... Dimdim!

P.S. If you sign up for Dimdim or follow or RT @Dimdim or tweet #DimdimFantasy between now and Sept 13 you can win Madden 10 with a PS3, XBox or Wii system and FanDraft software! We're celebrating Dimdim, Madden and Fantasy Football!

Here is Kevin and Lou with the stuff you can win!

Here is the video description of the aforementioned Webinar Widget:

Free web conferencing just got bigger

We recently introduced a new benefit for our Dimdim Free members: refer a friend and your Dimdim room automatically gets bigger!

It is super easy:

1. Log into your Dimdim Free account
2. Click Refer a friend
3. Invite your friends

For each friend who signs up, your Dimdim Free room size will automatically grow to accommodate 5 more people (up to 100).

We'll be giving away a prize each day to a random friend who accepts an invite. Check back daily for winners and prizes or follow @dimdim on Twitter.

Thanks!

-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
twitter: @dimdim