Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Wed, May 26, 2010 @ 10:36 AM
You host a webinar. Attendance is great. Your speaker is excellent. Maybe chat interaction is great. But you still feel something didn't quite click...maybe it's your slide deck?
I've noticed recently the old PowerPoint 6x6x6 (or 7x7x7) rules still in use...No more than six bullets per slide, no more than six words per line, etc. Even if you follow those rules, you're still creating a presentation destined to put all but your most avid followers to sleep (or at least encourage them to multitask during your webinar.)
I'm a huge fan of using images with little or no text. If you're talking to the slides there's no need to repeat the text there. Find some good photos to make it more engaging. (I typically find my best images by doing a search for creative commons images on Flickr.)
There's plenty of great advice out there. Brain Rules for Presenters on SlideShare is one example of excellent, pratical advice:
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, Nov 25, 2009 @ 12:15 PM
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
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 @ 12:00 PM
Large and small companies will benefit from some advance planning for dealing with the flu pandemic. To help you get started, the US Department of Homeland Security has published Planning for 2009 H1N1 Influenza: A Preparedness Guide for Small Business and multiple agencies collaborated on Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Businesses and Employers which has even more information and resources. Some of the core planning steps include:
- defining the appropriate contacts
- reviewing your policies
- setting priorities
- establishing business continuity plans
- communicating clearly
The primary guidance for sick employees is to stay home. Even while home, employees who feel up to it can continue working with the aid of technology. In my time home sick (when I wasn't resting) I took several steps to stay available:
- run instant messaging application(s) to be available to coworkers for quick questions and conversations
- check email at regular intervals
- use telephone/Skype for necessary calls
- use Dimdim web conferencing for sharing resources and collaborating
In my experience with the flu, I wasn't able to work the entire time I was home, but there were periods of time where I had enough concentration and energy to get some work done. By having tools available to assist me that I'm comfortable with, I was able to contribute again well before it was safe for me to return to the office.
If you're new to web conferening, get familiar with it before you need it. You can start by creating a Dimdim free web conferencing account, then take a look at the resources in our Dimdim Getting Started section. Go through some of the video tutorials and most importantly take the time to do some practice sessions with friends or coworkers.
Stay healthy and good luck!
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter:
@dimdimExperience the Dimdim Live Webinar!
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Mon, Nov 09, 2009 @ 12:50 PM
I spent this past weekend helping our team (led by Leslie Poston) to host the first PodCamp NH. It was a fantastic two-day experience held at the beautiful New Hampton School. Ted Pennings (@thesleepyvegan) even won a Dimdim Webinar account. Sadly, my excitement diminished a little on the way home when my car's service engine light came on.
My challenge was the auto repair shop opens at 7:30 am Monday and I have a meeting at 8:00 am. So I left early to bring the car to the shop. Instead of then finding a ride to run me to the office (which is about 45 min away), I sat down in the shop's waiting area, started my computer and joined the meeting.
For our morning meetings we use a Dimdim telephone conference bridge with the Dimdim meeting for sharing slides and video. I dialed in with my mobile phone and used the auto repair shop's free internet access to join the Dimdim meeting.
I found a relatively quiet area and kept my finger on my phone's mute button to keep background noise to a minimum. When it was time for me to present, the meeting host gave me control of the meeting and I went through our portion of the meeting. Controlling the slides while we alternated who spoke to each topic.
I'm used to collaborating with remote teams, but I always try to be conscious that others may not be as comfortable with it. Just before my turn to present I repositioned my laptop so the built-in camera would show only me with the wall behind me. Others were moving around in the waiting area and I wanted to prevent them from being seen in my video stream and possibly becoming a distraction.
The meeting went well, but as it ended I learned about the repairs needed for my car. Unfortunately that's one thing my free web conferencing can't help me with.
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter:
@dimdimExperience the Dimdim Live Webinar! Register at:
http://www.dimdim.com/aboutus/events.html
Posted by Steve Chazin on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 @ 12:50 PM
One the best kept secrets of Dimdim is that recording is available for free for all users, without anything installed on your computer (we do all the magic in our Synchrolive Cloud) and send you a URL to your recording and an embed code. Often people ask us how to get the best video recording possible with Dimdim. Here are the secret ingredients:
1. Get Dimdim Pro or Dimdim Webinar. These products include a mode where you can resize the video up to 4 times larger. Once you do, the Dimdim video looks like this to your attendees:
2. Now if you are not sharing any other resource, just click the record button and we'll record a much higher resolution video file. After about 5 seconds of the following video you will be able to easily see the difference between normal and hirez video recording:
Finally, here is a Dimdim Knowledgebase article on all the different Dimdim recording modes. Enjoy!
Posted by Steve Chazin on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 @ 08:46 AM
Last night around midnight all my phones rang (courtesy of Google Voice) and the person on the other end told me of the emergency closing of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. Apparently a cable snapped and now the bridge is closed indefinitely. This bridge carries tens of thousands of commuters to San Francisco businesses each morning with no easy alternative. So within seconds we created our Dimdim Bay Bridge campaign: instead of dealing with the terrible traffic commute, simply Dimdim to work!
