Ever thought about hosting a webinar?  What about getting help from a tech support person by actually showing them the problems you’re having on your computer?  Better yet, work directly with your customers when they have problems by viewing their computer screen.

This probably sounds way too techy for the average person (or too expensive), but it isn’t anymore.  Adobe Flash, combined with Open Source projects, is changing the business landscape when it comes to collaboration technologies.

Here are two products that I use quite often that has made me look impressive to many customers.  Their purpose is to collaborate online, but I use them to get things done fast without traveling to meet in person.

DimDim (www.dimdim.com) – Webinar online meeting place

dimdim
This is the free cousin of Webex and GoToMeeting.  Free  is correct.  You can host up to 20 people at a time, and you can have as many meetings as you want.  Use your own teleconferencing service, or they provide one for free.  Share your screen, power point presentations, PDF files, use a whiteboard, and best of all – record what’s happening in full vidoe.  Many of the recorded webinars you see on my site are recorded through DimDim.  Sometimes I’ll host a meeting that I’m the only participant of, just so I can record the presentation.

Have more then 20 people?  This is still a cost effective solution.  For only $20 per month, you can host as many meetings as you want with up to 50 attendees.  The reason I like this product is that there are no other free solutions that let you host up to 20 people. (note – looks like times are tough because it used to be $8.50 per month for up to 100 attendees.  Oh well, still a good deal)

One of the things DimDim is missing is passing control of your screen to someone else, or taking control of another’s screen.

Acrobat Online (www.acrobat.com) Resource Sharing and Collaboration
adobeThis is similar to DimDim, but the focus is on sharing resources – from files to your screen.  Very simple to use (even simpler than DimDim).  The Screen Sharing feature allows you to pass control, and take control of the computer screens.  I use this a lot when helping clients with simple problems (like using applications, training, etc…).

This is a free service too (or I wouldn’t be recommending it), but it’s only free for up to three participants.  Not much of a meeting there huh.  That’s why I only use this to either post files online and share them with colleagues, or more importantly, to share my screen with another person – or view their screen to help them with problems.
Both of these applications work well on PC and Mac – which has become a requirement for me lately now that Macs are more affordable and increasing in popularity.  They both also work with various browsers (like Firefox).

Hope this helps.

Jim