The world of conferencing continues to change. First, it was bringing small groups of employees across various office locations together on the phone, followed by the need for web conferencing to show others what you were working on.  Now, those groups are no longer small, or limited to your own organization.  The use of audio and web conferencing has grown to much more than a way to cut down on costs, but as a successful way to generate leads through webinars, or train users on your product.  The use cases seem endless, and maybe even complex.  But something that should not be a brainteaser? Pricing.

ReadyTalk understands that our customers want to concentrate on the subject of their meetings, or content of their webinars, instead of the possibility of the unpredictable costs of their audio and web conferencing use.  We want to provide the highest quality, service and reliability, as part of our pricing.  With that expectation in mind, we introduce our five new web and audio subscriptions:

• Web Meeting Pro (25, 150)
• Webinar (500, 1000, 3000)

What’s unique about these? High-quality audio, included with every package.

The Web Meeting Pro subscriptions include unlimited web conferencing and a bundle of included toll and toll-free domestic audio minutes, at a flat monthly fee.

The Webinar subscriptions include unlimited web conferencing AND unlimited Broadcast Audio, enabling participants to stream high-quality audio through their computer speakers. Again, for a flat monthly fee.

So how do you know which subscription is right for you, or your company?

Do you conduct a fair amount of smaller, internal meetings or  present projects to external clients and vendors where high-quality audio is critical?  Then the Web Meeting Pro options are right up your alley.

Are you managing larger webinars for lead generation, online training, etc, more than once a month?  The Webinar subscription options can give you the cost-effective solution you are looking for.

Interested in learning more?  Contact us today to find out more about our new subscription plans!

Beth is a Product Marketing Manager and works with our customers to understand their needs as they relate to event services and our conference center, which is used to setup the details of our clients’ upcoming meetings. Outside of the office, Beth loves to spend time with family and friends, cook, and hit the slopes.

Accidents happen. At ReadyTalk we’re committed to helping our customers prevent accidents and mistakes. Each month, ReadyTalk’s Account Specialist Team shares a recent accident and tips for how to avoid it in the future.

When scheduling an upcoming meeting in Conference Center, John set up his meeting for web and audio. For the audio portion, he selected Operator Assisted instead of On-Demand because it was an important, high profile webinar and he wanted it to be flawless. When you select the Operator Assisted option, you are asked to provide a telephone number for your participants to call.

Because John had not scheduled an Operator Assisted event with ReadyTalk, he inserted the US & Canada Toll-Free number in this blank field. When this option is selected the number is inserted into the invitation or confirmation e-mail excluding the access code.

About 30 minutes before his meeting was to begin there were 250 confirmed participants who didn’t have an access code when they dialed in. A participant called in for help and ReadyTalk’s Customer Care Team came to the rescue. They helped John send out a meeting update e-mail including the access code. They also helped John insert a welcome slide into his presentation including the access code for dialing into the audio conference.

There are a few things that John could have differently:

• If he wanted to schedule an Operator Assisted event, he could schedule it 24 hours in advance of his meeting here. Once the ReadyTalk Events Team generates a dial-in number, they will give that to John who can insert that special number into his scheduled meeting.
• If he wanted to use standard audio with no Operator, he can select that audio option when scheduling his meeting and it will auto-fill the invitation or confirmation e-mail with both the dial-in number and the access code.
• If he wanted to send out his own e-mails with the dial-in information he could have included both the US Toll-Free dial-in number and his access code.

Do you have a webinar or web conferencing gaffe that you’d like to share? Share it below.

For many people public speaking is very intimidating. You would think that speaking to an invisible audience on a webinar would be much more approachable; I’m here to tell you it’s not. Right before going on a live event last month I found my mouth dry, my palms sweaty and my heart racing and I was sitting in an empty conference room. Does this happen to you?

I can’t think of anything harder than speaking to an audience I can’t get feedback from. Sure, there’s a chat stream, but you’re so busy delivering content, you can’t respond to that, so your behind the scene team does. Need more ideas on curbing this nightmare?

Next Tuesday, ReadyTalk is sponsoring an AMA webinar, Webinar Best Practices: Engaging the Invisible Audience. Speakers Anthony Salas and Jamie Wallace are going to review actionable tips for engaging an audience you can’t see. Register for this event now.

