Wednesday, February 27, 2008

7 Traits for a Highly Successful Webinar

Hello Fellow Small Business Owners,

Did you know that the use of webinars is growing at a rate of 20 to 30% a year?

Here's 7 Traits for a Highly Successful Webinar:

1) Find a webinar provider that’s Right for your needs

A good webinar system should:

*Be easy to use

*Have the features you require and the ability to share presentations and documents

*Charge a flat monthly rate (so you won’t get dinged for running a trial test before your actual webinar or follow-up webinars)

2) Develop really interesting, engaging content

This is probably the most important element to your webinar success. If your material is boring, you’ll lose your guests – and their sales.

Use pictures, diagrams, and live demonstrations from pre-loaded websites to keep the material fresh and entertaining.

3) Be Careful When Choosing a date and time

Avoid Mondays or Fridays as these are peak conferencing days and attendance is also often lower.

Start at 15 minutes past the hour.

The best times are 10 am and 2 pm to make sure your guests are their desks and available before or after lunch.

4) Cap Your Participants at 10 to 25 So It’s Easier to Take Questions and Keep the Webinar More Interactive

Your webinar will be more successful if you keep the size small and more intimate. Participants will feel more at ease and comfortable about participating and asking questions if there isn’t thousands of people watching.

5) Take Questions Via Chat During the Presentation

Some of your participants may be uncomfortable or unwilling to ask questions during the presentation.

6) Have an Agenda & Stick to It

Start your webinar 15 minutes ahead of time, on time, and respect your participant’s schedules by ending on time as well.

7) Run a Practice Webinar before the actual presentation

Practice makes perfect. Webinars aren’t difficult, but they are different from running a meeting or a conference call.

If you incorporate all seven of these traits, your webinars will be a huge success. And your business will reap the rewards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sonja

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Video Conferencing NEWS FLASH!

Hey Everyone,

Did you know that the global conferencing market grew 15.9% to become a $1.08 Billion iindustry in 2007? This is according to Wainhouse Research.

As business continues to move at a faster pace, the use of instant meetings and collaboration services will also continue to grow.

There is so much power in face-to-face communication. And now, thanks to many video conferencing companies, you have many affordable choices to choose from.

Don't miss out on this trend to grow your business by leaps and bounds...

Thanks for stopping by!

Best,
Sonja

Friday, February 22, 2008

The Coming Growth in Video Conferencing

Hey everyone,

I came across this recent research by In-Stat...

Strong efforts from major companies like Cisco, Microsoft, and IBM to promote media-rich productivity tools are boosting the prospects for video conferencing, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com).

The driving factors behind increased adoption and use are technology, bandwidth, and convergence, the high-tech market research firm says.

According to a survey of US businesses, the decision to use or not use video conferencing is no longer based on uncertainty over the quality of the experience among those who have tried it lately.

Furthermore, cost alone does not seem to be a hindrance of adoption or use. The shift to an IP environment that enables unified communications, presence, and mobile integration provides a technological environment where traditional video conferencing, as well as telepresence can become synergistic elements.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

Current users of video conferencing are generally satisfied with their system and find value in the experience.

Past users are willing to reconsider video conferencing if the quality, usability, and cost are reasonable.

Video conferencing is beginning to resonate as a part of corporations’ commitments to “green” environmental issues, though this benefit can be leveraged more aggressively in the future.

Have a great week-end!

Sonja

Video Conferencing Saves A Woman from Blindness

Hello everyone,

Dr. McElveen has a double-wide trailer clinic in a parking lot behind a rural hospital in Ridgeland, South Carolina.

His clinic isn't fancy and it doesn't have all the latest technological equipment.

And his patients are mostly elderly, poor, and not able to travel to see a specialist.

But because of the technology of video conferencing and the collaboration tool of file sharing, he was able to save a woman from becoming permanently blind.

You see, over half of people over the age of 50 are suffering from the early stages of glaucoma which can cause permanent blindness. Dr. McElveen is able to send still images of the retinas of his patients to an opthamologist over 100 miles away to detect eye diseases.

Pretty amazing.

So video conferencing not only saves time and money, but some times your sight as well.

Sonja

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

1 Step Forward - 2 Steps Backward!!

Dear Business Owners,

Do you ever feel like you're spinning your wheels? Or that you keep playing "old tapes" over and over again?

