The world of business has changed. It’s no longer about having a physical office and meeting in person. In this digital age where technology is growing in leaps and bounds, CEOs meet in virtual rooms to take crucial business decisions. Webinars are replacing classroom lectures. So, this is the time to opt for free virtual meeting platforms that promise to make boring meetings and lectures more fun and productive.
Let’s take a look at my top 6 free virtual meeting platforms and why they have become so popular in such a short time.
Zoom – One of The Most Popular Free Virtual Meeting Platforms Used Worldwide
A popular tool for virtual meetings, Zoom is available for free for up to 100 participants. While you can use Zoom for virtual one-on-one meetings stretching beyond an hour or so, for group meetings there’s a time limit. You can organize the meeting for a maximum of 40 minutes. What’s great about Zoom is that it is extremely easy to use. Any non-techie can use Zoom without fearing about exposing his/her limited tech knowledge.
You can host a Zoom meeting from your computer or mobile device, even if you don’t have prior experience in using video conferencing software. Zoom also has a lot of features that make it an effective tool for hosting virtual meetings and webinars.
It has a built-in screen-sharing feature that allows you to share your screen with other participants during the meeting. This allows everyone to see exactly what you’re seeing on your computer screen. So, no more fumbling through files!
Zoom can be integrated with other products. Thus you can connect your Zoom account with other tools like Salesforce or Google Drive. This makes virtual meetings seamless as you can integrate all of your information into one place without browsing multiple platforms and applications.
There are many third-party apps available through the official app store called “Zoom Rooms.” These apps offer additional functionality such as whiteboarding tools and polls. Hence, you can customize the virtual experience based on what works best for each meeting type or situation. For instance, if you are a business consultant who often needs to host consultation sessions, you can create different zoom rooms for different clients.
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WebEx From Cisco – A Known Platform For Video Conferencing and Awesome Whiteboard Features
As one of the most popular online meeting platforms out there, WebEx offers many benefits and user-friendly features. It has a free plan, which can be used by up to 50 people. Also, with a Free plan, you can organize unlimited meetings. However, each meeting can last up to a maximum of 50 minutes. Great, right?
The paid plans offer more features, such as video calls, and can scale up to 200 people per meeting. They also have a customizable plan for Enterprises where you can customize the meeting capacity and recording options.
WebEx is an excellent solution for small teams that need to hold regular meetings with remote workers or clients. With an intuitive interface and mobile app, it’s easy for participants to join from anywhere at any time. For larger teams, you may want to consider other options such as Zoom or Google Hangouts Meetings. However, if your team is smaller in size and your budget is tight, or even nonexistent, then WebEx should be your go-to choice!
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GoToMeeting – Ideal For a Quick Online Meetup
If you are planning to organize a quick virtual meeting then consider GoToMeeting for its flexible features. It’s available on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. You can use it with your existing webcam or use their video conferencing service from anywhere. GoToMeeting has a free plan that includes up to 50 participants. However, this doesn’t allow recording or sharing file attachments during your meeting.
The paid plans start at $49 per month for up to 10 participants and go up from there depending on the number of participants attending each meeting.
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Join.me – Easy to Use Web-Based Virtual Meeting Platform
If you are looking for a free web-based meeting service that can be used to host meetings from a computer or mobile device, then Join.me won’t disappoint you. The best part about this video conferencing tool is that, unlike many other services, Join.me does not require you to download an application. Thus you will find it simple and quick to set up.
Join.me allows you to create free conference calls and webinars with screen sharing capabilities, as well as audio and video calls. You can also share your desktop with attendees so they can see what you are working on in real-time during the meeting. This is particularly useful for showing slideshows or demonstrations of software programs or websites, e.g., PowerPoint presentations.
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Hangouts Meet – One of The Best Free Virtual Meeting Platforms For Collaboration And Interaction
For your team, you want a solution that’s easy to use and share. Hangouts Meet is just that. It is simple, intuitive, and collaborative. In fact, when it comes to virtual meetings with teams and partners Hangouts Meet is one of the best options out there. Unlike other video conferencing solutions in which you have to download an app or register for an account before each meeting, or pay extra for dial-in numbers, Hangouts Meet works directly from your browser with no sign-up required at all!
You can use Google Hangouts Meet for free, provided the meeting has a maximum of 100 participants. Each group meeting can last up to a maximum of one hour. However, you can organize unlimited group meets.
The seamless integration between G Suite and Google Calendar makes it easy for users who are already accustomed to using these tools within their organization. And because everyone has access to the same powerful suite of tools (including Gmail), people don’t have any trouble sharing information among themselves during meetings.
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Kahoot! – The Best Video Conferencing Platform To Run Your Meeting Like a Game!
Do you like to run your virtual meeting as a fun event so that the participants don’t doze off? Then opt for Kahoot!. It is a free tool that allows you to create quizzes, games, and surveys. You can use Kahoot! to run a meeting as a game. This can get people to participate in the meeting and learn at the same time.
For example, if you’re running a meeting about how to organize your office space, ask people fun questions like “What’s your favorite color?”, or “What’s your favorite office corner?”
You can also use Kahoot! to share presentations and organize after-meeting Q&As. For instance, if one of your employees has prepared information on how she helps clients create custom websites, allow her extra time in the end to ask questions related to the presentation. Let other participants answer those questions so that you can assess what they have learned from the presentation. And then you can reward them with points based on their responses. Else, you can give points randomly, as a gesture of employee appreciation.
Skype – The Video Conferencing Tool Known to All!
If you have ever attended a virtual meeting be it for business or personal purposes, you must have used Skype. Considered to be one of the most familiar free virtual meeting software, Skype has now become a household name. As a free tool, it offers lots of amazing services and benefits which many paid tools don’t. For instance, you can use it for language translation, PowerPoint presentations, customized participant views, and long-hour web conferences without disruption.
And, of course, Skype has a paid plan too for Business. This plan is exclusively designed for people who work remotely and need to keep in touch with clients or teammates for an extended period of time.
How to Choose The Best Free Online Meeting Tool?
Now that you have so many options to choose from, how do you decide on the right video conferencing tool? Here are a few tips to follow:-
- Ease of use should be the basic criterion to choose a virtual meeting platform.
- Features and services that are offered in the Free version. You can always compare multiple tools and apps to know which platform is offering more amenities in its Free version.
- Help and support. Most of these remote meeting platforms offer help and support via e-mails and chats. The standard of support improves as you upgrade to the Paid version. Yet you should have a prior idea of the kind of support you can expect from the service provider as a Free or Paid member.
- Compare prices before buying the Paid version.
Few More Tips to Organize Successful Virtual Meetings
First, it’s important to understand what makes a meeting productive. There are a few key elements to keep in mind when thinking about how to make your next meeting better:
- People should be engaged and focused on the task at hand.
- Team members should be on time for every session.
- Everyone needs to be informed about the agenda, so they don’t waste time playing catch-up before getting down to business.
- Every participant should have relevant information at their fingertips. The host needs to make sure that everyone has access to the same data during discussions. This way decisions can be made efficiently and quickly.
Conclusion
There are so many great tools out there to help you organize seamless virtual meetings. We have listed just a few here, but there are many more tools and apps available for you to choose from. You need to pick up the right online meeting tool that’s able to meet your needs and also makes the participants feel comfortable.