About the Speakers:

Anthony Salas

As an event manager, Anthony works with clients on all aspects of their audio and web conferencing needs. Prior to working at ReadyTalk, he was a ReadyTalk customer, so he brings a great understanding of developing and running webinar programs. He enjoys spending time with his family and two dogs, watching movies, reading and exploring Denver’s top restaurants.

Jamie Wallace

As the founder of Suddenly Marketing Jamie, helps brands build profitable customer relationships through content marketing. From website copy and e-books to blog posts, social content, and webinars, she helps her clients reach more prospects, establish expertise, create conversations, and inspire customer loyalty. She believes in marketing that is clear, focused, and human. She believes in working relationships that are open, collaborative, and fun.

Accidents happen. At ReadyTalk we’re committed to helping our customers prevent accidents and mistakes. Each month, ReadyTalk’s Account Specialist Team shares a recent accident and tips for how to avoid it in the future.

Once upon a time, Sarah, a webinar organizer, wanted her clients to know about the company’s upcoming webinar. Hoping to spread the word, she used ReadyTalk’s social media tools to post the webinar registration link to her company’s corporate Facebook page.

Usually, sharing on Facebook and Twitter is a great way to market webinars to the public. However, in this case, Sarah wanted participants to pay for this webinar prior to registering and receiving their automatic confirmation. However, once the registration link was posted on Facebook, it allowed participants to bypass the payment step and register for the webinar. Sarah deleted the link immediately, but unfortunately, once it was posted on Facebook it became searchable for anyone to find. If someone stumbled upon this link they would have found a registration page for this webinar. They could have registered and been automatically confirmed for free.

ReadyTalk tries to remind customers that anything you share on social media outlets will be searchable even if it is no longer on your Facebook profile. There are a few things Sarah could have done differently:

• Setup the event with manual confirmation versus automatic confirmation. This way, Sarah could confirm participants once she received their payment.
• Include an event description on the payment page and shared a link to that page instead.
• She could also ask her ecommerce vendor to integrate with ReadyTalk via the ReadyTalk API. This would allow Sarah to accept payment and register attendees in a single interface.

Do you have a webinar or web conferencing gaffe that you’d like to share? Share it below.

As government agencies continue to document and refine teleworking processes to comply with the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, managers are trying to identify and implement tools and services that remote workers need in order to maintain workflow and collaboration with colleagues.

In a recent white paper, industry analysts at Frost and Sullivan outlined key technology components that should be available to employees who telecommute including, laptops, instant messaging, VoIP, smart phones and more. The paper also looked closely at the importance of web conferencing in teleworking:

In a recent survey of 200 C-level executives, 53 percent said their companies use Web conferencing—more than any other advanced communications technology (including instant messaging, video conferencing and even Voice over IP). Better still, organizations usually find that while they start using Web conferencing as a replacement for in-person events and large group meetings, they very often continue to use it on a daily basis to improve the quality of meetings that would otherwise be held only on the phone or not at all.

ReadyTalk’s audio and web conferencing can help government agencies and department managers realize a variety of benefits:

• Employee engagement: Telework programs can boost employee engagement because workers get a more flexible schedule and the elimination of daily commutes, which saves them time and money.
• Reduced facilities and related costs: Because employees are working at home, they don’t need permanent offices or cubicles, which also reduces related costs including power and water bills, security, parking, maintenance services, etc.
• Reduced environmental impact: Eliminating or reducing employees’ commutes has a substantial environmental impact.

Technology can also go a long way toward helping managers as they roll out telework programs and manage remote workers. Download the free white paper from Frost and Sullivan, Supporting Teleworkers with the Right Technology for Success for additional insight on how web conferencing can compliment other technologies in your telework strategy.

As the director of government sales, John is leading efforts to grow ReadyTalk’s government and public sector business.  Away from work, John enjoys skiing and hiking in the mountains.

ReadyTalk’s secure audio and web conferencing services, including webinars, enable federal, state and local agencies to meet with confidence. ReadyTalk’s tools are designed so that it is easy to collaborate with colleagues, share information, telework and train employees. Currently used by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and numerous other agencies, ReadyTalk is experienced in meeting the specific needs of government organizations and provides flexible, custom solutions to meet their needs. ReadyTalk services are available through our GSA contract number GS-35F-0084X on GSA Advantage! For more information, visit the GSA Advantage! site or contact our Government Sales team.