Just go to bit.ly/bay-bridge and sign up for Dimdim in seconds. You can hold meetings up to 20 people for free, or try Dimdim Pro or Dimdim Webinar for 30 days for free!
Just our way of helping people telecommute and stay happier!
Remember, just because you can't drive freely, you can still meet freely!
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Thu, Sep 17, 2009 @ 08:00 PM
David Chao of Cisco/WebEx published an article yesterday (9/16/2009) on "The Web Conferencing Blog" called "Dimdim Review". The idea that he (as a competitor) would publish a "review" of Dimdim surprised me. The fact that he would base his review on false information shocked me.
Three and a half years ago Dimdim was created because the existing web conferencing tools weren't doing what the team needed and they were too expensive. The goal was (and continues to be) to democratize web conferencing. We want web conferencing to be available for everyone, not just large companies with big budgets.
We not only built the technology, we built our own data centers to host the service.
In the blog David says:
"DimDim is a web conferencing provider based in Lowell, MA that has built its business on a open source-based value proposition. They can be a cost effective solution for the right buyer but know that the biggest risk with DimDim is reliability, performance, and security. (Note: These three major risks are not directly because of DimDim but indirectly through their business relationship with Amazon.)"
It's a testament to the work we've done if David feels our only risks are based on a relationship with Amazon (that doesn't exist.) Dimdim can run on Amazon EC2, and a few customers have chosen to do that, but they are the exception. David goes on to say:
"Though DimDim is a SaaS-based company, they do not actually own their technology network since they rely solely on Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Whether this is because they cannot afford to build out their own network or because they want to try to keep things "open," EC2 does have its limitations and drawbacks which ultimately negatively effect DimDim and DimDim customers."
I'm most offended by this article because David presents it as a "Review" of Dimdim, when in fact it's a technique some of our customers have told us the WebEx sales staff uses. I seriously thought a company like Cisco wouldn't resort to tactics like this.
We're either being attacked for our CEO's comments that "WebEx is history" or because our work to democratize web conferencing is hitting too close to home for them. I understand it's tough to compete with free web conferencing when you're a big expensive player, but it's not acceptable to create fiction for your arguments.
-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Community Manager
Dimdim Web Conferencing
e: kevin@dimdim.com
twitter:
@dimdim facebook:
dimdim.com/facebookp.s. In the interest of fairness, I did post a comment to David's blog around 9am EST this morning (9/17/2009) to clarify that we do not use Amazon's EC2 infrastructure, but it has since been removed.
Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Posted by Steve Chazin on Thu, Aug 13, 2009 @ 03:03 PM
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:
Posted by D D Ganguly on Tue, Jul 07, 2009 @ 03:22 PM
If our hiring process was the same as rest of our industry then we would build an organization like the rest of the industry. We aspire to do better. We want to attract exceptional players and build a great team. And I can guarantee you that Dimdimmers are exceptional not only in terms of skills but also in terms of being a team.
It is my belief that organizations fail not because they lack vision. Look around you and you will find that for each successful company that had a great vision there are dozens of failures with the same vision. Organizations fail because they cannot execute. And organizations cannot execute not because of the lack of talented individuals but because these individuals are not able to play as a team. The main reason for great players not playing as a cohesive force is culture. So the cultural fit between the individual and the existing team is of utmost importance.
When it comes to interviewing there are two different philosophies for determining cultural-fit between the candidate and the company. The first is called the behavioral method. In this method the candidate is asked a series of insightful questions, such as - “Are you a team player?”; What does the interviewer expect to hear? “No, I am not a team player?”; Some interviewers get sophisticated by asking, “Give me an example from your past experience when you played as a team player.”; Again, what’s the expectation here? Does the interviewer expect the candidate to say, “I am sorry I am drawing a complete blank on that one?”; If the candidate does say that then the interviewer can see that there isn’t an alignment between the company’s goals and the candidate’s goals. But a smart candidate knows what the interviewer wants to hear. And so the interviewer is faced with a dilemma - “I am being told this answer because the candidate knows that this is what I want to hear? Or is this really true?”; The interviewer can never make a positive decision based on the answer - unless he’s a trained psychoanalyst and most of us are not.
The second method is a task oriented approach. This is what we use at Dimdim. In the first conversation, the candidate is not asked any questions. He’s urged to ask us questions with the second conversation in mind. In the second conversation, the candidate delivers a presentation on a certain topic. For example, a potential VP of Sales might be asked to present a sales plan for the first six months. An engineer might be asked to learn and present on a topic that he knows nothing about.
We have seen that candidate’s questions tell us much more about her than the answers to those insightful behavioral questions. Which should not be surprising because questions are more interesting than answers - aren’t they?
During the presentation (which of course, is done using the candidate’s Dimdim Free web conference account) we look for 3 abilities. 1. Communication ability 2. Ability to learn 3. Ability to execute. We are usually able to decide within the first few minutes whether we have a hire or not.
This is the process we have followed for every hire. We know it works and btw, we are looking for a great VP of Sales.
Posted by Kevin Micalizzi on Tue, Jun 30, 2009 @ 11:32 AM
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:
- Log into your Dimdim Free account
- Click Refer a friend
- 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