Best Virtual Meeting Platform for Remote Teams

Table of Contents

• What is Virtual Meeting?
• Best virtual meeting Platform
• What to seem for in Online Meeting Software?
• Benefits of Virtual Meeting Platforms
• Disadvantages of Virtual Meeting Platforms
• How to Run a Successful Online Meeting?
• Final thought

What is Virtual Meeting?

A virtual meeting may be a perfect video conferencing mode for organizing briefings, board meetings, government building meetings, and webinars.

Virtual meetings are real-time interactions that happen over the web using integrated audio and video, chat tools, and application sharing. They provide how to interact with students in fully interactive, online learning experiences like lectures, discussions, and tutoring. Many virtual meeting applications integrate with course management systems, providing students and schools with a unified learning system including access to online meetings.virtual meeting or online meeting beneficial for remote team that can work togather virtually.

Virtual meeting or Online Meeting includes yoga sessions,company discussion, interview section.There are several sorts of virtual meetings counting on the agenda of a specific team. Here are the various sorts of virtual meetings:

E-Learning Pros and Challenges

1. Teleconferencing

A teleconference may be a call with various participants dialing into a standard call bridge using an assigned passcode to enter the decision. It’s an audio-only meeting between geographically separated individuals. Conference calls are ideal for little group meetings, large groups in various locations, and international callers.

2. Video Conferencing

While teleconferencing relies only on the utilization of audio, video conferencing makes use of both audio and visual means like webcams. This technology allows users in several locations to carry meetings without having to be during a single place. Mobile phones also are ready to attend via this method.

3. Web Conferencing

This is a web service by which you'll hold live meetings, presentations, and conferences through the web. Users can hold an internet conference via desktops, smartphones, or tablets. It allows individuals to collaborate online, sharing documents or screens. one of its advantages is desktop and application sharing. Web conferencing makes it possible to use slides, videos, or other visual materials for a more efficient meeting. It provides a chance for collaborative work no matter the participants’ location.

Best Virtual Meeting Platforms

Skype

An easy-to-use app that allows you to connect with a single person or a group of people. It is a well-known platform that many meeting participants most likely already have personal accounts for service use. Skype app comes with no long-distance costs but is prone to audio and visual display problems, buffering delays, and calls being dropped.

Slack

Slack helps to connect team members through messaging tools, adjustable notifications and is streamlined with a multitude of office features. With its reliable messaging features catered to employees, email traffic between workers is lessened. Using this service costs $8 per person or $15 per month.

Google Hangouts

A no-cost platform that offers tools to make phone calls, use instant messaging that connects with up to 10 people, and video conferencing. If you use Google, which is practically everyone, this platform is already installed into Google tools like Gmail. Another cool feature of Google Hangouts is that video calls can be streamed in real-time on YouTube.

Zoom meeting

Not only can businesses hold virtual meetings on this platform, but they can also conduct training seminars, webinars, etc. During Zoom meetings, users can simultaneously share messages and documents through Zoom’s chat tool. A basic plan with a Zoom meeting is free to use for unlimited time and offers unlimited meetings with a 40-minute time limit for each.

GoToMeeting

This platform offers tools that include messaging between team members, dialogue transcriptions for video, and adjustable team settings. Using GoToMeeting, businesses can conduct meetings with up to 100 people, including participating and holding meetings using a smartphone. This platform is offered to users through a 14-day free trial with plans starting at $12 per month.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a sub-feature of the Microsoft Office 365 platform. This sub-feature can hold meetings with up to 300 participants alongside access for guests, person-to-person and team video, phone calls, sharable files with 2 gigabytes per person, and 10 gigabytes per group, desktop sharing for easy collaboration, and file organization through coloration. This service is free with sign-up using an email address.

Google Meet

This updated and improved version of Google Hangout is streamlined into the G suite office productivity service. Google Meet provides the user with an assigned dial number so that virtual meetings can stay private within the team, a clear access line with no dropped calls, and compatibility with both Apple and Android devices. This service offers 3 plans: G suite Basic ($6 per month), G suite business ($12 per month), and G suite enterprise ($25 per month).

FreeConferenceCall

As stated in its name, this service is completely free. FreeConferenceCall offers tools for collaborating and calls with group members for desktop sharing, drawing, and messages for public and private use. Not only is it free but it is simple to use as well.

