Best Online Meeting Software
With a lot of people having their meetings online, many are looking to fine-tune their efforts. Just a decade ago, having an online meeting was a nightmare. Video conferencing was a stutter-filled mess and even audio conferences were frequently dropped.
Today, companies have their pick of the best online meeting software — both open-source solutions and commercial, proprietary solutions. Managing a meeting requires more than just the best video conferencing app, however. It requires all-around meeting management tools.
Docket is currently the best app for meeting management. Not only can it connect directly to video conferencing tools, but it also provides features such as creating and sharing agendas, taking notes, logging tasks, and sharing recaps. Docket’s platform is designed to support meetings from start-to-finish. It even has the ability to launch a conference in the organization’s favorite app.
Some video conferencing tools examples include Zoom, Slack, and MS Teams. But while these solutions do include video and audio conferencing, they aren’t designed around planning, running, and recapping meetings. Docket provides an all-in-one access tool for meeting management, so all participants can view a dashboard of their meetings, and ensure that each meeting has met its agenda.
By investing in new online meeting software, boards will be able to get more done. Time is valuable and the time spent in meetings has to be properly utilized. Converting to online meetings also means that meetings can be conducted more frequently — and that even those who may be traveling, on the go, or otherwise occupied will be able to participate.
Even better, because Docket can integrate with popular video conferencing tools, it’s easy to implement. Docket can be introduced into existing meeting processes as a way to facilitate and improve.
That being said, there’s not a lot to a meeting if you don’t have video conferencing.
Video Conferencing Apps
There are a lot of video conferencing apps out there, but there are only some that are suitable for business. Before 2019, few people had heard of Zoom and it wasn’t even on the list of top 10 video conferencing apps. Now, it is the most popular video conferencing solution for business and recreational use.
But it’s not the only contender on the video conferencing software list. Slack and MS Teams are also up there.
A lot of conferencing apps are now being developed as proprietary solutions. While Zoom is likely still the best video conferencing app for online classes, a lot of schools are now switching to their own internal programs. The best video conferencing is up for some debate, because it depends on the types of video conferencing you want to achieve.
There are video conferencing companies and there are collaborative solutions (like Slack) which simply incorporate video conferencing. It depends on your ultimate goals. MS Teams, for instance, can host conferences with thousands of users. But it’s not likely that a board meeting, for instance, would actually need thousands of users.
Ultimately, most organizations have found that Zoom is an excellent replacement for Skype. For a long time, Skype was the de facto standard in business video communication — but Skype is being discontinued by Microsoft in favor of MS Teams, which is a significantly less lightweight program. Luckily, Zoom is well-known and well-integrated enough that it can be utilized with solutions such as Docket.
Companies may want to use multiple online software suites during testing, to determine which one works best for them, before distributing it to employees or board members. The most important aspect of video conferencing and communication is that everyone has the same technology and the same platforms.
Best Online Meeting Platforms
What does it take to be one of the best online meeting platforms? The best virtual meeting platforms will:
Serve as a consolidated location where agendas can be planned, notes can be taken, and meetings can be scheduled. It’s important that everyone involved in meetings be able to see everything they have planned at a glance.
Have integration with video conferencing services such as Zoom video conferencing. Zoom conferencing is one of the most common types of video chat out there — so integration and support is critical.
Be easy to access and accessible anywhere. Many people are accessing information remotely, from home, or otherwise out of the office.
Have excellent customer support. When there’s an important meeting, you want to know that you have technical support available. And these important meetings can happen at any time.
There are a lot of meeting platforms out there, such as Zoho Meeting. There are even virtual meeting platforms with games — so those who are meeting can bond and work on team-building. But Docket remains one of the top meeting management platforms for agendas, note-taking, and video chat integration.
With Docket, you have an all-in-one stop for all your meeting needs. Whether you need to update and distribute your agenda, manage notes, or create minutes, you can do everything on Docket. And that ensures that everyone is always ready for each meeting, that everyone knows when meetings are going to occur, and that the meetings are run successfully.
Of course, companies can always try out demos of software before they decide which software is best for them. And you should be aware of the software integrationsyou need before choosing a solution.
Best Free Online Meeting Platforms
What about the best free online meeting platforms?
There are a lot of free conference apps, free group meeting apps, free video conferencing for groups apps, and more. You can download a free video call app right now and be speaking to someone else within minutes. But there’s a reason why most businesses aren’t using free video conferencing apps.
