Do You Need Conferencing Software for Webinars or Online Web Conferencing? June 17, 2011 @ 12:17 PM | By Sara Steele

There's a debate brewing in online conferencing: What's the difference between a web conference and a webinar? Is there one?

Online Meeting Tools Review sheds some light on the subject with an interesting post explaining the difference.

According to the post:

A web conference is a non-public online meeting emphasizing collaboration. One person may be the host, but desktop sharing and other tools make it easy to switch the role of presenter.

A webinar, on the other hand, is often open to the public and offers more of a single presenter and large audience ambiance. The experience for the audience is largely passive, although tools such as polls, chat functions and Q&A sessions can add interactivity to a webinar.

Conferencing Software for Online Web Conferencing
Now that you know the difference between the types of online conferencing programs, you can decide on the best software for your purposes. Small meetings, project assessments and “touch-base” sessions, as well as some collaborative sales meetings where your prospects may be expected to have a lot of questions, would fall under the web conference umbrella.

Look for conferencing software with collaborative tools such as desktop and file sharing, shared web browsing and easy “one-click” entry into meetings.

Conferencing Software for Webinars
Training (customer or employee), marketing seminars and press conferences are considered webinars.

You'll want chat functions for attendees, the ability to poll attendees and to host question and answer sessions. Additionally, you'll want tools for marketing your webinar in advance and to follow up with attendees after the event, as well as tools to track attendance.

Before you can select the best web conferencing software for your company, you need to define your conferencing purposes and goals.

Don't forget to consider InterCall’s streaming services as another option for one-to-many presentations. 

What meetings could you replace with web conferencing?  Are there opportunities for you to save time and money by hosting a webinar? If you need help assessing the right solution for your business, use our interactive tool to get started. 

Sara Steele is an associate marketing manager at InterCall responsible for various corporate communication initiatives; including social media and channel marketing efforts. Sara began working with InterCall after graduating from the University of Colorado in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys running, skiing, and spending time with family and friends.