Video conferencing for all

Outfit your PC with a webcam and microphone, and you can take advantage of the exciting world of video conferencing software. The advantages of being able to see as well as hear people over the internet are self evident. We communicate as much visually as we do through our words, so video paired with voice can open up new opportunities for you online. But very few people are taking advantage of the video conferencing tools now available. 

Most of the robust solutions for hosting video chats or conferences with many participants are fee-based. But there are several that are free, with Mebeam (http://www.mebeam.com) being arguably the easiest to get started with quickly.

Using Mebeam couldn’t be easier. Just log on to the site, type the name of a “room” for your conference, and click Connect. Tell the other participants to log on to Mebeam and type that same name into the Connect box, and you’ll all show up in the browser. Mebeam works for video conferences up to 16 people. Just make sure all participants are set up with a microphone and web cam before beginning the session. Other free options include ooVoo (http://www.oovoo.com), SightSpeed (http://www.sightspeed.com), Yugma (https://www.yugma.com), and tokbox (http://www.tokbox.com).

Fee-based video conferencing packages give you much more functionality than the free solutions and are better suited to more formal meetings. Perhaps the premier package in this space is Adobe’s Acrobat Connect Pro (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro). Also a browser-based solution, Connect Pro can accommodate up to 100 participants and provides such features as integrated chat, file sharing, a white board, screen sharing, and session recording. It’s a powerful package, and if you’ll be holding regular video conferences, the 45 or 55 dollar per month fee is reasonable. GoToMeeting, another popular option, costs 49 per month.