If you want to try a program, you can always try the free version. Docket has a free version available. But if you want really robust features, you’re always going to have to pay.
Most free online meeting apps aren’t going to have the number of features a company needs. They may do one or two things very well, but they aren’t going to serve as a complete, consolidated platform. And while free video conferencing software does exist, it usually doesn’t have a lot of support. You’re not going to have features, functionality, or training the way you will with a commercial solution.
While online meeting platforms free are accessible, they also aren’t frequently adopted. Which means that most people aren’t going to already have an account there. And when you use free video conferencing no sign up, you can virtually guarantee that there will be security issues.
But the biggest issue with free solutions is the lack of support. A lack of support means that your team will find it more difficult to use. The lack of support also means that the software is more likely to experience security issues, as there won’t be as many resources devoted toward keeping the solution updated and safe.
The best free video conferencing and the best free video conferencing app will still integrate with a paid meeting solution, such as Docket.
Video Conferencing Comparison Chart
Finally, let’s take a look at the best video conferencing solutions through a video conferencing comparison chart. This chart will have changed; the best free video conferencing 2021 varies from a video conferencing comparison chart 2020. A lot of companies have transitioned to video chat, so there have been a lot of changes.
Of course, you have to keep a few things in mind. You might need the best free video conferencing with no time limit or the best free video conferencing for large groups. Location might matter; the best video conferencing for small business UK might not be the same as in the US. Overall, the best video conferencing for small business free tends to be Zoom. But the answer might be different if you’re looking for online meeting more than 100 participants free rather than free video conferencing with up to 12 users.
As you can see, Microsoft Teams is going to allow the most participants for the longest time. And while Go To Meeting has unlimited minutes, that’s only during the free trial. After that, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee. But these things also don’t say anything about the user friendliness of these options, whether they integrate with your existing solutions, or whether they’ll be intuitive for your team to use.
What’s most important is that the best video conferencing for small business will also integrate with software platforms such as CRM suites and meeting management suites. The best virtual meeting platforms for large groups will be integrated into video conferencing software.
And once you find the best online meeting software, you’ll still need the best video conferencing equipment for small business. Without video conference equipment for small business, any software won’t matter; the software itself can’t make up for issues with hardware.
Best Online Meeting Software Continued
Since 2020, online meetings have skyrocketed in popularity. Indeed, for many companies, meeting virtually has now become the norm. However, this does not mean that teams have now figured out how to make remote meetings successful. Unfortunately, it is also still the norm to have meetings that run way over time due to there being no clear agenda. These kinds of meetings can cost you big money in lost productivity if you allow this to remain in the future.
Having a great meeting requires more than just downloading and using the correct video conference app. There are specific actions you need to take before the meeting, during the meeting, and after the meeting to ensure that every meeting is effective and productive. For example, you’ll need to make sure that you have assigned roles to all of your team members so that everyone knows their job and purpose in the meeting. It is also best practice for online meetings to ensure that notes are taken during the meeting and then shared with the team as soon as the meeting is over. Your time is too precious to be wasted in meetings with no clear agenda. However, not everyone has the time to complete all of these tasks. From establishing a meeting purpose and agenda to avoiding scheduling hiccups and ensuring that every attendee has the relevant information they need to make valuable contributions, you don’t stand a chance of dealing with all this on your own.
Why not use online meeting software? The best online meeting software provides a wide host of functionalities to support and enhance your virtual meetings before, during, and after every single meeting. Some solutions, such as Docket, provide integrations with your favorite video conferencing platforms, making them a seamless addition to your workflows. Regardless of what kind of meetings you regularly manage, you can do them all with Docket and bid farewell to pointless, meandering meetings.
Best Video Conferencing
There are four important types of video conferencing that you should consider. Knowing these will help you to better plan for and categorize your virtual meetings. The first type is the 1:1 or one on one business meeting. This is the simplest and can be the most efficient kind of virtual communication. In this meeting, there are only two participants from within the business or organization that have a conversation face-to-face via a video conferencing platform. Having the opportunity to see the face of the person you are talking to provides a vastly more rich experience and allows you to better judge those important nonverbal cues that are such a big part of how we as humans communicate with each other. The second type of meeting is the customer video conference. This is another version of the 1:1 meeting, except one of the participants is external to the business, a customer. Organizations use this kind of meeting to build a closer bond with their customers, provide a memorable experience, and provide effective, fast support. The third type of video conferencing is the team video conference. The team video conference is a multi-attendee online event where several team members get on one video conferencing link to collaborate and communicate with each other with the goal of achieving some collective goal. These can often be the most difficult meetings to coordinate, manage, and schedule because there are so many moving parts. However, they can be far more convenient than in-person meetings, especially when team members are geographically distributed. The final type of video conferencing is large-scale internal meetings. These are all-hands meetings that involve every member of the organization. These meetings are often recurring and provide a way for employees on different teams to meet up, and they reinforce the company culture. These kinds of meetings are often held to mark important milestones in the company’s growth. The best video conferencing meetings are the ones that are productive and focused. Those meetings happen when you utilize the best online meeting platforms, one of which is Docket.
