The Basics of Audio & Web Conferencing

The demand for audio conferencing and web conferencing services is growing at close to 30% a year.

Some groups have yet to adopt the technology because they're unsure how it works or how it can be of benefit.

Each type has many features and options, and can be operated entirely by your group or hosted by our trained staff.

Below is an overview of our group's audio and web
(& event) conferencing and how it can work for you.

Audio Conferencing

The audio conferencing technology provides crystal clear telephone conference calling for as few as two people or for tens of thousands.

Our audio conferencing services give you an alternative to the increasing costs of travel and lodging as well as the loss in productivity.

Communicate with individuals and groups, around the corner or around the world, efficiently and cost effectively.

Your attendees do not require a computer to participate, just a land line phone (POTS).

Guest speakers located anywhere can be added to the conference.

Live IVR "Press X for this" mass surveys produce instant reports.

Audio Conferencing (teleconferencing)
can be divided into two basic groups:

1. Two-way Audio Conferencing

Two-way audio conferencing allows everyone attending the conference call to speak and be heard by all participants.

This type of conference call is best for small groups who need to share information, collaborate and gain understanding, in the shortest possible time.


Our solutions for two-way audio conferencing include:

A. Reservation-less Audio Conferencing for ongoing and on-demand conferences.

• Conference size: 2 to 64.
• This is reservation-less calling at its best.
• Perfect for informal and on-demand teleconferencing.
• This is two-way (everyone can talk at the same time) calling, ideal for ongoing and on-demand conferences.
• Use it to bring remote people into an impromptu meeting or to quickly end round-robin email exchanges.
• Participants simply dial the toll-free number and enter their PIN to participate.

B. Recurring Audio Conferencing for recurring meetings.

• Conference size: 2 to 64.
• Ideal for those recurring conference calls, such as weekly meetings.
• Conference calls open ahead of time and you have the option to use PINs and barge tones.
• All you have to do is invite your conference attendees and pick up the phone.
• They're available anytime, day or night, and you have more options than standard two-way conference calling.
• The system automatically opens 15 minutes before the start of your conference - so attendees have the option to communicate amongst themselves prior to the start of the actual conference.
• Calls can be accessed with a random or set PIN, or no PIN at all, and you have the option of using barge tones to signal when an attendee has entered a conference call.
• For both types of calls the audio control panel let's you control your conference call from your web browser.
• You can see who is attending your meeting and use features like mute/un-mute and call reporting to manage your call without operator assistance.

2. Broadcast Audio Conferencing  "Town Hall Meetings"

• Conference size: 2 to Thousands (10k for interactive, 50k for streaming audio).
• Broadcast Audio Conferencing includes all the features you need for larger, professionally managed audio conferences.
• Used for announcements, product launches, presentations and organization-wide training.
• Broadcast Audio Conferencing delivers the quality, functionality and capacity that your group demands for larger, operations-critical audio conferences.
• Optionally dial out to your database of tens-of-thousands of phone numbers, in a matter of minutes, to allow recipients to "Press One" to participate.
• Broadcast audio conferencing allows the meeting hosts, or presenters, to speak during the conference; attendees are in a listen-only mode.
• The audio control panel let's you control your conference call from your web browser.
• You can see who is attending your meeting, facilitate Q&A sessions, and use features like mute/un-mute and call reporting.
• Presenters can choose to accept live questions from attendees during a broadcast conference, either with everyone listening or in a separate controlled side conference.
• It is scalable to thousands of participants with the option to record your conference calls, schedule an audio moderator to assist with large conferences, assign individual PIN/access codes and more.
• With high-quality audio, powerful conference management features, and the capability to host thousands of callers, our Broadcast Audio Conferencing delivers the best teleconferencing on the market for large meetings and events.

Web Conferencing

Simply put, web conferencing refers to the combination of traditional audio conference calls and internet-based software that allows people to view, share ideas and collaborate on documents and applications.

When web conferencing and audio conferencing tools are combined, meeting presenters and attendees can show and tell, listen and see, and collaborate and communicate just as if they were together at an in-person meeting.

Our web conferencing services help you to cut travel time and distance related costs, while communicating and collaborating more effectively across your entire organization.

