What are the advantages and disadvantages of teleconferencing?\n\n> \nEXPERT RESPONSE\nOne of the major advantages of teleconferencing is its potential to reduce the cost of group meetings. Savings come primarily from reduced travel costs.\n\nSome more advantages to teleconferencing are:\n\n * Attend a business meeting hundreds of miles away without leaving your office\n * Reduce travel expenses\n * Reduce travel time requirements\n * Schedule meetings minutes ahead of time instead of days or weeks\n * Keep in touch with other branches of your business\n\nSee http://www.natav.com/telecon.html\n\nWhile teleconferencing is characterized by many advantages, it does have disadvantages:\n\n * Technical failures with equipment, including connections that aren't made\n * Unsatisfactory for complex interpersonal communication, such as negotiation or bargaining\n * Impersonal, less easy to create an atmosphere of group rapport\n * Lack of participant familiarity with the equipment, the medium itself, and meeting skills\n * Acoustical problems within the teleconferencing rooms\n * Difficulty in determining participant speaking order; frequently one person monopolizes the meeting\n * Greater participant preparation and preparation time needed\n * Informal, one-to-one, social interaction not possible\n\nTo minimize some of the potential problems, users should carefully evaluate their meeting needs and goals to determine if teleconferencing is appropriate. Users should also assess their audience. For example, consider the size of the group, the level of experience with teleconferencing, and the extent of familiarity with each other. These precautions won't eliminate all the problems that could arise, but they should reduce the likelihood of their occurring.
Multi-Product Reviews & Comparisons\n\nWho's in charge here? WiZiQ and Elluminate\n by Vance Stevens, TESL-EJ, Dec 2007\n Detailed description and review of Elluminate and Wiziq. \nFree Web Conferencing Software Review - solutions that are truly free\n by Alice Osborn, Web Conferencing Zone, July 2006\n Short comparison review of Vyew, Unyte, and SHARE for selecting the product that best fits certain needs.\n Note SHARE is now called Showtime. \nThe World is our Campus\n by Derrick L. Cogburn and Divya Kurup, Network Computing Magazine, Apr 2006\n Very thorough comparison between Macromedia Breeze, Elluminate, Genesys, Marratech, Microsoft Live Meeting, Raindance, Centra Live, WebEx Meeting Center, and WiredRed e/pop. Authors used simulated conferences to test products, and have devised an interactive "report card" for identifying products with specific features . \nA Tale of Two Systems: Elluminate Live v. Macromedia Breeze\n by Shauna Schullo in a paper presented at the 22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning, 2006\n This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of virtual classrooms and provides a list of software systems in use. The author focuses on Elluminate and Macromedia Breeze for detailed comparison. \nReview: Five Web Conferencing Packages\n by Matt McKenzie, InternetWeek, Nov 2005\n Detailed look at similarities and differences between GoToMeeting, Convoq ASAP, Elluminate, Microsoft Live Meeting, and WebEx Meeting Center for variables such as ease of use, software/platform requirements, features, support, pricing/licensing. \nReview: Web Conferencing Services\n by Michael J. DeMaria, Network Computing, Oct 2005\n Detailed and objective comparison of WebEx Meeting Center, Raindance, WiredRed e/pop, and MegaMeeting. \nMeet me in cyberspace: spotlight on 3 Web collaboration tools\n by Victor R. Garza, FCW.com (Federal Computer Week magazine), Sep 2005\n Detailed comparison/review of GroupSystems, Macromedia Breeze and WiredRed e/pop iden