Then welcome to my world of software programming!

Software programming is a lot like math. You do the same problem and some times you get a different answer. Not always the "right" answer.

VideoLive conferences is in beta right now - and the programmers are getting lots of good feedback on improvements and kinks in the program.

But when they "fix" one thing, two other problems pop up! It is SOOOO frustrating. Luckily, our beta testers are a lot more patient than I am.

I'm confident that we'll get everything ironed out...slowly but surely.

My dad always told me, "the best things are worth the wait!"

I'll try to keep that in mind when I'm talking to the programmers.

Monday, February 18, 2008

How Would You Like to be Taxed an Extra 39%?

I don't mean to scare all of you small business owners...but how would you like to be taxed an extra 39%?

That's how much gas prices rose last year alone. And it doesn't look much better for 2008.

President Bush stated at a conference on competitiveness, "Rising gas prices are like a tax, particularly on working people and small business people."

Soaring gas prices of $3.50 a gallon or more affects both individual consumers and businesses, but small businesses get hit the hardest. Small businesses often don't have extra cash lying around to cover rapid increases in their cost of doing business.

And worse, they are usually the last to get paid when their customers fall on hard times or have higher-than-expected bills.

And if small businesses are hurting, the economy suffers as well. Small business owners and their employees do most of the spending and investing in the U.S. Plus, they create 60 to 80% of the new jobs.

High gas prices put the squeeze on small businesses two ways.

1) It drives operating costs up

2) It cuts into sales by making potential customers cautious about spending money.

And eventually, small businesses are forced to raise their prices and pass along these increased costs to us - the consumers.

So what can consumers and small businesses do to fight this trend?

Look for more efficient ways to do business to keep their costs down.

One way small businesses can cut down on driving and traveling is to conduct more business online. Video and audio web conferencing has dropped significantly in price and the quality is much improved.

And the video conferencing trend is picking up speed. According to Wainhouse Research, it's growing at a pace of 24% per year and over half of small businesses are using it as a replacement for meeting in person to cut costs.

So even though the $3.50 price tag of gas takes a bite out of your pocketbook, there are ways to keep costs down and improve the way you do business

Sonja

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Can Churches Benefit From Video Conferencing?

Hi folks,

My husband and I are leading the We Belong To Christ campaign for our church. Our target goal is $162,000 for our small parish of only 200 or so families. Wish us luck!

And there's a lot of training we need to accomplish our goal.

Unfortunately, we all have to pile in a car and drive 2 hours to Durand, Wisconsin to be trained. And the weather is always a concern. Especially since we live in the frozen tundra where blizzards seem to appear out of nowhere!

But is there an easier way?

We started using video conferencing on the web to be trained instead of wasting time and gas driving 2 hours.

It's been so successful that our diocese is looking into purchasing video web conferencing software for all of the surrounding rural parishes.

There really is no limits on how you can use video conferencing to save time, money, and frustration.

Best,
Sonja

Monday, February 11, 2008

How to Make Meetings Green

Happy Monday Everyone,

With the growing attention on global warming, businesses are under pressure to be more environmentally conscious. And there's no doubt about it - business travel is a huge contributor to pollution.

Did you know that a flight from London to New York creates an average 1.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions?

Or that driving 500 miles per week creates an average 9 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year?

So how can you cut emissions to help the environment without sacrificing productivity?

Simple - collaboration and web conferencing services.

Your employees can work from anywhere, and stay connected to co-workers, customers, vendors and partners who are critical to business.

They can give a presentation, review documents, or demonstrate software without getting in a car or flying on a plane.

An average employee with a one way commute of 22 miles can save up to 81,000 MJ of energy by telecommuting. That's about 50% of the annual electricity consumption of an average household!

Saving the planet is not as difficult as you might think. Especially if you use simple to use, all-in-one VideoLive Conferences.

Your children and grandchildren will appreciate your efforts in making a greener world - by making your meetings greener.

Sonja

Thursday, February 7, 2008

5 Budget Ways Video Conferencing Will Grow Your Small Business

Dear Small Business Owners,

Believe me, I know how tough it is to grow your small business when you're on a tight budget.

With the high cost of insurance, taxes, and energy costs soaring, it's difficult to keep up or compete with larger companies with larger budgets.

But it is possible if you use the right budget-minded tools.