Whether it's for meetings, training, sales or service, web conferencing is an affordable and versatile way to:

• Reach more of the people that need to be reached.
• Use rich audio and visual demonstrations in real-time to make maximum impact.
• Slash travel expenses. Online meetings don't require airports, hotels, conference rooms or reams of print-outs.
• Train and present for less. Cost-effectively train or present to large groups, in real-time or on demand.
• Collaborate remotely. Share tools, ideas, documents, and applications with colleagues, clients and constituents anywhere in the world.

For the most part, web conferencing services
can be broken in to two basic groups:

1. Desktop Sharing

Conference size: 2 to 200 .

Desktop sharing is best used for smaller web conferences, from 2 to 200 participants.

One meeting presenter controls the web conference, showing attendees what's on their desktop using a simple interface. Two-way audio is by phone.

In addition to simply showing what's on their desktop, presenter's can also use annotation tools to highlight specific features of their presentation.

2. Interactive Web Conferencing

Conference size: 2 to Ten Thousand.

Powerful, fully interactive web conferencing for team collaboration, dynamic online meetings and large events.

Interactive web conferencing allows for multiple presenters to share control of the conferencing tools.

Documents, slides and other visuals that presenters want to show attendees are uploaded to the web conferencing software.

Features include: audience polling during a live conference, audio question and answer sessions, conference recording and playback, and more.

Interactive web conferencing can be used for small collaborative meetings as well as sales presentations, online training, marketing focus-groups, online seminars and large-scale events.

Hosted Event Conferencing
"Webinars" & "Town Hall Meetings" On Steroids!

• Conference size: 2 to Thousands (10k for interactive, 50k for streaming audio).
• Hosted Audio or Web Conferencing, or a combination all the best features of both.
• Professionally managed (hosted) online events for hundreds to thousands of participants.
• Need a web conferencing solution just for major events?
• Our trained Hosted Event Services staff can manage all aspects of your large scale conference event—from start to finish.
• Event Conferencing Helps You Reach More People for Less Money.
• With our event conferencing services, we combine the best in audio and web conferencing with professional event management to help you move more of your major events online.
• Why move your events online? In a word, savings.
• Using our event conferencing services for large meetings, press engagements, group wide training, service and product launches, and other major events, results in significant savings in time, money and hassle without sacrificing quality or effectiveness.
• So, imagine conducting your stockholders meeting without booking a conference room or setting up a single buffet table. Imagine training all of your staff at once, or launching a new product or service across the country or all over the globe without leaving your office.
• You don't have to imagine it. We'll make it happen.
• Whether you're planning a one time event or multiple, ongoing ones, our event conferencing services can help you put together and carry out a successful online event that is just as professional and productive as an in-person one.

Technology that Works the Way that You Work

• We approach the technology platforms behind our audio and web-based conferencing products with one goal in mind: to be as easy as you need it to be and as sophisticated as you demand.
• That means we have put a lot of thought into how our tools are developed, which standards they adhere to and how they operate.
• Our group's long history in voice products, starting as one of the industry's first voicemail providers in the mid 1980s, lies at the core of our proprietary technology.
• That understanding enabled us to evolve and develop products that address audio collaboration and conferencing and, through a special vendor relationships, to also offer web-based conferencing, virtual meetings, online demos, presentations and hosted event conferencing.
• Our infrastructure is designed for scalability and security. We offer on-premise switches and conference bridges - and our systems are fully redundant and fault tolerant.
• As today's audio conferencing is currently based on telephony, we adhere to all industry standards.
• While telephony represents technology with which we are very conversant, we also are looking beyond the standards of today, exploring IP audio as the next generation technology.
• We provide world class switching and routing and network management.
• Our virtual private networks (VPNs), multiple firewalls (with automatic fail over), and multi-server systems all support our proprietary host interface links (HIL) - the technology that enables our customers to achieve the control they need for both audio and web conferencing.
• We have applied our understanding of human interface requirements into our Audio Control Panel .
• Our Control Panel web page, which features drop down menus, recognizable tool bars and status indicators, provides the technology presenters need to effectively manage their audio and web-based conference calls and virtual meetings.
• If you would like to learn more about our group's Audio Conferencing, Web Conferencing and Event Conferencing services, Just Ask!

See what audio conferencing can offer you!

Discover how web conferencing works!

Learn how we can manage your next event!