Adobe Connect

Adobe Connect goes above and beyond when it comes to being a virtual meeting platform. Not only does this service offer desktop sharing, messaging, and video chat features, but you can make smaller sites, organize emails, make digital rooms customizable to match the brand of the company. To hold meetings on this platform is going to cost you a starting price of $50 per month while webinars go for the starting price of $130 per month.

Amazon Chime

Unsurprisingly this service syncs with Alexa, an AI assistant service created by Amazon, for virtual business meetings. Amazon Chime offers calls, messages, digital meetings, and video conferencing. The cost of this service is free if you only use the platform's basic features, but pro features prices range from $3 per person/per day to $15 per person/per month, depending on which features are used.

What to seem for in Online Meeting Software?

1. Insight: confirm that the virtual meeting platform that you simply prefer to use has featured the can accommodate future needs
2. Dependable and Superior: Consistently quality service and high-resolution visuals make sure that online meetings run smoothly which may cause a rise in productivity for a business
3. Desktop Sharing: a crucial aspect of team collaboration isn't just having the ability to ascertain fellow team members work, but having the power to interact and edit the add real-time
4. Video Conferencing: This is often the most feature that a virtual meeting platform must have so as for online meetings to require a place
5. Streamlined Instant Messaging: Tools for communication between team members must be easy to use, are often used on various platforms and may be synced with popular devices
6. Sign-On button: Is it easy for a replacement user to make an account and log back for certain use of service?

Effectiveness of Online Learning

Benefits of Virtual Meeting Platforms

1. No time wasted: to stay team members engaged, it's encouraged for hosts to possess virtual meetings to be no quiet half-hour. The features of virtual meeting platforms help to alleviate potential time that would be lost
2. Enhanced communications: Face-to-face interactions helps to reinforce how messages are given, taken, and interpreted albeit it's behind the pc screen
3. Lessens traveling costs and time: there's no got to travel across the town, state, or maybe country lines when a user can ask anyone from anywhere within the world with the touch of a button
4. Enhanced efficiency: Productivity increases when communication is obvious, goals are known, and everybody features a voice
5. Spread knowledge: Virtual meeting software helps a business (both employees and higher-ups) know what's happening with operations when most are working remotely
6. Giving infinite invitations: regardless of what percentage members business has, as long because the host has the power to offer access to virtual meetings through its features
7. Different meeting schedules: Despite the sooner advice to possess virtual meetings on Tuesday afternoons, last-minute work updates and emergencies might require crop up meetings which will be scheduled and conducted using various platform features
8. Easy to use interface: A virtual meeting platform’s level of usability is important as to if a gathering was productive or an unorganized mess
9. Live recorded meeting: Although note-taking is beneficial during a gathering, having the ability to record not only exactly what has been said but who said it and the way they said it's a godsend to employees and supervisors who are already incredibly busy
10. General productivity increases: Short meetings, having the ability to remain in one place, recording everything that's happening, and straightforward collaboration between employees and supervisors ensures a guaranteed increase in work that's ready to get done

Disadvantages of Virtual Meeting Platforms

1. Less direct interaction: Although virtual meeting platforms allow users to technically be face-to-face, the physical work environment can't be replicated
2. Unstable connection: regardless of how advanced a technological platform is, there still may be a possibility of technical difficulties to occur
3. Less human contact: Employees interacting with one another online doesn't compare to the private relationships which will form from being physically present in one space
4. Hacking: Trolls aren't just on social media platforms. Zoom recently had an event occur where people hacked into online learning sessions and spewed racially insensitive comments toward its users, many of whom were children

How to Run a Successful Online Meeting

1. For Online Meeting ,Share URL links to participants the day before the official meeting date to offer them the chance to familiarize themselves with the platform interface and features.
2. For Online Meeting, Start and get on time. Courtesy doesn't end simply because work is now being done from home.
3. For Online Meeting, Communicate to participants what behaviors are going to be expected of them during the meeting.
4. For Online Meeting,Encourage participation by using features that allow individuals to be highlighted when speaking.
5. For Online Meeting,Make sure most are listening to what's happening. Being reception can leave users to urge easily distracted.
6. For Online Meeting,Review and follow-up on main objectives and goals that were discussed during the meeting to make sure that everybody is on an equivalent page.

Final Thoughts

Virtual meeting platforms have been a grace for several businesses during this point of social distancing. Communication, participation, and engagement are the pillars of successfully running the operations of a business. These troubling times have given light to alternative ways for businesses to remain connected with employees and managers.