Here are 5 cost-effective ways to grow your small business sales:

1) Sales Training - Sales is the lifeline of your small business. If you don't have sales, you don't have a business.

Could your sales reps use more training to increase their closing ratios? Generate more leads? Qualify more prospects? Of course they do.

Use web video conferencing to conduct comprehensive training over the Internet. You can give PowerPoint presentations, demonstrate new procedures or products, and much more for an effective sales seminar.

2) Daily Sales Meetings: The more connected and accountable your sales reps are - the more successful they are.

With video web conferencing, you can have daily sales meetings with your reps whether they are located in the same city as you or scattered across the globe. Or you can have one-on-one meetings if needed.

3) Sales Webinars: Even if you company isn't physically located in every state or country, you can still have a sales presense.

Conduct a webinar to thousands of interested prospects or customers right from your small business office.

4) Qualify Prospects - Use Audio and Web conferencing tools to quickly and easily qualify your prospects.

In less than 20 minutes, you can find out if your prospects:

Can afford what you have to offer
Want what you have to offer
Need what you have to offer

Without spending an hour driving to a meeting or hopping on a crowded plane.

5) The most important part of successful selling is sales follow-up.

With video web conferencing, you can follow-up with your customers as often as you need to in 3 clicks. And you don't have to leave the comfort of your office.

These are 5 ways small businesses are growing their sales without breaking their budget.

Try Web Based VideoLive Conferencing for FREE...plus get 2 FREE web cameras when you subscribe...yours to keep - even if you decide to cancel.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Hi everyone,

While planning your 2008 business goals and objectives, why not plan on going green to save some green?

When it comes to the environment, being a good global citizen starts in your own business. From recycling to using alternative cleaning products, minor changes can add up to real benefits for the planet. Not to mention your own health and happiness.

And every little bit helps.

1) Telecommuting: Video Conferencing can be used for telecommuters in your business. Employees will be able to work from a home office and still be able to meet face-to-face and collaborate in real time just like they would if they were in the office.

Did you know that Americans waste an average of 47 hours every week during rush hour traffic?

That's 23 billion gallons of gas wasted and thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide pollution.

Not only is the reduction in weekly travel time beneficial to the environment, but the added time to their day will improve worklife balance.

2) Board of Director and/or Sales Meetings:It's challenging for businesses to arrange meetings around everyone's schedule. By moving just one sales meeting or presentation online, you'll save the environment 2,690 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution.

Two people traveling from Chicago to San Francisco save 4,696 pounds of carbon emissions. If every business canceled one business trip alone, carbon dioxide pollution would be hugely decreased!

3) Access to Remote Clients or Customers: Business employees often drive across town or travel across the globe to meet with clients to go over important documents or to give powerpoint presentations.

Video conferencing can eliminate that business trip and allow you to meet face-to-face to mark up architectural CAD files or present that new marketing campaign in real time just like would in person.

And you won't have to fight long lines, delays, and tight security at the airport.
Your business can make a huge impact on lowering carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere by staying off the road and out of the skies.

These are just three ways your company can use video conferencing to go green - starting tomorrow. To get your company ahead of the curve, consider implementing a video conferencing solution now to do your part in saving the environment.

Best,
Sonja

Monday, February 4, 2008

How You Can Profit From Beta Testing

Good morning everyone,

Can you believe it's already the first Monday of February? The older you get - the faster time goes! It seems like Christmas was only a couple weeks ago!

If your company is looking to buy web conferencing software this year to keep travels costs down and increase productivity, you can save a lot of money by beta testing a new product.

You see, programmers are great at programming, but they're not always great at programming software to be easy to use and understand for the average busy business person.

When I use a new program, I don't want to have to read a 30 page instruction manual. I want it to be simple - because I don't have any spare time.

But if you're willing to try out new products that are still in beta and be willing to give a testimonial and feedback on what you like and what you don't like - what works and what doesn't work - you can get cutting edge products at a deep discount.

And that's exactly what VideoLive Conferences is promoting right now.

If you're willing to help us out by taking a free look at our video web conferencing software, you can use it FREE for 30 days, and if you like it, you can buy it at a 50% discount.

And you never have to sign a contract and there are no hidden fees or extra surprise costs. You can cancel at any time - no hard feelings.

So hop on over to www.videoliveconferences.com to beta test TODAY.

Thanks for stopping by!

Best,
Sonja