Video Conferencing Companies
Video conferencing companies have made huge contributions to the advancement of online meetings. However, they are not the end-all-be-all of virtual meetings. The big public video conferencing companies have created and continue to facilitate the possibility for face-to-face interaction. That is a massive advantage over remote meetings that used to be conducted over the phone. On the other hand, as we have discussed, there is more to meetings than just good video conferencing software. Many of the issues that used to plague in-person meetings have just migrated over to these applications from top video conferencing companies.
The best way is to address the root of the problem so that from now on, your meetings will always be meaningful. Docket is the only online meeting productivity software that is designed to make your meetings better before they start, while they’re happening, and long after they’re over. In the initial preparation stages, Docket makes it easy for you to develop your meeting’s agenda, prioritize its topics, and set time limits, so no single speaker ends up pushing the meeting way over schedule. Using Docket’s Agenda Templates, you can also improve recurring meetings and ensure that everyone is notified so that nobody misses a meeting. Finally, Docket provides one centralized place to store and share all the relevant documents and information so that nobody comes to a meeting underprepared.
Best Video Conference Software
At the core of online meetings is video conferencing software. Although they are not the only aspect of a successful meeting, they are absolutely essential to remote gatherings. There are several key features in the best video conferencing software that we’d like to cover. First, one key feature is screen sharing. You’ll want to make sure that the video conferencing app you choose has the ability for participants to share their screens. This allows you to share presentations and anything else that is on your desktop. Chat features are another important element. Giving people the opportunity to get to know each other or notify the speaker of something in the chat is always useful. Furthermore, chat is a great place to put things like instant polls and other elements that can help make the meeting more productive. Ideally, you’ll want a video conferencing app that has unlimited recording and HD video. That way, if your meeting does run over schedule, you won’t be missing a portion when you come back to review the meeting later. Of all the video conferencing software examples, you’ll want to find one that suits your specific needs and has all the essential features to be able to have a meeting that is as productive as if you were all in an office together.
Video Conferencing Apps
At this point, most people have probably used video conferencing apps, but let’s quickly go over how they actually work. Basically, two people can see and hear each other using computers connected to each other using the Internet. Most of these kinds of platforms rely on video cameras – either Webcams or DSLRs (digital photography cameras). This technology captures and transmits the video while the audio can be captured using an in-built microphone or even a telephone system.
The best virtual meeting platforms for large groups of people are often also the best video conferencing apps for online classes, and they make it easy to assign participants their roles and manage different speakers as they come up. With so many people, it’s important that everyone knows who is speaking and when. It’s easy to go online and find 5 examples of video conference software that could all facilitate your online meetings.
Virtual Platforms For Meetings
Virtual platforms for meetings have been rapidly advancing in recent years as the pandemic has driven the dramatic rise in online meetings. For example, some of these platforms are designed to make meetings more enjoyable. These fun virtual meeting platforms provide extra features to allow meeting participants to express themselves and collaborate in a more amusing manner. This category of meeting software includes virtual meeting platforms with avatars.
The best virtual meeting platforms for business use are often the best virtual meeting platforms for personal use because many of the features are beneficial for both categories and purposes. Some virtual platforms have even started bringing other innovations to make meetings more immersive. For example, one major innovator in this space recently announced that they would be developing a metaverse component for their virtual platform for meetings. This would allow users to interact not just with video but also with 3D avatars in an interactive virtual environment.
Video Conferencing Software
This should have given you a better understanding of video conferencing software and its importance when it comes to online meetings. If you’d like to learn more about this, check our website for more information, or head over to Google and search for a “video conferencing software list” or a “list of virtual platforms.” That will pull up a list of video conferencing apps to give you a better idea of what these are and how they work. It’s also important to remember that video conferencing software is not all there is to online meetings. Using software like Docket can help your meetings to be more productive by providing a powerful tool for scheduling, collaborating, and documenting all of your meetings.
