A Roundup of Popular Virtual Meeting Platforms

As working from home and remote offices become more common (or necessary!), organizations need to find reliable collaboration systems. Virtual meeting platforms are powerful communication tools that offer the benefits of telephony, video, and instant messaging combined.

They save money and time as people don't have to travel to meet. With scheduling, all participants know when the meeting starts and ends, meaning everyone is prepared and attentive throughout the session.

Below are eight virtual meeting platforms to enhance communication and collaboration in your business.

Cisco Webex Meetings

Whether you choose free Webex or a paid plan, Cisco's virtual meeting solution is brilliant. Webex free offers unlimited meetings with no restrictions on duration, MP4 recordings, and 1GB of cloud storage.

To get started with Webex, sign up on the Cisco website to get a personal URL. You'll be using the URL to schedule and manage video conferences and access your recordings.

Virtual meetings can host up to 100 participants, with features like screen sharing and private chat rooms. To use the service, you can open the website, desktop app, or mobile app, but the desktop app seems to offer the best user experience.

GoToMeeting

With GoToMeeting, you can hold virtual meetings conveniently, even with people who are on the go. It's one of the most mobile-friendly solutions, and you can initiate a conference on a smartphone. It comes with many customization features to maximize user experience for all attendees.

To request people to attend a conference, you can use the email templates available on the platform. Webinars can host 1,000 people, meaning you can invite every person you need in your organization.

Samepage

Are you looking for collaboration software to enable members of your team to complete a project from different locations? Try Samepage. This award-winning video conferencing solution keeps groups of partners, consultants, customers, and others working together smoothly and conveniently.

You can connect with your team with a single click and view the updates made to the task you are working on in real-time. The tool combines projects, schedules, videos, and team discussions on the same page. Participants can edit files simultaneously as they chat in HD video.

ClickMeeting

If your business uses webinars to connect with employees and garner leads, ClickMeeting can be rewarding. The platform has a host of incredible tools necessary to hold interactive virtual meetings. In your presentation, you can play videos, slideshows, share your screen, and let the participants take charge of your mouse.

ClickMeeting enables you to collect data about the attendees using live polls and question and answer sessions. It integrates with various apps. For instance, you can link it with Dropbox to store the recordings of your meeting in the cloud.

Skype

Most people are familiar with this video chat tool by Microsoft. You can use the app or open it in a browser, where you invite others to join with their email addresses. Although it comes out as a platform for connecting with friends, it supports video calls for up to 50 individuals.

As with other video conferencing solutions, Skype allows for screen sharing. Its exciting features include live subtitling of chats and the ability to blur backgrounds to focus on your attendees better. You can also record conversations.

Skype for business, the paid version, allows you to set virtual meetings with up to 250 people. It comes with advanced security and Office integration.

Zoom Meetings

Characterized by high mobile responsiveness, Zoom Meetings is a messaging and virtual meeting platform compatible with desktop and handheld devices. The platform supports up to 49 videos on the same screen, rendering HD video and audio. Participants in a conference collaborate through screen sharing.

Zoom Meetings allows for automated conference scheduling on Outlook and Gmail. It encrypts meetings and recordings, and you can share or save them in your device or the cloud. Additionally, you get a ten-year archiving service.

Microsoft Teams

This innovative video Conferencing tool allows administrators to organize mammoth virtual meetings of up to 10,000 members. On the other hand, users can create audio and video chats with a small team or one individual.

Microsoft Teams offers full integration with Microsoft 365, allowing quick conference scheduling and invites in organizations. Instead of installing the app, the invited persons can join meetings right on their web browsers.

The tool is compatible with a full range of hardware options to power conversation from anywhere. Users can communicate via desktops, mobile devices, and Bluetooth conferencing headsets. Features of Microsoft Teams include screen sharing, live captions, chat recording, background blurring, and more.

Zoho Meeting

Members of your organization can hold successful virtual meetings from almost any location with Zoho Meeting. It's a free web conferencing solution with screen sharing capabilities as well as an online presentation tool for smooth collaboration. There is also an Android app to enable Android users to video-chat on mobile devices.

Final Thoughts

Whether in business or elsewhere, virtual meetings augment communication. You can read the body language of other participants, leading to improved collaboration. Review the list above and see what works best for you.