My morning meeting was free, my car repairs weren't

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: @dimdim

Experience the Dimdim Live Webinar! Register at:
http://www.dimdim.com/aboutus/events.html

Dimdim Recording Demystified

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!

Using free HR webinars to reach new customers

I recently had a chance to speak with Erik Bartz, Marketing Manager at Pivotal HR Solutions.  To better reach potential customers, Erik started a program offering free webinars.   Like many companies they use Dimdim to provide sales demos, but Erik wanted to do more to develop better relationships with their prospective customers.

Once a month they host a webinar on relevant HR topics.  (They even offer a full list of topics with descriptions on their site.) While some companies we work with use this type of webinar to move into new markets, for Erik it's about better reaching customers in the Toronto area. 

Many companies are looking to move their events online like Erik has done, so I asked how he manages the sessions and what he recommends.  For each of their webinars, Erik acts as host and moderator.  He uploads the presentations, manages the microphones for the consultants presenting, and monitors the public (text) chat.  He even puts a placeholder slide at the front of the slide deck for the attendees that join the meeting before the presentation begins and to remind himself to hit the 'Record' button.

Each consultant presents on their topic for about 15-20 minutes before they take questions from attendees.  Erik’s found that having another person control the slides and use the laser pointer to highlight key items frees up their consultants to focus on the topic.

When someone registers for these sessions, they get a confirmation email, then starting 3 days before the event they get daily reminders, with the final reminder going 1 hour before event.  Erik has found this helps to promote good attendance. 

When Erik was looking for a platform to help him make this happen, he started with Dimdim Free.  Once he was comfortable Dimdim suited their needs, he purchased a Dimdim Pro account primarily for the ability to add their own logo to the meeting room.  He also set up a redirect to a satisfaction survey when attendees exit the webinar.

Attendance to their webinars continues to grow.  If you're in the Toronto area and are looking for HR solutions, check out their HR Resource Centre.

Thanks,

-k
Kevin Micalizzi, Dimdim Community Manager
e: kevin@dimdim.com / Twitter: @dimdim

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